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Jeff, Matthew, and I took off for the weekend…driving south to Hearst Castle in San Simeon. We just returned this evening, and I’m a bit sleepy…so our tales (and more photos) will have to wait until later in the week.

Suffice it to say…it was an amazingly beautiful weekend along California’s central coast. Every pulloff was another picture-perfect postcard.

A theme developed during my two days in Seattle…food. It began the night I arrived, when my buddy Jeff took me to a hip new wine bar in Belltown called The Local Vine. We shared a couple of pasta-based small plates that paired quite nicely with our yummy pinot noir. Small plates being…well…small…we did need a tiny bit more food afterwards. So, we grabbed a couple of slices from Pagliacci in Queen Anne.

Wednesday morning began with a scrumptious latte at Uptown Espresso…famous for the “velvet foam”. Its a tall claim…and they sure do deliver. The foam seemed to counteract the rain on my short walk from the Edgewater to Pier 70.

So, at that point…the trip REALLY turned foodie.

The primary purpose for my visit was to meet with some new folks on my team. I quickly discovered that this group knows how to eat…from fancy to hole-in-the wall…and we filled up my future to-try list with an amazing array of restaurants.

For lunch, we visited Troiani, a simple Italian grill downtown which served up a hearty risotto laced with Dungeness crab. On the way back to the office, we grabbed an amazing after-lunch latte at Belle Epicurean (“Seattle’s premiere patisserie“). As full as I was from lunch, I was VERY tempted by the sights and smells of freshly toasted sandwiches made from their famous brioche. Reluctantly, I resisted, since dinner was on the near horizon…a hearty seafood feast at the Waterfront Seafood Grille. After dinner, my team and I walked SLOWLY along the waterfront, and stopped into the hip Six-Seven lounge at the Edgewater Hotel for a pint of Manny’s Pale Ale–a really fine local beer.

Nothing at all to complain about 🙂

For all the advances in Internet technology, nothing has replaced the good ole cryptic ‘screw you’ error message…like ‘E-4500-2079’ which I’m sure is French for ‘kiss my a**’. Anyhow…in an open letter to United, I write:

Dear United. I am sorry that you are “unable to retrieve fare information at this time.” Can you please tell me when it would be convenient with you to sell me a ticket on your over-crowded planes with nutrient-rich snack boxes.

So, lest you think that I’m bitter this morning, or that the morning drizzle on my latte walk this morning (covered by the fictitious “umbrella in every guest room”) has gotten me sour, let me share a pretty view from my room last night as the sun peeked through before setting.

I flew up to Seattle this morning for some meetings. I’m staying at the Edgewater Hotel, where I stayed back in October. Normally, I’m a Hilton guy when I’m in Seattle, but something is going on in Seattle, and every normal place I tried was sold out. (Still, its hardly like the Edgewater is settling!)

My compulsory window/balcony shot reveals a grand waterfront view…on a very gray day. Soooo, nothing POPS in this photo. Maybe tomorrow, I’ll awake to a more representative scene.

It amuses me when I overhear a typical, white-bread customer at Starbucks (or Peets as the case was this morning) pronounce 'cafe latte' with an Italian accent.