tsquare

My sweetie would like to go to India - if I could go like this (so far!) I might be willing to join him. I'm frightened to see what is coming, but assume you survived, along with your photos. Really beautiful. Have you eaten any Indian food since you arrived home?

If you want some photos - and another version of the story clicky here (and sorry there are still typos in my post.)

← Thanks Jason! I was thinking Caualita's might close the place off 23rd, but I don't know anything about this. We stopped in at Africando - same guy that had the place in Belltown until 3 years ago - opening soon at the SW corner of Rainier and Juneau.

The other French bistro in Madrona, Bistrot Mazarin (almost across the street from Verite Coffee has become a Turkish plave - Turkuaz (sp?) with a nice looking menu and the French place's decor. What happened? In Hillman City - that is the stretch of Rainier south of Columbia City - a newly refreshed building bears signage for Africado (sp? again) West African. Same people who were in Belltown on 1st years ago??? In Columbia City, Casulita's Island Soul has opened next to the CC Bakery. At least they were open for Beat Walk on Friday - may have been a soft opening. Liquor License is still posted on the window.

I see no reason to start a new thread, especially since I have no photos to post. However, Walla Walla was a great food trip. I loved the drive there and back, the changes in climate, geology, and vegetation. At this time, this year, it was green almost everywhere. The magpies in Yakima were a great surprise (I suppose the equivalent of crows in Seattle?) I bow down further to Henry and Lorna for their heroic eating adventures. I had to force down a little soup tonight. After a late drive from Seattle to Yakima, we visited the town of Tieton - no food to speak of, yet, but an interesting place with a green town square, some freshly converted warehouses housing condos, a letter press, artists, and more to come. A cafe would be readily welcomed if anyone is interested. Things started out rough - we missed Los Henandez in Union Gap by minutes. Sunday night in Yakima looked a little less than obvious. We headed into the amazingly crowded humongous Miner's for a burger, shake, and fries (I had the tots.) Okay, I am not a big fan of this type of food, unless you count Lunchbox Laboratory. But after eating, and not finishing, I felt ill. A deal was struck to stay with quality, mostly kept. Before leaving Yakima, we stopped in at Essencia Artisan Bakery and Chocolaterie. The breads looked good, the coffee was fine. We picked up a loaf of chocolate bread with cranberries and pepper(?) Interesting. Stoppped by DairyFair (Darigold) for a quick tour (you may as well hang out at Beechers in the market - you will see more) and a cone. Missed the place in Zillah by how many years? Shuttered and for sale. Got into Walla Walla just in time for a late lunch at Lucious by Nature. Very nice, though a bit pricey for lunch. I had their rellano special which was a casserole style dish of tortillas, cheese, black and green olives, artichoke hearts, chilis and tomatillo sauce. I did not care for the green olives, otherwise, a nice dish. Fresh green salad rounded out the plate. That evening, we dined at 26 Brix. Pretty quiet evening, the menu seemed a little plain. The roasted chicken was very tasty as far as the crispy skin and flavor went - the breast itself was dry. The snap peas and very creamy polenta were excellent - the polenta was very corny, in a very good way. M had a house pasta dish. Better than this were the two desserts - mine was a huckleberry creme brulee with anise langues de chat, M's was a slice of roasted pineapple on puff pastry with a dulce de leche caramel, accompanied by a scoop of lime ice cream topped with a cilantro syrup. It hit on all cylinders, though not something I would have selected. So, we already know Colville St. Patisserie isn't open on Tuesday. We tried going to John's Wheatland Bakery and found it not suitable for breakfast. If it hadn't been raining, the taco truck in the parking lot might have been the way to go - it smelled great. We stopped in for a gut buster at Clarette's next to Whitman College. This is a biscuits and country gravy, waffles, pancakes, (crepes!) kind of place with