four days in, four to go

pikes market place is one of my favorites. it is an absolute must if you are anywhere near the seattle vicinity. it is a permanent mass farmers market with some of the most unique products and delectable food. there is every kind of everything you can imagine. give yourself a couple of hours for this. it is downtown so parking can be tricky, and it is crowded. we opted to go on a monday when it would be less crowded. as you can see, it was still busy.

our first stop was piroshky piroshky. it is a fantastic russian bakery with breaded delicacies that cater to the belly's content. the dough they use is similar to a croissant, very buttery and flaky. scott opted for the bavarian cream and i dove into the cheddar cheese roll. we washed it down with a puot,plum, peach, and strawberry smoothie from another street vendor. it was quite heavenly. my cheddar roll won the prize and could account for 3 of the 9 pound gain.

i think it is very comical to look back at pictures scott took of me. one of my biggest discomforts is having my picture taken on vacation. i feel so vain. i don't know why, but it is like a root canal for me. so this is me, pretending to be happy on vacation, which i am, but having to appease my redhead because i love him so. the fruit behind me is the stuff they used in the smoothie, i can almost taste it now.

this picture doesn't do justice to the flowers that line the vendors shops. they were fabulous.

here is a sampling of some of the fresh seafood available for purchase. oh to be a local here......

the flowers. there are masses and masses of these flowers that the sweet oriental ladies are going crazy making nonstop. these bunches? they sell for $5-$20. the ones pictured are the $10 bunches. oh, to be a local. the smell they infuse the market with makes for a great memory.

for lunch we settled on pike's place chowder. they offer a 4 sampler and have won every chowder competition they enter. it was 75 degrees that day and so we were pushing it with hot soup, but it was worth every bite. we did include a cold tomato gazpacho with shrimp that helped cool us down. it was worth it. there was also a cheese shop that boasted the best mac and cheese around, i believe them. the line was half a block. if we were to go back, we probably would have ventured into the line.

there are tons of homeless in seattle. my take on it is the abundance of artistic and ridiculously talented folks who gather up there. i have never seen such homelessness abound in any big town before. this picture is of me watching a teen aged boy lay down on a cement block with his pillow and sleep like there are not 40 million people around him. he was dirty and had pajama pants on but could probably get into julliard with violin skills or something. it is a different crowd up there....i do love my people watching.

we headed down to the aquarium after a couple of hours soaking and strolling pikes. we found an awesome map shop just above the market. we spent quite a bit of time in there and finally settled on a 1500's map of the world to frame for the house. it is really cool. the aquarium is mr zoology's thing. as is the zoo and other living creature exhibits. those places just make me sad looking at all those caged things. i liken it to dogs or cats coming to see people at the jailhouse. it seems odd to look at creatures out of their environment in a glass cage people bonk on all day. oh well. scott said it was nice.

we went to ivar's for fish and chips. someone told us they would walk on glass for ivars. the reviews all over were phenomenal. they have a fine dining place as well. i am hoping the reviews were talking about that place. the fish and chips stand was nothing to holler about. we shared a little boat of them. they did have malt vinegar though, and the englishman red head said that is an authenticity marker. he longs for the days of fish and chips in leeds, england wrapped in newspaper with malt vinegar. sigh.

anyway. after a stroll along the waterfront we decided to attack molly moon's ice cream shop across town. we liked the girl scout thin mint and decided the line would be worth it.

i am still out on molly moon's ice cream. it is run by a bunch of tree hugging organic save the earth nuts. now, i am on board with conservation, really i am. this felt really trendy to me and so i don't know if it has lasting merit. the line was outrageous, around the block long. and, the other thing that has me hung up is that it is not a sweet ice cream. i got the salted caramel and scott had the theo chocolate. i just don't know how i feel about wasting calories on ice cream if it won't suffice my sweet tooth. this place also had a roasted garlic flavor and often boasts a bacon ice cream served atop hot oatmeal with dried fruit. the salted caramel tasted just like it sounded with the salt overpowering any sweetness. even the chocolate was not sweet. it was densely flavored with cocoa but not sweet. hmm. i just don't know what to tell you. i guess it is worth a try to experience a non sweet treat. the service stinks there too. the employees acted like they were put out that they were busy. hello, kids. when you work at a crazy popular ice cream place, you won't get many breaks. if it isn't worth $10 an hour, go somewhere else. they horn rimmed glasses employee was ordering customers to stand here, move here and just jumped in whenever he wanted to serve someone. he was probably the owner. oh well. i am out on this one. i liked the girl scout thin mint. the cookie rendered a sweet element but it was served with vanilla. it needed to be paired with a rich chocolate. anyway. that was the ending to the day. it was right nice.....