Heather and I are traveling through the Pacific Northwest for two weeks and loving every second of it! (Well, there was that awful, delayed, turbulent flight, but I’ve blocked it out of my memory). We’ll try to include a few recipes over the next few weeks, but mostly I’ll be sharing some of our travel adventures with you! I hope you enjoy!

Our temporary home in Seattle is a recycled shipping container-turned-studio. Previously used to ship pineapples, its bright color earned it the name “Big Yellow.” The owners saw the house in Sunset Magazine and decided they had to have it. I can see why – it’s pretty much the coolest.

View from the bed to the front door

The shower stall IS the bathroom. The shower head is mounted to the ceiling in between the sink and the toilet.

Our first day in town, we caught up with a dear friend of mine who grew up in the area. She and two of her lovely children joined us for some play time at the Wallingford park.

Heather picked up some tofu satay at a nearby Malaysian street food restaurant, called Satay. Their peanut sauce is spicy and delicious!

A late afternoon stroll through the neighborhood led us to the famous Seattle Troll (under the bridge, naturally) and the controversial Lenin Statue.

As we wandered through Fremont, we stumbled into a store selling local art. After a friendly chat with the owner, we discovered that he had, many years ago, lived in my hometown (Freehold, NJ) for 6 months! Small world!

The destination of our stroll was Theo Chocolate Factory – the first organic, fair trade chocolate factory in the United States.

Samples galore and a ton of information to boot! If you’re ever in Seattle, you should definitely go on the Theo tour. My favorites flavors (at the moment): basil pignoli and chai tea. Yum!

After all that chocolate, we decided that a light, fresh, and nutritious dinner was in order. We popped into Homegrown, which specializes in local ingredients. I went for the seasonal summer special, described on the wall behind Heather’s head.

Heather got a yummy hummus and roasted red pepper sandwich, both of which were on Homegrown’s homemade bread. The cucumber soda was a perfect complement to this light summer meal. We strolled down to the canal to have a bit of a picnic!

What a day!