I forgot to mention something funny from last night: we walked up to Barolo Ristorante and saw that it was a really nice place with crisp white tablecloths, candles... so we walked to the valet and asked if there was a dress code. He snickered and said "no, of course not!" I add this to the list of why I like Seattle! It was the perfect statement about the city.
Divya ran down to the Starbucks in our building for a pumpkin latte, one of my favorites! Much as we've avoided Starbucks here for other local coffee places, sometimes you stick with what you know. The other place around the corner had a really wonderful latte with orange peel in it which we had on our first day.
The weather forecast, while predicting rain all day, was 'showers' much to our delight. The rain is ok, but the triumvirate of pouring rain, cold and wind hasn't been fun at times! Shameem was very upset last night to find that she left the borrowed umbrella from Hotel Andra (where we sat by the fire waiting for our brunch table to open up yesterday morning) in Pike Place Market. It wasn't worth trying to go back to get it for sure!
Divya just shared with me that she saw a woman with very long fake lashes. So she says to me "I wonder if she's doing the 'walk of shame.' I mean, it's kind of early for that, don't you think? But she seems really put together for the 'walk of shame' so I don't know. This, my friends, is why I love Divya. Ha!
We went to the restaurant in the building for breakfast, then headed out to the Bainbridge Island Ferry. Bainbridge Island has a cute little downtown with little shops and restaurant, like some of the quaint little New England sea towns. A woman overheard us commenting on wanting fudge, and pointed out a little place with local made fudge and sweets. We tasted quite a few before settling on our choices, however, Divya kept sneaking 'samples' when she'd turn her back. Just in the interest of making sure it was good. Quality control at its finest. We then went next door for some tea and apple cider to warm up, then headed to the marina to walk around. A friend of mine recommended a restaurant. Did we go there? No, of course not, we lucked upon 122 Winslow 'Dining and Cheer'. How bad could it be? .. you ask. We are sorry we didn't before partaking of the dining and cheer.
The place was nice enough, and we ordered bruschetta and a pita plate with hummus and baba ganoush. How bad could it be? The plates came and we all just paused and looked. Hmmm.. I've never seen bruschetta prepared white that way. It looked like a very undercooked pizza cut in thin slices with half melted mozzerella from a package sprinkled over it. Ok.... so we tried it, and it tasted worse than it looked. The tomatoes tasted as if they had been either plastic in a past life or frozen, but definitely not good. So we tried the hummus. Almost worse! The pitas were cold and stale, the hummus not good, but the worst was the baba ganoush. I have never tasted anything so vile, and it almost tasted of chopped liver, and certainly had the consistency. We picked around the plate, and even the olives were awful. Had this been $12 or $15 that would have been one thing. But we paid $25 for the pleasure of the 'dine and purge.' The service was also less than cheerful.
We left and found a couple checking out the menu. Shameem very bluntly looked at them and said "do NOT eat here!" as we were walking away. We explained and they promptly left. And we wondered why no one was nice enough to warn us! However, the positive of this story is that we are now all convinced that we did in fact have the worst meal ever.
We went back to Pike Place Market and stopped at the cheese place, watching them make it in front of it. We got a little cup of mac and cheese to wash the taste of the hummus from our mouths, and it was fantastic! We walked through the market for a bit and headed back to our hotel for a little bit before heading out to Dahlia Lounge, a fabulous restaurant of a local famous chef Tom Douglas. It was recommended by a friend of mine, and everyone we've asked about restaurants has it on their short list. We sure need a good dining experience after that lunch!
The restaurant was wonderful! The place was red in tone, and lit by beautiful colored paper lights. Service was great and we found out that they were having a Seattle deal of three courses at participating restaurants for $30. Fabulous! Div had a couple of apps with a winter salad and veggie samosas. I had pumpkin mussels which were amazing, a great pork dish and a chocolate mousse dessert with popycock! Shameem had bread salad, crabcake and a creme carmel. Yummy! Fabulous meal!
We had a good laugh on the way home. We got to an intersection, and the light showed 3 seconds left. Div and I stopped and decided to not cross, but Shameem wasn't paying attention and 'la de da' crossed into the street. She was halfway when the hand stopped flashing. Halfway across the street she realized that the light changed when Div and I yelled 'bye!!!!", let out a yelp and ran across. That was funny enough, but what was even funnier when the guy in the second car back waiting for her to cross saw us waving, saw her yelp and run and really started laughing loudly! Divya and I howled as did Shameem (once she crossed). When Divya and I crossed to her, Shameem shared with us that she had been talking to us the entire time!! She's blaming it on her new hottie hat, but we know... (continue reading for a glimpse into the life of Shameem... If this is Shameem's mom reading, the next part is about Divya.)
We came back and went to the business center to print our tickets off. Divya and I left first, and we schemed about telling the young kid at the front desk that Shameem was surfing inappropriate material and should be stopped. Then we howled about what the poor kid would do, and speculated about his stammering about it. We got up to the room and decided on a note from management: " Dear Ms. Kathiwalla, we have been told that you were surfing inappropriate material in the business center. This is a classy hotel so this will not be tolerated. We will make your accomodations on the front steps outside this evening. Thanks for your patronage. Mr Schmidt." I should note that Mr. Schmidt is the picture of the man in a trenchcoat on our hotel door. Every night we've said 'goodnight Mr. Schmidt" to laughter.
So, you might want to know-- what site is Shameem looking at and why is she surfing porn in hotel business center? Why would her friends rat her out? Did she really sleep on the front steps? Find out in the next episode... of Sam's blog. (for those who have seen Soap, this may be funny to you. Or perhaps not.) :o)
So, Divya is leaving tomorrow at the crack of dawn, taking my blogging computer with her. Bah! So, the last day will be a mystery... until Tuesday when I am awake enough and have computer access to finish this trip.
Night!
S
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