SLUBin' it...and wine release party!!!

The South Lake Union Block (SLUB) Party was Friday, so Ian and I jumped on our bikes and headed down to check it out. Really it was just a good excuse to be outside in the sun eating lots of food...but who really needs an excuse for that???

For $5 you could got 6 tickets to try at the different food booths, I of course immediately wanted to buy 24 tickets (I was hungry!!!) but even the women working agreed with Ian that maybe we should just start with 12 and we could always come back for more. So 12 tickets it was...each food booth was from a restaurant in the SLU district and offered a bite sized sample from their menu with all the proceeds going to support Fare Start and Youth Care, I love eating for a good cause!!!

All the booths with their yummy bite sized portions kind of made me feel like I was on an episode to Top Chef, which fyi if Top Chef ever decides to have season in Seattle Ian and I will be camping out to get a table at restaurant wars ;)

As far as the food booths go, we started out shootin from the hip and went straight to Tom Douglas's food stands and it was a GOOD choice...

Restaurant = Dahlia Workshop (1 of 12 Tom Douglas restaurants in the city)
http://dahliaworkshop.com/
Bite = Pulled Pork Sandwich made with Tom Douglas's Rub with Love served on a crispy scone
Impression = OMG!!! I am really loving pulled pork sandwiches these days, but put a little Rub with Love aka brown sugar and spice on anything and it amazing, that plus the little scone was crisped up by taking a 1lb stick of butter and rubbing it on the grill and then putting the scones on top, you can't really go wrong!!!

Dahlia Workshop - Pulled Pork sandwich 

Restaurant = Cuoco (another of Tom Douglas' amazing restaurants....seriously this guy should just run Seattle) 

http://cuoco-seattle.com/

Bite = Lamb cooked in a big green egg and served on a crostini 

Impression = The lamb was a little undercooked for me but Ian loved it, I am having to get used to the idea that really well cooked meat is way more undercooked then I am used to. It was amazingly tender and the crostini was crispy, buttery and salty...all GREAT things!!!!

Cuoco -  lamb

Restaurant = Mad Pizza 

http://www.madpizza.com/

Bite = Pepperoni pizza 

Impression = Ian's homemade pizza is way better, this was actually the first "restaurant" pizza I have had in awhile and I forgot how much sugar they put in their crust. It was okay pizza and a good way to satisfy my hunger but I think Ill be sticking to Ian's pizzas...actually now that Ian is cooking more there are a lot of foods I would rather eat at home.

Mad Pizza - pepperoni

Restaurant = Lunchbox Laboratory 

http://www.lunchboxlaboratory.com/

Bite = Mac & Cheese 

Impression = Ian liked the Mac & Cheese, but for me I like mine with more "stuff" in it. Like grilled onions (they make everything better), tomatoes, breadcrumbs and a little spice...ummm I think I have an inspiration for tonight's dinner...

Lunchbox Laboratory - mac & cheese

Restaurant = Venik Lounge 

http://www.veniklounge.com/

Bite = Borsch & Gazpacho

Impression = I have never had borsch OR gazpacho before. According to wikipedia borsch is a "Ukrainian soup made with beet roots" and gazpacho is a "cold Spanish tomato-based raw vegetable soup". We really enjoyed the borsch, it was refreshing and light, but Ian found the dill a little over powering. We were really excited to try the gazpacho since they talk about it all the time on Top Chef, and it was really yummy but tasted more like salsa than anything else so I wasn't super impressed. 

Venik Lounge - borsch (left) & gazpacho (right)

Restaurant = Paddy Coynes
http://paddycoynes.net/

Bite = Beets with goats cheese and crumbled pistachios 

Impression = I am not a huge fan of beets, they taste so.....beet like. But I do love goats cheese and the saltiness of pistachios, so I could have used a little more of both in here.

Paddy Coynes - beet salad

Restaurant = Whole Foods 

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/

Bite = Tomato, onion and chicken pesto skewer 

Impression = Like I said we started shooting from the hip with Tom Douglas's places, nothing really special here except that I always love onions and cherry tomatoes. 

