my friend and i stopped in for a bite and a drink at smith bar on capitol hill. when you step in, you'll feel like you are in the old boy's club. in a good way. there were animal heads and other game on the wall. it is very dimly lit. 

my ipa was tasty, though i can't remember what it was. my bacon gruyere sandwich would probably have been unremarkable, were it not for the onion jam. whoa. 

dinner at le pichet. 

what more can i say? a lot, turns out....

i pretty much always order the domaine de couronne cote du rhone, it's tasty and reasonable. 

for starters, we had pate (with honey and walnuts!), warm endive salad with chicken gizzards, and oysters. 

for main courses we did the chicken for 2 and the trout. i've experienced the chicken in its various seasonal manifestations, and the winter version did not disappoint. it came on a potatoe pancake with sauce, and was as succulent and delicious as ever. the trout was definitely good, but i feel that the side could have been a little more interesting. 

for dessert, i decided on the house ice cream (lemon yoghurt) and the house sorbet (tangerine). i've always been impressed with their ice creams in the past, and the lemon yoghurt was no exception (i don't even like lemon desserts that much!) the sorbet was a bit lacking, particularly in the texture. 

all in all, another delightful dining experience at one of my favorite restaurants in seattle. 

it's been a while since i posted. 

this past sunday, i went to "breakast" at molly moon's, a local gourmet ice cream shop. breakfast entails ice cream with oatmeal. i selected the the maple bacon ice cream. 

there was an array of topics including nuts, spices, and rasberry on the counter, which one could adorn one's breakfast. 

the maple bacon ice cream is a wonder, that classic blend of the sweet and salty as always tasty. but, did the oatmeal add to my ice cream experience? and vice versa? i'm inclined to say no. 

all in all though, a thoroughly enjoyable sunday afternoon study break activity. 

salted caramel cupcakes at cupcake royale are my new crack. except it's better than crack, because it comes on a moist chocolate cake. also, crack is not something i actually partake in, so i should probably find something else to compare it to. or you could just go try one yourself. 

vietnamese sandwiches made their way into my life today, and i get the feeling that they are here to stay. i went to a little shop on the ave, and i left with a crispy baguette filled with barbequed pork, cilantro, carrot, cucumber, and a little jalapeno. yummers. colonialism never tasted so good. now i know what to do when i crave a little baguette box, and i am too far away...

Saint Cosme Cotes du Rhone is by far the most enjoyable rhone that i've had in a long time, perhaps ever. rasberry flavors, will probably go well with any meal, a little less dry than most rhones that i've had. Pike and Western wine shop, available at an enticing 14.99. run that shit. 

on a side note, i expanded my culinary horizons with...green vegetable. 

i sauteed a shallot and a couple cloves in olive oil, then threw some red pepper in. i then added swiss chard, which i simmered for ten minutes, whilst dusting some turmeric on top, and a little salt. mmmh. i'm trying to eat more of those healthy foods that keep making an appearance in ny times articles. 

things i'm excited about:

hemp milk. it's so nice.i'm dying to make a latte out of it. mmhh. so much better than soy milk. 

quinn's. aaron and i had a sweet date at quinn's. we had the gnocchi with rabbit. so fluffy. so light. and yet so rich. and the duck. the duck was really well prepared, on a bed of bacon and cabbage. friends, let's get one thing straight here. the combination of duck and bacon is nothing to scoff at. 

i also had an old-fashioned and a glass of red wine. pretty decadent. the homemade whoopee pie, wrapped in tin foil, did not disappoint. 

uhm...new years. i kind of forgot to post about it, due to the days of mayhem and hungoverness which followed. 

calder roasted a duck. he rubbed some oil and herbs(rosemary, thyme, sage) into the duck, which was then roasted. 

raz made salad and roasted veggies. 

we drank a california pinot called "angeline", which was quite nice, though the details are a little hazy at this point. a bottle of cms quickly followed. 

dessert was deemed unnecessary, so we opted for turkish coffee. mmh, turkish coffee. 

after much other alchohol being consumed, we popped open a bottle of bubbly rose. 

on a side note, some motherfucker totally swiped the beer i had bottled out of the pantry. the beer that i was waiting for to ferment. as if there wasn't enough alchohol in the fridge. f'realz. i'm just glad i didn't have any nice bottles of wine in the pantry, 'cause lord only knows.