Sit, Sit, Sit, Eat, Eat, Eat

So it appears that the travel blog is turning into a restaurant review blog lately. Since summer flying can to an end over labor day weekend I have been sitting around, a lot. So what's a girl to do? Eat! I've been out and about with people all last week trying some fun, yummy new places in Seattle. I am a HUGE fan of Groupons and I had one for a place called Pintxos in downtown Seattle. Pintxos are basically the same things as tapas, only in the Basque region of Spain there are called pintxos instead. Regardless of the name they are delicious and I am a huge fan. Of course, they are Spanish. This place was cool. To start with, it was tiny. Probably seated 30 people I'd imagine, and that is including the outside patio. Given it's size and popularity you need to make a reservation. When we got there, at 8pm on a Thursday we had to wait 45 mins. Imagine that wait time on the weekend. They do have a nice system for waiting though. They put you name and phone number into a iPad app and once there is a table they call you on your phone. So you are free to walk around the neighborhood. Once you do get a table you are in for a treat. When you first walk in to your left is a bar and the kitchen! The 'kitchen' is literally two guys at the bar making the food right there. That was a first to see and really neat. Then there is the food itself. Serrano, manchego, chorizo, yummy yummy yummy. The friend I went with was vegetarian so we steered clear of most of the meat dishes (I did have to get a side of chorizo for one dish.) and stuck with things like, a Spanish tortilla, mac and cheese, figs with garlic oil and a Catalan creme brulee and chocolate mouse. We didn't get any drinks because we had a margarita across the street at the Mexican joint during our 45 min wait. But they had a large selection of drinks including fresh made Sangria. Yum. Bottom line, you're in Seattle and looking for a fun, unique dinner, go here. We spent exact $35 and were stuffed, with a box to take home.
Hopefully more travel related themes to come soon!

Delish Meal in Seattle

Do you live in Seattle? Are you coming to visit in Seattle? Are you on a layover in Seattle? Then you MUST go to Saley's restaurant at 1361 E Olive Way (between Melrose Ave & Bellevue Ave) in the Capital Hill neighborhood. Oh my goodness, it was one of the most delicious meals I have had. It's a crepe place, but they also have some sandwiches as well. But the crepes, heavenly. They offer about 15-20 different types of crepes from sweet to savory. The savory crepes come with their special crepe sauce, which is amazing and reminded me of a hollandaise sauce. You can choose between a mixture of ingredients such as: Ham, turkey, spinach, bacon, avocado, tomatoes, salmon and cheese. The sweet crepes have choices like: Cinnamon and sugar, carmel, nutella, bananas and strawberries. They offer a combo plate of 1 savory and 1 sweet for $10.95 so you can try both. I highly recommend that even though it is a lot of food.
On top of the yummy food the staff was super friendly. I had a somewhat odd looking gift certificate that they gave me no trouble with at all.
The place is on the small side, with about 10 tables so it's possible you might have to wait at peak hours, but it's worth it. Make a place today to go to Saley as soon as possible!

Creme What?

I'm always a fan of a good 'Lost in Translation' story so here's a quick one to get your day going. After arriving in Amsterdam this morning, for the third week in a row, I tried to take a quick nap. Alas sleep wasn't coming with the howling wind whipping by my window. So I crawled out of bed and went over to the grocery store. While I was there I thought I'd pick up a little treat for the awesome people who work at the hotel we stay at here in AMS. With probably 200 flight attendants and pilots here each day, they do a great job of keeping a smile on their face and being friendly and helpful. I saw these mini apple turnovers in the bakery and thought that they would be good, then I went over to the dairy area to get some whipped cream, cause that's how they eat apple pastries over here. I picked one that look really delish, right next to the big can of what looked like the Dutch version of Redi-Whip. I was happy and proud of my choices. After my return to the hotel I pulled the turnovers out of my bag along with the whipped cream. I held it out to the lady and asked if they do indeed eat this with apple pie here in Holland. She looked a little confused for a moment, and then said, "Um, yes, I think one of my coworkers will like that." Great, I thought! I've done well and pulled off a culture worthy gift!
After getting back to my room I heated up a turnover I had gotten for myself (of course!) and got out my own little cup of whipped cream. I opened it up expecting to find light, airy whipped cream. Instead I saw a thick, almost custard like substance. Uh-oh, I thought, what is this? After a sniff or two and a teenie tiny taste I discovered that I had in fact brought back for the lovely staff, sour cream. No wonder the lady looked at me funny. I'm hoping they all got a good laugh over the silly girl who brought sour cream to eat with apple pie, while they are enjoying said apple pie!

Eclectic

Well folks it's time for an eclectic blog post. I've got some new ideas about where the blog is going to go as I want to blog more often, but right now the works trips aren't producing much exciting news. So I'm looking at mixing things up. Stay tuned!
In the past 2 weeks I have been to Amsterdam twice. The first time I didn't even leave the hotel. The 2nd time was a bit more exciting. There is a market that sets up across the street from the hotel we stay at and I hit that up with a fellow FA. I was able to meet up with some fun ladies from Atlanta and have dinner at a Thai resturant a few blocks away from our hotel which was a nice experience. I'm stocked up in Stroopwafles and milk/creamer for a while now. :-)
In other news I went to Portland with Fuse last night to check out a concert. The band Dispatch was playing at the Roseland theater in downtown Portland. I am a new fan, having just really listened to their music a few weeks ago. (Check out this awesome song: Flying Horses) But that didn't matter any cause it was an awesome show. Super fun and a great time. We checked out a few other spots in Portland while we were there. We got a super yummy sandwhich at a place called Theo's on 5th Ave. After the show we went to Bailey's Taproom where we played a mean game of chess that, sadly, I lost. They have a big stack of board games that you can check out. But be careful because they closed kinda early, at midnight.
The next day we checked out the street cart foods at 10th and Washington. There was any food option that you could imagine here. Mexican, Indian, Greek, Southern, you name it, they had it. A few blocks away from that was Powell's City Books a crazy, huge bookstore that everyone told me I needed to check out. And it was huge. Lot's of new and used items. On the way back to get the car at the hotel we walked through the Saturday market near the Skidmore Fountain and got some free ice cream. Yum!
This was the first time I had ever spent any amount of time in Portland and it is definitely it's own city. It's quirky and eclectic.  Fuse pointed out that he heard the phrase 'Only in Portland" used quite a few times signifying that whatever event was happening at said time was something that would only happen in Portland.
Now I am trying to rest up for whatever trip may come up again this week! Maybe a 4 day Amsterdam? That would be time to go for a bike ride in the country! We'll see! And check back soon for the new style and approach to the blog!