Seattle Saturday
Mark came down and took Kate out for a few hours so Chris and I grabbed the chance to go wander the Seattle Cheese Festival down at the Pike Place Market. I'd been to the first such festival a couple of years ago with Christine and it was crowded and disappointing but I was willing to give it a try again this year. After fighting our way to 2/3 of the stands we did try some decent cheeses but only once was it not so obscenely crowded that we even felt we had a chance to learn anything about the cheeses or (gasp) buy some. Usually I felt like a jerk for merely trying to squeeze in between people to spear a single cheese cube sample (or lingering overly long where vendors were serving up single samples from the more expensive cheeses). We'd started out by lining up with what appeared to be an orderly line of people waiting their turns only to have a guy from the festival chide us for doing so. He said flat out "there is no line," and that we were just wasting our time standing there, we should just "go up to" stands that interested us. I said to Chris, "They really want us to just muscle our way through the crowd? I want to do it in an orderly manner!" As we were leaving the "line" we heard another group falling into "line" behind us, saying "Let's approach this in an orderly manner..." I stopped to tell them what the festival worker had told us.
I think I'm going to stick to cheese shopping at cheese shops and the farmer's markets in the future. This "festival" is anything but festive.
We took a break, grabbed a couple falafel sandwiches from Falafel King (verdict: way, WAY too much garlic; they're no Zaina, whose 3rd Ave location we continue to mourn. I should have walked to Cherry St. for my falafel fix, though...). We carried out our sandwiches and ate at tables down by the water, keeping an eye on a gaggle of agitated junkies over one shoulder. We thought about trying to see a Kate-unfriendly movie but nothing playing at Pacific Place really called out to be seen so we got a SIFF schedule (SIFF starts next week!) and browsed it over coffee instead. A brief stop at the hell that is Old Navy later, and back towards the market so I could pick up some Copper River Salmon with is IN NOW! Ah, spring in Seattle. I love it.
Made the salmon in a soy-maple glaze, with asparagus and mashed purple potatoes from my CSA box. Good Saturday!
I think I'm going to stick to cheese shopping at cheese shops and the farmer's markets in the future. This "festival" is anything but festive.
We took a break, grabbed a couple falafel sandwiches from Falafel King (verdict: way, WAY too much garlic; they're no Zaina, whose 3rd Ave location we continue to mourn. I should have walked to Cherry St. for my falafel fix, though...). We carried out our sandwiches and ate at tables down by the water, keeping an eye on a gaggle of agitated junkies over one shoulder. We thought about trying to see a Kate-unfriendly movie but nothing playing at Pacific Place really called out to be seen so we got a SIFF schedule (SIFF starts next week!) and browsed it over coffee instead. A brief stop at the hell that is Old Navy later, and back towards the market so I could pick up some Copper River Salmon with is IN NOW! Ah, spring in Seattle. I love it.
Made the salmon in a soy-maple glaze, with asparagus and mashed purple potatoes from my CSA box. Good Saturday!