USA 2015 Part 13: Seattle Sunshine

For most of my trip to the US, it was pretty warm and sunny. And Seattle was no exception. I was actually hoping that when I got to Seattle it would be a bit cooler and cloudier, because as a very fair-skinned red-head hot and sunny days mean wearing fully covered clothing (including socks), slathering on sunscreen every 2 hours and carrying my trusty UV repelling umbrella. However the sun and warmth were out in full force!

I woke up early on Saturday, after some serious Zeno snuggle time, and took myself off for an early breakfast at a newish cafe that had opened near Helen's place, 701 Coffee, that has many vegan options. I opted for a Strawberries & Cream Smoothie and a Mighty-O cinnamon sugar doughnut. People who know me know that I am all about the cinnamon sugar doughnut wherever I go.



A bit later, we drove down to Georgetown to explore the Georgetown Festival. And also to go to Georgetown Liquor Company for brunch. I had some the very yummy Benedict, which came with a side of fruit, but I also added a side of potatoes. Because potatoes! It was very yummy. It was quite dark in GLC, so the photos are a bit moody.



Helen had a Bloody Mary (which she decorated herself at the Bloody Mary bar) and a breakfast sandwich with a side of salad, and Clayton had the the breakfast burrito.







Then we emerged out into the sunshine to explore the festival. We saw the stalls at the festival, viewed some power tool races (that didn't seem entirely safe), poked around the cool little shops at the Trailer Park Mall, had a turn at giant Jenga, saw some pirates, did some antiquing, played Jurassic Park Lost World pinball at Flip Flip Ding Ding (turns out I am terrible at pinball, Helen is pretty awesome, they also have vegan sandwiches there), visited an interactive art exhibit made up of discarded items, saw some circus performers and went antiquing. There was a lot going on!







It was pretty warm, so to cool down we got ice cream sandwiches from Cookie Counter, which was at the festival. They rotate through different flavours each day, though I went with the same as the day before. Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cherry. Yes! As we were walking around with these beauties we had so many people ask us where we got them. This was also one of the most popular photos I ever posted in my Instagram. People love ice cream sandwiches!



After the fair they took me to see a cute park that has a giant cowboy hat and giant cowboy boots. You would think you would find this in Austin, not tucked away in Seattle! Unfortunately the boots were locked, so we couldn't play inside and go up the top. The grass was lovely and cool in the shade!



We visited the West Seattle location of Chaco Canyon Cafe. Originally I thought I would get something to eat, but I was so hot and kind of headachy that I ended up just getting a refreshing Peachy Keen Smoothie, which was just peaces, banana and hemp milk. It was so rich and creamy and thick. You can see Helen's veggie juice in the background.



Then we went to roller derby! The Ranier Roller Girls were having their final bout of the season, and we had heard that they had a vegan bake sale there. I had never been to roller derby, but was very keen to see it, and Helen has friends who would be there, so it seemed like a good time. Unfortunately when we got there the bake sale was not vegan at all... there was no Mighty-O as had been suggested... I think maybe some of the cookies may have been vegan from Chaco Canyon, but the person doing the stall had no idea. So that was disappointing. However the roller derby was fun, if a little violent. There were a few injuries! Afterwards we skipped the after party and went to dinner at the nearby Shadowland for their famous vegan burger. It has two Field Roast patties! I surprised myself by demolishing the entire thing, including the fries on the side. So yummy.



On Sunday morning I took Helen for thank you brunch at Plum Bistro. They have a good chai there! I sampled both the regular and the decaf rooibos.



I was very tempted to continue my benedict theme, however I was not in a seitan mood, and the Veggie Slam with cheesy potatoes, roasted portobellos, spinach and asparagus and an English muffin seemed like just the thing. It came with a pesto sauce, which was very oily. Much better for dipping bread in than for pouring over. However I also got a side of the avocado hollondaise that normally came with the benedict, and that was excellent for dousing everything!



Helen had the Butternut and Fennel Scramble, which came with toast and an apple sage sausage.



We split up so that I could go back to Wholefoods and pick up my beloved Herbivore hoodie, which was safe and sound. Thank you Wholefoods South Lake Union! I also used some of the coupons I had from my VVC swag bag to get some free/discounted goodies. Then it was back to Helen's for a fairly low key afternoon. We tried a tin of Toona that came with our swag bags and it was awful. But we had some leftover cheese to cleanse the palate. For dinner we walked to Moonlight Cafe, which I had heard a lot about from Anika. We got Anika's recommendation of the Lemongrass Tofu Vermicelli, which was so amazingly great, as well as a very tasty gluten, cashew and vegetable stir-fry.





After dinner we went to Smash Putt, which is now closed, for hilarious post-apocalyptic mini-golf. Then it was back to Helen's for a vegan ice cream and cheese party. This was my first time trying So Delicious cashew ice cream and Oh. My. God. I could have inhaled the entire tub. So good! Sadly I was pretty underwhelmed with the Heidi Ho chia cheese. I had loved their chevre at VVC, but I just couldn't really get behind the flavour of this. Turns out it has capiscum in it and I found it quite pronounced. Thankfully I had picked this up for free with a coupon.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



This glorious little pudding basking in the sun's rays is Chloe, who is Helen's housemate's cat. She is a little shy, but super sweet, with a teeny tiny little voice. And she loves her dad more than anyone in the world.