Seattle, Part 4: The Ballard Farmer's Market

The morning of July 4th we headed over to Ballard, about 15 minutes from downtown Seattle, for brunch and a leisurely weekend stroll around the farmer's market there.

We ate at a contemporary French brasserie-type place, a la Balthazar or Schiller's, where we both had a decent duck confit hash with poached eggs.

Then we sampled some of the local food and produce at the market outside, like these mini sugared donuts (tasted just like churros!) that came off this cool machine that flipped each one over after a set period of time.

Finally we walked away with a pound and a half of some absolutely delicious Rainier cherries (in season) and this beautiful bouquet of sweet peas and some of kind of daisy. :)

Seattle, Part 3: Staying at the Hyatt Olive 8... aka a Meditation on Modern Luxury

I headed home after my afternoon walk to prep for the rehearsal dinner. Chef K was running errands for the groom, so I had some time by myself in our hotel room at the Hyatt Olive 8 to relax and, like a real design geek, check out the decor. The hotel itself is brand-new so the furnishings were impeccably clean and in tip-top shape, the design sleek and modern. Everything, really, was quite "nice" -- but it really got me thinking about "trendy" vs. "true luxury" in contemporary interior design, especially with regard to hotel, restaurant and bar interiors.

Take the Olive 8 -- it had all the hallmarks of "trendy." Black-painted wood (OK, plywood): check. Geometric patterned bedding in a cool (as opposed to warm) color palette: check. Copious frosted glass: check. If our room had had those squiggly pieces of "driftwood" (painted black, of course) sold at places like West Elm, I wouldn't have been surprised. And the sliding door to the bathroom -- so "cool," yet so inconvenient.

So why don't all these elements add up to true sophistication? What makes an interior truly sophisticated? I think it comes down to the details, to high-quality materials, a classic, not up-to-the-minute, sensibility and almost always a sense of personality, a thoughtful eclecticism. Not the kind of impersonal design-by-numbers too often seen in all those bars and hotel lobbies with black-painted wood, blue uplighting, geometric-patterned wallpaper (or damask -- ugh, so 2005), that kind of thing.

I don't really mean to be picking on Olive 8 in particular. In fact, all of the above being said, I would definitely recommend the Olive 8 to anyone traveling to Seattle -- it was a very comfortable stay and great value!!

Seattle, Part 2: Shopping the SAM Gift Shop

After saying goodbye to Angelica (she had to go back to work at some point), I spent a super relaxing afternoon walking down First Ave, popping into interesting boutiques here and there. As I got closer to Pike Place Market, I passed the Seattle Art Museum, where the big show seemed to be "Kurt." It took me a minute to realize it was a show about art inspired by famous Seattle native son Kurt Kobain -- which was kind of interesting, but not really interesting enough to justify an expensive ticket (even with student discount) and the attention span required to read wall text.

So I went to the gift shop instead, which honestly is -- I say with no shame! -- sometimes my favorite part of the whole museum-going experience. (What did you expect from a blog called Materialista?) I was especially looking forward to seeing SAM's because I wasn't able to stop by last time due to time constraints (and Chef K's waning patience).

Fun little place! I tried on a necklace made up entirely of red felt loops (very cute and something I could totally make myself) and also admired the red plastic Ron Arad chairs -- you can never sit in the metal ones because they are up on some museum pedestal (literally and figuratively), so it was cool to experience their mechanics in person.

I also liked these woven paper lamps made by a contemporary Japanese designer -- a nice update to Noguchi's iconic Akari lamps.

Seattle, Part 1: Lunch in the International District

July 4th weekend, Chef K and I flew out to Seattle for a friend's wedding. Happily, I got to see another Seattle-based friend -- my college roommate, Angelica! Since I'd only been to the city once before, Angelica graciously showed me some of the sights around town en route to a delicious pho lunch in the International District (aka Chinatown). The restaurant we went to, Green Leaf (I think), had these ridiculous throne-like chairs with armrests in the shape of captain's wheels. Totally awesome and bizarre!

Afterward, we meandered slowly back to Angelica's office via Uwajimaya, a big Japanese grocery store here, and the attached Kinokuniya bookstore. Not even in San Diego have I ever seen an Asian supermarket so clean, so big and so neatly organized, with such over-the-top theme decor! Scratch that -- any supermarket. Every aisle seemed to hold a new treasure trove of amazing Asian foodstuffs, and the produce and sake selections were superb (Angelica's dad is quite a fan of the latter, I hear).

Here is an overall shot of the store. See the paper lanterns and fake wisteria vines?? And you can just make out the gigantic paper dragon sprawling over about 10 aisles in the background.

Plus I just have to include this pic of geoducks in the seafood section (eww!):