March 15 - Pike Place, Snackin!

Spring! It's. . . springing!

One thing I love about living in Seattle is Pike Place Market. Yes, it is touristy and showy, and generally crowded and ridiculous, but it's still a local market full of fresh produce, seafood, and other great products. Sometimes it's great just to stop in for a drink or a snack.

The drink was what drew me in on Saturday. There's a fresh juicery I like to stop by when I'm downtown because the old Asian women who work there always seem irritated with all the tourists. It makes me smile while I'm drinking my refreshing strawberry beverage.

Juice and juice fixins.

I also can't resist the call of delicious porkmeats from the Chinese snackery next door. My boy likes the steamed bbq pork buns, but I usually get the bbq pork on a stick. What could be better than meat on a stick? Convenient and refined.

Always with the pork.

I also love the Market because there's always something to make me think, WTF? Such as. . . bizarre produce. I believe this was the first place I encountered the Grapple, that unholy marriage of delicious fruit and noxious Dimetapp. So you can imagine my curiosity and trepidation at the sight of this:

Purple asparagus? Why??

And there was also a cat in a sweater. The picture of a spirit broken.

Mr. Rogers cat? Why??

A trip to Pike Place is never complete without stopping at Le Panier. It's pretty much stating the obvious, but they make the most delicious French pastries I've had outside of . . . um. . . France.

Shelf after shelf of golden delicious.

Every time I go I spend about 15 minutes perusing the buttery goodness before ultimately deciding to get a Palmier. AKA heaven in baked good form. If I learned how to bake these, fattie wouldn't begin to describe me.

Nobody tell me how to make these.

That night I had friends coming over to play video games for a bit before their dinner reservations, so I decided to spoil their appetites.

I kind of miss Lindsey Lohan.

I had some salmon in the fridge, and I wanted to try my hand at mini-quiches. Because mini equals tasty. It was pretty simple - puff pasty cut into rounds and set into my muffin tin, topped with a bit of shredded cheese, cooked and flaked salmon, and topped with a mixture of egg, cream, and finely chopped onion. I think they turned out pretty well.

Just call me the appetite-ruiner.

The same could not be said of my yam wedges. I cooked them for what I figured was a good amount of time, but they were really soft. I thought I'd turn the oven down and leave them in to perhaps crisp up a bit, but they just kept getting softer. They were still tasty, but I'm clearly no Robert Irvine. Although I have cooked for Swedish pop stars on the moon.

They look crispy, but don't be fooled.

And by request, to end the evening, my now go-to cupcakes made a repeat appearance. The frosting was a bit different this time, but they were nonetheless delightful.

Of course my friends aren't sick of cupcakes.
Yet.

So I'm going to close with a shot of protesters I saw downtown just off the St Patrick's parade route. Anonymous apparently has active members in Seattle, and they're pissed. I like how they were handing out literature that was clearly disturbing this lady:

Skeptical. . .

I won't take a stand on it, but I will say that I think they look very very funny. Especially that guy in the yellow hoodie. Yeah, that guy.