Palmabella's Passions

Our stay in Bellevue, Washington was quite enjoyable. Brad had two days of training, and I was free to explore and play until he could join me at 4 p.m.. The first morning, after dropping him off at his company's downtown offices, I took off to see a bit of Bellevue, an upscale bedroom community of Seattle. After "fueling up" with caffeine at Tully's Coffee, I headed to a large kitchen shop. I spent over an hour in this wonderful store, and mailed home a box of new runners, place mats, napkins, and some baking supplies.

Next I hit Bellevue Square, Bellevue Place, and Lincoln Square, a collection of upscale shops and restaurants in the center of town.

I wandered through Nordstroms, Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma, the Container Store, a paper shop, Chicos, Soma, and a number of other stores. I stopped for lunch, then planted myself in Starbucks for some time to read and relax. Later, I drove through some beautiful neighborhoods with lovely homes and their own waterfront boat docks. The weather was a perfect 72 degrees, and it felt like fall.

Brad was finished by 4, and it was happy hour at the wine bar, The Twisted Cork. 85 choices by the glass or half-glass. Appetizers were also half price. What a deal! We tried the crab ravioli in a sherry cream sauce with pea vines. Amazing!

After a walk, we headed across the street to Joey's for dinner. We started with the "Earth and Surf" Calamari with tempura vegetables and red pepper aioli.

We shared two more appetizers as our entrees: hibachi chicken wings with parmesan dip, and ginger beef.

It was a long and wonderful day.