Sunday, February 11, 2007

Seattle

Okay, so here are some tidbits about my business trip to Seattle. We arrived on Tuesday and stayed at the Silver Cloud Inn in Bellevue. It is a lovely little hotel. I had a corner suite, so there was plenty of room to spread out. I could have done a cartwheel in my room and bathroom.

That evening we ate at McCormick & Schmick's, a seafood restaurant in Bellevue. OH MY GOODNESS! My dinner was so delicious, I am salivating right now just thinking about it. I ordered the Atlantic Salmon stuffed with succulent crab meat, shrimp, dill, and brie cheese. Holy Cow was it ever so good. We also had the best calamari I have tasted and half a dozen of oysters on the half shell. Yummy! Can you tell I am a seafood person? Then came dessert. Being the total tourist that I am, I had to take a picture of the chocolate cake. I had our chef put his hand next to it to show how huge it was. It came on a regular size dinner plate. I only had a bite. I didn't want to go on taste sensory overload.

The next day we hit the QFC stores. We visited two in Bellevue, one in University Center, and one in Redmond Way. I could have run right into Proxima and not even have known it! The stores were quite impressive. I can see these stores kick butt in perishables, which was my main focus for the trip. How can we improve our perishables back home? They have definitely mastered it there.
The most exciting part of the trip was when we went down to the Pike's Market. The Pike's Place Fish Market is famous in my company. The guys down there are famous. They have made a video called The Fish Video. It talks about how to have fun while at work and how to make the most out of your job. As soon as I saw some of the guys from the video, I squealed! They looked at me right away and asked how I knew about the video. I told them which company I worked for and they were all smiles. One of the guys pulled me behind the counter to see if I wanted to "catch" a fish. I did! I caught a beautiful salmon. I also got my picture taken with the group and we bought a book which they all signed. It was totally awesome!


Have you ever seen a monk fish before?

We tooted around the city a little more and went into the original Starbucks. Cheryl, you would have been in heaven in Seattle. Coffee everywhere. And I mean GOOD coffee. We then headed over to a little bakery and grabbed a piroshki. Yummy! I totally advise everyone who visits to do the same thing.

Later that evening we ate at Maggiano's "Little Italy" Restaurant. It was pretty good. Not as good as the night before. I think the dinner I had at McCormick & Schmick's was the best I have ever had.

We left on Thursday to come back home. As much as I loved being in Seattle, I did miss my home. Could I live there? Probably. It touched me to the soul. I have never seen mountains before. When I saw Mt. Rainier from the highway, it brought tears to my eyes. What beautiful world we live in. It just takes time to see it.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, except for the monk fish (???!!!!???) it sounds like a beautiful trip!

Glad to take the tips on what to see, do and eat when I'm out there next summer.

How far a drive from the airport is Bellevue?

Terri said...

sights and the food - best parts about a work trip! If you've never seen mountains you must visit the Rockies and the Smokies - both beautiful areas!

Cheryl said...

Bravo to you for a wonderful post. You really made it come to life for me. I wish I could have been there with you. It's probably been 18 years since I've been there, but it left a lasting impression on me and I'd love to go back for a visit. We have McCormick & Schmick's, but I've never had the pleasure of eating there.

Cheryl said...

That monkfish is truely UGLY by the way. I wonder if many people would eat it if they knew what it looked like!

Anonymous said...

Yeah! I'm so glad you had fun here. When I went to Florida for Christmas all I could talk about was how much I missed the mountains, I must have driven the in-laws crazy.

I too kept wondering if this woman or that woman was you. I was at a Starbucks in Bellevue and saw a group of business people. One of the women with blonde hair sat on the chair as you do in your profile picture. I asked her if she had a blog and she said "No", obviously, she wasn't you. :c

It's too bad we didn't get a chance to meet, but I'm not sure if that crosses some online blogging rule or not.

At any rate, Take Care! I'm glad you are back home safely.

As a side note:
You know customers in this region have very high expectations of what kind of International foods we expect at our "local" stores. A lot of East coast stores fail in the Seattle market. Everyone here is a critic or a chef.
-P

Eone said...

wow....nice ..trust that you have a wonderful and enjoyable trip...err..can i have that piece of cake ;)

austere said...

One- awesome dessert.
two- touched abt the tears.
Hmm fish no comment, veggie pls.

Anonymous said...

Hello, I'm visiting from Cheryl's. Imagine my surprise to see you talking about my neck of the woods!

If you end up this way again, you need to check out Whole Foods and PCC, both are in Redmond. QFC doesn't even hold a candle to their produce.

Did they scare you with the monk fish??? That's our favorite thing to do with out of town guests. (yes, we're bad!)