A Week in Seattle (Part two)

Red Robin and Northgate Mall. I love Red Robin...I miss Red Robin. One of my favorite family style chain restaurant. Great menu, atmosphere. Love (and miss) their Banzai Burger is great. (teriyaki, pineapple...and for those interested cheese, lettuce etc...i just love the teriyaki sauce and pineapple...yum). There Asian chicken salad...also really great. Fabulous shakes...and a tower of great onion rings...literally...they stacked them on a vertical stick...making a tower...so they don't stick all together while you are waiting to eat them. Had a great time with the family...10 of us. Afterwards I went with Laurie and Aaron into the mall because Laurie needed to return something to the Kitchen store. And lo and behold...a Sees Candy store...sigh...another thing I miss in the east. Had to go in for molasses candy, a bordeaux, and a mocha. heaven in a tiny white bag with brown print.

Gilman Village, White Horse Toys. When we were in Issaquah we stopped by Gilman Village for a walk around. It seems sad and lonely at the moment. STores have always come and gone but with the economy as it is...they seem more gone than usual. Couldn't believe the Sweet Addition Candy store was gone. But one of our old favorites from when jason was little is still there (but in a different location)...White Horse Toys. The quintensential old-fashioned toy store. Big sprawling with all kinds of toys for all ages. A wonderful spot. Jason and I looked for treats for Laurel, Will and James. Had a lot of fun.

Capitol Hill Earlier in the week, the boys and I drove up to the Capitol Hill area of Seattle and walked a bit on Broadway. Ate Dick's (okay...not as good as Kidd Valley, In-n-Out (in CA), or Five Guys (on eastcoast/south)...but good meat and good shake. Had excellent latte, mocha, and espresso at Vivace (bought beans for friend Verna). And visited a wild store: Metro Clothing Co offering clothes and accessories: fetish, gothic, military, subculture, and industrial..something for everybody no? Jason found a size 13 pair of white shoes with pointed toes (kind of pimp shoes if you ask me) for 20 bucks...I admit...they look great.

Steelhead Diner We had one of our best meals at lunch (late breakfast) on Saturday at the Steelhead Diner near Pike's Public Market. Steelhead is located at 95 Pine Street (at Post Alley). Tall ceilings, big windows, and outside terrace (overlooking Post Alley). Eclectic food heavily influence by NOLA (new orleans cuisine). I had absolutely fabulous fried eggs on grits...fantastic grits...with sausage. Jason had the "Rich Boy" sandwich with Uli's hot sausage. Yaric had the Flash Fried Oyster Loaf on a big roll. The oyster were perfect lightly breaded and crispy on the outside and still succulent on the inside. Jason also had the chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo...perfectly spiced. And we shared the fried chicken spring roll. A wonderful combination of crispy and fresh, sweet and spicy...lovely and delicious. We all highly recommend this place!

Byrnie Utz Hats and Wild Ginger One afternoon we drove downtown and parked around 5th and Pike/Pine for a bit of an explore. The parking lot under the Red Lion isn't cheap but its extremely convenient for the area. In walking down to Wild Ginger for lunch we passed Byrnie Utz Hats (since 1934). Located at 310 Union STreet (between 4th and 3rd) this is a real, quality (mostly men's) hat shop (although they had some fine sun hats and "go to meeting" hats for women. Stetson, Borsalino, Kangool. Big old oak cabinets. And both the boys found a hat. Jason finally found the top hat he's been searching for. He's been looking for at least 3 or 4 years for reasons that escape me...but he's been on a mission. But with top hats not exactly being in style and with him having a nearly size 8 head...its been a challenge. I admit...it fits him (in style and in size).

So with hat on head, we strolled down Union Street to Wild Ginger (1401 3rd St). Delightful lunch. Fabulous mango mojito...I'm really picking about mojitos, like them refreshing and not too sweet and the mint needs to NOT get stuck in your teeth. This was perfect. Food portions were very large so we ended up with way too much food. Phad Thai very good...nicely spicey. Spring rolls very good. Jason had a noodle soup (that I don't remember the name of)...he loved it. Nice room with big windows...good service.

Seattle Aquarium Had a great afternoon with Jennie and her 3 kids at the Seattle Aquarium. There is nothing like seeing the aquarium through the eyes of children...their wide eyed enthusiam for the octupus at feeding time, the "nemo" fish, the little sea horses (auntie annette, did you know that the daddy has the babies???). My favorites are the otters, sea and river. love them, love them.