Vacation Highlights!

Hi friends! It's weird to be back at the computer after a ten day vacation, but while I slog through almost four hundred photos, I wanted to share with you some of my favorite bits and pieces from Portland and Seattle.

Brown butter financier with rhubarb compote and mascarpone ice cream at Paley's Place in northwest Portland. This was one of the best meals of the trip, and I have never seen a restaurant owner work so hard. Kimberly Paley went out of her way to talk to every. single. guest. who walked in the door. Very, very pleasant experience.

Flight of tasty beer at Widmer Brothers in Portland. Sadly, our favorite brews are available ONLY at the brewery's Gasthaus Restaurant, but we did get to have some delicious Broken Halo IPA.

Voodoo Donuts. Here you see the legendary Maple Bacon, which was indeed delicious. When we saw Anthony Bourdain's lecture tour the night before, an audience member gave him one of these, and he was so excited he actually jumped up and down on stage, so clearly we had to try it. To the left is the Voodoo Donut itself, doll shaped with a pretzel stick for stabbing at the raspberry filling. The one above it has a name I can't remember, but mostly it was just A Big Mess - peanut butter and chocolate and waaay too much donut. The small piece is the Classic Buttermilk, which I very much enjoyed.

We drove out to Astoria on the Oregon coast before heading to Seattle on Monday, and I got to stick my feet in the Pacific for the first time ever. Totally worth the extra two hours of road trip.

This is one of the top three meals we had in Seattle, I think. I'm so grateful to Amy for suggesting it (via Twitter), and if you go to Seattle, I can heartily recommend Anchovies and Olives. If you go soon, try the hamachi crudo, it's got pickled rhubarb, sweet peas and basil puree, and it's fantastic. Plus, look how cute the olives are in their little canning jar!

Cafe Lago, and the legendary pomodori al forno. Molly's Bon Appetit column is the reason this was on my list of places to eat, and these tomatoes did not disappoint. Luckily, I know I can make them at home!

There were lots and lots (and lots) of amazing meals in Portland and Seattle, and I will do my best to tell you all about them, but now I leave you with this Great Blue Heron who was hunting at the Chittendon locks on Thursday, and a link to my brand spankin' new Flickr account, where I have started to upload more photos from the trip!