Whole Foods - pesto skewer

After using up all 12 tickets Ian and I wondered over to the food truck area. Some of our favorite food trucks from around Seattle here there; Maximus Minimus http://www.maximus-minimus.com/, the pig on wheels that servers pulled pork sandwiches by the owner of Beecher's Cheese http://www.beechershandmadecheese.com/ and of course Molly Moons Ice Cream truck http://www.mollymoonicecream.com/.

Maximus Minimus food truck

We were tempted by Molly Moons, their salted caramel ice cream is my all time favorite, and we have really been loving their ice cream sandwich lately. Its served out of their Madrona location and its a pralines cookie and vanilla ice cream sandwich and its AMAZING!!!

However in our effort to try new things the Street Treats truck and their make-your-own ice cream sandwich caught our eye stomach....

Food Truck = Sweet Treats - featuring Seattle's first "Make-Your-Own Ice Cream Sandwich"
Order = I ordered the chocolate cookie sprinkled in Sugar with mint chocolate chip ice cream, and Ian went for the chocolate chip cookie with rocky road ice cream.
Impression = in LOVE!!! I am a huge fan of mint chocolate and this was the perfect combination of both, the cookies were really great. Not to crunchy that they fell apart when you bite into them but not to soft that they got mushy in your hands. Ian's combo was awesome as well, I will defiantly be on the look out for the Street Treats truck from now on!!!

Street Treats
chocolate cookie w/ mint ice cream (left)
chocolate chip cookie w/ rocky road ice cream (right)

Yummy!!!!

After eating our way through the entire block party, Ian and I hoped back on our bikes to head to the newly renovated South Lake Union Park to enjoy a little sunshine. We made a pit stop at Uptown Espresso http://www.uptownespresso.net/ which is apparently known for their "velvet foam". We didn't know about the velvet foam at the time but quickly learned;  their 12oz dry cappuccino was perfectly made, a double shot of expresso and literally a cup full of rich foam that I would defintaly describe as velvety!!! Too often when you order a cappuccino any bigger then 8oz you end up with a foamy latte...not here, looks like we found another stop to add to our next bikes and bakery tour.

Hanging out in the newly renovated South Lake Union Park 

WINE RELEASE PARTY

Back in June Ian and I went on a Chocolate and Cheese Wine Tasting Tour in Woodenville, WA. We visited some great places and had some great wine, cheese and chocolate. One of the places we stopped at was Flying Dream's Winery http://www.flyingdreamswine.com/events.html. The owner and wine maker, was a dancer in his previous life and always had dreams about flying...hence the name "Flying Dreams" winery.

If you bought some of his pre-release wine back in June you were invited to the Release Party on Friday, June 12th to pick up the wine, drink wine (of course) and enjoy some homemade paella. So of course we bought two bottles of the 2009 Syrah.

Flying Dreams - 2009 Syrah

After a wonderful day at the SLUB party, Ian and headed over to Woodenville for the release party, but first we stopped in to hangout with our good friends Bart and Adrienne. Adrienne was one of my host on my recruiting trip to UW back in high school when I was looking at schools in the US to row at, so I have known her longer then anyone else in Seattle, and she and Ian have been friends since early on in college. Adrienne's husband Bart is awesome, and no matter how loud I get (especially after a few glasses of wine) Bart will always be louder then me :) PLUS their 11 month old daughter is SOOOOOOO adorable she is actually changing my mind on children all together!!!!

Olivia - SO adorable!!!!

After a quick visit which included a swim in the lake, Ian and I were off again to our party...

The Syrah was better then either of us remembered and so we were super excited that we had gone for the second bottle. The paella was being cooked outside in a special paella making thing...I don't really know much about cooking but Ian talked to the chef for awhile and learned all about it, so hopefully there will be more paella in our future ;) As amazing as the paella looked and smelled, I am sad to say we didn't actually get to taste any of it...

