Charlotte to Seattle in 9-3 hours

Allrecipes Cory 'encouraged' this pose!  Always the jokester, my husband said
it looks like an ad for the Seattle Chamber of Commerce.

First Day:  Morning view from my hotel room

Afternoon view--same day

I recently traveled across the country to beautiful Seattle, Washington for a few days to visit my favorite recipe website's headquarters and some of its employees. By now if you know me at all, you would understand that I'm talking about allrecipes.com! (Yay!) 

Me at allrecipes.com!

 It's the #1 recipe site for home cooks, with MILLIONS of views each day.  I snapped this photo in their kitchen & dining area, where they have monitors scrolling different information & stats throughout the day:

How neat is this?

Not only is it located in a fabulous city, but getting to know some of the people who make the site work behind the scenes is an experience I'll never forget.  They are some of the most charming, genuine people I've ever met.  I'd like to move there and be best friends, cook and go shopping together and to the movies!..........Wait, maybe that's a thought I should keep to myself.

Marney & Cory from Allrecipes (right)

Allrecipes Jen and her beautiful smile

Allrecipes Ivory--Brand Ambassador "Wrangler"
(my term, not theirs)

I visited last year when I traveled out with my husband, and took some photos of the city, mainly around Pike Place Market.  Since I didn't make it inside this time, I did want to share some images of there that I took in 2011:

The infamous Pike Place Market sign

Incredible bouquets were at every turn

Any vegetable you could ever want

Perfect Peonies



The ORIGINAL Starbucks that started it all!

I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about some of the food I had while in the city this time.  There is a well-known chef named Tom Douglas who has a slew of amazing restaurants in Seattle.  Last year, I ate at his Lola, Dahlia Bakery, and Serious Pie, all of which were outstanding. 

This trip allowed a visit to his Dahlia Lounge where I went tapas-style and had a mix of appetizers, a Tuscan Grilled Bread Salad that I'm still drooling over, Pork Carnitas, and his famous Coconut Cream Pie.  Mmmmmm, so good!

Pork Carnitas with Masa Fritters

THE Coconut Cream Pie!

Another night, dinner was at Steelhead Diner where I chose the special of the day: 

Grilled Alaskan Ivory King Salmon

with Port Soaked Cherry Smoky Almond-Rosemary Brown Butter Sauce & Creamy Hominy Polenta. 

This is the stuff dreams are made of:

I want to go back.  I want to go back as soon as possible!  Thanks for indulging me while I shared my super fun trip with you!  I hope you are able to visit Seattle sometime and will consider visiting some of the places mentioned here.