USA 2013 Part 7 - Seattle

The University District has quite a lot of fun shops to look at. If you happen to be in the area, I highly recommend checking out Magus Books, which is an awesome secondhand bookstore. I got an unused colouring book of mythical beasts there! We also visited the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. Once we had worked off some of our breakfast, we then headed off on a longish walk to our next stop.




I had heard about a new vegan bakery opening up in the U-District named Violet Sweet Shoppe that I was keen to try. It is not on the main street of the U-District, it is off a bit past University Village. You can catch a direct bus there from the university near the Henry Art Gallery, though we walked as we were still full, but it was a longer walk than we expected. But once we got there, we found the most adorable little bakery known to humankind. Look how sweet it is!



I was still a bit full, but I found room for this gorgeous Chocolate Raspberry Cupcake. This was cupcake perfection. Beautiful moist chocolate cake with a raspberry jam filling. And a swirl of amazing not-too-sweet icing with fresh berries. We had a nice chat to the owners who do all the baking, and they gave us some tips for our upcoming jaunt into Vancouver. I left there besotted with the place and determined to come back and dreaming of opening an adorable bakery of my own.



We took another longish walk back to the Henry Art Gallery, on the campus of the University of Washington. This had an amazing exhibit that was MFA and MDes Thesis Exhibit final works, and we spent a happy couple of hours meandering through their galleries. By that stage I had worked up an appetite, and I had heard that there was vegan froyo to be had at Cafe Citra. I had the vegan froyo with raspberries and almonds.




Sadly on a Sunday there were quite a few awesome shops that seemed to be closed in the U-District, and we were keen to sit down for a bit more, so we found our way to Chaco Canyon Cafe, where we enjoyed some free wifi and I enjoyed another snack. I had a Strawberry Rhubarb Custard Tart, which was a bit disappointing with an overly sweet lemon custard and heavy pastry. We also had some chai on almond milk, which was very sweet as well. They did have some nice-sounding savoury things on the menu, but we had to save room for dinner.

On our way up to dinner we stopped in at Vegan Haven (formely Sidecar for Pigs Peace), Seattle's own vegan dedicated grocery store. Of course we spent up buying lots of goodies that we cannot get back home. I love Vegan Haven!

I believe I mentioned dinner? Some of the best pizza ever is to be had at Pizza Pi, a complete vegan pizzeria.





We started with some Buffalo Wings, which were too spicy for me but which Ashleigh enjoyed. Then the amazing Cheesestix - basically a cheese only pizza cut into stripes and served with your choice of dipping sauce. We chose the white garlic sauce, which was so good. This whole thing was amazing! We also shared a yummy small veggie pizza with mushrooms, then took our stuffed full bellies back to the hotel for a good sleep.

The best thing about the U-District is that there are so many vegan options! The worst thing about the U-District is that there are so many vegan options you end up overstuffing yourself. Wait, did I saw worst? Maybe that is best as well. With Pizza Pi, Araya's, Wayward and Vegan Haven all clustered in more or less the same spot, plus so many other vegan friendly places all over, you certainly will not go hungry here.