Paella cooking @ Flying Dreams Syrah release party 

I tend to get a little (okay A LOT) cranky when I don't eat and the paella was still 30 minutes away from being ready and I was STARVING!!! plus I was getting ready to race a 1/2 Ironman on Sunday and didn't want to stay out to late. So Ian and I headed back to Seattle, stopping at our favorite Mexican Food Truck turned restaurant Rancho Bravo, grabbed a couple burrito and headed home.

Flying Dreams Release Party

What a wonderful Friday full of great food and friends!!!

Much Love
XO

The freaking Zoo is closed Ray...

It doesn't get much better then a picnic with friends on a beautiful sunny Seattle night, but throw in some wine tasting, zoo animals and a little music and you have....just another Thursday night in Seattle ;)

The Seattle Woodland Park Zoo was hosting a wine tasting event to raise money for the zoo http://www.zoo.org/wine. It was on the main lawn of the Zoo and included music and wine tastings from more then 24 local wineries. We were fortunate enough to be joined by our good friends Avery & G, the newlyweds Mrs Sarah & Mr Eric Rose, and the wonderful chance run in with Eric & Kauilani.

Ian, me, Avery and G
(we could only get 1/2 the group to sit for a picture)

You might recognize Avery as the talented MC and handsome groomsman from our wedding. G is my awesome Big Doc and future au pair ;). Eric and Sarah just returned home from their honeymoon in Croatia after their fabulous wedding in the San Juans and Eric and Kauilani are friends from collage we haven't seen in awhile but were lucky enough in the right-place at the right-time to meet up. 

The whole night was wonderful. Each person got 10 tickets good for 1-tasting each, although I can't really tell you much about the wine we tasted I can tell you it was all awesome. A couple tastings in, it became a contest to see who could get the biggest "tasting sized" pour...not trying to brag or anything but my 3/4 full glass spoke for itself :)

"That's freaking teeeeeeam work"

Kisses!!
(notice my FULL glass ;)

The Chandler Bing face...

Another AWESOME part about the night, was you could bring in your own picnic!!!! Ian and I got this sweet picnic basket as a wedding present which includes a cooler that has enough room for 40 beers (thats what the packaging said we have never actual tested that feature ;) and the best part....its on wheels!!! Needless to say we have been having a lot of picnics this summer; beaches, campsites and boats but this was the first at a Zoo!!!

Ian, Avery and Eric Rose at our picnic site....why won't boys EVER look at the camera????

I have been dying to make this tomato salad with chilies and lime for a while and bought 2lb of heirloom tomatoes from Whole Foods to make it happen. Ian again perfected the homemade cracker. Sarah supplied my favorite Beechers cheeses - their flagship smoked gouda. She also made a wonderful couscous salad that went really well with my tomato salad. Ian made prosciutto, mozzarella, roasted red pepper and mama's hot pepper sandwiches on a crispy baguette that were AMAZING!!!

Empty wine glass...story of my life ;)

Sammie and salad....SO colorful :)

As far as zoo animals went, I have to admit the most we saw were some random peacocks wondering around. I guess we will have to take a trip back to the Zoo to check out the animals soon...

Much Love

XO

I am totally Crushing....

We have been planning our dinner to the restaurant Crush http://www.chefjasonwilson.com/ for about.....EVER!!!! Our dear friend and handsome groomsman from our wedding Sebastian https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=502715 got us a gift certificate for our wedding present, such a fun present especially since Ian and I have been totally into food lately (that'll happen when you watch every season of Top Chef x2). 

First we were going to go to celebrate my being done with winter quarter of school, but then we planned an awesome road trip to Napa for some biking and wine tasting, and Tahoe for some back country skiing.....SO we decided to wait on the dinner. 

