Listing everything I ate during my trip would pretty much be impossible, so here are some of the highlights.

Lunch on Friday included a drive to Ezell’s Fried Chicken.  It’s apparently famous in Seattle and has Oprah’s seal of approval.  There is a signed picture of her in the restaurant (which has no seating by the way), if it’s good enough for O then clearly this has got to be some quality chicken.  $10 later and enough fried food to keep my arteries pumping hard for the next year, I would have to say, good call Oprah.

Then we stopped by the Red Hook brewery, where $1 gets you a tour, a small glass and 2 pints of beer.  Excellent.  I was surprised that I enjoyed the Porter since I usually don’t drink dark beer.  Although I’m still trying to decide if the best part of the tour was the beer or the person who had a t-shirt that read, “I pound beers for Jesus.”

Ok. Dinner.  Pasta Fresco was recommended by a classmate of mine for the novelty.  There is no menu.  There are no prices.  Hell, I’m surprised there was even food (just kidding).  The owner comes out and asks if there is anything you don’t eat/allergic to and once that formality is cleared up, you start getting food.  And more food.  We started off with zucchini, tomato sauce and melted cheese.  It was delicious, although pepper is generally better when ground.  We then got salads, they were different from each other, but fairly standard.  Next came the chicken with mushrooms.  Good, but a bit heavy.  Then the fish (I got halibut and Sara was served salmon), which was nothing too exciting.  After the fish came the pasta, which was my favorite dish.  It was perfectly cooked and served with a light cream sauce.  I generally don’t favor cream sauces, but it was extremely light and flavorful.  Finally dessert, which wasn’t anything to write home about, so I won’t go into detail.  The meal was fun because we really had no idea what to expect, as an added bonus, we liked most of the food we received.  I recommend in a group setting, but I could see how this gets old.

No trip to Seattle would be complete without a trip to Pike’s Place Market either.  I love markets (like a whole lot) and this was no exception.  There were endless amounts of flowers, fish and other tasty treats.  The fish were HUGE too, benefits of living in the Pacific Northwest (I’m a bit jealous).  Look at these lobster tails, I could have knocked someone out with one of those things.

Finally, no trip to Pike’s Place would be complete without stopping by the original Starbucks across the street.  As a self-professed fan of coffee (and does Seattle have a lot of coffee places, swoon!!!!), I had to stop in and order myself a cup.  Not surprisingly it was mobbed and I had to wait in line for my beverage.  I was also a complete tourist (I’m allowed!) and bought myself a mug.

We also went to Fremont and took a tour of Theo’s Chocolate factory.  The tour actually taught us a great deal of about the history of chocolate, cacao beans, processing and eating (that was my favorite part).  And did we eat.  I think we sampled half their inventory and then some.  If you’re in the Seattle area, this is definitely a great way to spend an hour and a half.  If you don’t believe me, read this letter they received, I think it sums up the tour nicely nicely.

The last day I was there, Sara and I participated in “Cupcake Happy Hour” at Cupcake Royale in Ballard.  Yes, we got 6 cupcakes for the price of 3.  No, we did not eat them all, I don’t think it would have been physically possible.  We did sample all 6 the varieties though.  They were, starting from the top left and moving clockwise; Red Velvet, Salted Caramel, Honey Peanut Brittle, Dance Party, Lemon Drop and Lavender.  The best was one of their original flavors, “Dance Party.”  Although seriously, with a name like that it has to be good.

To sum it up; Seattle = awesome.  I’ll be back sometime over the summer for a weekend if anyone has some  suggestions on where to eat!