I love living in this city. Badger and I went for a walk along Alki this morning and we took a break on one of the fishing docks to stare out over the bay and take it all in. We probably stood there for 3 minutes looking straight down in to the water. Within that time, we say a jellyfish floating by and 2 harbor seals swimming and bopping their heads to the top of the water. It was my perfect morning.....cloudy, fog just lifting over the buildings on the city skyline, wet sidewalk from last night's rain, upper 50s......just perfect. My favorite touristy thing to do is visit a city's aquarium. Though I've been to the Seattle aquarium, it is so much cooler to see this animal life during a morning walk.
Just a quick post about my favorite time of year.....The air is getting crisper and the leaves are just beginning to change. A good sign that college football is under way! Thankfully, Ryan and I have the Big 10 Network via DirecTV, so we'll get all the Badger games. So far, we have 3 non-conference wins under our belt, but our top 10 standing is shaky with our smaller than expected margin of wins. Conference play begins this weekend against Iowa, so we'll soon see!
Surprisingly, there are a few Big 10 alumni/supporters out here in Seattle. We went to RockSports to watch the Ohio State vs UW-Huskies on Saturday - thinking that the game would be on the big screen since the Huskies are the hometown team. But, we found a bunch of skinny, punk Michigan fans sitting in front of the main TV and we learned that of all the sports bars in all the world (or the only one in our 'hood) This One had to be the Michigan bar. Oh well, Michigan still sucks.
Date-nights change after you've been married for a couple of years. If you aren't careful, anytime you swipe on some lip gloss and leave the house with your husband will count. So, I was so happy that on a recent night, I was able to tear Ryan away from his BELOVED grilled cheese and baseball games at Rocksport Bar & Grill for dinner at the West 5 Lounge. This place is perfect! I'm not much of a clubber, but I still like going out, so give me a good lounge and a great cocktail, and I'm satisfied. Not only do they offer upscale comfort food (including a grilled cheese of their own) but they also make a dead-on perfect Negroni. Oh, how I love a well made gin cocktail. This is big - ladies, you know.....to discover a cool place for food and drinks that is an equal substitute for a sports bar! West 5 has been added to my list.
Ryan and I got lucky and had the last minute opportunity to go out with some new friends last night and see Richard Cheese. If you are not familiar with this odd-ball crooner, I have a few friends who'd be more than happy to sing his praises to you. I've heard some of his renditions before and he's known to be a hilarious act, so we were pretty excited.
We met up with our crew at The Chapel Bar in Capitol Hill. Right away I was a little put-off because I feel weird in any former place of worship that gets turned in to a bar or club for the marketing glory of it. But I bucked up. Aside from the icky smell that we all agreed was a mix cat pee and old varnish and the slight trendiness that I typically avoid, the place was pretty cool looking. Not enough seats available on the inside, so we sat on the patio, which by the way, is actually the partially covered garage area where hearses parked waiting to whisk the newly dead to their final resting. Maybe if I didn't think too much about these places, it wouldn't bother me at all because it was a beautiful night and the patio seating was spacious. Service pretty much sucked, but we learned that one server walked out, so the rest were left to scramble. As former servers ourselves, we understood. Turns out that Chapel Bar has a really great drink and snack menu and the best happy hour I've come across yet - 5:00-8:00pm DAILY! I had a Lavendar martini made with gin and lavendar syrup. I'm not usually for the sweet cocktails, but the gin gave this just enough bite. We ate dinner before going out, but next time we'll probably give the antipasto plate or marinated olives or even the grilled cheese a try.
Ok, finally time to go see Dick Cheese. I heard the venue was small, but I thought that would be perfect for this kind of performer. He is a lounge act after all. Oh man, were we ever unprepared for El Corazon. Unexplainedly, it was an all ages show, so the adult cocktailing crowd was literally corraled in to a pen near the bar. Push threw the line, get your drink, carefully turn, and stand - all you could do. There was another room off the main floor that we ended up in, but no view of the stage from there. They did have some TVs propped above the bar and other corners of the wall, but these were not of best quality and the sound matched. I tried to venture out to the main floor a couple of times, but it was a wall of people and I only got a glimps of his head from time to time. I felt like I was back at 18 pushing through a dance club to find my friends in a crowd of people who seemed to be having a blast, thinking "why am I not having as much fun???" Anyway, the Cheese sort of looks like Jon Lovitz, so I just went with that and pictured his performance in my head. It is doubtful that I will EVER be back to El Corazon for a show, but in all fairness, it could be good for an over 21 performance.