Then we were going to go to celebrate my bring done with my first year of medical school and Ian being done with his 20's...aka Ian's big 3-0!!!! But between birthday parties and wine tours to Woodenville and scholarship awards and alumni dinners we had a lot going on. Plus we figured it would be the perfect way to celebrate our 1-year anniversary, and because Crush is closed on Monday nights we scheduled it for Tuesday night. 

It was TOTALLY worth the wait!!! We ordered the tasting menu and split a wine pairing, which was a great call since they actual split the wine into two glasses and even with a 1/2 pour each I was a little tipsy by the end, any more wine and we could not have enjoyed the food....which gets me to the food; 

(since I am new at this blogging thing I totally messed up and forgot to take pictures of the AMAZING food...sorry, so you are just going to have to believe me when I say it was beautiful!!!!) 

Bread = what is it about bread in a restaurant that makes it SO amazing??? their warm out of the oven garlic and rosemary bread was pretty fantastic and the puff pastry rolls with gruyere and parsley were totally addictive...we definitely ordered a second serving of bread (even though we were having a 6 course meal ;) made me think of the Jim Gaffigan stand up (start at 40sec)

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/841679/ 

Palate cleanser = Champagne 

Impression = I think I might start "cleansing my palate" before meals more often!!!

1st  = Artichoke hearts, cucumber and sea bean consommé 

Impression = The consomme had an incredible earthy flavor that one its own was pretty strong, however once you combined it with the artichoke hearts, cucumber and sea beans it was amazing. Ian and I made the mistake of arriving hungry (having just gone for a run before getting ready to go out) so the small portions you would expect in a tasting menu disappeared rather quickly ;)

2nd = Ahi tuna with a ginger joule, radishes, gingered onions and black garlic sauce

Wine = Sauvignon Blanc 

Impression = The tuna literally melted in your mouth, the ginger joule was sweet and the black garlic had a nice bite, I think if the waiter hadn't taken my plate away I might have licked it. My only complaint...NOT enough ;)

3rd = Gnocchi with mushrooms, escargot and peas in a sage brown butter sauce

Wine = Chardonnay (California) 

Impression = Now I know what they are talking about on Top Chef when they call gnocchi "little pillows", Ian's next culinary challenge is to make gnocchi and I am debating if its a good idea for him to perfect a brown butter sage sauce...it could be dangerous....

4th = Crispy skin salmon on a bed of risotto with a corn and pancetta salad 

Wine = Chardonnay (France)

Impression = The risotto was amazing, silky but still with a little bit of crisp. The Chardonnay was a little crisper then the first which was nice because it off set the smoothness of the risotto. I think a smother Chardonnay would have gotten lost (that's my extremely educated a.k.a 1-month of drinking only Chardonnay opinion ;)

Intermezzo = Lavender sorbet 

Impression = The lavender reminded us of Sarah and Eric's amazing wedding at the lavender farm on San Juan Islands. So of course we loved it!!!  

5th = Lamb, fibs, roasted onion with a fennel puree and pan reduction 

Wine = some fancy Red we can't remember....

Impression = Figs, roasted onions and lamb, I mean come on does it get any better then that??? 

6th = Cheesecake with white chocolate shavings and a marion berry reduction 

Wine = Port 

Impression = Dessert without chocolate in my opinion isn't REALLY dessert, so for a non-dessert dessert it was actually pretty good. Although the people at the table next to use had a platter of 5 different chocolate filled dessert, including a fancy s'more that I was debating stealing ;)

All in all it was a wonderful evening, amazing food and an awesome way to celebrate the start of year #2 together!!! 

On our way home after a wonderful dinner at Crush

I cannot wait for my next Crush.... 

