Poppy is Delicious

Poppy is delicious.

We all had a thali (rhymes with Molly; yeah I didn't know what it was either) which is apparently a round tray of ten little dishes. We enjoyed:

• nettle watercress soup -- a little sipper cup of warm, bright green yumminess
• blood orange, fennel and olive salad -- odd combo of flavors, but each tasted yummy on its own
• cauliflower salad with sumac and aleppo pepper (what's that?) -- also had some Parmesan cheese I think
• prawns with pumpkin seed sauce
• tandoor roasted pork tenderloin with green herb sauce - the pork was from Idaho (what what!) and there was some yummy anchovy in the bright green paste of fresh herbs
• golden beets, pea sprouts and hazelnut - probably the simplest, most unadorned dish and one of my favorites
• polenta diamond on chard greens (I think)
• baked farro with leek and sage
• rhubarb pickle
• a pretty little piece of naan

They didn't even blink an eye at accommodating AJ's dairy-free request for the full thali.

Their cocktails sounded super fun and yummy, but AJ and I went with a lovely flight of wine -- a white Tuscan wine, a pinot noir and a cabernet franc, all quite tasty. Michael enjoyed a Bitburger.

OH. I forgot to mention the crazy-delicious eggplant fries with honey and sea salt. So delicious! They are crispy and melt-in-your-mouth, and have that wonderful salty-sweet thing going on. Would go back again and again for those badboys!

Jubilee Jumbles Again!

Sometimes you get a pretty little box of what appears to be store-bought Easter candy. And then you notice that it isn't shrink wrapped. And it is scotch-taped shut so tight that Houdini himself couldn't escape if he was a bon-bon inside it.

Ah-HA!

I recognize those mad taping skillz! It's something homemade from Mom!

Indeed it is! Jubilee Jumbles! Mom is amaaaaaaazing! Yumski!

Biscuits and Boudin

Easter morning, Michael baked buttermilk biscuits. They were delicious and bunny shaped and egg shaped. We ate them with butter and yummy, tart, loganberry preserves.


Michael was using a recipe out of Dad's copy of The Joy Of Cooking. I was sitting at the kitchen table watching him roll out the dough, randomly flipping through the cookbook, and I found this:


My great-Grandma Bernier's recipe for boudin!

Dad never made it, but he had extremely fond memories of it, along with the rest of Grandma Bernier's french cooking. Boudin always sounded so savory and delicious, the way Dad described it. (Then I grew up and discovered he was talking about boudin noir, which is blood sausage and that yes, indeed, it is sausage with blood in it.)

I don't think I'll ever try to make this recipe. I don't think Whole Foods or Trader Joes carries cracklens. Or pig blood. But I loved finding this little memory of Dad.

Pair

Pair has a super cute little dining room.
It's a understated rustic French country. It's very chill and comfortable, but it's so cute it feels like a special occasion whenever I go there.

Sometimes if you have to wait for a table, they bring you a little dish of cocktail mix to snack on. Well, they always bring you cocktail mix too, once you order. It's delicious with roasted garbanzos and pepitas. Oh, and they sometimes comp you some cheese puffs. That was the best day...

I always get the green salad, which is huge leaves of butter lettuce, barely dressed, and thin little goat cheese toasts. It's all about the toasts for me. We ate lots of those salads in Provence. Very Frenchy.

I usually get the thyme roasted chicken. They have fairly small portions here, but we find that if we each get a salad and one other thing (and share!) then it's plenty. We usually even have some leftovers.

This time around Michael got the special, which was roast lamb with fingerling potatoes and some fresh mint paste that was just perfect. And I got the chicken. We both enjoyed some of each.

I've tried their mac n cheese and it's lovely. Sometimes it is featured on the menu, other times it is listed at the bottom as "available" along with frites. I really want to try the mussels and frites, or the onion soup, or the beef. But I'm always sidetracked by the roast chicken.

They have a small bar, but do serve cocktails in addition to their extensive wine list. They even have a couple of beers on tap.

Best Pizza of My LIFE

Michael's Pizza Dough

This make 2 pizzas. It deviates from the original recipe a bit with a 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour but here is the original which Michael has made many times with great success:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon whole wheat flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt

Rehydrate the yeast in the cup of warm water, and add the oil to this as well. While the yeast is waking up, mix the dry ingredients well. Add the fluids to the dry stuff gradually, a mixer is good for this.

