My friends from work took Robert and I out for Greek food last Friday night to get us excited for our upcoming vacation to Greece. We went to a little tiny Greek taverna on lower Queen Anne called Panos Kleftiko. We started out with a bottle of retsina wine. Retsina is a white wine, made only in Greece, that has been resinated with pine tree resin giving it a distictive piney or sappy taste. Some people hate it. Robert and I both loved it. We then moved on to dinner which was really just made up of a number of appetizers (chosen from the four pages of appetizers on the menu!) We shared tzatziki, hummus and kopanisti (a feta cheese spread flavored with peperoncini and mint and topped with slivered almonds and grapes.) We also had marinated octopus, which was lemony and surprisingly tender, Greek sausages flavored with fennel and herbs, meatballs in a cinnamon-y tomato sauce, and yigantes (giant broad beans in tomato sauce). A large horiatiki salata and plenty of pitas rounded out the meal. Everything was delicious and matched perfectly the retsina (as with ouzo, retsina tastes even better with Greek food.) My favorites were the kopanisti and the octopus simply because I hadn’t eaten them before. I have a feeling there will be a strong Greek presence on elliemay.com over the next couple months so stay tuned.

Yesterday turned out to be my day of new experiences! For our Friday lunch outing, my friend and I tried a new sushi restaurant. Then, after work, I went to my new neighborhood farmer’s market. It was much busier than I expected which is great! I bought bing cherries, fresh peaches, baby beets with their greens still attached, purple “green” beans (which will probably turn green when cooked anyway), green and yellow zucchini no bigger than my thumb, some long spiral sesame breadsticks and two hazelnut shortbread cookies. I don’t know what I’m going to do with all of it yet but I’m sure it will be delicious. Since the farmer’s market is so close to my home, I’m planning on making this a regular thing. Plus, with Trader Joe’s right in between, I can turn it into a whole shopping experience.

For dinner, Robert and I went to the Vietnamese-fusion restaurant, Monsoon, voted as one the best neighborhood restaurants in Seattle by Bon Appetit. I have been wanting to eat there forever. It’s a bit farther than our normal walk for dinner but still in the neighborhood. We started with the crab and shrimp spring rolls which were very crisp and quite good. Robert had the cubed flank steak which was very well-seasoned (yes, I did try a little tiny piece.) I had the catfish claypot which was perfectly cooked and very flavorful too. I should have added a vegetable dish for us to share because they had some nice seasonal options available and neither of our dishes came with vegetables. It was a bit pricey but not overly so. Plus, as I’ve said before, it’s good to get out of that rut and go out for a nice dinner every once in a while.

Last night, Robert and I went to dinner at Rosebud, our favorite place for Sunday brunch but someplace we usually forget about for dinner. It cost a bit more than our normal $21.86 brunch but it’s important to go out for a fancy meal every now and then. Robert started with a grilled asparagus salad and I had a mizuna salad with black grapes, blue cheese and shaved fennel. That was delicious but the mizuna was a little hard to control. I don’t know why these restaurants refuse to trim salad greens to manageable bite-sized pieces. Sure, giant, untamed leaves look more attractive but my chin dripping with vinaigrette does not. For the main couse, I had the special: seared yellowfin tuna with a pink peppercorn crust (good and peppery and not rare to the extreme, just how I like it.) This was served on a polenta round stuffed with goat cheese and topped with a tomato salad. The plate was garnished with brined baby peaches which looked and tasted just like green olives. Robert had the lamb shank and it was as long as my forearm and much bigger around with a huge bone sticking through it. Caveman jokes could not be avoided. I tasted a little bit and it was probably very good if you like meat. Afterward, we went home and watched one of my favorite movies, 28 Days Later. Nothing like a fancy meal followed by blood-hungry, rage-infected people and even creepier army men to make for a perfect Friday night.

We went to the Polish Home for dinner last night. This is one of my favorite places to eat in Seattle. The food is all homemade and delicious. It’s like a school cafeteria inside but with a bar! I always order the mushroom and saurkraut pierogies. Yum! I think they make them with shiitakes and maybe some other mushroom. They cook them with bacon though so I end up breaking my no-meat rule when we go there. Oh well. Robert had the polish platter as usual. They have these big Polish beers there that make you drunk faster than any beer I’ve ever had. I only had one but I have a small headache this morning. Talk to you later.

Hi everybody. Robert and I are just about to head down to our favorite pub for dinner. I hope they have a good soup because it has been kind of rainy today. I watched 10 episode’s of Arrested Development today. That show is hilarious. I like the fact that the Elysian always has a vegetarian soup but for some reason the soups are never served that hot. Oh well, I could always have fries and a salad instead!