great service and bad coffee. Later in the day, we stopped by Cugini Import Italian Food and had a slice or two of the homemade salami and a good latte. They have interesting looking frozen pasta from Chicago, take out meals, sandwiches, and Italian staples. That evening, we had the pleasure of dinner at Saffron. The place was packed, the menu enticing. We shared a number of small plates and a pasta. The flavors are bold and he can sell anything - including a plate of beef liver skewered with pig heart - I tried the sauces, not the meats. The house made breads were excellent as was the octopus, the asparagus, and the pappardelle with pork. Desserts were not as interesting as the night before, but a slice of warm flourless chocolate cake with chocolate mint ice cream was soft, almost light, and delicious. Wednesday! Colville Street Patisserie. Just like the photos above. We split a cannele, a kouign aman, and a brioche topped with cream and black currents. The last was the best! The other two, unusual and delicious as they are, was bested by the tart berries, rich cream and buttery broiche. A lovely latte and we were ready to see the town. A lot of Walla Walla does not open until afternoon as many of the storefronts are wine tasting rooms. Still, we wandered around a bit and worked up the need for an onion world sausage. We liked these more than H & L did. Moist, with a good snap to the well browned skin. I had been slightly dreading lunch of a sausage topped with grilled onions and was surprised to find the onions incorporated into the sausage, nicely lightening the texture. We ventured out to Dayton, a bust - though the Weinhart Cafe looked interesting, and sampled a cone of Cascade ice cream at the local bakery and Kchotka store. But down the road (closer to Walla Walla) lies Waitsburg, another town undergoing a loving rebirth. We picked the wrong day and missed eating at Jimgermanbar. You should not make the same mistake. The small plates include locally sourced foods and excellent beverage options in an airy and artistic atmosphere. We may go back soon just to sit there and enjoy the place. Across the street is Whoopemup Cafe. I wish we had hiked 20 miles that day to do justice to the place. The gumbo was rich and full of tender bits, topped with a thimble of rice and some strips of fried yam seasoned with lime salt. The bbq ribs were smoked, tender and messy with a thick sauce. Adding to my week of corn, the cheesy grits were formed into a cake and slightly browned and the slaw was tangy, colorful and just a tad sweet. The breads included a jalapeno cornbread, cornsticks, corn foccacia, and chive cornbread. Horrors - dessert was not possible. I did not even see one served and they are supposed to be wonderful. This was an affront to all that is right with the world, but I had reached the end of my ability to eat for the day. There is a brewery, Laht Neppur Brewing Company just down the road (the bit I sampled with dinner had a nice hoppiness with a bit of spice), as well as a nice looking tavern - the Whetstone Public House. Anyway - it looks like a few more buildings are being remodeled, so if you want to open a bakery, this might be the place to do it. Last day - another morning of pastry at Colville - an all flake morning with samplings of the apricot almond pastry, the almond croissant and the chocolate hazelnut one as well. Nothing too sweet, everything with millions of layers. A few chocolates from Brights, and we headed home. This time, in Union Gap, just outside Yakima, we made it to Los Hernandez for fresh tamales. Not just chicken and pork, but the best of the bunch, asparagus and cheese. Really. And even though we drove home through Black Diamond, we did not look for the bakery - anyone know if it is still there - worth a side trip? I hope to not be hungry for a few days at least.

If either corner backs up to a different room, I prefer to have them open into the other room. The better option is a galley kitchen instead of a U-shaped kitchen - no corner cabinets! Two longer runs. If you have to use that third wall, a shallow wall of cabinets might work better as a tall pantry or display shelving.

Nice place to stop in for a late dessert. In a dessert restaurant less town, it's nice to remember a comfortable place with good sweets.

