Escape from Soycatraz

In my efforts to avoid foods containing soy and to eat more healthily, I've been reading the ingredients of all the processed foods I've been buying, or almost buying. It's really quite ridiculous how many things have soy flour (like the tortillas I almost bought), soybean oil or partially-hydrogenated soybean oil (like the tortillas I did buy), or various other soy ingredients. Is it just because soy is cheaper to grow and process than other plants?

The Pink Door - Downtown

Last night I ate at The Pink Door in Downtown Seattle for the first time with my mom and my fiancee Lisa. Lisa had the risotto with yams, my mom had a half-order of the prawns with the garlic mashers and the rapini, and I had the paglia e fieno, also known as the straw and hay. Lisa and my mom loved the risotto, but I thought something tasted strange about it. I didn't try the shrimp but my mom loved it, and we all thought the rapini and potatoes were delicious. My meal was great, but not quite as good as I had hoped, maybe because it was so buttery. The service was good, they maybe even filled my water too often. We had made reservations for 5:00 on a Saturday but we probably didn't need to since there was hardly anybody there when we sat down. All in all it was a good experience.

Westport Weekend

My fiancee Lisa and I went to Westport over the weekend, a nice little town on the Pacific Coast of Washington. It was a nice trip despite the wind and rain. We stayed in a cabin a five-minute walk from the beach called the Sandy Sea Inn. It was a decent cabin, my only complaints would be the Jesus sign in the kitchen window (if I were a Muslim or Jew or something I would have been extremely offended), the faint smell of urine on the couch, and the smell of smoke as you first walk in.
On our way down we stopped at Ruby Tuesday in Lakewood. I've loved their veggie burgers for years but don't get to eat them very often these days, partly because there are no Ruby Tuesdays near Seattle but mainly because of my soy allergy. I enjoyed it quite a bit on Friday night, but Lisa made the mistake of getting steak and it was really tough and fatty, and she ended up throwing out her leftovers.
In the mood for breakfast food, we stopped at King's Pancake and Steak House on Saturday afternoon for lunch, thinking they must serve pancakes all day if it's in the name. We were wrong. The food wasn't bad, I had a cod sandwich and fries and Lisa had the clam chowder, both reasonably priced. The service was terrible though: our server was extremely condescending, and every time she'd go back to the kitchen we could hear her say "I wanna go home now, can I go?"
Saturday night we ate at The Original House of Pizza. The service was great, and the cream cheese jalapeno poppers were delicious, but the pizza was average at best, with cheap cheese and too much sauce. It reminded me of Gina Maria Pizza in Minnesota, which I believe no longer exists.
Sunday morning we went to Barbara's for breakfast. The service was great and the food--well, we had mixed reviews. I ordered the veggie omelet and Lisa ordered the Swedish pancakes. I ended up really liking the Swedish pancakes, but the cream cheese in the omelet tasted odd to me, and hashed browns were really buttery and synthetic tasting. Lisa enjoyed them both quite a bit.
I highly recommend getting some fudge from Granny Hazel's if you find yourself near the docks in Downtown Westport.