My Birthday at the Market

It was a relatively nice, somewhat non-rainy day here in Seattle on my birthday. So mom and I decided to head downtown to Seattle's famous Pikes Place Market to do a little eating and shopping. There isn't much else to do at the Market other than eat or shop, but wow, this is some of the best eatin' there is.

We walked past the various fruit and vegtable stands and flower row, although this wasn't quite the season for fresh flowers so some had only dried flowers instead. There were various stands selling honey and chocolate covered candies and of course, there were the famous fish stands. The most famous of them all, the Pikes Place Fish is at the main corner in the market and always draws a crowd.

We joined the crowd and watched the obligatory fish throwing and other sights to be seen. The had a Monk Fish lying on one of the ice displays and all the kids would walk up to it and look at it with disgust. Of course, Pike Place Fish had the Monk Fish rigged and it would jump every once in a while right when some unsuspecting kid would be close enough to the fish to get the crap scared right out of them. Hee. Let's just say, it was fun to watch the little kiddies be tormented. I know, I am bad.

Next, mom and I found a delicious little doughnut stand. For around $2, you get a bagful of little doughnuts coated in cinnamon or powdered sugar. A great trat to nosh your way through the market.

Then I discovered DeLaurenti, a wine and cheese store. And I loved their cheese selection. Does it match Murray's in New York's Greenwich? No, not even close. But they did have a rather nice selection, so I bought some Gruyere and Emmenthaler for a future cheese fondue. Yum!

We continued on through the market passing news stands, trinket stores, butchers, and other various food stores.

I lived in Seattle for 11 years prior to this, and never really realized how large the Pike Place Market actually is. You could wander for hours through the small stores and never even come close to seeing all of them.

We ended the tour getting some bread at the 3 Girls Bakery, eating some DELICIOUS mac and cheese at Beechers Cheese Shop and then buying some jewelry among the many booths in the Market.

We then dropped all of our goodies off at the car and headed down to the waterfront to one of my all time favorite places to eat... The Crab Pot. Yummy! Nothing is better than fresh Alaskan King Crab, Snow Crab, and Dungeness Crab steamed to perfection and dumped from a bowl right onto your table. To me, this place is Seattle. Forget the poshy places to eat here in this town and come down to the waterfront and get your hands dirty crackin' crabs. Thank goodness for plastic bibs or else the clothes would have been ruined with all the mess we made.

Overall, it was a great and memorable birthday.... the last one of my 30's.