It had been a long time since we were last at Veil. With dining companions headed to the opera, a wedding reception scheduled at Crow, and a Saturday supper needed, we chanced it. It was that hot May night. The air conditioning wasn't up to the task (later in the evening, someone realized opening the side door would create a good, old fashioned breeze) but a menu with plenty of cool starters was inviting. A fancy herbal and rum cocktail set me in the mood for relaxing. Hits for starters included: "green salad" a lovely mixture of legumes artfully arranged and accompanied by lemon foam and dots of herb reduction, a dual colored beet salad on a bed of pistachio vinegrette, warm lamb tongue, and aspargus soup poured at the table into the bowl hosting a poached egg. Entrees like tagliatelle with truffle butter and english peas, lamb foreshank "the essence of lamb", painterly plates of giant sea scallops, and a trio of mini lamb burgers quckly disappeared. The desserts, the famous salted peanut butter ice cream, a log of semi frozen chocolate filled with caramel atop a bed of chocolate soil, and a lime curd architectural deconstruction accompanied by a sour cherry sorbet left us in a bit of a stupor, but happy. Service was not too formal; they carefully watched the time for us, and we were quite pleased.

I tried okra last year - got great looking plants with not even a shred of okra on them. I couldn't even figure out where the okra would have been if there had been okra (having never seen an okra plant before). So, if anyone gets okra going, I'd love to see it. ← I grew some in Seattle years back - the flowers (I think they only bloom for one day?) are similar to hollyhocks and the pod is left after the flower is gone.

I haven't seen hornworms in Seattle - probably cutworms - voracious!

you must check out two great lunching in seattle sites: pike place market lunch crawl and the international district version and don't forget Salumi.

Courtesy of Voracious: Honore, 1413 NW 70th St., BALLARD

On a more simple note, we hate the question "How is your food tasting?" It's a generational thing, servers in the their 20's mostly. It's just a bit crass. The overall dining experience is not limited to one sense. I'm tempted to answer "Like steak." Or if I am in a bad mood "Like crap." Trusting a 17 year old for food quality assurance is like asking the 17 year old at the video store for a movie recommendation.

I was also going to warn about the invasiveness of borage. Loveage, while a wonderful perinneal in that it dies all the way back only to come back year after year, is an interesting plant. It grows 5 or 6 feet tall, so watch what is shades. It can easily spread, or be contained. Dividing and passing it along is easy as well. As an herb, a little goes a very long way. I had trouble with black mold or fungus, year after year, but I just kept cutting it out and the plant was fine. The flowers attract wasps like crazy, so I kept it deadheaded.

TJ's has "greek style" yogurt that has a house label, and Fage that is from Greece. The two are not the same. Guess which one has the buzz?

You might add a touch of salt and vanilla to get the more chocolate flavor as well. The original fat ratio should be pretty high in the original recipe to not get a dry scone.

We went for the Whole Beast dinner. You can read about here: blathermunch 10 I do not like kidneys and pork tongue was low on my hits list. Lamb tongue, on the other hand, was quite tasty. The event was definitely in the special event category, pricewise, as well as a four hour dinner on a Monday night!

Haven't seen it - I don't go on East Marginal often. Georgetown Truck Stop appears to be for sale - craigslist. Too bad.

Has the saffron showed up yet? They bought everything from one of the authetic hand picked saffron small towns of La Mancha. "By mid-April, or perhaps early May, he said, certified saffron from La Mancha will be in the stores." Saffron + Costco

Just posted about a new breakfast and lunch spot in Georgetown - La Sabrosita - off Michigan on 5th? I think it is worth checking out.

La Saborsita, Georgetown - south of Michigan on 5th? Breakfast and lunch spot - sit down. Homemade tortillas, sauces, beans...real meals. Huge sandwiches. I had a great quesadilla filled with fresh mushrooms, onions and goat cheese, side of sour cream, guacamole, and reddish salsa.

Oh, that big!?! I figured just as far as the old glass shop. That's a major expansion. I wonder if they need a zoning variance to go that big in that location.

Funny, there was a grocery store where triple door is now, many years ago. So this is almost next door!

I would say more than two hours. When the basic dough comes out of the fridge, you add an hour to the rise time.

I switched to the cast iron dutch oven method for the last two loaves - wow! Great crust and rise. I can't believe how easy bread baking has become.