All in a Sunday

Often Sunday lunch is a meal at a chain restaurant or a potluck and once in a while, now that my parents are nearby, a family affair. Yesterday a few friends and I crossed the 520 bridge to find a new place: Volunteer Park Cafe."Find" I mean literally...after a series of turns the wrong direction down the wrong streets we finally happened upon this little cafe in the corner of a lovely little neighborhood in the Madison Park meets Capitol Hill area. [Note to self: when asking your Blackberry for directions, it is necessary to specify whether the street goes east or west or down a hill or up or this way or that. Ahem.] If you've been to Volunteer Park, this cafe is sort of tucked away in the southeast corner, but it's a couple blocks from the actual park entrance. Anyway...it's a Sunday brunch kind of place, where young families or groups of friends wander in after sleeping all morning to read the paper or a new magazine and have a breakfast panini with a Stumptown cappuccino or perhaps a morning strata with the brew of the day. Volunteer Park also serves salads and sandwiches along with the brunch fare. Members of my group had a brie & apple panini with cup of coffee, the "big boy" panini with root beer (big boy meaning 3 kinds of meat and a few veggies), and the chicken potpie with, again, root beer. They proclaimed the root beer good. I had the strata and a side salad. The strata was shaped in the form of a jumbo muffin cup: yummy layers of bread, egg, thick bacon, and veggies. The side salad had a light but tasty vinaigrette, somewhat sweet and somewhat sour. There is a long communal table in the middle of the room with booths and tables and chairs along the walls. For a minute we weren't sure we were going to find seats, but then a table near the window opened up just as our food was ready. While sitting facing the window I spied with my little eye a bungalow for sale across the street...hmmm....[accepting donations]

Leaving the little neighborhood us girls drove through Volunteer Park with plans to return on a nice day to take photos of Seattle through the "donut hole" and climb the water tower stairs...on to Cap Hill to grab some sweet treats at Cupcake Royale's latest digs at 1111 11th Avenue. Babycakes are truly a fabulous invention: you can try multiple seasonal flavors--Cranberry Orange and Pumpkin Maple--on the same day!

Later in the day I realized I had an Anthropologie birthday coupon burning a hole in my bag so I made tracks to the Shops at the Bravern. The Bravern has been open for about two months and is a collection of high end designer shops. While my status in life does not warrant more than window shopping for the most part, The Bravern contains an Anthropologie, Sur La Table, and Trophy Cupcake, and so I expect I shall pay it a visit from time to time. I nearly lost track of time while wandering through Anthropologie oohing and aahing and wishing but managed to find myself a scarf to complete an outfit. A scarf you ask? that's all? Well, those bungalows aren't free, you know!

And I just have to add...

I still get so excited when I am in the vicinity of Cupcake Royale and can have a Verite cappuccino. Beautiful foam. Strong espresso. It's a lovely thing.

Last weekend I had not one, but two, chances to visit Cupcake Royale. Friday night after Delancey we headed over to Cupcake Royale for dessert (the cookie was, uh, just a second course, kinda like the cheese plate that comes before dessert in some countries, ahem). Unlike the last time I was in on Labor Day, this time they actually had...drumroll...Blue Mountain Huckleberry (September's flavor of the month). Oh, yeah.

Then Sunday afternoon I went to Golden Gardens with two friends for one last chance to soak up the warm sun and fresh air. After walking the beach, and being in Ballard, naturally you have to go get a cupcake. Next up: Salted Caramel. Yep, also delicious!

On a side note: I was able to burn off at least one cupcake (I hope) by getting in one last hike on Saturday. Got up early and drove over Snoqualmie Pass with a friend to hike in the Teanaway area to Ingalls Lake.  The sky was an incredible deep blue. It was somewhat windy and up at the lake the chill in the air meant pulling out the fleece, but the weather was otherwise perfect. We were hoping to see the larches turning yellow but unfortunately not much was happening yet. However, the blueberry bushes are crimson and there are a few flowers here and there still blooming. The hike climbs steadily through forest and then down into meadows with lots of good campsites. The last bit is some scrambling and then you crest the rocks and suddenly you're at the lake. We ate lunch there while enjoying the views of the craggy peaks across the lake. A man who was taking a break by the lake pointed out two mountain goats way up on top of one of the peaks to the west. Their climbing skills are amazing!

That Coffee Shop & Their Latest Attempt

Stopped in this morning at That Coffee Shop (sometimes referred to as Starbucks) for a tall morning pick and the first pumpkin scone of the season (probably the last of the season as well if I want to maintain, or should I say attain, a fit and trim figure). Today's marketing plan apparently was to give out as many sample of the new Via instant coffee as possible.

My grimace at the mere mention of "instant coffee" was enough to launch the barista on a persuasion pitch to get me to try Via. Yeah, I thought it was a bad idea too...instant? gross!...but you'll be surprised...try it...really...etc...etc. So I walked out this morning with a sample of Via in hand.

Then this afternoon I'm thinking it's time for a hot drink so back to the breakroom I go to boil water in the electric tea kettle and give the Via a test run. I was expecting the large grounds that you get in a jar of other brands' instant coffee and was surprised to pour finely ground coffee out of the packet. Nice.

I.actually.liked.it. Gulp. Not good enough to replace a real brewed or French-pressed cup, but if you're desperate and not near a coffeemaker or French press it's definitely a good thing to have on hand. I'm thinking that Via would be perfect for camping and backpacking. No more dragging along the old metal percolator or French press. No more dumping coffee grounds in the forest (oh, uh, who me?).

For those of you who don't like strong coffee, a.k.a. Starbucks' bitter dark-roasted beans, you'll probably be able to get two cups of coffee out of one packet of Via.