coffee on the canal

Last weekend, my trip to Gasworks Park took me to the Fremont neighborhood, which has more than its fair share of charming coffee shops. During my visit to Fremont Coffee, a fellow patron had recommended Canal St. Coffee as another place with great outdoor seating, so I decided to see what it was all about.

Situated on the trail that runs along its namesake, Canal Coffee is tucked in a little house with a old-timey front porch and beautiful views of the water. With plentiful natural light and comfortable seating, it's a great place to drop by for a relaxing cup of coffee (and 25 cent doughnuts!) before a stroll along the canal. I've had better espresso elsewhere, but the prime location and the down-to-earth charm would induce me to make a return visit. I also got a kick out of their handwritten currency acceptance policy.

I had a field day exploring the trail along the canal, and was struck by another zen moment as I sat by the canal, soaking in the sun while dangling my feet above the water.

I'm having a hard time believing it's almost the end of 2010. Sometimes I still do a double take when I realize that I moved across the country just a few months ago. East vs. west, which is best? I think the jury is still out on that one.

Canal St. Coffee
102 NW Canal St.
Seattle

serenity now

Do you ever have those moments where you just feel at peace with the world? When all your cares seem to float away and you just feel happy to be right where you are at that exact moment? Those moments don't come along too often, but when they do, it's a great feeling.

I had one of those moments this weekend, which was a particularly beautiful one in Seattle - mild temperatures and blindingly sunny blue skies. With an empty Saturday morning ahead of me, I decided to cross off another item on my list of places to go and drive out to Gasworks Park. Being surrounded by beautiful scenery, you'd think I would eventually stop being impressed by water and mountains and skylines, but the view from Gasworks really blew me away. The first thought that entered my mind when I reached the top of the hill was just "Wow." The entire city of Seattle just appears before you, accentuated by a beautifully designed sundial where YOU get to be the shadow-casting object (called a gnomon, for anyone who cares. Thanks Wikipedia!)

As I was staring out across the water, with the warm sun shining on my face, I felt a peaceful contentment come over me. I've had my ups and downs since moving to Seattle, but in that moment, I felt like everything was going to be all right.   

After my zen moment passed, I amused myself by exploring the rest of the park, which contains the remains of the park's namesake gas manufacturing plant. I kept blinding myself by taking shots of the sun, but I'm a sucker for those flare pictures :) More to come on my coffee shop adventure of the week in my next post!

Gasworks Park
2101 N Northlake Way

savor every second of sunlight

Hunting down Seattle coffee shops has become something of a weekend hobby for me lately, and I stumbled upon a great one this past Sunday. Well, I shouldn't say stumbled - I actually did a quick Bing (shameless company plug) search for "Seattle coffee shops," which led me to Fremont Coffee. It passed with flying colors on Yelp, so we headed off to Fremont to check it out. Ah, the beauty of the internet.

Fremont Coffee is one of the more unique coffee shops that I have seen here. I felt less like I was walking into a coffee shop, and more like I was just stopping by my friendly neighbor's house who happened to make awesome coffee and have plenty of open rooms to hang out in. The weather was cooperating that day too, and I loved the effect of the winter sunlight falling on the rustic wraparound porch. Very Seattle country chic, if such a thing exists. It must be a great place to spend a summer afternoon.

Another unique bit - their latte art! I'm used to seeing pretty flowers and hearts, but this was definitely the first time I had seen a skull in my macchiato...a bit spooky perhaps (a little death with your coffee?), but I appreciated the creativity :)  

I also got to see another bit of local Seattle culture, the so-called "Fremont Troll" that sits under the Aurora Bridge. I almost missed it since I was driving, but luckily Andrew spotted it as we were going by. The conversation went something like this: "What the hell is that thing??" "Oh, that's the Fremont troll!" "Wha?" 

It's been a good photo/coffee weekend for me, but that may go on pause in the post-Thanksgiving crunch. Sigh. I've certainly enjoyed my week off from work...back to the grind!

Fremont Coffee

459 36th St.

"are we in time for happy hour?"

Oh how life has changed since New York - before, the idea of making a 6 pm happy hour would have been laughable. Now, it's not only possible, it seems to be a fairly regular occurrence.  The roommate & I actually just barely made the 6 pm deadline, but that was mostly due to a few wrong turns (also a fairly regular occurrence when I am behind the wheel).

The happy hour at the Fremont location of Via Tribulani is an amazing deal - $5 for a top-notch quality neapolitan-style pizza, the kind that I have been sorely missing since leaving New York. I am happy to report that Seattle has some quality pizza as well - a thin crust with a good balance of crispy and bready, a flavorful sauce, and creamy mozzarella. Add in a cheap carafe of red wine, and it had all the makings of a great meal.

It was a strange feeling to be done with dinner at 7:30 and have the whole night ahead, so we headed across the street to Hunger, which was recommended by our waiter at Via Tribulani.  It's the kind of place that would probably be jam-packed in New York, but lines in Seattle seem to be pretty rare, so we headed right in and got prime seats at the bar. Everyone around us seemed to be digging into something delicious smelling, so I would love to go back and check out the food menu. I just looked online, and the menu seems to cover all the latest food fads - truffle popcorn, tapas, osso bucco, sliders...The drinks were good and the atmosphere was cozy, and with Via Tribulani across the street, I'm hoping there's a repeat visit in the future.