Seattle

For the last weekend in February, I was happy to pay Seattle a visit to meet up with a friend from Ireland.Friday

Despite having spent a good part of my childhood in Canada's north, where minus 40 Celsius was not uncommon,  these days if it hits the freezing mark I'm ill prepared. But that said, the gorgeous sun made up for it.  After settling in to our hotel, we headed down to Pike Place and Lowell's, a Seattle classic and had a couple of pints and watched the sun set over Puget Sound.  The changing light gave me plenty of opportunity to play with my new SLR.  I'll be spending a lot more time learning over the coming months and am excited to get going.

Saturday

If you have ever been to Ireland or many other placed in Europe, you may be familiar with the Spar chain of corner shops. While hardly a culinary mecca I have a very fond memory for a certain prepared pastry that always appeared in the hot case of my local Spar at the corner of Glentworth street in Limerick City.  Having been away for several years now, I was pleased to discover on a previous trip to Seattle, Le Panier, and their versions of the same pastry.   Warm and yummy with various fillings of cheese, spinach, potatoes, onions and mushrooms, Le Panier's versions are far superior in nature, but they also give me the warm memory feeling that I associate with the original.

Having already had quite an ample breakfast, this occasion we opted for one of their gorgeous pain au chocolat which rival anything to be found in France.

The requisite walk around Pike Place market provided a bit more photo practice.

Sunday: The Oscars

Finding ourselves in Seattle on Oscar night we thought why not take advantage of all Pike Place Market has to offer and have our very own Oscar Picnic in the comfort of the Westin. We hit De Laurentis' deli for some beautiful Jamón Serrano some lovely blue cheese from Oregon, and Aberquina olives.  While this year wouldn't have been my favourite year for the Oscars, I was very happy to see Colin Firth and The King's Speech be recognized. The  food certainly didn't disappoint.