Daily Amusements of A Midwest Girl: Ballard Excursion

One of the great things about Seattle is that it is divided into neighborhoods. Each of these neighborhoods has it's only personality and character. I live in the Queen Anne neighborhood; however, I do spend a lot of time in Belltown, Capitol Hill, Pioneer Square, and Madison Valley neighborhoods. I spend most of my time in these neighborhoods because it is easy to walk or take public transit there from Queen Anne. One neighborhood that has immense character is Ballard; it's a little over 3 miles from Queen Anne so I always end up driving there. If you are a tourist visiting Seattle, you will probably not end up going to Ballard because it is kind of inaccessible from downtown hotels with public transportation; it's doable, but just a little difficult and time-consuming.

I have been accumulating a list of places and things to do in Ballard for a while now; therefore, a friend and I embarked on a journey to start checking things off my Ballard Bucket List.

The first place we stopped at is a donut shop that I frequent often but my friend hasn't been before. It's a Cambodian donut shop called Westernco's Donut House (http://www.yelp.com/biz/westerncos-donut-house-seattle). They are known for their French Donuts (especially the maple ones). I got a glazed French donut because the maple one was out. The donuts are cheap ($1.20) when compared to the Seattle franchise Top Pot Doughnuts. Westernco is mostly open 24 hours six days a week (closed on Sundays), but sometimes they keep irregular hours.

The next place was Anchor Down; it has a tiny sign with a globe outside and is easy to miss (it's next door to Po Dogs). Have you ever wondered where all the globes went to...well, all globes seemed to have retired to the interior of Anchor Down. I read an article that this place had Stumptown's popular coffee on nitro, like you would a beer. http://www.seattlemet.com/eat-and-drink/nosh-pit/articles/coffee-on-nitro-anchors-down-stumptown-september-2013 The article stated "When we pour the cold brew, it comes out like a Guinness." The tap injection of nitrous oxide gives beer a smoother, creamier feel (typical carbonation adds fizz and bubbles) and apparently it does the same for coffee. Being a coffee addict, I was beyond excited to try a glass of this caffeine goodness, but they were completely out! I was crushed; I had only consumed four cups of coffee that day because I was going to enjoy my fifth cup on nitro.

However, our journey continued to our next place, Kangaroo & Kiwi http://kangarooandkiwi.com/. My friend ordered a Hot and Toddy; I didn't order anything because I was still recovering from not getting my nitro coffee.

Next was Mr. Gyro http://www.mrgyroseattle.com/; my friend and I split a gyro. The gyro was AMAZING, and it made me almost forget that I didn't get nitro coffee..... almost. Mr. Gyro's walk-up window is open til 2:30am and it reminded me of my favorite gyro restaurants in Omaha, NE called Amsterdam in the Dundee neighborhood, and it was opened until 2am on the weekends and was also a dive restaurant.

After our little snack at Mr. Gyro we were off for some desserts at Hot Cakes Molten Chocolate Cakery http://www.getyourhotcakes.com/. I read in an article that they served ButterBeer, which is a beverage that the characters in the book series Harry Potter drink often. They serve ButterBeer with alcohol and without. My friend and I split a ButterBeer and a Creme Brulee. I have had years of imaging what ButterBeer would taste like, and the tasting here is not want I expected. The Creme Brulee was delicious but it came with this grape concord jelly which I viewed as totally unnecessary; therefore, it was removed immediately from the dessert. You may be wondering, "if you were at a bakery called Molten Chocolate Cakery, why didn't you order a Molten Cake?" Great question; and the reason is that I am the .0001% of the population that does not like (in other words, I hate) chocolate....you can now pick your jaw off the floor now.

Okay you were probably thinking that dessert was the last stop on our adventure and you would be WRONG...what about "second dinner". My friend had a groupon for Moshi Moshi Sushi that they wanted to use http://moremoshi.com/. I am not a fan of sushi, but I am always able find something else on the menu to eat or a "cooked" sushi roll. I tried their Beef Tatika which was a small appetizer, but was perfect for all the other food that we had tried throughout the night, and it had so much flavor.

Now you must be thinking that we had a "second dessert" after our "second dinner" and you would half-right. Once I dropped my friend off, I went home and ate my donut that I was suppose to be saving for breakfast and finished my recuperating from not having my nitro coffee...and I think I am still recovering.

Overall, I had a lot of fun in Ballard, and here are some pictures from the night: