This morning I finally woke up feeling truly better, for the first time in a week. I think this was partially because I went to bed by 7pm last night and didn’t emerge from sleep until 8:30am today. Sleep truly is the best medicine.
Since I had some energy for the first time in days, Paul and I decided to bundle up and go for a walk. This has become one of our favorite pasttimes on Sundays. We find a nice walking trail and explore it together, and afterwards we try a new gourmet cupcake place. Today we started our journey at Marymoor Park in Redmond. I love that park. We headed out on the Burke-Gilman trail, which is one of Paul’s favorites from childhood. We’ve done part of it, a couple of weeks ago, starting in Bothell and walking a little over two miles to Woodinville. The whole trail is huge: it’s eighteen miles long, beginning in Seattle and extending all the way to our starting point last time in Bothell, where it intersects with the Sammamish River Trail. It’s a great place to do some walking or biking. Today, we did four miles total. On our way back to the car, the sun even broke through the clouds. It was a beautiful walk. The fresh air helped me tremendously and I held up way better than I’d anticipated.
After our walk, in keeping with tradition, we drove into downtown Kirkland to try some fresh baked cupcakes. The bakery we went to is called Sweet Cakes. We got two cupcakes each: a mint and a Snickerdoodle flavored cupcake for me, and an Orangecicle and a peanut butter for Paul. We saved two and ate two (I ate mint, he had his Orangecicle). I looooved the mint and Sweet Cakes is my favorite place so far. Paul said that while the frosting on his really was like an orangecicle, he didn’t care for it in cupcake form. We’ll see what he thinks of his peanut butter.
After cupcakes we headed to Bellevue Square, as I wanted to go to Williams Sonoma. Lately I’ve been very into baking, and have created a batch of brownies that were inhaled at my office potluck and a batch of cupcakes that, while tasty, were not pretty. I have not yet figured out how to pipe icing correctly. At the store I found not only the book on cupcakes that I sought, but also a mechanical piping bag. I never knew such a thing existed, but I was intrigued and wanted it. I am now in possession of both my cookbook (bake book? cupcake book?) and the new device.
We left the mall and drove back to Kirkland, where we had hot peppermint mochas from Starbucks and sat by the waterfront, talking. The night was cold but crisp and I loved the fresh air.
Our final stop was back in Bellevue, at a restaurant called Earl’s. We’d eaten there in Canada and it was our favorite dining experience of the vacation. The one in Bellevue did not disappoint: we had fresh salads, superb filet mignon, buttery and garlicky mashed potatoes, and a variety of fresh grilled vegetables, including beets, which I have never been served in any other restaurant but enjoy heartily. The drink menu at Earl’s is also to die for, and Paul and I each allowed ourselves one martini. All in all, the meal was fabulous, and I tipped generously.
Even after all the day’s activities, I still feel pretty good, and I’m happy and relaxed. Today was just the kind of day I envisioned us having when we planned to move to Washington. Life is so amazing right now, I hope we are always this happy.