Seattle Weekend

I spent a fantastic few days in Seattle last weekend.

The man and I stayed in Kirkland, a cute little town across Lake Washington and near Redmond. We arrived on Friday afternoon and spent a little while at the Friday Night Market at Juanita Beach. Though small, the market held a wealth of fresh and ripe stone fruit, including a few varieties of cherries.

Yes, cherries. We bought about a pound from one of the first stalls we encountered, intending to take them back to our hotel and eat them later. They lasted about 5 minutes. Seriously? These were the best cherries I've had in my life.

They were soft, juicy, sweet and really complex in flavor. I love cherries, and I thought supermarket cherries tasted good. Well, they're nearly all from Washington, and Washington cherries in Washington are like nothing I've ever had.

We bought another pound to take back with us, along with the most delicious fresh apricot I've tasted.

The next morning, we checked out the University District Farmers Market, where we got even more cherries. There the standard Bings and Raniers, along with varieties I'd never even heard of - Goldens, Index and more.

We brought about a pound or so home with us, and have been snacking on them every night. I'm going to be sad when they're gone (probably tonight).

Sunday morning, before heading to the airport, we ate breakfast at Trellis a farm-to-table restaurant near the water in Kirkland. After checking out the menu, I ordered the cheese plate from the dinner menu.

left to right: Cougar Gold Cheddar with toasted hazelnuts and quince paste, Mt. Townsend Seastack triple creme with orange-tomato marmalade, fresh crisp bread and Point Reyes Bleu with onion jam.

The cheese plate itself was great - the cheeses were delicious, but cold (I totally understand they weren't room-temp. Not everyone wants cheese for breakfast), and the jam and marmalade were really good, too.

There were some doughnuts for the table with some house-made strawberry compote and butter. The doughnuts were fine, but would have been much better warm. They had a slight orange flavor, and were tasty with the compote.