Much Love

XO

Bikes and Bakeries

39.4 miles =
7 hrs
7 bakeries/cafes
7000 calories

....and 1 happily married couple :)


View Larger Map

For our 1-year Anniversary Ian and I did a self-made/self-guided biking tour of Seattle neighborhoods with its best bakeries and coffee shops; 

1st (B) = Caffe Fiore 

http://caffefiore.com/

Where = Ballard

Why = Voted the best Independent coffee shop in Seattle

http://www.seattlemag.com/article/dining/best-seattle-restaurants-2011-readers-choice-winners

What = Cappuccino and Macchiato 

Impression = Our first stop of the day was a huge success, a great atmosphere filled with native Ballardites working away at communal tables on their mac books and iPads, does it get more Seattle then that??? The coffee was delicious the foam was rich and the little flower on top was perfect (always a good way to judge the quality of coffee). The homemade granola was tempting and so were all the baked treats, but luck for us their baked good came from Macrina's bakery...the nest stop on our tour. 

Cappuccino and Macchiato at Cafe Fiore 

2nd (C) = Macrina Bakery

http://www.macrinabakery.com/

Where = Queen Ann

Why = Voted one of the Top 10 Best Bread Bakeries in America (we tried their sough dough last week, and while I am still partial to Ian's it was defiantly a very close 2nd, the starter has been going for 17 years!!!)

http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2011/01/top_10_bread_bakeries_in_america

What = Ham and Cheese Brioche and a Lemon and Cherry Pound Cake 

Impression = AMAZING!!! Our goal was to only eat one treat at each location, however as you can tell we failed pretty early on, the brioche was flakey and delicious and the lemon and cherry pound cake was moist and crumbly...how do they do that??? 

Lemon-cherry Pound Cake and Ham-cheese Brioche at Macrina Bakery

3rd (D) = The Crumpet Shop

Where = Pike's Place Market

Why = Voted the Best Breakfast Sammie in Seattle

http://www.seattleweekly.com/bestof/2010/award/best-breakfast-sammie-1045329/

What = Pesto, Cheese and Tomato Crumpet 

Impression = Makes me want to drink more tea so I can justify eating more crumpets!!! Dad - next time your in town we are defiantly going for a wee bit of tea and crumpets. 

Pesto-cheese-tomato crumpet

4th (E) = Bakery Nouveau

http://www.bakerynouveau.com/welcome/

Where = West Seattle

Why = Head pastry chef lead the US team to victory at the 2005 Coupe de Monde de Boulangeris (World Cup of Baking)

http://www.seattleweekly.com/bestof/2010/award/best-way-to-taunt-a-dieter-1045282/

What = Almond Croissant 

Impression = I am SO happy we walked in here with a plan...almond croissant, almond croissant, almond....what??? I literally had to put blinders on, order, and run outside to prevent me from devouring the entire case of amazing desserts. I am also not sure the name "almond croissant" does this pastry wonder justice, maybe "pillow from heaven covered in all things wonderful that melts in your mouth and get crumbs all over your shirt but its too good to care almond croissant" would be more appropriate. Good thing this place is all the way over in West Seattle...

"pillow from heaven covered in all things wonderful that melts in your mouth and get crumbs all over your shirt but its too good to care almond croissant" - from Bakery Nouveau

5th (F) = Columbia City Bakery 

http://columbiacitybakery.com/

Where = Columbia City

Why = Top 5 croissants in Seattle 

http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/voracious/2011/03/seattles_top_5_croissants.php

What = Raspberry, cherry and peach Croissant 

Impression = I had read that they have a "bakers choice" most popular item of the week, so we walked in looking for that, apparently I was mistaken because no one in the bakery knew what I was talking about and I ended up fumbling around trying to explain myself while also having the age old breakfast debate of savory vs. sweet with myself,  Ian was leaning towards the foccacia but I had my heart stomach set on sweet. Since our final bakery stop was bagels we decided on the raspberry, cherry and peach croissant. Defiantly the smallest treat of the day, but also the most appropriate sized for a day long bakery tour. It was delicious!!!

