...And The Eat Goes On.

And the beat goes on, and the eat goes on.
And on. And on. And on.


Okay, let's rewind. Today is Thursday, Yesterday was Wednesday, and the day before was Tuesday. TUESDAY: Jules and I woke up and did some yoga. When we got home Gordon was preparing some brunch for us. He made the most PERFECTLY poached eggs, bacon that was cooked to utter perfection {Dad, you would approve!}, and a spinach salad with a dressing of diced dates, anchovies, dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, touch of agave and fresh ground pepper. It was deeeelightful. We also snacked on some pickled string beans, and some bread from Columbia City Bakery, a green olive ciabatta. Oh-My-Heavens. I love bread.





We bopped around the rest of Tuesday, and I even took a mini-nap. Later that night we were headed to Erin Miller's house {coworker and friend of Jules + Gordon} for a traditional Japanese NABE dinner.
SO, let me tell you a bit about NABE...it's freaking amazing. My favorite thing about eating is the whole process, and the sense of community that food can create. This is why Nabe is amazing - it brings people together, it's interactive, it's fun and totally freaking delicious. We sat around the circular table with the Nabe dish that Erin had brought back from Japan {she lived there for 2 years}. In the bowl is a simple broth. We brought flank steak, octopus and black cod - it was sliced up {raw} and placed on plates around the table. There was a big bowl of asian mushrooms, bok choy, sprouts, scallions, cabbage...the works. We had an interesting textured sticky rice to add in, as well as some soba noodles and rice noodles. You just add and eat, add and eat - the flavor seems to change as you go. Add some more broth, add more veggies and fish, and eat on. Seated round the table was Julisa and Gordon, Jeremy and Janis, Erin Miller, Carl, and myself. All foodies, all a ton of fun. We drank a shit-ton of Kirin and Sapporro, as well as two bottles of Sake....and topped it off with a bit of champagne.

Erin and Julia, super excited about Nabe.

Gordon & Julisa

Erin & Carl...the Nabe professionals.

Everyone digging in.

I don't know what this sauce was, or what was in it, but I'm pretty sure that there was lots of MSG in it. It was FANTASTIC.

Good friends. Good stories. Good food. Good times.
Erin is QUITE the storyteller....

Me and my beautiful Julisa.

Nabe....no more.

I was slightly...overserved, so I was very glad to have Gordon driving us home. It was a long drive, the snow was coming down pretty hard. I fell asleep two seconds into the car ride, stumbled into the house once we got home, and fell back to sleep. Woke up - and now we're at WEDNESDAY. Because of the snow, we opted to take a morning off of yoga. We sipped some coffee and I banged through a list of "To-Do's" that needed to be done before I leave for Asia later this week. We bundled up and braved the now slushy rain to go to GOODWILL. We shopped hard and long and worked up quite an appetite. Stop #1: ELYSIAN for a pint and some french fries. Stop #2: BARRIO for some mexican lunch and Michelada's.





Stop #3: Gordon's favorite bookstore. Stop #4: stop #4 was supposed to be at a cute boutique that Julia had a gift certificate for, but as we were exiting the car we were attacked!! A very tall, very handsome, very excited man bound out of a shop - scooping up Jules and twirling her around, then doing the same to Gordon. His name was Joel, and he worked with these two years ago at LARK. He demanded that we join him for a drink inside. INSIDE were several adorable spaces - it was like a big barn, broken up into a couple different places. To the left was a butcher shop, across from it was a sandwich shop. Then to the back left is an ADORABLE little restaurant {which we will be visiting Monday for lunch}, and then across from that was a dainty little flower shop and a bar - with a great selection of wine. We sat down and enjoyed some conversation and Beaujolais for quite some time.
Though we vowed to eat dinner at HOME later in the evening, we heard that LA BETE was open - and we decided to just head in for a drink....

Well, $200 later {which honestly should have been about $400, but Gordon is friends with the chef, sommilier and server} - we hate yet ANOTHER food and drink extravaganza. BUT, unlike every other food adventure we've had - this was by far, hands down, not-doubt-about-it the most divine meal from soup to nuts. The wine, the cocktails, the coffee {they brew a bialetti and set it on your table!}, the service, and the food - ooohhhhh christ, the food! I've never seen Gordon so happy in all of my life. Plate after plate, he was in complete silence. And then, he would nod, even give a little smile - and say "This. This is how it should be done."

Oysters + Caviar.

Sardine.

It was a pretty early to bed evening - we had another full day, and again - a great deal of delicious food. Jules and I were up at 6am today {Thursday} and out the door for a early AM yoga class -- it was perfect. Got home, had coffee, eating a light breakfast - and now we are braving the rain to catch the ferry and head out to the farm that Joel is working on. He is slaughtering a pig this morning- but lunch will be ready by the time we arrive. Can't wait for the photos and stories to come.....