Bainbridge Winos

The only thing we like more than booze is booze in interesting places so we signed up for Wine on the Rock: Wine & Chocolate. I'm pretty excited that Bainbridge Island has the same nickname as Alcatraz. I wonder which has the most escape attempts.

Driving into a boat will never not be weird. How the heck are these things water tight?

I guess I always just lived in areas that were suitable for wine production, but I think it's funny how many wineries there are in this area with so few vines. Some will even play a little game with you where they have some vines but they're still trucking all their grapes in from eastern Washington as a little sleight of hand.

There was a little pizza oven popup thing at Bainbridge Vineyards that I was happy to get involved with.

I went with an exotic one in honor of our water tight boat.

Ferry Boat Pizza

Kabocha squash sauce, apples, mozzarella, gorgonzola, rosemary, lemon zest, honey

This was good because whenever I'm drinking wine or eating chocolate I sort of wish I was having the other but that problem has been solved.

Some wineries were really specific about which dessert to have with which wine, and others just phoned it in and put some chocolate bark on a plate. Perennial Vintners was the most small-businessy feeling and I thought put the most effort into the event, so I walked out of there with a few bottles as well. 

Fletcher Bay Winery

Eleven Winery

Ba Sa had a Lunar New Year special menu that caught my eye. Past Pho my Vietnamese food game is pretty weak so this was a fun opportunity for some culinary exploration.

Banh Chung and Thit Kho Mang

Steam or fried squared sticky rice cake known to the Northern region of Vietnam with mung bean, pork belly, and pickle vegetable

Also in attendance at the party was

Salt Steam Chicken

Half a salt steam locally raised chicken with ginger scallion oil

What are the odds that the winner of most romantic guy would end up at the Eagle Harbor Inn. Extreme Romance.

Seattle Bar Hop

Kirkland is nice but I spend so much time there I need a trip to Seattle now and then to keep things fresh.

Cloudburst Brewing is a great brewery, though they lean way too hard on IPAs if you ask me.

Belltown Provisions had a fun, moody interior and classy cocktails concoctions.

I went with the 

Sylvan

Clean, crisp, alpine herbs

St. George Terroir gin, Dolin Blanc, Génépy, sage, Scarborough bitters

We sat by the window and were treated to a hobo soap opera that even had an episode where the paramedics came.

Next we tried Navy Strength, which is sort of a tiki bar.

This place had a really fun cocktail menu too.

I tried a

Butuan City Soundtrack

A bourbon slowjam that'll make you sing. Mango, toasty rice, and kalamansi harmonize

Skiing Some More

I've been gaining a bit of skill and confidence with all of my ski practice.

I gained so much skill in fact that Lydia insisted we try a different slope. We've just been going up the same one over and over thus far, which was good training. She found another green one for us to try that hypothetically should have been the same skill level as the one I'm used to. Well "somehow" we ended up on a blue slope, which was pretty much impossible for my ability. I fell enough times that I ended up taking my skis off and walking the rest of the way down. I hurt my neck pretty bad but despite Lydia's efforts I did not die. For the next couple weeks I was walking around with my head leaning on one shoulder because it hurt to hold my head up straight. It also hurt to drive when I had to turn my head to look at mirrors and traffic and such. I will never forget this betrayal.

For a Limited Time

I booked a reservation at French restaurant Café Presse as soon as I heard it was closing on Instagram. I'm glad I did, because a Seattle Times article on the subject dropped soon afterwards which surely sent the flood. Hearing Anthony Bourdain liked to eat here sealed the deal. I'm pretty easily manipulated.

My first impression of the place was that it was the least pretentious French restaurant I've ever seen in the US. It was like a French place in France. I asked our server which wine he thought would go best with the food I ordered and he said he didn't know.

For a starter I ordered:

Gâteau aux foies de volailles

Smooth chicken liver terrine, dried cherry compote

I had the

steak-frites, beurre au bleu d'Auvergne, pommes frites

100% grass fed petit top sirloin steak, bleu cheese butter, pommes frites

Lydia got

raclette Savoyarde ou Végétarienne

Broiled mountain cheese with steamed yellow potatoes; apples, pears, and walnuts

Hers was like a nice little fondue.

I figured since this was the only time we would ever eat here we might as well go for it.

Basboussa

semolina cake made with coconut, yogurt, soaked with lemon-rose syrup, whipped cream

It was such a nice wholesome meal without a bunch of weird frills. I'm sad that we won't be back but I think the knowledge that this was a melting iceberg heightened the experience.