Washington (Seattle and Tacoma area): A Short Excursion

A few days after our road trip to Houston, I took a short trip to Washington to visit some family. I had coffee and treats, did some grocery shopping, and had a great meal in a food court of a grocery store.

The number one thing that this Okie girl always has to have on a trip to Washington is some excellent coffee. Coffee shacks are prevalent there, very similar to our snocone stands here. My absolute favorite (out of the 50 around where I stay there) is a place called "Brew It 4 U." Last year John and I drove up to Washington to visit our family and took it upon ourselves to visit the many local coffee shacks. This place stood out as the best we tried, so I try to go there at least once a year. We chat with the baristas working and tell them a bit about Oklahoma and they tell us about coffee culture in Washington. Yay cultural exchange!

Brew It 4U, their signature drink The Flying Dutchman, and a yummy sugar cookie.

For those of you not from Washington, coffee is often sold in little buildings on the side of the road like that one. They dot many of the corners in Washington and have absolutely delicious coffee. There are, of course, your Starbucks and Tullys buildings, but they hold their own. This place is actually right next to a Starbucks. They don't have snow cone places like us, but have coffee places instead.

Next I went grocery shopping and got a selection of Northwest exclusive fare. Well, the Pico de Gallo chips may not only be in the Northwest, but I don't eat potato chips so it was the first time I had seen them.

Mostly from a grocery store that focused on Northwestern/Washington items

Salmon Jerky was tough and slightly fishy. I didn't particularly like it and let others eat the rest. We occasionally can find Tillamook cheese here, but only block cheddar. This store had little cheddar snacks and sliced provolone. I think they had shredded cheese too, but that would have been harder to use in my short stay. I adore Tillamook cheddar and was kind of eh for the provolone. Then we come to Tim's chips. They are kettle cooked and extremely exclusive to the Northwest. John just went to Utah and couldn't find them even that close. We really don't get any other potato chips but Tims (or Kettle Brand for a party), so it's an extra special treat.

Northwest exclusive water, just for fun

One of the last days we went to a Korean grocery market. It was similar to the Korean store we went to in Houston, but it had an added bonus: a food court with amazing food.

Top left is the actual restaurant, bottom left is their advertisements with their 6 side dishes (banchan) and the big picture was another Korean restaurant in the same food court that also had a little deli...in a grocery store. There were also Chinese and Japanese (I think, I didn't pay enough attention) restaurants in the food court.

I had no idea what to order as the extent of my Korean food had been kimchi and bulgogi. I wanted to try something different, so I got dolsot bibimbap. I also had no idea how to eat it, so I didn't eat it correctly but it was incredible. The dolsot means hot (very very very hot) stone bowl. Bibimbap is a sort of mixed bag of ingredients. Mine was seafood, zucchini, and water chestnuts (maybe onions) that was coated in a quite spicy sauce with an amazing depth. All of that covered a layer of rice that sort of carmelized onto the bottom of the bowl, making it crispy. On the very top was a raw egg which cooked with the heat of the dish. Apparently you are supposed to wait a bit and then mix it all up. I couldn't wait and picked at it, but it was still incredible.

Top is the banchan, bottom is the dolsot bibimbap

We also did a bit of grocery shopping:

I didn't get the Pocky, but the rest I was wanting to actually try.

I have heard about Melon Soda. It wasn't the bright neon green I was expecting. It was clear, but it really did taste like melon. I drank it all but it took a couple of days. The other thing I got was mochi. I've had the ice cream version (thin pounded rice coating that covers a lot of ice cream), and I generally like it. This, however, is the actual mochi with a red bean paste filling. I've never tried red bean paste surprisingly and have always been a little nervous about it. I did try it though and it was awesome. I will definitely get it again, but I haven't really found it at our main Asian market.

The next (and final) day, most of us went to a mall where I discovered a new vending machine.

Press button, get juice

Yep, that's a "freshly squeeze orange juice" vending machine. It's expensive and tastes so-so, but it was so odd I had to try it. I have a lot of trouble with oranges so most of the juice went to the children with us, but it was fun to see it cut and squeeze the oranges.

After the mall, we went to a place that it is a necessity if you are in Washington. John and I stop at the first one we can find when we go up there. Last year we made a slight detour to a mall just outside of the Eastern border of Washington to get there.

Ivar's is THE place for cheap-ish fried seafood.

Ivar's. My mouth is water just thinking about it. The shrimp is de-veined and cooked to perfection. You can get little tiny squid. I could go on about Ivar's for a long time. It's a little more expensive, but it really is all about quality and I think the price are only slightly higher than Long John Silvers.

On the way back I got some coffee at the SeaTac airport from the Dilettante Mocha Cafe. They make mochas of various types of chocolate. I also got an awesome and needed massage from The Massage Bar. I had a red eye to Dallas and then ended up back home, but I miss the amazing coffee and seafood of my favorite place...and the trees, and the ocean, and the mountains....