Fellow Vegas-goers....Do you ever wonder why we do this to ourselves? Really now. There are so many wonderful places in the world to go on vacation and yet, we constantly end up here. Sure, the commercials are true....great restaurants, lots of shopping destinations, world class shows, so on and so on, but its also more expensive every year and as much as The Strip changes, it somehow all looks the same. Or, maybe I'm just cynical this time because we lost our asses. Hmmmmm. Next time, we'll get 'em!
So, back after our not-so-restful vacation and in the swing of things. Last week, Ryan and I went downtown to pick something up from his office. Since we were there, we decided to head to Pike Market and pick up some veggies. Yes, there are fabulous neighborhood farmers markets all over the city and yes, Pike Market is a bit of a tourist attraction, but it's also closer to our house than many of the other markets. There are other benefits to heading down to Pike Market - more amazing shops! We stopped in to Beecher's Handmade Cheese shop and gladly waited in line to pick up a hunk of their Flagship Cheese. It's a semi-hard blend of cheddar and gruyere with a sharp bite to it. At the Market entrance, you'll find DeLaurenti Specialty Food & Wine, which is just plain fun to walk through. Give me a tall, long shelf of olive oils and specialty vinegars and I'm a happy girl! They've also got quite a deli case filled with cheeses and speciality sausage, pepperoni, proscuitto, salami and a bunch of other stuff that I just couldn't see because of the wall of people. Ryan patiently waited for me to browse and select the house brand of olive oil and some long ziti noodles that I've never had before.
Back at home, we put those groceries to good use and had our friends Sarah and Ryan over for dinner. Badger was very happy that they brought his buddy, Gus with them. I think they get along so well because they are about the same size. Gus is a pretty fat pug. Badger doesn't have quite the energy & curiosity level as Gus, but I think he's just trying to set a mature example. He'll have plenty of time for that when Gus comes over on Friday to spend the weekend!
I've gotta say that the parks in this city are truly something worth commenting on. I'm not talkin about just the people parks....but I'll come back to that in a minute! Ryan and I took Badger to a dog park, in what some may call a sketchier side of town, but hey, the view is amazing. Let me preface this by saying that the dog park we frequented in Denver was an open field of dirt - not to say there aren't nice parks in the Denver area, but that is the one I'm familiar with. Anyway, we get to the park and are greeted by the mandatory double fence to help the more michevious dogs (Read: Badger) stay in when other dogs are going home. But, everything else was brand new to us in dog park terms. First off, trees everywhere of course, this is the great Northwest afterall. One wide path going down and one wide path going up almost make you feel like you were entering some crazy forest, but we braved forward and chose the path going down. Mind you, this is an off-leash park, so I was expecting to see a big fence around the parameter. Since there wasn't, we kept Badger on his leash while we checked things out and he sufficiently hosed down the entrance. After a minute or so, we get back to where the paths meet at a big open field with hills, benches, a canine cantina where the water is, picinic tables and poop bag dispensers all over the place. Hello! If you are a dog owner, you learn to appreciate conveniently located poop bags and garbage recepticles! After about 30 minutes of acting like a big dog, Badger was ready to go, so we headed back down the trail and out. The best part is that this dog park is under 10 minutes from our house!
Ok, back to the parks for the people.....On last week's "family day" we all went to Lincoln Park here in West Seattle. This is a few miles down from Alki Beach, but still on the coast. Now, I first learned about this part via a little flyer that the Seattle Park & Rec Department mailed to us - thank you very much city - and I suggested we follow the map and go check it out. I was expecting an open grassy field with swing sets and the usual, but I was met with what could only be described as a forest. There were a few openings in view and based on the map, we could see that there were wide, well groomed paths that lead in to the park itself. So, we picked the closest and started walking, again with Badger hosing as many bushes down as possible. This park is nothing short of amazing. There are ball fields, a wading pool, picinic shelters and swings in the heart of the woods (or park) and more paths that lead toward the water. Of course I want to see the water, so we pick a trail that starts down the hill. It was actually a very similar scene to the trails around Lake Mendota by the UW-Madison campus. Anyway, when we got closer to the edge, we really saw the payoff of moving to this beautiful place. We were standing above the Puget Sound coast and the park running along the water, looking across at the islands to the West, seeing all sizes of boats on the water and, since it was a clear day, the mountain range above it all. That isn't even the coolest part though! Right on the side of the water is a pool, but not just any ordinary public summer pool. Coleman Pool is an outdoor, salt water fed, heated pool with only the best view I can imagine! We stopped to ogle at all of this for a few minutes and then Badger pulled us down the beach, passing joggers, bikers, roller bladers, other dogs and, of course, sea kayakers to our left, back to a trail that led back up the hill. You can bet I'll be dragging visitors here too. And the best thing? Yes, 10 minutes from my house.
