A beautiful view of Downtown Seattle from Kerry Park
A couple of weekends ago, I decided to get out of Berkeley for the weekend and visit friends J & B in Seattle. Having lived there for 3 years now, J & B were awesome tour guides, especially since they love to eat and drink (and be merry!) just as much as I do. I have many photos, so I’ve divided them into two posts for easier consumption. Enjoy!
Friday, 19 June
I awoke (at the very late hour of 10:30am) to the delicious smell of sausage and eggs. J whipped up breakfast: a delightful scramble of eggs, sausage, avocado (yum!), tomato, and onion, served with ripe peaches and toast. The contrasting textures and flavors, especially the sausage and avocado, were so delicious — definitely one of the best scrambles I’ve ever had.
A great start to the day!
After breakfast, J took me downtown to do some sightseeing. First stop: Seattle’s famed Pike Place Market, home of fish-throwing fishmongers. We didn’t witness any fish throwing, but we did walk the seemingly endless rows of stalls selling fresh produce, fish, flowers, and other goodies. EF tipped me off to a tiny donut stand that makes miniature donuts, selling for $2.70 for half a dozen. Despite the grunginess of the stand and of the dirty, apathetic punk rocker who worked there, we were delightfully surprised by how good the little fried treats were. Thanks for the tip, EF!
Not Krispy Kreme, but pretty good nonetheless!
"Fancy Jumbo Grilling Scampis," where Jumbo is an understatement.
A beautiful bouquet for the bargain price of $8. One thing I loved about the market was the abundance of affordable, beautiful flowers. If I lived close to this market, I'd definitely have to set aside a monthly flower allowance!
One of the top Seattle tourist stops: the very first Starbucks.
For lunch, we met up with B near his work for Mexican food at the Agua Verde Cafe (and Paddle Club!). Because we had been nonstop eating, J and I shared the Bacalao, fried cod in a coconut beer tempura with shredded cabbage and creamy avocado sauce. B also ordered fish tacos, but went with the Dorado, grilled mahi mahi. I have to say that, while both were good (especially the avocado sauce), the fried cod was definitely superior.
Fried cod with avocado sauce. Yum.
Grilled mahi mahi soft tacos.
Lunch must have triggered our appetites for more fish, because we headed to Kisaku for dinner, one of J & B’s favorite sushi restaurants. To start, we ordered sunomono, cucumber and seaweed salad, with octopus (my choice), and tofu dengaku, fried tofu with sweet miso sauce (J & B’s choice). Usually, sunomono is a fresh mix of sweet and sour, but this particular salad was watery and lacked flavor. However, the tofu was really good (as are most fried foods).
Disappointing sunomono. I really wanted to like it.
Fried tofu with delicious sauce.
For the main course, we went with a mix of nigiri, rolls, and fried shrimp heads! All of the fish was fresh and tasty, and the portions were generous. I really enjoyed Kisaku!
The rolls: the Wallingford roll (top left), Alaska roll? (bottom left), spicy tuna (middle), and Green Lake (right). The Green Lake was my favorite -- I loved the marinated seaweed on top.
Nigiri (from top to bottom): sweet shrimp, tuna, salmon, and scallop.
Eating fried shrimp heads: 3 portraits. Despite my expression, it was actually really delicious. Again, you can't go wrong with fried food!
My very gracious hosts and tour guides, B & J.
July 5, 2009 at 2:57 pm
I think you have to buy a fish to make those guys throw one. Or you can loiter around eating donuts until somebody else buys one like my brother and I did in January.
July 5, 2009 at 4:00 pm
love seattle! ditto on the fresh flower market…amazing. i love peonies, good choice!
July 5, 2009 at 8:41 pm
BABY DONUTS ZOMG ZOMG I NEED THEM.