A Day Journey to the Pike Street Market
It was Easter Saturday during another visit by my sister Friedl. My Hal had to go to his office that day. We had planned to drive to the Oregon coast, Otter Crest, right by the ocean on a high cliff for the weekend. We have to reschedule it for another time. Friedl and I planned to stay home and enjoy the deck with sunshine, a glass of a beautiful white Burgundy and a marvelous lunch, like a cheese soufflé.
But, what to do when the sun gets too warm, the delicious food and the wine are gone? Well, we decided to get dressed up and drive into the big city of Seattle and visit the Pike Street Market, browse the wonderful deli store, DeLaurentis, the French Patisserie, the kitchen store Sur la table and have the wine and food tomorrow, when Hal will be home to share it with us. We found a parking spot right in front of Starbuck’s, parked and started walking. There we spent a lot of time, first looking and admiring and then, picking cheeses, Paté of duck, duck confit, sweet butter and baguette, everything necessary to make a delicious meal tonight, when Hal gets home from work.
From there we walked by all the flower stands until we found the lady, I usually find my beautiful flowers. This Saturday she had a great assortment of tulips. The heads on the flowers were very large and looked like they were dipped in wax. So beautiful! I got two bundles of yellow and one of white. It will make a stunning bouquet. From there we went across the street to Sur la table. It was of course more interesting to me than to Friedl, since all their merchandise was not available when I came to the USA. My sister had to mail it to me. It is so nice to see all this appearing slowly now. From there we wanted to stop one more time at the French Patisserie/Bakery. I hoped they still had one pastry left, a Paris-Brest ring filled with rich patisserie crème. We were very lucky, they had several of them and one with coffee crème, that is what I wanted. These rings had their beginning by honoring the winners of the Paris to Brest and back to Paris bicycle race, many years ago. I purchased some Brioches for tomorrow’s breakfast, I will heat them up and serve them with sweet butter and raw honey.
This was such a wonderful day for me and for Friedl, she seemed to be very happy, one could not make it any more fun or more perfect, if one spent several hundred dollars more.
We were walking to the car and had planned to drive home, set a beautiful table, pick a wine from my Hal’s wine cave and make up a scrumptious dinner with all the goodies we had purchased. Yellow table linens with yellow and white tulips and my beautiful cobalt blue dinner set.
As we arrived by my car, I noticed right away that the parking meter had expired and then I saw the ticket on the windshield. Friedl wanted to know what this all means, and I explained it all to her, while reading the ticket.
Someone somewhere heard my thoughts about spending or not spending an additional two hundred dollars, even though this could not make this day any nicer.
This is not for real!
The ticket was $240.00. Oh, well.
I love a humorous ending, and the way Ilona seems to shrug about the parking ticket, and instead counts her blessings of the lovely day with her sister. The elements that my favorite stories contain are all present here; love, beauty, nature, good food, a little history, and something to make me smile.
Another delightful little story that brings us right into the tale as if we are right there with Ilona and Friedl. And, I know every spot mentioned in this gem. I LOVE Pike Street Market. It is one place that still retains the “flavor” of the Seattle I grew up with. Yes, the rows and rows of flower stands. Starbuck’s original store. Ah….. memories. Flying fish! I love thinking about Ilona and Friedl strolling around this Seattle landmark. Sorry about the parking ticket…. But, it didn’t seem to spoil the lovely experience they had just shared. Thanks for the memory! (As Bob Hope used to say.)