LEdlund

Thanks tsquare. I had called the hotels directly but these are better rates than they quoted me.....and they include parking and breakfast! We will be staying at the Fifth Avenue Suites.

Thanks, that's exactly what I am looking for!

Sorry to butt in here, but I will be coming down next weekend and am wondering about hotel suggestion, besides The Heathman, you have. I'm looking for someplace nice, with better-than-decent sheets, towels and pillows but not stuffy. Is there a W in Portland? Thanks

What Jaymes said. Adding the egg at the last minute is crucial to make the texture correct. I have some left over steamed rice....guess what I will be making for dinner

OK, I'll bite.... how do you eat soup with your hands?

Welcome to eGullet Pat. Thanks for the good advice. Three sweet courses in a row would be too much for me too. And the chicken with honey and prunes sounded so good I probably would have ordered it!

Thanks SethG for an infomative and entertaining diary of your Thompson Turkey. I have wanted to do one of these for years, but now I am going to take your advice and brine and do the Thompson stuffing.

Thanks tighe and fish. I hadn't seen the reviews from The Stranger or The Weekly. I had only ready a preview in the Times. After reading those, I am placing a call to the planner of this event because I know at least 1/3 of the participants are vegetarian and maybe even vegan But I do think I will try it myself even if we select another restaurant. I remember fondly Mamounia (sp?) when it was in Seattle. I had a lot of special meals there.

What can you tell me about it? I am going next month and would love to hear what's good, what's not so good, etc. Thanks!

I was just going to mention Sazerac. It's close to my office so I end up going there pretty regularly. The bar is great and they have good happy hour prices on appetizers. The menu is fun and changes often enough to keep me interested. I like the New Orleans influence to the menu. Other than Earth and Ocean, BM and Sazerac, do we have any hotel restaurants are worthy of patronage?

Interesting, LB didn't even make it a year. I only at there once and it was awful. To be fair it was on Thanksgiving and they had been only open three weeks. But after having many lovely meals at The Painted Table, it was a big disappointment.

I was there this morning too! Too bad we didn't run into each other. I brought an assortment into the office and tried bits of four of them. My favorite by far was the glazed old fashion' (as they call it). It was just the right texture - sort of between a cake and a yeast donut and the glaze added the crunch that I like. The regular glazed was very good and I agree, much better than KK. The double chocolate cake was better than I expected. It was slightly spongy and I liked it. I expected my favorite to be the maple bar, but it was a little much for me. Very, very sweet even with my coffee. In my office the favorite was the chocolate raspberry. I'm going to try that next. The space is so inviting. I can't wait to go when I have time to kick back there with my coffee and donut. A nice addition to downtown. By the way, the line was out the door when I got there at 8:00. It only took us 15 minutes to get through though.

A friend of mine always stays at the Kristal but evidently their beach is being rebuilt right now, so we decided to stay elsewhere. I seem to remember that Bogart's might be closed too, but we'll have to check that out. We definitely want to take a cruise. We were thinking of a day trip to Yelapa. Any suggestions for that?

I have that one on my list, it sounds so romantic. Did you have dinner there or just drinks? What kind of food is it?

Thanks for the fabulous report. My husband and I are heading there on Saturday and I am looking for all the tips I can get. My list of restaurants is growing quite long!

As long as the opening goes on as planned (and the lines aren't too outrageous) I will be stopping on my way to work to bring donuts to the office. Bring on the grease!

For the last couple of weeks, the sign in the window has said "Opening September 5th". This morning when I went by the sign now says "Opening September 12th".

I'm shocked to hear this, I just had dinner there last night! We were celebrating a birthday and had reserved a tatami room. I came in to work and complained all morning to a co-worker about the lousy service we had and how they were out of everything. I also commented on how strange it was to see the bar empty all night. No patrons, no bartender, nothing. It all makes more sense now.

I did the same thing! Malarkey, your meal of salmon and the bread sounded so good that I am having it for dinner tonight. Yum.

I was planning to attend but it turns out that I have a friend visiting from NY and there is going to be a meal held in her honor. Sorry I will miss it. Have a good time and report back!

Congratulations both of you! I'm also going to a wedding in the next couple of weeks hosted by some reastaurant biz folks. I'll see what they do and let you know. The other recent wedding reception I went was also held at The Ruins. The atmosphere is very, er, eclectic and I remember the food being very good. But you probably wouldn't want to have it there if you are planning to get married during the summer. It's kind of dark and there are no windows to the outside world.

Not ten minutes after I read this thread, a co-worker handed me the September issue of National Geographic Traveler which has an article on Seattle. The front page of the article has the picture of cappuccino that is on Vivace's website and a blurb about them.

I really like Diva Espresso. I know they have locations in Greenwood, Greenlake, West Seattle and North Seattle. They may have others but I'm not aware of them. They roast their own beans and give great descriptions of the type of bean and roast used in their blends. I used to drink nothing but latte's but Diva (and Alton Brown) taught me to appreciate a great cup of brewed coffee.

I'm guessing you don't have to be a member of SAG to appear on a Reality TV series.

I wonder what eGullet regular you could be talking about? Welcome CosmoTidbits!