2010-06-04-Seattle

After a decade and a half of living in the same building, Mike is finally getting out of bed, and relocating himself to a foreclosed condo in Las Vegas. But as I've got visitors from out of town for all weekends until after Canada Day, this was the only chance I would have to go for a final visit.

2010-06-05

Unfortunately, he was in a nocturnal period of his sleep cycle, so we were left to entertain ourselves until dinner. Fortunately, we were staying with Haoyong so we didn't suffer the full effects of Mikelag.

We started the day with breakfast at The Original Pancake House. We didn't get to eat much of the complementary apple pancake in the waiting room as there was no line, so we had to order our own (along with the corned beef hash and bacon and eggs). The pancakes are always good, being almost a gooey cake with a good portion of sliced apples. It was a fine day so we went for a walk around the Kirkland waterfront after brunch.

Apple pancake

Shockingly, Mike was asleep when we dropped by his place. So we left him to go back to bed after stealing his basketball. We didn't last too long in the hot sun though, and had to resort to some bubble tea. And we managed to fit in a visit to Trader Joe's before Mike called to say he was up.

For dinner, we headed down to The Harvest Vine in Seattle, a Basque tapas bar. We sat at the bar this time, and got to watch the chefs prepare delicious and eye pleasing creations. It was impressive enough just watching the number of pans they juggled on the stove while also artfully decorating the plates with sauces and garnishes, they even quipped into our conversations once in a while.

The Harvest Vine	Chefs cooking	Preparation of duck breast	Amuse bouche
Plato de Chorizo - selection of chorizo from la rioja, soria, pamplona	Boquerones - vinegar-cured anchovies, gordal olives, migas	Ajo Blanco - white gazpacho, garlic, almonds, grapes	Champiñons - button mushrooms, garlic, sherry
Sepias - cuttlefish, black rice, piqullo peppers	Morcilla - piquillo peppers filled with blood sausage	Cordero - lamb loin, king oyster mushrooms, fava beans, bacon	Cookies
Arroz con Leche - rice pudding	Tarta de Pioñones - raspberry, pine nuts, almonds

Each dish presented its own cornucopia of flavours. I could taste the flavours imparted by various ingredients, and thinking about the delicate combination of them all is certainly mouth watering.

Haoyong must eat there quite a bit. We all got handshakes and he even got a hug as we were leaving. We didn't see Stephen Hawking there this time though.

To ensure that we suffered Mikelag, we stayed up chatting until the wee hours of the morning before we said goodbye to Mike.

2010-06-05

We went for brunch at Toulouse Petite in Queen Anne. Touted by Haoyong as the one New Orlean's style resturant that's actually good, it certainly lived up to his hype. We started with a large order of beignets, but we were too hungry and dove in before I remembered to take a picture.

Toulouse Petite	Crawfish etouffee and egg	Crab ravigote	Fried chicken gumbo
Pork cheek hash

We returned to Haoyong's to get our stuff and drive home, but stayed just long enough for a visit from one of his backyard bunnies.

Haoyong's backyard bunny