I didn't have room in my last post to go over all the amazing foods and such I experienced on my last vacation, which is what this post is for!
First up, is Seattle. If you're like me and from a land-locked state, fresh sea food is always a novelty. We ate at the Crab Pot and ordered one of the "Feasts". Yes, the food was just like it sounds. They basically bring out a bowl of fresh sea food boil with Cajun spices. Our bowl included two types of crab, shrimp, clams, potatoes and mussels. It was delish! We were each given the following items to prepare for our meal: 1 Bib; 1 wooden block and gavel to crush our crab; lots of butter. It was a blast. I have a new-found appreciation for everyone who has to prepare shrimp from scratch. Mine was already cooked, so it wasn't that hard to take the head and legs and such off, but it was a lot closer to the "animal" than I usually get in cooking. Smashing the crab legs up was certainly a lot of fun though. I, of course, sent little pieces of crab flying everywhere because I'm clumsy like that.
We also had some amazing food at Pike's market. They have a cheese shop and we could see them making it right there. Their macaroni and cheese, of course, was superbly awesome!
The last day we were there we went to Ivar's, which is where everyone my family goes to every time they're in Seattle. Instead of eating in the restaurant, we just got ours "to-go" and ate outside. We basically stood in line for a few minutes and then got to shout our order to the cooks. We got some yummy fish and chips, and of course, the classic Ivar's clam chowder. So YUMMY! Seriously, their chowder is the best I've ever had and if I lived in Seattle it would be bad for me because I'd go there for lunch all the time! In case you couldn't tell, I am recommending this place for anyone who plans to visit Seattle. :)
Moving on to Chicago, I think as far as food went it wasn't as exciting. We of course went to Berghoff's for dinner and I scarfed down some yummy German food. My aunt Laure made lots of really killer quesadillas for the party at her house, and I ate a whole bunch of them. Usually I am not a big fan of chorizo, but it was pretty tasty in these.
What was interesting about the Chicago part of the trip was I had bought a book in the airport, and it was set in Chicago. See, I didn't bring anything to read, so I found an Anthony Bordain travel book and figured that would be good vacation reading. The store clerk also suggested The Time Traveler's Wife (which is being made into a movie FYI), and I figured I might as well pick it up. As I was reading through it, I discovered the author is from Chicago, and recognized all sorts of things I have seen there. The main character even goes to my favorite German restaurant (the Berghoff's) to get wasted in the novel. Entertaining. I also couldn't put the book down, which hasn't happened for a while. So, for anyone looking for a good read, I suggest it. Frankly, I don't see how they could make a movie that would even be close to comparing to the book (the guy inadvertently time travels, and the book spans like 60 years), but it might be worth seeing just to catch Nekkid Eric Bana.
In an effort to *not* end this post talking about naked actors, I will say that I enjoyed my vacation overall, and it was great to have a "girls" trip with my sister, and also to catch up with all my extended family. If I ever end up in the Chicago region, I know I'll have lots of people to visit with.
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