I knew that our friend Matt had been living in Seattle for the past 4 or 5 years, but as things go, we didn't stay in touch after we all parted ways from Pedros Mexican Restaurante in Madison. Thankfully, a mutual friend did and she tipped us all off to each others presence here. Perfect, another Wisconsinite to share our love for Badger football, hockey, brats and all things WI! Oh, and he and his girlfriend play Euchre - does it get any better?!
If you are in to live music, you have to check out Matt's new endevour www.barbarianmusic.com. With his programming background and general love for original, hardworking musicians, he has found a way to bring Seattle independent music to the masses. You can search for shows, browse and download albums and feel good knowing that the sales proceeds are going to the musicians. Pretty slick.
We have definitely made progress on our house. I'm really impressed thinking about what we've done since Memorial Day weekend when I officially moved out here. Here's a rundown of projects we've managed to complete....
- Painted guest bedroom/my office a navy blue, which, after the first few swipes I was terrified would come out black
- Painted kitchen a soft yellow (not as tough as you might think actually!)
- Painted living room a kind of gray,purplish,brown shade. If you saw our house in Denver, its the same color we used in the living room there. I just love it!
- Painted 2nd floor powder room a dark tan - I hesistate to say brown because a brown bathroom doesn't sound that pretty. This is, I assure you.
- Installed blinds on the 2 landings
- Put up curtains in the living room
- Put up curtains in the master bedroom - thank goodness! It gets light at 4:00 right now.
- Put together my desk and Ryan's desk
- Put together downstairs TV stand and coffee table
- Put together barstools for the kitchen island
Those are the big ones I'd say with lots of busy odds and ends tasks thrown in. It's been fun (and an exercise on the wallet - IKEA loves us) but I'm happy to take a break and start enjoying the soon to be summer weather!
My first real shot at investigating some of Seattle's nightlife was made effortless by the help of a new friend. We started at Tini Bigs for cocktails and I now understand the raves I've been reading. This place is terrific and with the list of Bigs Martinis, everyone will find something they like. I found the classic gin martini to be one of the best ever - perfect amount of vermouth, big green olives - yum! I also tried the Hang-over Tini which is like a Bloody Mary. Good, but be aware of the jalepenos in those olives.
After drinks, we moved on to dinner and again, thank goodness for my companion's excellent taste! Navigating Pike Market we made our way down Post Alley to this place called the Pink Door. What a beautiful place! Dimly light, it is sort of castle/dungeonish, but in a romantic way. We sat on the patio so I could enjoy the view of Elliott Bay, afterall, I moved here for all of the water. She had delicious spinach lasagne and I had gnocchi in a style I've never tried before. Roman style gnocchi, but not in the familiar little dumpling shape, in big (picture giant sea scallops) puffy circles. It was served with a sauce of gorgonzola, walnuts and spinach. Amazing! And, as luck would have it, my friend is a sommelier so dinner was accompanied by a brilliant Barolo.
Two spots to add to the visitor's potential To Do list!
Last week I read an article from the West Seattle Herald's online archive entitled "101 Things to do in West Seattle". Just what I needed, a little help in exploring my new neighborhood - which, I've learned, the locals don't really consider so much a neighborhood of Seattle, but a separate city all together. The article itself was comprised of lists of restaurants, outdoor activities, arts & entertainment, you know, the usual suspects. None of the lists clicked off to more detailed information, but I did learn that the mind behind this compilation had written a book to expand upon the list and give me the goods on each suggestion. I decided that I would have to pop in to Barnes and Noble the next time I'm in my friendly shopping center and pick up a copy.
Yesterday morning, I headed to my local farmers market to pick up some flowers and maybe a few plants. Looking around, I found a woman standing at a table displaying that very book I was in pursuit of. I was pleasantly surprised to not only buy the book without the extra shopping trip, but also to meet the author herself who autographed my copy and welcomed me to the neighborhood. Since I was wearing a Wisconsin T-shirt (typical for a Sunday morning) I was stopped by a gentleman, Jerry, on the way out who also grew up and went to college in WI. We talked for a couple of minutes and then I was on my way with my book, a bouquet of flowers and an appreciation for the friendly people in my new home.
I'll keep you posted on my progress through the list of 101!
