Sorry for the delay, but Ian and I have been busily catching up with studying for midterms after this fun weekend with the family in town. We began with a walking food tour of Seattle ... starting off downtown, then heading through Pike's Place Market (of course), and then up to Capitol Hill, our beloved former neighborhood which has changed a lot in just two years.
In the morning, we hopped onto the ferry to Seattle and were dropped off right downtown for our first stop at Frans' Chocolate ... favorite of President Obama and Michelle Obama themselves:
As one of my friends mentioned before: "it looks like a jewelry case full of chocolate"
A sample given to us ... This is what Frans is known the most for ... grey sea salt caramels (this is President Obama's favorite and they are sent to the White House from here in Seattle!)
I also had an Oolong Tea truffle ... so beautiful
From Frans' we walked a couple blocks up to Pike's Place Market
The famous fishmongers at the market
And I can never pass by Piroshki Piroshki without getting something!
After the downtown scene, we walked up to Capitol Hill's Melrose Market for a stop at Taylor Shellfish ... surprisingly, Ian's friend was working there. Although he didn't mention it to us himself, we found out later from another friend that he won the world oyster shucking competition in 2011!
Geoduck (long neck clam, or in Japanese, Mirugai) sashimi platter - dug up from local tidal flats
Local clams, a dozen oysters, and long neck clam
Oyster assortment... from Totten Inlet (washington), Olympias (native species to olympia, washington), Shigoku (Samish bay, washington), Kumamotos (washington), Kushis (British Columbia), Virginicas (washington), and Fanny Bays (British Columbia). Wow I'm impressed with myself that I remembered all of them!
It's hard to avoid such good shellfish in Washington ... Look at all the locations!
Ray also wanted to try a local Dungeness Crab ... no sauces, drizzles, or dips to mask the flavor of this amazing crab ... just simple boiled and chilled (and cracked for us!)
This is the sweetest crab I've ever had
Fresh geoduck/long neck clam/mirugai shipment came in while we were snacking away!
After the shellfish, we walked over to the rest of the Melrose Market area for a drink before setting off into the rest of Capitol Hill.
I love Melrose Market because it's a unique space ... great butcher, cheesemonger, wine/cocktail bar, intimate restaurant, and flower purveyor all under one roof. From The Calf & Kid cheese monger, Ian found these wonderful dried thin-sliced orange slices. They go great with cheese.
No pictures, but we then made our way over to Marination Station which is a korean-style taco truck that won "best food truck in the U.S." They set up their first actual store location and we enjoyed Kahlua pork tacos, spam sliders, and kalbi ribs!
We then found Sugarpill, located at the southern end of Cal Andersen park. The proprietor is a medicinal herbalist
Dozens of different salts .. merlot salt, habanero pepper salt, sea salts from around the world ...
Karen, the owner, was in the process of making up a mouthwash for the gentleman on the left ... she has hundreds of herbs and tinctures to make anything needed. Ian and I settled on seaweed detox bath salts that she made
Local funky furniture shop
Finally, we ended the evening at Skillet Diner to see our friend Molly who is now the general manager there. Skillet is a very well known food truck, but this was their first brick-and-mortar location.
I had a grilled cheese made with gruyere and brie, with fried chicken thighs and poutine (french canadian style fries which are covered with cheese curds and gravy)
Dessert ... bacon and maple drizzled ice cream with french toast
As if all that weren't enough ... Kathie bought us cupcakes from Cupcake Royale ... bacon maple and wanut maple cupcakes
The following morning, we all met up at Hi-Lo's 15th street cafe here in Bremerton (next to school) for breakfast in the little VW van
My eggs benedict
Yes, we are eating in the van! And yes, it's heated
Fully stuffed, we piled into the rental van and made our way up to historic victorian Port Townsend for our ferry over to Whidbey Island. In the late 1800s, Port Townsend was expected to be the biggest city in Washington. Its primary industry was lumber, and the wood from the trees was sold and shipped primarily to San Francisco which was in the process of building all of its city up. However, the railway never came up the Olympic Peninsula side of Puget Sound and instead went through Tacoma and into Seattle. That was the fall of Port Townsend from the early 1900s onward.
Lots of old victorian buildings remain, and this is one of the biggest arts communities in Washington.
Crossing the Hood Canal Bridge ... longest floating bridge over a saltwater tidal segment in the world, and third longest floating bridge in the world overall.
Quick ferry over to Whidbey Island ... here is Ebey's Landing lighthouse
In the town of Coupeville, 2nd oldest town in Washington and 1st national historical preserve in the US, we headed over to Toby's Tavern for some world famous Penn Cove mussels pulled up right from this water:
Mussels in the US usually have an orange rim when cooked and are quite chewy ... it's why I never liked them. However, while in Paris I had some amazing "moule frites" (mussles and fries) which were SOOO tender. French mussels had a very thin shell and the meat was so tender and sweet. I've never been able to find anything like them until I tried Penn Cove mussels ... exactly like the French ones! And so amazing they're from right here. No wonder why they're known by the best restaurants.
Inside Toby's Tavern
View from our seat of Penn Cove ... our mussels pulled fresh right from the water in front of us
4 pounds of shellfish goodness with garlic bread and fresh cod fish and chips
Walking around Coupeville ...
Ian found a mussel
Water is so clear and calm
Then, we drove up to the northern tip of Whidbey Island to visit Washington's most popular state park: Deception Pass which is between Whidbey Island and Fidalgo Island.
Hiking down to the beach
Scenes like this are why I love the northwest
(Yes, dad, the water is really that blue!)
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