weekend in washington, part 4

after the wine tastings, we headed up the road to a place that i had read about in a travel guide--the herbfarm.
A celebration of the FOODS and WINESof the PACIFIC NORTHWEST. A THEMATICnine course DINNER with six matched wines and a SINGLE SEATING nightly.

America’s Top 10 Restaurants ZAGAT SURVEY 2007

Top 50 Restaurants in the World TRAVEL & LEISURE

The Northwest’s most-celebrated restaurant; the ultimate expression of the Northwest’s bounty. FROMMER’S

well…with reviews like this [and many more]—we had to try it! 

the restaurant and garden; one of the resident pigs; looking down upon the restaurant

the place setting--just look how many forks [4] and wine glasses [6]!
each setting was presented with a small flower and a menu 'booklet'
our theme:  great northwest barbeque

upon arrival, the owners meet the guests with a cocktail punch and an informative tour of the gardens where many of the ingredients are grown.  you are also free to explore the wine cellar with its 25500 bottles and 4200 selections, including a madeira from 1795 [you can taste this old wine for a price...$1795/5oz or a mere $375 for 1 oz]

when the dinner begins, the owners, the sommelier, and the sous-chef give a very detailed description of the evening's offerings, often including personal stories to further explain the choices in food and wine they made for the night. it is quite impressive.

and now for the meal...

Along Our Salish Shore--BC scallop w/radish, quail egg
& sorrel~king crab, tomato gelee & basil~totten inlet kumomoto oyster with cucumber mignonette
capitello oregon brut with choice of herbs

Columbia River Autumn-Run King--lightly applewood smoked & slow roasted columbia river king salmon w/zucchini-chive noodles~salmon tartar~smoked steelhead roe~lemon thyme corn cream~baby corn salad
2007 domaine serene chardonnay, cote sud, dundee hills, oregon

Quack 'n' Slaw--local duck breast gently poached w/lovage seed~wood grilled foie gras~hazelnut duck skin crumble~celery root-apple nasturtium slaw w/oregon white truffle oil~caramelized hungarian pepper gastrique
2009 poet's leap riesling, columbia valley, washington

The Rib and the Belly--big-leaf maple-glazed tamworth pork rib & charred pork belly w/fennel-fines herbes~chicharron w/smoked olympic penisula paprika~sammamish valley three bean salad
2007 palotai vineyard dolcetto, umpqua valley, oregon

Grilled Wagyu Ultra--grilled wagyu new york strip w/fried walla walla onions~charcoal fingerling german potato salad [yes, it was rolled in ashes]~young carrots, leeks~housemade worchestershire-sugar beet-jalapeno sauce
2004 corliss estates malbec, columbia valley, washington

Farmstead Cheese & Bacon Jam--sally jackson okanagon farmstead goat cheese w/bacon-thyme jam~texas toast~bitter greens~cider-caramel reduction

Sweet Tea Popsicle--lemon verbena sweet tea popsicle w/melon and cinnamon basil salad

Brown Butter Waffles & Peaches--brown butter waffles w/peach sorbet~butter gelee pat~grilled red haven peach~huckleberry-anise hyssop syrup

Coffees, Teas & Native Beverages
A Selection of Small Treats--our house-churned jersey cow butter~rosemary biscuits~corn bread
2005 thurston-wolfe jtw reserve port

whew...one terrific evening--

weekend in washington...finally, part 3!

ok...i think i know one reason that i do not have more followers--not that it matters--but maybe if i was better at writing regularly [and possibly shorter posts], it would be more interesting.  just a thought.

anyway, i can't believe how long it has been since i have written anything.  so new plan--finish up my travelogue and then in the next few days, share how i have been procraftinating lately.


i think we left off with MHD and i heading to woodinville for some wine tastings.  last time we were in seattle, we met a winemaker named mike januik.  his winery is in woodinville, so we really wanted to check it out.  he shares a space with another winery named novelty hill.  oh, it was so cool--

and the best thing was that they had these cool, comfy chairs by a fireplace.  they looked like this only in a deep orange-red fabric--

well--seeing how i love great chair design, i had to know the manufacturer.  it seems the older i get, the less embarrassed i get when doing something odd...so i stood up, lifted the end of the chair up--yes, right there in the tasting room full of people--and found out they are made by hickory business furniture.
if you click on the link i have provided, you will see that the name deceives...they make some great looking lounge chairs, too.  so--if you visit our home in the near future...maybe you will see one of their beautiful chairs [i plan on purchasing a couple soon].


by the way, we thoroughly enjoyed the wine and MHD had a few bottles shipped home to us.


next, we went to the biggest, most commercial winery in town--chateau st. michelle.  the grounds were beautiful but we decided to just have one glass to share instead of a flight.

after an afternoon of relaxing and wine tasting...we headed to the herbfarm for a nine course dinner.  intrigued?  hopefully i will post about that very soon for the last installment of 'weekend in washington'...

a weekend in wa...well, not exactly

sorry...you may have already seen this video--i think it has been around a while, but i just couldn't resist.

hope it makes you smile--

one question, though--when are the men of the rooted going to do something like this???!!!

another interruption? why, yes!

i can't help but smile as i watch this clip...it looks like they are having so much fun--

i give you the history of rap with jimmy fallon and justin timberlake...

