Breakfast was at Ballard Coffee Works, a local branch of Seattle Coffee Works. I had my traditional vLat and a breakfast sandwich that was scrambled egg presented in a quadrilateral format, tomato, and provolone. There were a few nice greens on there as well. The coffee was… very good. My mother and I had the same experience which was this: it wasn’t very hot. Now, I understand this establishment to be one of purity hanging onto coffee principles as dogmatically as the South clings to the Confederate flag (an argument I shall never understand and, quite frankly, simply cannot muster the will to learn anything about). I can certainly understand not wanting to overheat the drink. These drinks, when prepared properly, can be deliDSC01976cate and, indeed, the difference between a latte and a cappuccino in the degree to which the milk has been foamed. Overheating can burn the milk or, worse, the palate leaving the patron incapable of completing the rest of his blog. It just was not hot enough.

The sandwich was great, but I have to wonder aloud what the issue is with breakfast sandwiches preparing scrambled eggs in geometric shapes. Every time I cook them, they end up amorphous. They’re a mess. But this brings me to a higher issue, and that is the preparation of the breakfast sandwich. Breakfast is the first meal of the day, and so often our breakfasts are heavy, fatty/oily, and they weigh us down. Have you noticed that your napkins are already saturated with oils seeping through the wrapper on your Egg McMuffin when you’re taking your food out of your bag? Well, this was none of that. It was light and airy, the bread was neither dense nor watered down with an excess of polyunsaturated fatty acids (biochemistry can make anything sound disgusting). I think, to pontificate with no real accolades to support my soapbox) that, when preparing breakfast sandwiches, we should reach for other things than we do. Instead of adding to three eggs you have on there already a few strips of bacon, or a sausage patty, what’s wrong with a nice slice of tomato? Or a nice piece of crisp lettuce to curb the mundane?

For lunch, we went to Macrina Bakery and Cafe. I had a cappuccino and Mom had a drip. She had a chocolate chip/oatmeal/peanut butter cookie. I think that peanut butter is the perfect base for any cookie because it best allows for the proper consistency: crunchy/crumbly crust with a strong and moist core. I’m kind of impressed with myself that I’ve made it this long on a blog before using the M-word. She had a Quiche that was bacon and leek – although I’ll be honest with you, they very well could have served bunion shavings on it and I would have raved (just kidding, bunions are gross). I was able to hold the crust and a good chunk of the base in my hand and bend it around a little. The quiches I had in residency I’m sure came from Gordon’s and, if so, someone at Gordon’s needs to take a trip out here to learn how to cook a quiche (although if they did, my guess is that they wouldn’t go back to Gordon’s). My sandwich was a take on a rueben (the Carne on their lunch menu) which is my most conflicted sandwich and, apparently, Macrina’s agrees with me. The typical rueben composes of a. dry rye bread that’s been over-toasted, 2. entirely too much corned beef, 3. an excess of jar sauerkraut, 4. slop (by which I mean Thousand Island dressing: it’s slop). The rueben is typically to big to fit in your mouth or your stomach. So you walk away wanted a shower and a nap. Here, they knocked the size of the sandwich down. The bun was light and airy and there were few juices to saturate the bread. The kraut was homemade and I think it was an even mixture of cabbage and onion, which was welcome. The slop was switched out for their house dressing which was an enormous improvement. The cappuccino was very good but I don’t know why I ordered it because I really don’t like cappuccinos. I guess I thought I’d try one in Seattle to see if I’d just had a bad experience and perhaps this would change my mind? But I could tell if I’d gotten my drink I would have been contented. This was a great little lunch and makes me wish there were places in my hometown where I could get a reasonably sized meal and not bland and oversalted excess.

We went down to the Locks today but the Salmon Ladder was closed. The picture above made me think that my next domain name will be “LeakyLocks.com” if it’s not already taken.