Wednesday, January 24, 2007

A Day in the Life of the Traveling Mingles

We spent this past weekend in Seattle and although Mr. Mingle and I were only in Seattle together for two full days, we made the most of it. And, as I had predicted prior to leaving – we ate our way through the City…

Saturday 10am: After a leisurely wake-up and get-ready, we left the hotel in search of brunch. Mr. Mingle had planned ahead and printed out a list of recommended brunch places but when we looked at where hour hotel was, compared to where we wanted to end up – the Seattle Space Needle, we abandoned the list, thinking the places were all too out of the way.

An hour of walking later, we did in fact end up at one of the restaurants, Le Pichet, but not near the Space Needle. Oh well, change of plans are good.

Brunch was delicious, but not a typical American breakfast of heavy eggs/bacon/potatoes, so although we were pleasantly full, we were not stuffed and set off towards the Pike Place Market. We visited a few quaint shops on the way, and took note of a wine tasting shop that would be open later on.

12ish: After thoroughly exploring the market, we decided that is was time to find the next food stop. After careful investigation of a piroshki shop and a couple of bakeries, we settled on a cheese shop where we could get mac ‘n cheese and a crab and cheese sandwich. While there we also picked up some special cheese to have as hors d’oeuvres later on in our room. (In other words – we like cheese)

1:30: Next stop – Pioneer Square about a mile away. We continued to amble along, stopping into shops along the way, including a gelato store where we looked (and admired) but did not buy. Eventually we made it to Pioneer Square and decided to go on the Underground Tour to get a little history of Seattle and do something different (other then eating). The tour guides were fun and informative and we enjoyed it immensely. The tour also started and stopped in a pub so we were very delighted to learn that our ticket got us a $2 beer at the end.

4:00: Left the pub after our $2 beers in search of bread to go along with our cheese for hors d’oeuvres. First we got the bread, and then we went back to the wine tasting shop to find the perfect bottle of wine to go with our cheese and bread. After tasting four Syrah’s that were recommended to go with our cheese, we settled on a different bottle for the cost and the label. (Jester’s Red)

After leaving the wine tasting shop our intention was to go to the Space Needle which was the first place we were headed when we initially set off on our walk in the morning (it was now dark). As we walked we investigated the restaurants along the way to find the one that looked the best for dinner. (Mr. Mingle may say that he scoffs at planning ahead, but when food is involved…puhlease….)
Unfortunately the Space Needle was closed for a private party (it turns out there was a convention of librarians in town who had taken over) so we walked the last 15 minutes to our hotel on Lake Union to enjoy our hard earned wine, cheese and bread.

8:00: Arrived for reservations at Twist. The food was good, I guess you would call it Asian Fusion, and I particularly enjoyed my cocktail – a Mojito with a twist. When we were finished, we weren’t yet ready for dessert so went in search of the next stop…

9:30: Enjoyed dessert at another restaurant across the street: BellTown Bistro. This was the perfect place to end the day – it had a lounge with comfortable leather chairs where we relaxed and traded questions from the Trivial Pursuit box that was sitting next to our chairs. We ordered S’mores which turned out to be just that – flaming sterno, graham crackers, hershey’s chocolate bars and marshmallows. Relaxing in leather chairs making s’mores over a flame – it’s a good life.

(The next day we made it to the Space Needle)

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