Seattle

The day after boxing day this Christmas, my family and I packed up all our things, and headed south to Seattle to go shopping for our real Christmas presents! A favorite pastime of ours is outlet shopping...we go hard.

After a nice 3 hour wait at the border, we zipped off as fast as we could to the Auburn supermall just out of Seattle to shop till we dropped! I told you...we go hard! No stopping for food while outlet shopping is a major rule...even for me!

When we finally couldn't take anymore (or had blown all our money...) we finally left the mall to grab a bite to eat before we headed back to the hotel to crash.

We ended up at a place that I had supposedly been to quiteee a while ago, and was great back then. And thank god, it was still great! We went to a delish, beautifully kitschy little place called Wally's Chowder House. Hands down best clam chowder I've had in my entire life! This great little spot is in Des Moines, WA. If you are ever near there...try this chowder!

I also made a wonderful discovery this night: apparently there is a soda that exists in this world called Mr. Pibb...it's pretty much exactly the same as Dr. Pepper, but I swear it is better! So anyways, to go along with this incredibly healthy meal, I drank Mr. Pibbs all night...

Oh yeah, and I ordered the all-you-can-eat shrimp. Shopping makes me VERY hungry, okay!?

I had 18 shrimp... By the way, they were very large! You just can't tell in this photo...

The next day we continued to eat extremely healthy, and went to a great little place called Burgermaster! Yet again, it was a very delicious choice of restaurant.

Now seriously though, it was kind of fun...it was a legit drive-in! The waitresses came to your car and took your orders, then placed them on your windows on trays when they were ready!

These were some of the tastiest french fries ever!

And of course the combos had to come with milkshakes! I ordered a "ben and jerry" which is apparently eggnog flavored...who knew? It was amazing.

And a very juicy, fresh, home made burger too!

Finally we shook ourselves out of the junk food mode and headed downtown to peruse around Pike Place Market. It was so much fun! Apparently I'd been here before too, but did not remember it at all so I had such a good time exploring!

Another reason for me loving Pike Place so much: it was practically foodie heaven!

There were stands upon stands of fresh fruits, vegetables, baked goods, meats and most famously, seafood.

It wasn't just your plain old Strathcona farmers market fare either, all the fruit, vegetable and seafood stands had so many exotic goods! And I am a real sucker for anything that I don't see too often or new.

One of the best vegetable stands had the most gorgeous selection of mushrooms, both common, bizarre, and exotic! I was very impressed. They even had truffles...mmm.

All the stands were so aesthetically wonderful, too.

Last but not least, let's talk about the SEAFOOD!

It was such a spectacle down in the seafood section of the gigantic maze of stands at the market. Fish were flying all over the shop as the fishermen tossed them to one another to get packaged up to sell and display, people were crowded everywhere trying to get their hands on a salmon or two, it was crazy!

It smelled wonderful too. Now that may seem odd...but everything was so fresh that it had a really pleasant odor to it...not fishy at all!

These lobster tails were UNBELIEVABLE! It's hard to tell in the picture, but I swear, they were as big as your forearm! $40.00 each!

These scampi were the size of regular lobster tails!

And so much fresh pacific salmon at every stand!

It was so gorgeous down at Pike Place. The sun was just setting while we browsed around, and it was so warm out it was wonderful. Oh how I wish I lived in downtown Seattle though! I would buy fresh groceries from the market every day! I was so surprised at how reasonable all the produce and most of the seafood (excluding the gigantic lobster tails) was, for it being such a busy spot!

This was our last night in Seattle before we piled back into the car for our 14 hour drive home back to Edmonton (not the best drive ever). I love Seattle!

Also something I love: I am almost finished catching up on my posts from the holidays so I can go back to my every day posts full of recipes, tips, and more! Can't wait.

xoxo

Mariel