malarkey

Obviously these folks have not had a KK donut recently. They are overly sweet grease bombs. I was delighted with the cake like texture of the TP donuts. don't change a thing. I need to have one hot though ;-)

OK, I made it to Top Pot this morning. Bought a selection for sampling. Got to taste a bit of each: Maple Bar, Maple cake, Maple old fashioned, (yes I have a thing for maple) plain 'glazed ring', valley girl lemon, (lemon curd inside), pink feather boa (vanilla icing with coconut) cinnamon sugar ring, apple fritter, raspberry glazed ring (the one I didn't get to taste). My faves: Maple cake: Utterly Beautiful. Apple Fritter: Excellent. regular glazed: a few hundred cuts above KK. GOOD COLD that says it all doesn't it. Maple bar: I've never had one so fat. Divine. And Mamster is right. The space is fabulous. Is everything being displayed now? Are there still hidden donuts in the back that aren't on the menu or in the cases?

LOL I can't remember the last time I had a Redhook.. oh wait, yes I do, it was in the spring. On tap at their brewery in Woodinville.

you won't be disappointed with the food at Mistral, however, for romantic atomsphere mmmmmm I'd say Rover's is better, Maximillians is the best. Its not bad at Mistral, but its a bit too 'open'. (course, when I think romantic, I think dark, private booths/tables)

ooo 6am!! I just might have a make a point of doing at least one really early morning there. I like getting up and going somewhere that early. Its a real novelty for me LOL as long as I only do it for something fun. If I had to get up that early to go to work daily I'd be hatin' life.

wow, I sooo need to go. How's it going this week? a bit calmer? Open at 8am??

the corn bread is most certainly fabulous. I had it with salmon grilled on a cedar plank over mesquite and it was divine. I just might need to go get a loaf before they quit making it... that would be like, um, tomorrow.

wow! congrats Schielke catering?! well I'm going to a wedding that's being catered on the 7th by.. by.. I can't remember. But I'll find out & I'll let you know if its any good. Both these folks are foodies too, so they chose their caterer with that in mind... how was the coast?? where did you go? eat any good food? LOL

Vivace makes what I would say is the best cuppa joe I've had in the city. Not to mention the most beautiful. check it out here.

yeah, but why fart and waste it when you can burp and taste it?

hmm I'm not so sure. I think both are equally bad. This guys behavior was atrocious. At this point I would have told him myself "Ladies are given menus FIRST" rather than let the waitress suffer. just to let him know what a cad he was being. its one thing to be ignorant, its quite another to be arrogant and ignorant. My mom drinks Coors Light and puts ice in it but she does this at home, as she hardly EVER drinks when out at a restaurant (consequence of living rural, you are 30 miles from the nearest restaurant) but she prefers her wines and cocktails on the sweet side ;-) Cold Duck was a regular at our house at Thanksgiving time LOL. other than that I would say embarassing moments came more with co-workers out to lunch. I've always kind of tried to evolve the cafeteria hamburger/pizza eating crowd to a higher level so I might actually have some decent lunch companions. But wherever I take them, they usually end up smelling the food with a suspicious look on their face and later tell me it was "awful". *sigh* pearls before swine...

This is it you know RN, you are taking Klink's place as the PNW smoker and all around meat man. Somebody pass the crown. Or did Klink take it with him? hey, what about doing some bacon with maple syrup as a flavoring?? ;-) I love dunking my bacon directly into maple syrup. the two flavors were made for each other.

wow this is on a monday... hmm I'd be coming from the eastside. I say we go to the italian place next door for food afterwards. wow msramsey.. do you remember (did you live here when) Seattle had a Trader Vic's? *sigh* it was a favorite late night spot. I still have a parrot from the potted parrot drink and I have a ceramic coconut (that says Trader Vic's!) that they used for their coconut drinks....

Thanks for the great article Craig. And I'm happy and proud to say that I indeed have sherry bottles in my recycle. I'm a regular consumer of Hildago La Gitana and also a huge fan of the Lustau wines. (which, incidently, are harder to find so now I know why..) but I'm lucky to live close to The Spanish Table and they have an awesome selection of sherries. I've always felt these were highly underrated wines.

you had a 27 yr old Bordeaux with a BLT? Now that's my kind of livin' LOL Oh by the way you aren't the only one who thinks Imagestation is a POS.

damn, too bad I didn't see this till now. The one brewery that I think is a must-go-drink-there is Diamond Knot in Mukilteo. On the way to Vancouver. Oh, and Maritime Pacific has a tasting room in Ballard. And there's Hales, also over in Ballard.

ironically, I was just at the store and the current Northwest Palate (the magazine) has a article on Walla Walla eats. Looks like there might be some decent choices...

