Trivia and food adventures with visitors

My friend Samantha was coming back to Seattle for a week (she lived here for a year) so her adjenda included visiting all the places she loved in Seattle but does not have in Boston.

First order of business - trivia. Conor Byrne has a pretty awesome trivia night in Ballard every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month. I have not been going since she moved away because frankly... it makes me sad to loose. We generally do okay in the general knowledge categories, but fail miserably at songs and movies. This week was no exception - we were even leading in the first 4 rounds, but the last two (music and Patrick-themed round) we bombed. Alas - so close but yet so far. Anyways - its a great place and very good questions that are quite diverse.



Next order of business - food. One of her favorite places is Bizzaro's - Italian restaurant with a rather well... bizarre atmosphere. :)

I've been there four or so times now (all with Samantha... she really does love that place). I'm sad that they do not have the pumpkin raviolli anymore - that was the best. I usually get one of their meats (so aptly name 'Cow', 'Chicken', etc). I got the 'forest frenzy' this time which is a pasta dish with oodles of cheese and mushrooms. Delightful. Oh and their cappucino is amazing. Oh and their balsamic vinegar (served with bread and on your salad) is wonderful. Mmmmmm.

The other fun part about the place is the decor. It is over the top. I only captured a little with the photo of the notes under the glass on all the tables. Fun to read what people have to say. Frankly most of it is rather sappy, but it is all fairly recently written so it is fun to see what is current in visitors lives. :)

I finally have a visitor! Now what...?

I've been trying to get anyone I can get my hands on to visit me. My grandma visited me for a couple of days in December which was awesome, but getting Matthew for a visit this week was the first friend visitor (and hopefully not the last!).

Was quite afraid of my first visitor getting a horrible rainy impression of Seattle-it was insanely rainy and disgusting on Friday. To top that off, Matthew managed to get trapped in Bellevue while biking around... quite an accomplishment. But provides great forms of exercise. I should attempt this sometime. I did meet up with him for lunch in the International District. Green leaf is one of my favorite restaurants by work now-large portions and something about lemongrass sauce makes me very, very happy.

Friday evening, per Samantha's recommendation, we headed over to Bizarro's. The wait was about half an hour, not too bad for a 'top rated' Friday night restaurant. The thing that sticks out about the place, as can be inferred from the name, is the curious decor. Bicycles on the cealing, odd paintings on the walls, a spider off the chandalier. Quirky to the extreme. It is a type of place you can spend almost the whole evening (we were there for about two hours). I would give it an A+ for fresh bread and oils - magnificent combination and great presentation. I complimented this with a delightful glass of port. Mmmm. The main dish for me was elk. Yes, elk the animal. Whenever I see an animal that I have not tried on the menu, it must be consumed. I will give elk a B. Chewy and tasteful, but not something I would go out of my way to have.

Saturday, for a second time for me, we went over to Wallace Falls State Park. I went on this hike previously in October and loved the waterfalls so decided it was worth a repeat visit. The trail climbs very steeply and through quite an array of vegetation: fields, rain forest, and pine forest. The rapid river gushes several hundred feet below the trail at most points. The falls come in three stages- the middle one being the most impressive. If you are tired, the top falls is not even worth the trek in my opinion.

The middle falls are amazing in their two-teir cascade, and the magnificent view on the valley. We were lucky that the clouds left right as we got to the look-out point. In a matter of minutes, the view of a giant cloud faded into the blue sky, mountains, and cozy valley. Perfect timing. =)

Also great luck with weather - both of the weekend days were partly cloudy and beautiful. A sunset on the coast is one of my favorite things ever. We watched Saturday's from 'Golden Gardens'. 

A day trip that I would really recommend most visitors is to Bainbridge Island. Seattle is famous for it's ferries and this is just a 35 minute ride with amazing views of the city and possibility of wildlife spotting (apparently some people saw sea otters on our trip there...). The trip can be done by car, foot or bus. Both of the times I have gone has been on foot, so I think next time I will bring some other form of transportation to get a better look at the island, but it is great. Quiet and quaint.

And once again, I will make a plug for my favorite farmers market in the city-Ballard farmers market. Sunday mornings. It has all of the things I love most about markets: good mix of food, arts, and produce stands. Live music. Cute shops around the market. =)

And no trip to Seattle is complete without a visit to the Space Needle. Well it could be... but we went up anyways. Great view.

And as I vow to continue documenting my cooking adventures, I would like to give an A+ to the Trader Joes pizza dough. Cheep and amazing. Also adding lots of cornmeal on the pizza peal is essential to success. Still to come: trying to make my own pizza dough.

First visitor to Seattle was, at least for me, a success. Great to see somebody that I have known for a while, and show off what I have learned about the city so far. Here's to many more!