so...did you smile?  aren't they cute?

a wonderful weekend in washington [part 2]

if you have been to seattle before then i am sure you visited the pike place market [that i shared about in part 1]...well, there is a row of shops/restaurants one block off the market on a 'street' called post alley--and it literally is an alley.
but the coolest wine tasting room is located there that we discovered on our last visit to seattle.  we enjoyed it so much then that it was the one place that we had to go to on this trip.

the official name is the tasting room seattle: wines of washington.  what makes it so great is not the selection of wines...although they are fine--but it is the people that work there and the atmosphere.  it's friendly and jovial and they encourage you to play games. it's like you are sippin' wine at a friend's house.


on this visit to the tasting room, MHD and i sat on the tiny patio in the cool sun...in this alley...having a wine flight...and playing scrabble--totally relaxing and fun.

it's funny--but when you sit outside in an alley with people walking right next to your table and you're playing scrabble...it's amazing the number of people who stop to look and sometimes even offer advice!!  


i ended up winning by one point. that's the best kind of game!


we ended the saturday with an early dinner and a movie...then sunday we woke up and headed to the ballard campus of mars hill church.


we very much enjoyed seeing mark driscoll preach in his home environment and afterward, we headed to whole foods for a snacky type of lunch.  we had plans to go a nice dinner [more on that in part 3] so we ate light.  however, i did get an incredible chocolate dipped shortbread cookie--oh my--my new favorite!


after lunch and a quick stop at the hotel, we headed north about 30 miles to the wine country in woodinville washington...
but that my friends, will be covered in part 3!

excuse the interruption...

i just had to share the latest video from ok go...

it's so awesome. and after practicing several days, they shot it in one take.

note the border collie....love it!

a wonderful weekend in washington [part 1]

so...MHD and i usually take a trip in august by ourselves to somewhere where we can escape the heat.  this year we had to postpone the trip a bit so we could move MDE into her dorm at texas a & m [that will be another post, of course].

about 5 or 6 years ago we had travelled to seattle...had a terrific time, stayed in a really cool boutique hotel that is located over a steakhouse [the inn at el gaucho]. on that trip we did the 'tourist' things--the space needle, pike place market, a fancy dinner on the waterfront, shopped and ate.

so when we decided to go to seattle again, we thought of it differently.  this time we just wanted to go and rest.  moving and getting MDE to college was tiring, not to mention emotionally draining. 

whenever we can, and we are flying somewhere that is at least 3 1/2 hours away, MHD likes to 'cash' in our miles to travel first class.  wow!  what a difference it makes...it may not be the first class of years gone by--but you cannot deny the pleasure of having room to move.  not one bit of claustrophobia is felt.

the seattle airport is relatively small and very easy to navigate.  plus i love it when the rental car desks/cars are on site.  so, needless to say, flying and getting to our hotel was a piece of cake.  we checked in about 6pm seattle time [8pm fort worth time].  we were travel weary, hungry, and feelin' kind of lazy...so we just went to the restaurant onsite.  

the stunning lobby

it was fabulous.  MHD had a gnocchi appetizer and salmon with a lobster sauce for dinner...and i had a fabulous grilled peach/basil/bleu cheese appetizer and the most wonderful halibut.  it came on quinoa...but that is just one grain i haven't fell in love with yet, so i skipped it.

the next morning we were up early...still livin' on fw time.  so we walked to pike place market pretty early.  many of the vendors hadn't even set up yet, but it was nice because it was not crowded at all.  we strolled the market having no idea where we were going for breakfast...and then we happened upon lowell's.  

it was kind of a gray morning...but this was our breakfast table view--

the breakfast itself was sooo yummy!  MHD ordered dungeness crab omelet with chopped tomatoes and parmesan cheese, a short stack, & coffee.  days after, he begged to go back--but it was kind of pricey, so i nixed it...but boy, was it good.  i ordered 'the combo'--two eggs, bacon, and the most delicious vanilla cinnamon french toast & coffee.

if you have never gotten to experience the pike place market, i wish i could do it justice.  it is absolutely beautiful--flowers, fresh fish, fresh fruit & vegetables everywhere...the most wonderful colors and smells.

my $5 bouquet of dahlias...

after breakfast, we walked around a bit and then headed back to the hotel for readin' & relaxin'!  we wandered to the 4th floor pool.  it was actually quite chilly and although they had a fire pit, we choose to recline on some chaises--

rooftop view

i know it is hard to tell...but do you notice anything on the rooftop on the building in the right forefront?  look closely--

it's set up for a rooftop wedding with a view!  how beautiful...

now...we staked our claim on these chaises [really there was only like 4 people out there], MHD got us some coffee, i was borrowing his ipad to read a book, and before you know it...this happens--

i guess i was tired! 
the whole day was basically spent like this...
reading and doing nothing.  


we decided to take a little walk with no intended destination...but then we came across this--

a giant paella!
talk about the right place at the right time!
this great spanish store was celebrating their anniversary and treating passerbys and shoppers with a hearty helping of paella.  it was wonderful.

excuse the photo skills...i was trying to get the 'whole picture' of the paella and store


this helping of paella became our lunch and we headed to a wine tasting place that we found last time we visited seattle.


that fun experience and much more will be shared tomorrow...