ROAD TRIP!

ok, so I got ahold of a tape and watched it. I like it. yeah, it has all the bells & whistles all other reality shows have but at least its an interesting subject matter. what I can't figure out is why the 'gotta do this in 6 weeks' and why didn't they do a simpler make-over of the commune site? I know Rocco wanted to 'make it his own', but man they could have saved some heartache there. Is that a dead/undesirable part of town? will the restaurant even make it to December?? How many dinners is it doing now? has the food improved? are people getting paid now?! I think the fast deadline thing was more to create drama & stress than anything else.

ok, quick review of the beers I tasted at the fest. (yes, I managed to stay semi-coherent enough to take notes). Bottled beers: Unibroue from Quebec: Trois Pistole - a Belgian Strong Ale: almost port like, complex malt flavors that aren't 'in your face'. Wonderful. Éphémère - Apple Wit bier: oh my god, maybe the winner of the show. a lovely cross between a hard cider and a wit style. great summer beer, with the apple flavor in the foreground, with the coriander/orange in the background. excellent beer. Nora - an italian beer described as an "Egyptian with ginger & orange": definite ginger flavor in the beginning. only slight on the orange, this was an interesting beer I'd like to try again on its own. Hannsen's Mead the Gueuze, a gueuze/mead blend from Belgium & England: I really liked this one too. Smelled like honey, tasted like gueuze. nice balance between the two flavors. Caracole Saxo - a Wallonian Blonde from Belgium: I needed to try this just because I'd never heard of a "Wallonian Blonde". Nice beer, typical Belgian flavors, nothing wrong with it at all, but seemed a bit ordinary after tasting the Unibroue's... Drafts: Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA from Delaware: not much malt, strong hops (tasted like Cascades to me) a nice beer, but this one doesn't take Diamond Knot IPA off their pedastel. Leipziger Gose: a rare German gueuze: whoa, tasted like a wit to me, with coriander and salt flavors. Unibroue Maudite: a Belgian Red. only slightly sweet, nice malt flavors, subtle. Dinkelacker Dark: a Munich Dunkel: good malt/hop balance, not heavy, filtered. a good session beer. I personally love and prefer unfiltered dunkels, they look like muddy water and taste surprisingly light and oh so drinkable. Hair of the Dog "Fred": a Triple. very much like a barley wine, intense, syrupy, winey, high alcohol. St. Bernardus 12: a Quadruppel: never had one so had to try it. smooth, but strong alcohol and malt. lacks the syrupy winey thing barley wines have. Those are all my notes kids. by this time I had a really good buzz going. Me, MsRamsey and Rose had a grand time, ran into SeaWaKim, Mr SeaWaKim and Mr SeaWaKim's Mom. They seemed to be having a grand time as well. We decided Happy Hour at Brasa was in order after all that beer so we indulged ourselves. I would have to say for the small sampling I did, the Unibroue beers were the clear winners and the ones I'll be seeking out very soon to sample again. I've had the La Fin du Monde and I liked it but it didn't draw me to taste the other Unibroue's. Really glad I got the chance here. I know that Rose & MsRamsey tasted a few I didn't (and we did some sharing) so I'll leave it up to them to fill in the gaps in my review! edit: ah, left one off I just remembered. Liefmans Frambozenbier: a sour flemish brown: very raspberry, but not in an overly sweet way. still, this is a good example of something that is NOT a session beer Would be a great dessert beer.

I'm not sure they could do Cafe Juanita for ~$75 for 2 though...

the 2 beers currently in my fridge awaiting my anxious lips and just the right moment: a Lost Coast Indica IPA, and a New Belgium Trippel.

We get it in Washington. Are we really that much closer than MI? Does WI and IL get it? Speaking of New Belgian, they have a new summer brew that is like a Belgian Wit. Very nice drinking. Its called Porch Swing or something such. me? hmm last beer drank: A Deschutes Quail Springs IPA. Drank Sunday night after a long trail ride. yippee-ti-yi-yea! BUT there's one more beer left in my fridge.. ashamedly, I don't recall what it is. But I'd lay money down that it very well could be a Bridgeport IPA. (yes I'm a hophead).

OK, its on. I'm relieved of my obligations and I can be irresponsible. I'm going, MsRamsey is going (and bringing a friend) and we're gonna taste beers. Tighe, this is right up your alley. Anybody else coming?! We're meeting at 12:30!

speaking of.. its been awhile since I've seen any sea urchins on the Oregon coast. I think the last time I saw them it was down by Newport somewhere. Tidepools can also be found at Oswald State Park and the beach at Oceanside. (during low tide of course)