Raspberry-cherry-peach Croissant at Columbia City Bakery

6th (G) = Eltana Bagel Cafe

http://eltana.com/

Where = Capitol Hill

Why = NY style oven roasted bagels in Seattle - voted best bagels in Seattle

http://www.seattleweekly.com/bestof/2011/award/best-bagels-1388076/

What = Salt bagel plain, and an Everything bagel with Caramelized onion hummus spread 

Impression = The salt bagel was more like a pretzel, which I love so no complaints here. If this wasn't our final stop I might have been disappointed in the bagel to spread ratio, to little bagel and to much spread but defiantly yummy and really put caramelized onions on anything and what's not to love!!! 

Outside Eltana's Bagels

7th (H) = Espresso Vivace Roasteria 

http://www.espressovivace.com/

Where = Capitol Hill

Why = Listed in Food and Wine's Obsessive Guide to Coffee as one of the Top Coffee Bar's in the US

(the other 2 from Seattle were Zoka's which we frequent on a weekly basis and Victrola Coffee Roasters which we are also regulars at so we decided to add Vivace to our tour over the others that we go to on a regular basis)

http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/an-obsessives-guide-to-coffee

What = Cappuccino and a Macchiato 

Impression = We biked our bagels over to Vivace to enjoy with our coffee. This was the last stop on our bike tour and the only thing we have had before. Their coffee it always amazing, thick rich foam and dark smooth coffee....yummmm. While sitting at the outdoor cafe tables I grabbed the current issue of Seattle Weekly only to find that this weeks feature is; Best of Seattle. 

Eltana Bagels & Vivace Coffee

Time to start planning our next culinary biking tour of Seattle.... 


Much Love
XO

Established 1-year!!!

Monday morning = my 26th birthday and our 1-year anniversary!!!

Most morning this summer Ian has woken me up with a homemade latte in bed, however today we have a 40 mile bike ride throughout Seattle planned to test out some of the best bakeries and coffee shops this wonderful city has to offer, alas NO morning latte in bed. However I was awoken with a beautiful bouquet of white and purple flowers with single perfect calla lily right in the middle (to match our wedding colors and my wedding bouquet), such a thoughtful husband!!!

My birthday/1-year anniversary bouquet!!! 

Our biking tour was a success, we had tons of wonderful food and spent the whole day biking around the city we love. Ill talk more about the tour in my next post. 

So after spending the majority of our day biking and eating we returned home, washed up and headed out to pick up a cake...yes after a whole day of eating baked goods we still had a cake waiting for us. Bonnie at New Renissanse Cakes http://newrenaissancecakes.com/ made our beautiful wedding cake 1-year-ago and as part of her wedding cake package all couples get a 5'' anniversary cake on their 1-year, so we headed back to Queen Ann, only this time via car to pick up our cake. 

Now anyone that knows Ian and I, knows that Ian is defiantly the chef in the household however this summer I have been working on my culinary skills with some help from Sunset Magazine. Ian made the appetizers and I made the main dish.

So on the menu for tonight; 

Homemade flat bread and crackers served with goats cheese from the Ballard farmers market (and yes you read that right, Ian has been perfecting his homemade flat breads and crackers). We enjoyed our cheese and flat bread with our anniversary champagne. 

Homemade flat breads with cheese and champagne in our backyard

Steak salad served on a bead of mache with cucumber, sugar peas and a lemon, garlic and mint dressing. I discovered that I could use the cheese slicer to cut the cucumber into long thing ribbons and how pretty snap peas can look by simply cutting them on a diagonal. We had the steak salad with Minagie a trio rose which was a 3.5/5 on our rating scale. We have started keeping track of the wines we are enjoying and drinking only one varietal a month, last month was Chardonnay month (and man am I glad that is over) this month is Rose and White Zinfandel (we were having trouble finding enough Rose's to fill up an entire month, not sure if that is saying something about the wine selection at QFC or the amount of wine we drink ;) and so far I have had mixed reviews.

Grecian Steak Salad 

The cake was just as good as I remember from last year!!!

Anniversary Cake (and Husky dishes!!!)

All in all a perfect day!!!!

Cute!!!

Chandler Bing inspired "engagement" photo!!!
(if you don't get the Friends reference please watch Season 7, Episode 5)

Much Love
XO