{Announcement} Thursday Night Bites is Moving

I'm moving to Wordpress!  I have not yet fully completed the migration process, so until everything is finished, please visit me at the link below.  Thanks for reading!

http://thursdaynightbites.wordpress.com/

Special Occasion Meals and Video Games {Metropolitan Grill}

A couple months after I moved to Seattle, I decided to take B out for a nice dinner. I still worked retail then and had a midweek day off. Those were different days. We hardly ever had a day off together and both worked weird hours. We lacked predictability in life. On this particular day, I spent some time looking for a good restaurant online and stumbled upon the Metropolitan Grill. That night, we had our first truly great dinner in Seattle.

A Night at the Market {Matt's in the Market and The Alibi Room}

In early December, we had an unusually large Thursday dinner with a group of old, current and new friends when two, B² and P, traveled to Seattle for work. B² has made 3 such trips so far, the most recent of which was this week. He already had plans for Thursday dinner, so we did a little shuffling and moved our weekly plans to Wednesday. We sort of have a routine. At least one night of B²'s trip, we have dinner followed by drinks someplace different.

Unwinding Close to Home {Sport Restaurant & Bar}

Friday was a busy, busy day! My job is relatively sedentary, so it's rare for me to have a day when I'm literally moving from beginning to end. It's a nice change from my usual sitting at a desk or in a conference room, but it also reminds me just how far my physical endurance has fallen from my retail days of 10+ hours a day on my feet without blinking. Between my pathetic stamina and a fairly high stress level, I was downright exhausted by the end of the day. B had a bit of a rough day too thanks to some unexpected computer drama. Instead of turning into total vegetables on the sofa, we decided to walk a couple of blocks to Sport Restaurant & Bar just to hang out and unwind.

Moules Frites at the Center of the Universe {Brouwer's Cafe}

Wednesday night we detoured through Capitol Hill on our way home and found ourselves sitting at the bar at Marjorie having an absolutely lovely dinner. Amazing cuttlefish for me, pork belly and blood sausage (please no one tell him what's actually in blood sausage) for B and one monumental occasion. I. Ate. Bread. Pudding. If you've followed along for any length of time, you may already know about my texture issue with wet bread. Before Wednesday night, it was probably fifteen years since my last bread pudding. I was wooed by the promise of bourbon caramel, fresh cream and toffee and it was bread pudding for us! I wish I could say I had a life changing experience, totally erasing all memory of my texture phobia, but it would be a lie. While I was mildly bothered by the texture, the beautiful combinations of flavors throughout the dessert more than compensated for the texture.

Anyway, this post isn't really about Marjorie. It's about a Thursday Night dinner quite different from Marjorie and from many other food adventures in fact. Thursday night we visited Brouwer's Cafe in Fremont (self-proclaimed Center of the Known Universe). This was our fourth or fifth visit to Brouwer's. We've always had a good time.  With their 64 beers on tap and 300 bottles, it isn't difficult to find something one might enjoy. It's just nearly impossible to choose just one.

You Can't Be Sad Eating Ice Cream {Molly Moon's Homeade Ice Cream}

I've been on a quest for ice cream for weeks... literally weeks. Specifically, I've been on a quest for Molly Moon's Homeade Ice Cream. It just hasn't worked out, though. B is sick of hearing me talk about wanting ice cream. He hasn't said it. I just know. Even I was a little sick of hearing me talk about ice cream, but once I'm fixated on my favorite food group (yes, it is a food group), there's no turning it off until the craving is satiated.

Underdogs and Underwhelmed {Fado Irish Pub}

A friend's misfortune was our gain. We were lucky enough to attend tonight's Seahawks game since a friend with season tickets couldn't get a sitter. To be honest, we're a bit of fairweather fans. We haven't really been in Seattle long enough to be really loyal, but we're always happy to see the Seahawks do well and anyone who's ever attended a football game at Qwest can tell you, the energy in that stadium is nothing less than electric.

Seattle hasn't recently been known for super successful sports teams, but a loyalty exists amongst the fan base nonetheless. Since neither B nor I grew up in an area with professional sports teams, we don't really have strong ties. We make for easy adoptees by Seattle pro teams.

One of the best parts of games in Seattle is the food. Yes, seriously. My favorite stadium food is garlic fries. Mariners or Seahawks, I can't do without my fries! Game calories don't count (obviously), so B had an Italian sausage and I had a Kidd Valley cheeseburger along with a bag of Kettlecorn at the game.

Salty Seattle {Re:Public}

Since completing NaBloPoMo, I've enjoyed the luxury of spending days on a particular post. And of course, as my beloved Ernest Hemingway said, "The first draft of anything is shit." Oh so true. In general, though, while I sometimes spend days upon days editing and fine tuning until I grow tired of the words, I don't often struggle putting that first draft on screen.

My struggle writing this post doesn't reflect in any way on Re:Public. We certainly had a lovely time. It is more likely reflective of this week long endeavor at reacclamating to real life, to work, to a set schedule. I am quite grateful for the four day work week and, in many ways, I can hardly believe it's already over, but what a week it's been.

Second Saturday {Seatown Seabar & Rotisserie and Tini Bigs}

B and I are both creatures of habit. Living in New Mexico, I definitely had my habits, but they weren’t driven by anything specific… except occasionally by trying to establish some normalcy within a totally erratic work schedule. Since we’ve been in Seattle, though, a lot of our habits are driven by seasonal and weather patterns. I suppose it’s all about taking advantage of what’s available. Summer is bike rides, spontaneous happy hours and lots of time on restaurant patios and in the Pike Place Market. Winter is cozy neighborhood bars, restaurants with comfort food and icy cold walks. We eat more brunch in winter when we’re more grateful for the daylight. We’ve had such beautiful weather (albeit freezing) these past few days. There’s a lot of daylight to be grateful for.

Bad Habits and Lovely Experiences {Marjorie}

I have a terrible habit. I eaves drop. I don't do it on purpose and I try hard to tune out other people's conversations in public, but I just can't. I spent too many years in retail learning the art (read: curse) of carrying on one conversation while observing and listening to those around me. It drives B crazy. He never eaves drops.

We decided to have our New Years Eve dinner at Marjorie. Now that Book Bindery is open, we have to split our repeat restaurant time between these two favorites. The two are so vastly different, but we love them both and always leave both places in a better mood than when we arrived. Even though both seat about the same number of patrons, the Book Bindery space is larger and each table feels more private. It's relatively easy to exist in your own space without intrusion from fellow diners. It's quiet, dark, comfortable and a bit reserved. The space and food alike are beautiful and calming. Marjorie is community. Regardless of whether you know the people sitting next to you when you arrive, you're bound to learn something about them just based on proximity. The colors are bright, there is a cheerful level of noise all around. The space, the people and the food radiate warmth.