An Artful Walk & Delicious Dining
Hi ho, MMMLogerinos!
I tried to post yesterday but the blogger site wouldn't have it. That's my excuse. That and I've been very busy writing like a good author. It goes well and I should have something to show the critique group tonight before the agent gets it.
We live in a suburb of Seattle that has been a Boeing focused community now attempting to transition to an upscale lakeside condorama. Downtown has been reseeded with antique stores and restaurants, though is still struggling to be something other than a weird intersection of one way streets that would confuse the most intrepid adventurer. The city built a metro transit center in the heart of downtown and surrounded it with condos and apartments and a central Piazza where concerts, etc. are held with a Farmer's Market on Tuesday in summer. Last night was the inaugural Art & Antique Walk in downtown Renton. With wine, mind you. I was so there!
The DH and I set out in our summer best. The wind came up, the clouds filled in and the temps ran about 60. We were wishing for a jacket. Our first stop was one of those great little shops full of pretty handpainted linens, unique decorator items and other lovely goodies. They served wine--a raw pinot grisio, argh--and lots of visual stimulation. Had a grand time. On to the Farmer's Market for fresh cut flowers, bought a big mixed bouquet for $5 and back to the car. Then we started down the street with the most silver and blue balloons marking the participating businesses in the art walk. Hmmmm, this is where and when it got--interesting. Walked into the first one, a restaurant, and the odor of backed up plumbing hit me. I looked at the two pictures, I think, they had displayed and beat it out of there. The DH never smelled a thing. My nose does not lie, unfortunately. Seemed there were plenty of restaurants participating. In the next one, we had to peer at the art photographs of India over dining patrons' head and plate of naan or whatever that was. Indian food isn't my thing after the hideous tandoori chicken affair in London. But that's another less than tasty story.
Antique stores aren't my thing either. Don't like the odor or all the battered old objet And there was no art, just stuff. Move along, move along to Uptown Glassworks. Wowow! That's my idea of art and they have a hot shop where they'd just finished a glass blowing demonstration when we arrived. We were served a really nice chardonnay and enjoyed all the beautiful and unique pieces. It was really a lovely experience and the best of the art walk that we saw. Basically, the art walk, in my opinion, was a not very artful attempt to get people into downtown businesses. Fair enough. Maybe it will improve in future attempts.
Now for the delicious dining portion of our artful walk. I dragged the DH to an Irish pub that I'd always wanted to visit, but it was closed, though there's no shortage of seedy bars in the downtown frequented by colorful gentlemen at leisure. We repaired to Gold Victory and made our getaway to another dining spot I'd seen but never visited. I can't remember the name but it's Italian and in an old house. The food was glorious with the best antipasti I'd ever enjoyed. The DH and I lingered over our wonderful food and wine while it rained outside and were glad that the rain waited until we finished our artful walk. All in all, we had a great time and I do believed I'd recommend the Inaugural Downtown Renton Art & Antique Walk as it was certainly a different experience where we found some special treasures.
Mmmmmmmmmelinda
I tried to post yesterday but the blogger site wouldn't have it. That's my excuse. That and I've been very busy writing like a good author. It goes well and I should have something to show the critique group tonight before the agent gets it.
We live in a suburb of Seattle that has been a Boeing focused community now attempting to transition to an upscale lakeside condorama. Downtown has been reseeded with antique stores and restaurants, though is still struggling to be something other than a weird intersection of one way streets that would confuse the most intrepid adventurer. The city built a metro transit center in the heart of downtown and surrounded it with condos and apartments and a central Piazza where concerts, etc. are held with a Farmer's Market on Tuesday in summer. Last night was the inaugural Art & Antique Walk in downtown Renton. With wine, mind you. I was so there!
The DH and I set out in our summer best. The wind came up, the clouds filled in and the temps ran about 60. We were wishing for a jacket. Our first stop was one of those great little shops full of pretty handpainted linens, unique decorator items and other lovely goodies. They served wine--a raw pinot grisio, argh--and lots of visual stimulation. Had a grand time. On to the Farmer's Market for fresh cut flowers, bought a big mixed bouquet for $5 and back to the car. Then we started down the street with the most silver and blue balloons marking the participating businesses in the art walk. Hmmmm, this is where and when it got--interesting. Walked into the first one, a restaurant, and the odor of backed up plumbing hit me. I looked at the two pictures, I think, they had displayed and beat it out of there. The DH never smelled a thing. My nose does not lie, unfortunately. Seemed there were plenty of restaurants participating. In the next one, we had to peer at the art photographs of India over dining patrons' head and plate of naan or whatever that was. Indian food isn't my thing after the hideous tandoori chicken affair in London. But that's another less than tasty story.
Antique stores aren't my thing either. Don't like the odor or all the battered old objet And there was no art, just stuff. Move along, move along to Uptown Glassworks. Wowow! That's my idea of art and they have a hot shop where they'd just finished a glass blowing demonstration when we arrived. We were served a really nice chardonnay and enjoyed all the beautiful and unique pieces. It was really a lovely experience and the best of the art walk that we saw. Basically, the art walk, in my opinion, was a not very artful attempt to get people into downtown businesses. Fair enough. Maybe it will improve in future attempts.
Now for the delicious dining portion of our artful walk. I dragged the DH to an Irish pub that I'd always wanted to visit, but it was closed, though there's no shortage of seedy bars in the downtown frequented by colorful gentlemen at leisure. We repaired to Gold Victory and made our getaway to another dining spot I'd seen but never visited. I can't remember the name but it's Italian and in an old house. The food was glorious with the best antipasti I'd ever enjoyed. The DH and I lingered over our wonderful food and wine while it rained outside and were glad that the rain waited until we finished our artful walk. All in all, we had a great time and I do believed I'd recommend the Inaugural Downtown Renton Art & Antique Walk as it was certainly a different experience where we found some special treasures.
Mmmmmmmmmelinda
posted by MMMelinda at 8:45 AM
