SEEattle? More like TASTEattle! (post for Sept. 14)

Most of our lovely second day in Seattle was spent eating. At least 6 of the 15 waking hours today was spent in various stages of food consumption. Bekerz' fantastic sister Joanna made chocolate chip pancakes for us this morning, and we then proceded to the farmers market in nearby Ballard. While Becca and I were there, Luke and Caroline met a mystery lady - one of Caroline's mom's friends from long ago. Caroline had never met her but both were pleasantly surprised by an interesting lunch and a tour of the city, including Seattle Center and the Space
Needle.

Joanna, Becca, and I were getting food to prepare for a BBQ that took place at Joanna's today, and accordingly picked up a bunch of delicious, home-grown food at the farmers market, including heirloom tomatoes, eggplant, and a beautiful bag of fresh mussels - one of my favorites. Joanna and several of her friends prepared the food we had bought and also barbequed burgers, brats, and whole ears of corn, among other things. We ate the way people should eat - slowly and methodically, the way those Europeans do. That's the best way to pack in as much as possible.

We've been having a big discussion of our opinions of Seattle, and strangely, we're not quite sure what to think. We've spent only two days here and have seen very little of the city so our observations might not mean very much, but we're discussing them anyway. All of us - even Luke, really - are from the middle of the country. We grew up in and consider our homes in the flyover states, and so we are reasonably disconcerted when we're on one of those crazy coasts. Everything is just so pretty here. The only complaint I can really come up with is that Seattle is simply too perfect. They do everything right here. They value civic life, they recycle, they're concerned about the environment, they're liberal, they support Barack Obama, they value the arts, the police have reasonable policies toward drug use and vagrancy, their night life is exciting, their streets are clean and interesting. Even the homeless people have iPod earbuds sticking out of their ears. To us, it seems like paradise.

It could very well be paradise, and we are of the general opinion that this is what every American city should strive to be, but it also left us a bit on edge. Admittedly, we are unaware of the problems that Seattle must have, being a large city and I'm sure there's a seedy underbelly that we just never saw. On the surface, though, it seems to be less seedy and more under the belly than in most American cities. That's the part that left us a bit nervous, I think, the fact that we weren't confronted by all those problems when we walked out our front door, like in Hyde Park. We're hoping that maybe, those problems may actually have been solved in Seattle.

Sooner or later, maybe we'll be able to turn all our cities into paradise. We'll need some luck.