Wednesday, July 24, 2013

The Canlis Experience

I promised that I would do a review of Canlis and here it is. Since I've lived in Seattle I've heard raving reviews of Canlis but couldn't justify the $$$$ 4 dollar sign pricetag. We had talked about going for several years but didn't make it there until we knew we would be leaving {to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary coming up in August}. As I mentioned, Jake and I spent a week exploring our beloved city including Riding the Duck, visiting our favorite restaurants, going on the Seattle Underground Tour and just soaking everything up including friends and family.  It's really impossible to get enough time to see everyone you want, and I'm sorry if we missed you! You are definitely in our thoughts and on our list for our first visit, which is of course TBD at this point. We love you friends and family!!

Where the valet magic happens!
Anywho - back to Canlis. We made reservations a couple weeks in advance. And they had to take our credit card info to hold the reservation. I guess you get charged $50 per person if you cancel your reservation too late. So keep that in mind. Anyway, we definitely did not cancel. We arrived a little early and pulled up to the valet guys waiting in the parking lot. They took our car but didn't give us a ticket or anything. I had read about this previously so I wasn't surprised.  Somehow, they secretly know who you are and at the end of your meal, they have your car ready and waiting! There must be some sort of elaborate communication system between the different hostesses, servers and valet guys - I don't understand it - but I do like it! Very impressive and I felt very special.

As we were getting seated, our server pulled the table away from the booth {it was on wheels!} and I had never seen that before, so it was nice and I didn't feel like I had to "squeeze" between the booth and the table. Yes, I am an 80 year old lady inside a 28 year old's body. Now that we have that cleared up.... We had a really gorgeous view of Lake Union including Gasworks Park but it was hard to get a picture of it based on our angle. So you will just have to imagine it!      

We perused the menu which basically had two options - either a 3 course menu {app, main course and dessert} or a 4 course menu. We both agreed that we wanted to try the 3 course menu for $85 bucks a pop. We originally thought we didn't want to get wine so we could keep the price tag down but we threw all caution to the wind and got a $50 bottle of wine! Woohoo! Sidenote: we had no problem finishing it.

After we ordered, they brought us each out these 3 amuse-bouche.


Morel Mushroom Tart, Salmon Creme Fraiche, Fried Egg Yolk  



For our appetizer, we both tried the Canlis Salad! I have heard amazing things about the salad and it did not disappoint!  The recipe can be found here. A couple surprising ingredients were mint and a coddled egg (dressing). Definitely try it if you haven't had it before.

The Canlis Salad

For the main course, I had filet mignon and Jake had the halibut.

Filet Mignon


Halibut

Our dinners were exquisite. I really really enjoyed my filet mignon - the sauce was very flavorful and tasty and I just wanted more and more. The piece of meat was kind of small, but that's usually the case. Overall, the filet mignon was my favorite part of the meal {second, only, maybe to the dessert, which I can't even pronounce let alone spell}.

My dessert (Mille-Feuille), with a special message for our 2nd Anniversary
The dessert we each ordered was made up of milk chocolate, bananas, caramel and peanut butter. I found the details on the Canlis website and it's called Mille-Feuille.  I think it's french! Our server took a photo of us with our special desserts! So fun!   

Canlis for our 2nd Anniversary

The best smelling hand soap I've ever used! I even looked it up on Nordy's and ordered some for myself!
Bathroom selfie!
After we finished our dessert, we sat there for a good 20+ minutes and reveled in the view, finished our wine and just enjoyed each others' company. Overall - it was an amazing dinner and I can't wait to go back. Our server was very helpful and attentive. I remember my dad telling me that he judged a restaurant by how often they refill your water -- and let's just say our wine and water glasses were never empty! I just told Jake that I want to eat at Canlis everytime we go back to Seattle. This could get expensive. But, life is short.

Monday, July 15, 2013

Seattle/Portland Staycation

Jake and I did a bit of a staycation {read: vacation in the city you live in} before our big move last Friday. Here is a recap for you in case you haven't been following along on Instagram.... but really, who hasn't been?

July 1 - Move out of our Magnolia, Seattle apartment + pack up all of our worldly possessions in two smallish pods. Pods get picked up and travel to our new apartment in Charlotte, NC in 6 days. 6 days, people. That is just incredible. I believe the journey was SEA>CHI>CLT. That is one hell of a roadtrip. Thank you mister truck driver man for trekking our belongings cross country so we didn't have to. I joke with Jake that our stuff has traveled to more states than I have. 

Our Magnolia Apartment (goodbye, my love!):




Our pods, patiently waiting to be packed:



See you in a couple weeks, cars! Have a safe trip!


July 1 - July 5 - Stay at quaint bed and breakfast place we found on airbnb.com. Try not to spend all our money shopping at U-Village {Anthro, Jcrew, Starbucks... you know the drill}. Eat out at some delicious restaurants including Canlis {restaurant blog posts to follow}.  

Our lovely B&B (found via airbnb.com):




The Seattle Skyline, via West Seattle Pier:

 

July 6 - Goodbye Party in Everett. Some of our friends threw us a wonderful, very special party in their backyard complete with hommemade strawberry lemonade and pulled pork and snickerdoodle cupcakes. The list goes on and on! They went way over and above any of our expectations. We love you, friends!  
Apparently I have no pictures of this??? Stacey, can you send me any if you have any?

July 7 - 10 - Head down to Portland for a quick trip to see friends and family, explore the city and eat at really good restaurants.  For example, after waiting in line for about 45 minutes, we had Portland's own Salt & Straw ice cream that everyone has been raving about. We tried the following flavors: arbequina olive oil, sea salt with caramel ribbon, pear with blue cheese, raspberry lemon basil sorbet. We loved the sea salt and got a real kick out of the olive oil flavor. I actually kind of liked it! 
I'll add some Portland pics once our internet is set up @ home!   

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Radio Silence


Hey guys, 

Sorry for the radio silence going on here. We arrived in Charlotte a couple days ago and don't have cable or Internet hooked up yet (they are coming out in Friday to install it). So needless to say, I can't get my photos all organized just yet. Please be patient with me as we are still moving into our new place and trying to get organized. Ugh, all the pictures below are the wrong sizes :( I will have to figure out what's going on there.

Here are a couple photos from the past few days. Follow me on Instagram @thevintagemodern for more pics.

The moving truck arrives with our pods!

Getting ready to drop our pods off!
Here are some pictures of our new apartment in case you missed them. 

Kitchen
Bathroom
Our first sunset at our new apartment from the porch

Rainstorm!

Nope that last picture isn't in black and white. I took it last night while it was pouring down rain. 

Funny story: Jake and I were getting ready to do some shopping at west elm yesterday evening and opened our apartment door and heard some loud noises that sounded like a washing machine. We headed down to the car and discovered it was raining cats and dogs (see photo above). So we went back inside to wait it out and sure enough, a few minutes later it was over. It was our first NC storm and I must say it was a lot easier to handle than never ending Seattle rain. Just sayin'.

Signing off,
Kim