Good food, Good drink, Good God, Let's Eat

And eat and eat and eat.

My GalPal Anandi (aka BeagleBabe - because she has a Beagle - Spike - and because she loves them) and I have this new tradition that I, for one, hope we continue. We eat. And not just eat, but we eat new things.

BeagleBabe and I met when I was working at Geeksoft in the SpeechServer team. She left that group and I "took over" her job. Parts of it anyhow. And really, looking back, I did nothing for 3 months and got paid for it. Ah-hem, anyhow. She went part-time in her new gig, which meant we could meet for lunch. We met at a couple different places, then settled on this Sushi place just down from where I work. I hate Sushi, but they had great chicken katsu. We met almost weekly there. Then BeagleBabe went and got a new kickass job in downtown Seattle.

Since she's now downtown, we've turned our lunches into dinners and trying some of the amazing restaurants Seattle has to offer. So far, we've ate our way through a good portion of Bell Town, and have a lot left to taste.

Past outings has seen us at Casualita's, which is a rum bar. And Oh. My. God. did they have good food. We still talk about that place. We only ordered appetizers and were plenty satisfied. It seems like there has been others, but I certainly can't remember. It's because I'm in a food coma.

Tonight we ate at Cascadia. It was featured on Rachael Ray's $40 a Day show, which painted this little haven of a place. They have two things that are considered their "speciality". One are these mini burgers and the other this Alpine Martini. The Alpine Martini has Douglas Fur Snow in it and a Douglas Fur twig sticking out of it. I didn't dare attempt to try this drink because I'm not a big fan of tree tasting.

On Rachael's show she said the mini burgers were a buck a piece and so quite a bargain. She was lying. Maybe the special Rachael Ray promote our restaurant price is a buck a piece, but it sure wasn't for us. While they are cheap, the toppings for them add up. And while BeagleBabe and I thought we were getting a bargain, when we got a tab at $63 we knew we had been had.

Mini Burger = $2 (Happy Hour). The gourmet toppings were an additional fee. They come with lettuce, tomato and ketchup. If you wanted handmade Mayo it was extra.

Anyhow, we both ordered 2 each. They were *maybe* 2 oz of burger on a 4oz bun. I had crispy pancetta (add $2 more) and cheddar cheese (add $1) on one (totaling $5 for a 2oz burger!). My second burger I had just grilled walla walla sweet onions(add $1). Then we *had* to order the "bucket O' fries" to go with our mini burgers. Oh and I had ordered a white bean hummus to start us off on - which was, sadly, not very flavorful. I had a Pomo-tini and Sangria for my drinks. The Sangria tasted like hand lotion. Even BeagleBabe said it was gross. Blech!

After gorging ourselves on our mini burgers, we were discussing other iconic types of food in that neighborhood. When what should come up but these kick ass shaken donuts that a near by restaurant does for dessert. A 5 block walk found us at Lola for dessert.

BeagleBabe has also started making her own jewelery. It's gorgeous stuff and she's quite talented. As it turns out, she now is selling it online too. Check it out. And no, if you buy something I don't get a commission. Though she may buy my next drink.

And of course since I was going to Seattle, I brought my camera with me. It seems to go almost everywhere with me now, so going to Seattle doesn't necessarily mean it was a fluke it was with me. Anyhow, my picture of the day, and by far one of my favorite photos of all time. It almost looks like a stock photo, but I swear...It's really mine.