macarons, idols, and other things

first off...

i just want to listen to this song on repeat. actually, i have just been listening to this song on repeat. full volume. poor drew.

yes, that's what i've been doing instead of blogging. oh, and work, school, internships + a little bit of play. on tuesday, drew and i ducked out of work early and took a road trip to seattle. the purpose of this trip was for drew to hear a lecture given by his writing idol, richard ford. since the lecture didn't start until 7:30, i took it upon myself to make the rest of the trip about food. we arrived in seattle at 4, so we walked through pike place market, stopping at a grassy spot by the water and took a quick snooze in the sun.

as i do before every trip, i scoped out the area for the best places to eat. our first stop was this bakery for french macarons. i am completely obsessed with these little morsels of heaven. i got a chocolate and orange ganache, and a coffee one for drew. i think it's safe to say he's now a fan. choosing a dinner spot was difficult because all of the restaurants were way out of our price range. we ended up at this japanese restaurant that had an amazing happy hour menu. the food was so delicious and reasonably priced- they even had the option of brown rice sushi for health nuts like me.

after dinner, we rolled our stuffed selves a couple of blocks over to benaroya hall, which was absolutely gorgeous. richard ford gave an honest, funny, and interesting lecture on writing that captivated and charmed me. after he gave a short reading from his upcoming novel, there was a reception with wine, snacks, and a chance to speak with him in person. drew and i walked over to him and introduced ourselves. as usual, whenever i'm around anyone remotely famous, i started to sweat uncontrollably. i couldn't even imagine how drew was feeling, meeting one of his favorite authors and biggest influences. the two men discussed drew's future plans for his creative writing mfa program, and richard ford offered up valuable, genuine advice.

drew's moment of glory

the trip was definitely a success; drew left feeling high on richard ford, and i left feeling sweaty and satisfied after a day of good eats.

speaking of good eats, an enchilada recipe is on the way. most of my meals during the week consist of boring vegetarian concoctions involving tempeh or lentils that i doubt would appeal to anyone besides me. since we both have actual time to cook this weekend, enchiladas are on the menu! stay tuned.