A "perfect storm" is an expression that describes an event where a rare combination of circumstances will aggravate a situation drastically. The term is also used to describe an actual phenomenon that happens to occur in such a confluence, resulting in an event of unusual magnitude.
They got that right.
FG10, our Seattle transplant, had been building an astonishing large backlog of amazing places to eat all around town, both through personal experience and by poring over local recommendations. Normally, her forays are kept to a dull roar by having three picky kids with various food allergies, a husband with a hectic travel schedule, and a diet and exercise regimen that literally scares me.
Then I showed up*.
And it was basically a perfect storm of food**.
Loaded mac n' cheese, with Beecher's Flagship cheddar. Genius!!!
The bounty of friends - fresh fruit and scones for brunch, cheese, crisp white wine, and almond biscotti for snack
The bounty of Ballard - Insanely good authentic Mexican pozole from La Carta de Oaxaca. And the dessert place of my dreams***....
On the left, a take-home molten chocolate cake in a mini mason jar. On the right, a S'mores cookie, with gooey marshmallow, chocolate chunks, and graham cracker crumble. Not shown: bacon oatmeal raisin cookie, my enormous butt, salted caramel roll, honey peach rosemary hand pies.
Morning at Pike Place, in all its glory. Knowing we would be having fruit and fish later, we dug into hot cheddar scallion piroshkis, croissants, baked pork bao, and blueberry brown butter cupcakes with brown sugar cream cheese icing (the mini ones, because, you know, it was a little early in the day for dessert). After stocking up on cheese, crostini and olive oil at the gourmet Italian food market, we elected to skip a sit down lunch. Not because we weren't up for it, but because we were short on time.
I had a bread class to teach. Those alder-smoked chips came in handy, and so did the berry jam we'd picked up at Pike Place earlier.
We also had a whole salmon to roast. In a very eco-conscious move, we recycled some of the finishing salts from our bread to make the fish: chili powder - cumin - smoked salt - raw sugar - orange zest - rosemary. Totally gonna bottle that up and sell it.
On my last day in town, I had a healthy breakfast of caramelized grapefruit.
And a burger with bacon jam, creamy blue cheese, and arugula.
But I didn't eat all the fries.
Let's just say that I need new jeans of enormous magnitude after this visit. And the next time that FG10 and I meet, someone should probably alert the national weather service. It'll be another perfect storm.
*As the expression goes, the situation was aggravated drastically.
** It was also the perfect storm in that my daughter was reunited with her long lost friends for a week. Total mania ensued.
*** Also pirates.
Although most people in Seattle are missing out. When we were talking with two life-long residents about our plans for dinner, they both looked at us like we were crazy:
Them: Ballard? You're going to Ballard just to eat? That's nowhere near here.
Me: (worried) Oh dear. How far is it?
Them: It's gonna take you at least 20 minutes. And you have to cross a bridge.
Needless to say, these two have not been asked to join the Foodie Girls Northwest just yet. Sheesh!
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