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