Remember this post from, oh, almost two months ago now? Yeah, that's right, the one where you asked some questions and I said I was going to answer them.
Guess what? I'm finally getting around to it. OK, so I kinda forgot about it. It's been a completely crazy couple of months and I'm at a point now where things are starting to really speed up in relation to The Very Bad Thing and I'm in need of a serious distraction. So what better way to try and help shift my focus than to get around to answering your questions.
By the way, I'm not answering them in order.
What is your favourite traditional British food? And will you make some for me and invite me over? heehee
My favourite traditional British food would have to be an English Pub lunch. But here's the thing...you can only get it in the UK at my FAVOURITE pub...The Hillside Inn. What's the meal? It's Steak and Ale pie, with steamed leeks and carrots and pub chips (thick cut steak fries here in the U.S.) served with either an icy cold Stella Artois, or something called a Blackcurrant and Lemonade...which is actually Ribena (a popular drink in the UK) and a lemon soda (they call that fizzy lemon stuff, lemonade) with a splash of grenadine. LOVE IT! It's kind of like a Shirley Temple with an extra fruity kick and totally kid-friendly! The Stella? Not so much.
However, I'm total crap at trying to make this dish myself. I can't seem to get the puff pastry to...well, PUFF! So dearest J, I'm afraid I can't make this for you...well I can make the Blackcurrant and Lemonade and I'd be happy to make you either Toad in a Hole or Bubble and Squeak. Take your pick!
I know you spent some time here in the Seattle area...so, my question (s) are related to the Pacific Northwest! What was your favorite hang out in Seattle? Restaurant? Park? Scenic Outing? Town to visit other than Seattle, but still in Washington? Radio Station - other than your employer, KJR? Bands? Local hot spots? What did you love about Washington and would you ever want to live here again? :)
I lived in Seattle with my first husband and older kids for close to a decade. Loved it! The late spring and summer make up for the craptastic weather the rest of the time. There is so much to see and do in the Puget Sound area!
I think my favourite hang out was The Crocodile Cafe in downtown Seattle. Most locals just call it The Croc. I discovered it when I got into radio and was working at KISW. I don't know though...now that I think about it, there were several places I'd hang out. I think though, my absolutely favourite place to go outside of downtown Seattle was Snoqualmie Falls. Breathtaking, beautiful, amazing, tranquil, gorgeous...so many adjectives to use yet it's so much more than all of those words combined.
I think the little hiking area around the falls would have to cover "favourite park" as well. Although there is a park just north of Seattle, really right outside of it that has a walking path around a small lake and for the life of me I can't recall what it's called. Everyone walks around it. Everyone! That's gonna drive me nuts, now that I can't think of the name.
As far as a restaurant? As silly as it is, and equally so because I hate seafood or fish of any kind (with the exception of fried shrimp), I miss Ivar's! There's also a cafe up in North Bend made famous by the long-gone-but-not-forgotten TV show, Twin Peaks, (in the show it was called the Double R Diner), the Mar T Cafe. However, it's been sold and I can't recall the name now. But yet, back then it did have some "damn fine cherry pie and coffee!"
By far, my favourite scenic drive was up Route 2 and up through Stevens Pass and into Leavenworth. If I had time I usually just took the entire Cascade Loop. I really regret not having discovered my passion for photography back when I was living in Seattle. I could have taken, easily, millions of photos of the winding Skykomish River and greenery along Route 2. There is also a little area, way before you get to the windy, narrow part of the road, which is a great place to hike. Wallace Falls. It's an easy enough hike for kids too and the payoff at the end is wonderful! Truly beautiful.
As far as employer, I'd have to say that all of the radio stations I worked for up there were my favs. I learned so much, especially during the time I interned for Cathy Faulkner at KISW. I met some wonderful people who made a huge impact on my life. Fav Seattle band? Hands down, Queensryche. Nicest guys ever.
What did I love about Washington? I don't know if I can articulate an answer to that so that you'd understand how it changed me. We moved to Seattle within months of losing our son Joshua. We had been living in a small mountain ski community in So Cal when he died and we needed to get away from the stench of loss and death and start anew somewhere else. My former husband's sister and her husband had recently relocated to Seattle from So Cal and so we moved, lock, stock and barrel, to WA. It wasn't long after that my former in-laws followed as well as my former husband's other sister. It helped that there was a lot of other family around at the time, as well.
I loved the clean air, the greeness of almost everything, and the open spaces. I didn't have to worry about strangers looking at me with pity in their eyes that said, "Poor woman lost a child, how sad." It's also the place I started over and went from a married mother of three to divorced and trying to figure out how to keep it together and figure out who the hell I was.
I don't know that I'd ever move back to Seattle though. Perhaps, if this vice-like grip that Maine has on me, ever loosened, I might consider it.
Wow, only 2 questions down and 16 to go! However, because I suffer from vocal diarhhea, I'm going to save the rest for two more posts. And, if by some chance there was still something you wanted to know, go for it, ask away!
P.S. Hey you...yeah, you the one sitting there staring at the screen, and you - the one who is daring yourself to ask me that really personal question...you know, there's still time to enter my contest for a chance to win a $250 Target gift card!