Michael does the initial knead using a dough hook in the mixer, adding a tablespoon of flour at a time until it comes together in a nice elastic ball. Depending on the flour you use this could take a surprising amount of extra flour; whole wheat seems to take a lot and white seems to take less.

Knead this ball a few times and then set aside in a warm place. Once it has doubled in size, punch it down and divide it into 2 balls (or however many pizzas you want to make) and knead it a little and then let it rest for 10-15 minutes. Finally, roll the dough out into the pizza circles as thin or thick as you want. If you want cracker crust you can bake it right away. For a puffier crust let it rise for a bit. Bake in a preheated 425F oven. 20-25 minutes if you do deep dish style, or 16-18 minutes if you do a thinner crust. We prefer the thinner, but sometimes opt for a yummy deep dish style using a well-oiled 9" spring form cake pan.

"I made that." -Michael

Meanwhile, Jean makes the sauce. She cooks a small yellow onion, finely chopped, and some garlic in some olive oil. Add Italian herbs. Add a can of tomato sauce, simmer until it's a darker red and the flavor has developed.

Lately we have been on a (fancy, healthy) pepperoni kick, but one of our favorites is italian sausage and black olive, or do an olive oil base (no tomato sauce) with peppers, goat cheese, sausage, maybe some artichoke hearts and olives, fresh basil...

The possibilities are endless. It's all about Michael's dough. That's what she said.

Musashi - Best Sushi of my LIFE

Always order the harusame. It's a little dish of cold noodle salad that arrives immediately after you order. Yummy bean thread noodles, little bits of crab, omelet, cucumber, sesame seed, and a light creamy dressing. I have never had this anywhere else, or even seen it, but it is heavenly.

Let's talk about mutant unagi. Mutant, because it is fantastically giant, perfectly tender, and (like everything else at Musashi) ridiculously inexpensive. It's also a heightened state of awareness, per Ross Geller. Are you aware that unagi is an eel?

I also enjoy Musashi's giant slabs of fresh salmon, tuna and yellow tail.

I can't believe this is the first place I ever had sushi (THANK YOU JANETTE!!!) and it's hands down the best place in Seattle.

Their California roll might be different than you expect (it's giant, with rice on the inside of the nori) and isn't anything special, so go with the salmon (smoked salmon) cream cheese roll. It is divine, and so is their veggie roll, with pickled daikon goodness. They have nice grilled skewers of teriyaki, and once HP ordered their curry (yes, they have that dark brown Japanese kind of curry) and said it was good.

The beef sukiyaki has crack in it. It must. That's the only explanation. They give you a nice big portion too.

See, that's the problem with Musashi: you always seem to over-order because of the deliciousness and because you seem to be in shock that everything's so cheap.

The details: expect to wait for a table. They only take cash or check.

Birthday Cake

For my birthday, Michael baked a delicious coffee-chocolate cake, frosted with Mrs. Millman's Chocolate Frosting, from Martha.


With some chocolate ice cream, perfect!


Yumski!

Hallelujah! Spring Comes to Seattle

Hark! What's this? It's Mount Rainier!

Oh, where have you been all winter, friend?

Weather in the mid-sixties, sunshine, and a weekend are the perfect feel-good formula for a city that's plum tired of winter. It has been a long one. And while that whole "snowed in for a week" thing for Christmas was a hootenanny, I cannot wait for more of the lovely weather we had in Seattle last weekend.

Our walk took us from below Pioneer Square up Western to the spice store, where we got some delicious Ethiopian spice mix. From there we walked up to the Market, where I posed the following question to Michael:

"Beer or an ice cream?"

He should have said both, but in the end he chose beer so we walked up Virginia to the Virginia Inn. All the outdoor tables were taken, but Le Pichet next door had a free spot.

Michael got a bottle (yes) of Kronenbourg and I chose red wine of course. For a snack we had une baguette avec du beurre et du confiture.

Le Pichet is one of my favorites for dinners on the fancy side. Who knew it was so lovely for a snack?

Afterwards, we walked up to the sculpture park, and then back downtown via the waterfront. What views!

We could not have stayed indoors if we wanted to. I never knew I could be so desperate for sunshine.