This last weekend, my friend Julie and I drove up to Seattle to visit her cousin and enjoy a “girls weekend.” We decided that food should be the theme of our trip.
Saturday, we took a guided tour of Pike Place Market. The tour started at 10:30 and lasted until about 2:00. We learned a lot of the history behind the market, and we got to meet many of the local merchants and sample their wares. I had some of the best clam chowder I’ve ever tasted at Pike Place Chowder, I had a delicious genuine New York style pastrami sandwich complete with dill pickle on the side at I Love New York Deli, I had delicious authentic German sausage and beer at Uli’s Famous Sausage, and oh, there was so much more, I can’t begin to list it all. It was a fabulous tour and I highly recommend it if you find yourself in Seattle with some spare time on your hands. Thanks to Seattle Bites Food Tours for a great time!
Then, on Saturday night, we drove out to Woodinville and had dinner at The Herbfarm Restaurant. Yes, we are talking culinary herbs here, not the “medicinal” ones! I had never heard of The Herbfarm before, so I really didn’t know what to expect. They do only one dinner seating so everyone dines together at the same time, and dinner consists of 9 courses (yes, that’s nine) with 6 different wines paired especially to the fare of the evening. I ate stuff I thought I never would, and I actually liked (most) of it! Crazy! I did skip the soft poached quail egg with smoked steelhead caviar (ew), but enjoyed the housemade prosciutto, truffled albacore tuna confit, the applewood-grilled scallop, the duck paté, the braised and roasted lamb, the pork, the cheese……well, you get the idea. Yummers. There’s a wonderful hotel right across the parking lot, so this would be a great place to take a special someone for a weekend getaway and an unforgettable night out.
During our weekend, we decided we would have no bad coffee, so we spent a lot of time walking about Seattle checking out the best cafes. In walking around the city, we came across a number of chocolate shops, too. Being women, of course we had to sample all of that, too! It seemed like one of the new trends is salted caramels. This sounds odd, but it’s actually quite delicious. My favorite was the gray salt. Hmmm, with Valentine’s Day coming up, a box of Fran’s Chocolates would be apropos. Are you reading this, Smooch??