My life in food

Before we get down to any serious foodie goodness, I want to hype a post Dean wrote yesterday on the joys of the mature feminine form. Here’s a snip:

And that is beautiful; the realization that there are more important things than false nails and eyelashes and having exactly the right shoes to go with exactly the right skirt to show off your legs. Men who truly appreciate women don’t look at those things. We are attracted by laughter, intelligence, the creamy expanse of cleavage or the delicate curve of the collarbone, by the sexiness of hair falling from a braid or by the beads of water on softly tanned shoulders.

Romance crowd, if you don’t know Dean already, check him out. If I could write about my wife the way Dean writes about SxKitten, I wouldn’t have to write posts like these.

Back to FOOD, or, Why We Go On Vacation.

I worked a half day last Friday. (The closest other ENTs are 70 miles away, so I never feel unwanted.) After work, I picked up Karen and Jake and we drove to Medford. Our plane would leave at 7PM, so we had time for some decent Indian food at India Palace: papadums, naan, chicken in butter/cream sauce, samosas. As much as I love to cook, I love it even better when restaurants do all the work for me.

We arrived late in Seattle, painfully late, made later by the lameness of Advantage rent-a-truck-you-didn’t-want, made later still by Advantage’s crappy directions to our hotel. Thus arrived the low point of our vacation. ‘Nuff said.

The next morning, I had a Belgian waffle at our hotel’s complimentary breakfast. Would you believe that is a blog post all by itself? It’s true. The stories I can tell about that Belgian waffle-maker.

When the family woke up, we drove to Belleview for dim sum:

Here you see plates of sesame/red bean paste buns and spicy calamari. We had chicken feet, loads of shiu mai, an odd sweet tofu dessert, and more. Only gap in the experience: no jellyfish. Main trial: bringing myself to eat at a place named after a Tom Cruise movie (Top Gun Seafood).

Next, we headed out to the wharf to visit the aquarium, and after the aquarium we went to Pike’s Place Market.

For me, Pike’s Place Market would be reason enough to visit Seattle. Who cares about the rest of it: PPM is the place for foodies. I already mentioned (yesterday) the cheese shop and Sur La Table; I didn’t mention the delicious cinnamon-and-apple pierogi Jake had, nor the joy of watching an old Russian gal making dozens of pierogis in a few minutes’ time.

Above: a picture of the seafood market where they toss fish for fun and profit. That’s my boy eying an older woman with fine shoulders.

That night, we had dinner at Il Terrazzo Carmine. For appetizers, I ordered a seafood salad; Karen and I shared an order of carpaccio (in the background):

For a better view of Il Terrazzo Carmine, check out the pic on yesterday’s post.

Karen ordered a porcini risotto, Jake the gnocchi, and I had the special, petrale sole. Good? Yes. Die and go to heaven? No. If you ever go to Ashland, dine at Cucina Biazzi. That’s die-and-go-to-heaven Italian . . . and the eggplant parmigiano at Il Giardino Cucina (also in Ashland) is the best I’ve ever had, including mine.

And that’s the problem with Il Terrazzo Carmine. I go to a place like this to get ideas on how I can become a better chef, but honestly, I’ve made better sole and better risotto. The risotto was undersalted (not a major crime) and the sole was oversalted (oy, that’s first degree murder). The risotto wasn’t flavorful enough, either. Jake’s gnocchi was good, but nothing special.

On Sunday, we drove over to Port Townsend to visit Ms. and Mr. Blue Gal and the Blue Galettes (flat round cakes, or, in this case, three lovely children 😉 ) Ms. and Mr. Gal took us to the Ajax Cafe in Port Hadlock near Port Townsend, a bustling place with lots of silly hats. Here’s me in full Village People garb:

This is the only photo of me (from this trip) which I don’t despise.

Back to Ajax Cafe. Mr. BG and I both had the fish stew, a cioppino with a lovely rich broth. Jake had steamed clams and Karen had a pecan-crusted white fish. I’m afraid I can’t recall what BG and the Galettes had for dinner. Great bread, by the way.

To be continued.

***

Yeah, I’m tired. Doctors are punished when they go on vacation, did you know that? (It’s still worth it, of course.) My chart basket boiled over with must-deal-with-today charts, and wouldn’t you know it, my hospital consult needed surgery. I made it back home by 6 PM. Good thing I set up a focaccia dough this morning. I whipped together some sliced chicken breast in a tomato sauce, ginger, garlic, cumin, yogurt, and cream sauce, baked the focaccia, and everyone was happy.

Best thing about this vacation’s feeding frenzy: I didn’t gain a single pound. I made it over to Bally Fitness on Sunday morning and we walked around like crazy. That must have helped.

D.