Pages from the road trip diary

When I have a really great day I just pretend it was my birthday. All the fabulousness without the unrealistic expectations of epic proportion. Today marks day-three of my road trip with Sally and we found ourselves in Seattle which just so happens to be one of my favorite cities. My dear friend Jeff Soens has a condo at 1st and Union and I’ve had the great fortune to stay there a few times with Sharon or Jen following our bliss around this wonderful city. Since Sally and I are in town and my real birthday is just a few days away, she graciously gave me charge of the day and what a day it was.

Today embodied so many of my favorite things that I’m making myself write it all down now lest I forget a single dreamy detail. We arrived downtown and immediately grabbed a coffee from Cafe Ladro then went across the street to the new Four Seasons Hotel and Residences to enjoy a dark chocolate salted caramel from Fran’s Chocolates (the official chocolatier to the White House).

Then off to one of my true happy places Watson-Kennedy fine home goods. I LOVE this store! It is decorated in such a lovely, inspiring fashion that I simply must take my time and take it in. Words can’t describe the authentic glee I experience just being in this store. I mean look at this place.

The guy behind the counter was kind enough to say thank you to all my gushing about how over the moon I was to be there and then I found out it was HIM – Ted Watson Kennedy!! Eeeeek! What an honor to meet the man behind the vision.

Next stop, Pike Place Market with all the crowds and wonder, flowers and produce. I know I have a thousand pictures of these flower and produce stalls from each visit, but I can’t get enough of this place, honestly!

Our trip Would not be complete without a few purposeful stops- Cinnamon Works boasting cookies as big as your face, Beechers for the best macaroni and cheese I’ve ever tasted. I fondly refer to it as crack n cheese and have deemed all other attempts at the recipe a waste of time and calories. Yes, I ate the whole thing.

Next a cappiccino from Le Panier. This place smells so good that I actually feel a little angst about needing to order my coffee and pastry in French since it smells like I’m in Paris.

Followed by a run through the Sur La Table flagship store and some Washington wines at the Tasting Room in Post Alley. Properly fed and beveraged, we headed to the “Mothership”, the original Nordstrom. Sally is at home here and I didn’t do too bad myself. In the gorgeous shoe department, we benefitted from the unexpected but treasured advice of the former president of Clark shoes and the current president of New Balance who are designing a new line of fashion and casual shoes for women that are nice to your feet.

Wow! What a treat to meet these nice gentlemen who randomly declared that I must not leave the store without the shoes I was about to try on. I’m a good listener

The last stop was one of my favorite restaurants in the city, Le Pichet, a small 15 table French restaurant that makes pure magic on a plate.

We didn’t have a reservation so we sat at the bar and had a fantastic meal of asparagus with 5-year aged Gouda, prosciutto, lemon vinaigrette and a poached egg followed by cod with fava beans and shoestring potatoes in a lobster-tarragon cream sauce – hi! So yummy. Coffee ice cream with a happy birthday candle finished off this beyond fabulous day. Even as I recount all the delicious details, I can hear the rain outside, it really is my birthday! Sweet dreams.