Seattle Get Away

Ahhh…who can ever say no to a girls weekend away?! Not me!

I recently went on a quick get away with 2 of the most fabulous gals I know. I’ll refer to them as K and T on here. A weekend where all of us just wanted some good laughs, great company and some good food adventures.

It was off to a good start! The two ladies got to my place early! Yeah! They helped me pack up my staff, I said bye to the family and we were off well ahead of schedule. And of course, no thanks to the borders, whatever time we were ahead, we were somewhat behind now. We ended up being at the border for close to 2 hours. If it was more, I lost count. Really, much too long.

But there is a silver lining to everything. Thanks to the border wait, we decided for an early lunch. Oh, my lovely K said that we should stop off at Jack in the Box. Like I would say no to a sourdough melt or the chance of getting a new antenna ball. I achieved both! And I guess maybe the oriental ladies are a bit of a novelty at the local Jack in the Box.. I was spared the pick up chit chat with a staff member as I headed off to the washroom. But K and T had one of the crew chat them up. He was hoping to meet them in Canada or see them again when we were heading back home. Apparently, I wasn’t peeing fast enough for them to get out of the joint fast enough.

Then off to the Seattle Premium Outlets. We found it easily and we marched our way to the info desk for some coupons. I don’t miss the chance for getting a good deal! After that, I split up from T and K for shopping on my own. I was on a mission…a Christmas gift mission. I wanted to get a bunch of gifts and I didn’t want to drag those two around. In a couple of hours, I went into every store, found 4 different Christmas gifts and did some good shopping for me and the family! Mission accomplished!

After the outlet. down the I-5 and off to Seattle to find our hotel. Traffic sucked. But thank goodness for good music and good chats. We ended up finding our hotel with ease. I knew we had gotten a cheap chain hotel, but it was one of the hotels that could have 3 people in it for a minimum charge. But they must have tried to hide a dead body in the closet or something. When we entered, there was a sweet smell of cinnamon which was fine. But another 5 seconds went by and our noses were practically burning from the cinnamon. Dang. I’m surprised we didn’t succumb to the damn smell. But opening patio doors and windows helped a bit.

But it didn’t matter. We dropped of our stuff and headed off the main culinary event we wanted to go to called the Bite of Seattle. The way they advertised the event, it should have been similar to the Bite of Vancouver which encompasses unique food experiences, opportunities to learn behind-the-scenes, entertainment through celebrity chef cooking demonstrations and culinary competitions, diverse food, beverage and cooking related exhibits; and of course fantastic shopping opportunities. Ummmm. Well, let’s just say that the Bite of Seattle did “bite” and I don’t mean that nicely. And honestly, it just bit the big one. Holy smokes. The crowds made it look like it was this amazing event. But when we got there, it was if we were at a bad fair where there were food booths. None of the food looked appetizing. And there were no “smells” in the air to indicate good food. We actually ended up leaving the “event” because us Vancouver food snobs couldn’t muster up the strength to eat that food. Really. It made PNE food look gourmet.

So we ended up at the Cheesecake Café. Not a bad choice at all! But this is where I digress to the conversation of “this is why Americans are so large.” I’m no skinny girl, but I feel so skinny when I’m down in the US. Holy smokes. The portions of food we got were big. The people sitting next to us had HUGE portions and they pretty much finished all of it. I’m sure each of our neighbour’s portions were a good 3 servings. I was so full I didn’t even get a piece of cheesecake…and when was the last time I ever gave that up?!

Anyway, day 1 ended with some good chats, some more giggles, tv and sleep. I was so tired from mega shopping that when the lights went out, I heard some words and I was quickly in la-la land.

Day 2 started off with our free breakfast in the hotel. Nothing special. But they had this spam hash that was gross looking but oddly, really yummy tasting. And seeing that hunk of hash made us talk for a very long time about Spam and Chinese cuisine using Spam. Ahhhh…memories of spam and eggs.

We decided that we’d go down to the Public Market and Pike Place that morning. We ended up getting there just as they opened. Oh, all the food looked delightful and absolutely beautiful. Everything was so fresh, the colours were so vibrant and you could smell so many wonderful things! I was in total awe of the green onions and large lobster tails. The pepper garlands were lovely too. Samples everywhere and just so much organized chaos! I loved it. Definitely a hippy Granville Island feel.

Though I must admit, walking with K in a place like this gives me a whole new perspective on things. All I kept hearing was “is that even healthy?” And when I finally looked at the situation, she was bang on about the situation being unhealthy. I swear, she should be a food inspector. But then she’d shut everyone down and we’d end up with very few food choices. The best unhealthy sighting was when I went to go watch the little donuts being made with a much larger donut machine than I’ve seen in a long time. And she says “is that even healthy?” I had no clue what she was talking about. But then she pointed to the radio speakers which was next to the donut machine. It had layers of dust on it and it was flying around…right by the donut machine. Gross. I don’t care how you deep fry dust, it isn’t good.

Before we left, I had to try a Chinese steamed bun. I always try something Asian in each city just to see how it compares to Vancouver. I think T and K were more interested in me getting the bbq pork on a stick. Pretty funny stuff. I opted for a simple steamed Chinese chicken bun. Sigh. Even our sister city who is so close by can’t do it right. It was dry, the ingredients not so right and just meh. Ugh. I really am a Vancouver food snot.

After a nice morning, it was time to start returning home but not without a couple of pit stops including another outlet, Costco and my favourite, Target. Oh, Target, how I love thee! So much good snack food! It’s insane! And even better, I got another Christmas gift there. But it was really about the junk food. Did I say junk food? Hello to my new favourites: Cheddar and Jalapeno Cheetos and the Chex Mix Bold. Pure awesomeness.

So, for an insanely short trip, a lot of shopping and eating was packed in. And so many good laughs and stories. Seriously. My stomach was hurting by the time I got home because I had been laughing so much…or it could have been the onions that was giving me the ring of fire. I’ll just go with good laughs.

We all had such an enjoyable time that we are already thinking of our next stop. Portland…here we come!