In the summer of 1993, I saw a movie in the theater that was probably one of the first of many to give me a false sense of everything a romance should be. (Thanks a lot, Hollywood.) It tells the story of a man whose wife has just passed away and about how he finds love again with the help of his son, a radio show, and, well, fate. The film takes place partly in a famous city in the Pacific Northwest whose name appears in the title, and the man, who apparently seems to have a lot of sleepless nights, lives in a floating house that has a view just like this:
Ever since I saw above-mentioned film, I've been a little fascinated by--or shall I say obsessed with?--this city. I've always associated this place with love, dreams, happiness, romance--I'm such a sap! And maybe since it's known to rain a whole bunch here, I've also always had a thing for rain--standing in it, walking in it, smelling it.
So I finally went! And this is the view I had each morning as I awoke:
Sadly, it never rained once while I was here. The weather was actually really beautiful every single day. Go figure. Still, I would've liked to see the rain.
The first night, we went to this lovely restaurant in the quaint little town of Langley on Whidbey Island in the middle of Puget Sound. I opted for the roasted free range chicken breast with polenta, braised endive, and rosemary-gorgonzola pan jus. The chicken was fabulously succulent, and the polenta crispy on the outside and perfectly not-too-mushy on the inside. My dinner companions, two people I lovingly refer to as Mom and Dad, shared the steak frites served with sauteed local greens, which were to die for--no kidding! I could have eaten an entire dinner plate of those. The skinny frites were fried to golden perfection; I almost wish I had gotten the steak frites, too. (See website for pics.)
And as it goes, a superb evening meal must be followed by a lazy evening stroll through a tiny tranquil town...
...At sunset.
Ah (that's an ah of contentment)... Almost makes me think that maybe the stuff in the movies isn't far off. For pretty soon after this, I was, myself, Sleepless in Seattle...
Kind of.
