Anniversary Trip

May 16th was DH's and my 15th anniversary. We took a long weekend and drove around the PNW visiting some foodie places.

Orange Blossom Panna Cotta

For our anniversary dinner we went to The Barking Frog at The Willows Lodge in Woodinville. The service was excellent and the food superb. We started with grilled asparagus tart and grand marnier prawns. Both were delicious. DH had dungeness crab salad and I had the local mixed green salad. So fresh, it tasted as if the greens had just been picked. For entrees DH had the seared scallops and I had the tenderloin. They were both cooked to perfection and the flavors were superb. For dessert we had espresso and the orange blossom panna cotta and the artisan cheese plate. OMG, the panna cotta was sooo good. Although pricey, this place is a must for a celebratory dinner. We stayed the night at Willows Lodge and the service was as excellent as the restaurant.

Artisan Cheese Plate

The next day we drove up to Mount Vernon, went through historic La Conner (we will have to make  another trip here soon), and ended up in Conway at Pasek Cellars. Pasek Cellars makes 100% fruit wines. We had a wine tasting (it was free) and ended up buying 2 cases of various wines. My favorite was the blackberry dessert wine. Then we had lunch at the Conway Pub and Eatery. I had one of the best burgers I have ever eaten and the freshest oyster shooter. This looks like a hole in the wall place but it was so good. We drove back to Tacoma and for dinner ate at Stanley and Seafort's. We have been here may times and it is always good. We had teriyaki tenderloins as a starter. DH had the pan seared shellfish fettuccine and I had the grilled jumbo prawns. We had espresso and shared a burnt cream for dessert. I highly recommend the lavender cosmos, they are divine.

On Saturday we drove down to Portland. We went to Bernard Callebaut Chocolaterie in Lake Oswego. If you have never had these you are missing out. They make some of the finest chocolates I have ever tasted. They are pricey at $56 a pound, but worth it. We drove around the Portland area and ended up at Pittock Mansion, unfortunately we got there after four and they were closed. We walked around the grounds for a while and headed to dinner. This dinner was a BIG disappointment. DH had been wanting to go to Joe's Crab Shack for years. There is one in Vancouver so we stopped in for dinner. I don't want to dwell on this place so all I'll say is the drinks were watered down, the seafood was bland and (lobster) mushy and it was so loud and raucous (the servers do a line dance to loud music every 40 minutes or so) that I had a headache by the time we left. I do NOT recommend this place and neither does the DH.

On Sunday we had breakfast at The Buttered Biscuit in Sumner. Authentic Gramma Food is their slogan and they don't disappoint. The SOS gravy is yummy. We had dinner at Johnny's Dock in Tacoma, another favorite restaurant. I had steamed clams and the DH had seafood fettuccine. The caramel apple martinis are super good and super strong here. Sorry not more pics, I forgot to take them.