We Arrive in Seattle

On Friday morning, the day we were supposed to go from Bellingham to Seattle, Craig had a family emergency and so he left me in the care of his friend Rena who drove me down and babysat me while he tended to things. Rena was a very good babysitter: we had a deep conversation about subway racism on the drive to Seattle and then, when we arrived, she toured me around a bit. Our first stop was Volunteer Park (near her apartment) which featured a water tower that we climbed in order to take the picture you see above. Then she took me to...

a cool greenhouse:

Where we saw pretty flowers:

After the flowers I was a bit beat and so we went to Rena's apartment where her boyfriend Aubrey was waiting. Aubrey's a music aficionado, a rock musician and an artist. I studied the art he had hanging on the walls while listening to the record albums he cued up. Then their friend Susie came over to hang out and we began to discuss where we'd go to dinner.

"We could go to Ethiopian food," suggested Rena. "Seattle has lots of Ethiopian food," she informed me. I'd never had Ethiopian food before but quickly grew concerned when I was told it involves sharing from a communal plate and using one's hands.

"But what if someone has dirty hands?" I queried. Everyone found this funny. So we loaded up into Rena's car and drove here, to Queen Sheba Ethiopian Cuisine:

Here's Rena, Aubrey and Susie showing off their Ethiopian beer and very clean hands (which I insisted upon several times):

We ordered the vegetarian platter which was appropriate for the many vegetarians among us. Here it is for you to gaze at:

And here's the pancake they give you to scoop everything up:

Now because I'd never had Ethiopian food before it's difficult for me to gauge how good this was. I enjoyed the variety and textures and flavors but didn't necessarily feel that anything was particularly delicious or memorable. It was fun, though, to share a big plate of food with new friends while getting babysat and as far as communal eating experiences go, this is a good one.

Across the street from Queen Sheba is a used book store overrun by stray cats. Look at this cute little sucker:

It was here that Craig caught up with us, along with Kristin (his sister). Together we all went to a bar to meet Craig's cousin and a few more friends, including Kristin's friend Amy who's a huge fan of my site. Such a big fan that I will honor her by posting her picture and her boyfriend's picture too: (he's a chef, so it's food related):

Now the next morning we went to Craig's favorite breakfast place in the whole world, Glo's, but I can't tell you anything more because I just wrote a piece about it for Serious Eats. So check over there to learn about our breakfasty experience.

This day, Saturday, was "Adam Sees Seattle" day and we started at the main hub of Seattle tourists and locals alike, the Pike Place Market. Here's Kristin, Craig and Rena out in front:

Perhaps the most famous thing about Pike Place Market are the fishmongers who throw fish. I'm not sure why they do this but it's a beloved Seattle institution. When I said I was going to Seattle everyone wrote comments, "You have to go see the guys throw the fish!" So here they are, but they're not throwing the fish in this picture because that'd be too hard to coordinate:

Wandering around the market was lots of fun but it was really crowded, so we walked down several sets of stairs so we could walk along the water. We were joined by Craig's friends Morgan and Wendy who have a new baby (insert baby name here). As we walked along the water, we stumbled upon a store that triggered a gun in my memory: World Spice. Why does this sound familiar? Oh yes! This is where Amanda Hesser suggests ordering spices from in her book "Cooking For Mr. Latte." I quickly excused myself from the group and ran in:

As I scanned the shelves I remembered that there was one particular spice that Amanda says is worth getting, a certain kind of pepper or replacement for pepper that has lots of flavor...but what could it be? And then I saw it, Grains of Paradise:

Cue the song "Almost Paradise" and then change the words to "Grains of Paradise." I got a 1 oz. bag of these fiesty pepper alternatives and I've yet to use them so I'll blog about it when I do. But here's a funny Grains of Paradise story: Rena got a 1 oz. bag of Grains of Paradise and put them in her coat pocket and later in the trip we went to go see a band called Awesome in concert. At the door to the concert they patted you down searching for weapons, alcohol or drugs. They pulled out Rena's bag of "Grains of Paradise" and asked her what it was. When she said "A pepper alternative" they eyed her suspiciously but ultimately let her through. I thought that was a funny story.

Here's the group of us posing near the water:

From here we entered a Craig and Kristin favorite, Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe, home of the Stillborn Fawn:

A terrifying dancing dummy (the one the left, not Kristin):

And...well...

But soon I insisted we return to the Pike Place Market. "Hey!" I informed the group. "I hear there are donuts in there that are worth getting and I manage a food blog, see, and I gotsta eat those donuts so I can maintain my reputation. Aight?"

The group willfully obeyed and soon we were inside getting in line for the Doughnut stand:

Only just as we cued up, one of the doughnut makers announced that there were only two dozen doughnuts left. And there were 8 people in front of us. Now that may not seem like a big problem but these doughnuts are tiny doughnuts and they come in bags of 1/2 a dozen doughnuts each. I thought we were done for but then I saw the doughnut man put a bunch of doughnuts in a giant bowl and then I heard him say, "This way everyone can have some." When we got to the counter, we saw what had happened:

Instead of selling the remaining doughnuts to the few people in front of us, they decided to give away all the remaining doughnuts for free. Now where else in the world would that happen? In your neighborhood? I doubt it! This was a fine moment for Seattle.

I must report that at this moment Craig, a lover of all things aquatic, spotted a giant metallic squid hanging from the ceiling:

He then proceeded to take 800 pictures so, bored, I went into a gourmet store nearby and saw Spotted Dick in a can:

I thought that was fun.

Soon, after tearing Craig away from the squid, we big adieu to all of his friends except for Rena and then killed major time in the Elliot Bay book store, one of the best book stores I've ever been to. I bought a pocket-sized book of Emily Dickinson poems so that I can better myself while waiting for the subway. ("Because I could not stop for trains trains kindly stopped for me.")

We began our walk to meet Craig's friends David and Celia for sushi, but I quickly stopped to snap this picture of Pike Place Market at night:

(Good picture, eh?)

We journeyed the 8000 miles to Shiro sushi, which was recommended by one of YOU, yes YOU, a loyal reader of this site. (We read all of your comments multiple times, you Seattle residents you. In fact most of these Seattle people you're meeting in these posts read your comments too and are going to try all of the restaurants you recommended.)

Craig, upon entering Shiro's sushi, realized that he'd heard of it before: that his dad told him it was one the most authentic sushi joints in town, where Japanese people went to get sushi. This made us further excited for our meal.

Inside, we joined Craig's friends Celia and David who'd be housing us that night. Here they are modelling and eating their salads, respectively:

(David is a really cool artist who worked on a music video for Thom Yorke of Radiohead. You can watch it here.)

So here's the miso soup and cucumber/shrimp salad they're eating:

As you can see, everything is super fresh and authentic. But wait 'til you see the big stuff. Check out Celia's sashimi:

Have you seen fresher looking sashimi in all your life? And look at my plate of sushi:

If food is art, this is museum quality: look how gorgeous. It's the finest plate of sushi I've ever had in front of me and everything tasted as good as it looks. Like all the creatures of the sea crawled right up on to the sand, on to my beach towel, up my legs, up my chest and into my mouth. It was that fresh, wonderful and miraculous. Everyone else felt the same way.

And that, my friends, ends the first leg of our Seattle trip. Stay tuned for the next leg, the right leg, the one with the scabby knee. And then there's a third leg, so my Seattle trip is a mutant. Stay tuned!