Easter 2007 In Seattle

We've been in the city since early Friday afternoon. The flight here on American was painless enough with the upgrade; though the flight back, executive platinum or not, we're gonna' have to go cattle class. Damn those people who are actually paying to go first class lol.

It's been a fun-filled past two full days. We're hanging out with good friends and obviously, like in Tokyo, that includes good food and cocktails :) Mmmm... cocktaayles!

Traditionally, the first meal we have upon arriving (usually lunch) - you guessed it - Shultzy's Sausage. Excuse me, the now bigger, new and improved Shultzy's Sausage!! JJ (Japanese Julie), who had lunch already, joined us and had fries (only); except these are the best fries in the world. Yes, of course I'm serious. I never joke about my food :) ...and with the very unexpected 80 degree heat, we were too easily seduced by Don's vodka-cranberry-lemonade. Yumz! I cleaned my plate swiftly and got to see familiar faces and of course, marvelled at how our godson continues to grow vertically.

...and traditionally, the king gets his haircut at Gary Manuel - next to his old apartment. Yes, we live in Memphis and he gets his haircut in Seattle and/or Tokyo lol. So while the king was busy, JJ and I took the drive over to ID (International District / Chinatown). Uwajimaya was uneventful though still fun... other than the fancily packed fresh produce like in Japan, live sea urchin as and when you'd like some, just-out-of-the-oven-baked Asian pastries, a whole aisle of sake and sochu... we can basically get everything I need back in Tennessee. Ok, I'll admit it. I'm always envious of the people who live in Seattle or cities with big Asian markets. It'll be a dream come true for me! Honestly!

Dinner at Saito's turned out be a good decision. I had the best uni I've had outside Japan and boy, was I thrilled :) Yes, by now, you realize that (good) sea urchin is one of my favorite things to eat. The king was sweet and got extra orders and after everyone had one more, I was left with the rest of the order. Mmmm... oooooooooo-niiiiiii! :) It turned out to be a relatively early night. Considering we had a 6am flight, woke up at 2am to pack (that would be Seattle time, midnight) and do the usual morning errands before taking off, we were beat. So dinner and cocktails ended at 11pm...

Day two, my shopping day. All retail stores are closed on Easter Sunday in Seattle (though I noticed Urban Outfitters, Addidas and Old Navy opened later). I had to do my thang at Eileen Fisher and Nordstrom. Unfortunately, both stores were a little disappointing. Of course I got stuff from EF but not overly satisfying... I got absolutely nothing from Nordstrom. No shoes, no bags :( The king did say to go ahead with all clothing but curb-it on the rest hahahhaa. I know, it shouldn't be Christmas everyday :) I did, however, surprisingly, find two pairs of casual sneakers at Nordstrom Rack. Happy happy joy joy!

The dinner that night at Metropolitan Grill. An old Seattle joint where the financiers of the city come and get their meat on. Omg, I, of all people got the 24oz of rib eye! Needless to say, the Shulze family got to have some serious leftovers. The only person who finished his steak was fifteen year old William, who at Easter dinner table the next evening, was still fantacizing about his meal from the night before lol. Yes, it was that good and you gotta' get the bananas foster for dessert. YUM!

Most of Easter Sunday morning was spent in the hotel room recovering from the late-night drinking session we had (yes, after the very heavy meal we had) with JJ at Marjeries. We hung out with a friend of JJ's, Peter, who was back in town for business (Amazon employee who works in Cape Town) and had a nice few hours of mojitos and good laughs. We finally left when JJ and boyfriend, Yoshi came to pick us up for dim sum brunch at O'Asian. Wow, thus far, my favorite dim sum place in town. ...and the rest of the day, we hung out with the Shulze family, their employees, friends and neighbors, easter egg hunting - I only found three eggs and no golden egg :( - but the king and I won at the gambling box later that evening lol!

All in all, another fun long weekend in Seattle. But that's no surprise anymore.