Bakery Goods + Indian Food

What a gluttonous day! We have been up since seven this morning and spent most of the day near Fremont and the University District, eating and shopping (for food) to our hearts' content. Our first stop was Honore Artisan Bakery, where we arrived before most of the pastries had even come out of the oven. No worries for us, these freshly-baked treats were well worth the wait! We left with a full box of croissants, scones (sweet and savory), and turnovers... enough to last us the next couple of breakfasts, if we exercise some restraint. The shop is rather small with only two short counters with stools for seating, so we took our goodies and drove off to our next stop: Fresh Flours. The first thing my dad did upon entering the bakery was make a beeline towards their "Day-Old" basket, where all the leftover pastries from the previous day are offered for $1. As it was still relatively early in the morning, we managed to grab a green tea muffin from the basket, one of the numerous Japanese fusion offerings available here. Mom also chose a freshly baked Basque cake and I had my cheddar scallion scone from earlier to go along with our much-needed morning coffees. All were very filling and satisfying - the coarse salt sprinkled on the scone really intensified the savoriness while the sweet custard in the cake paired perfectly with the moist and crumbly almond crust.

Top: Basque cake, a traditional French dessert usually consisting of almond-based cake and cream or custard filling
Bottom: My latte and scone

We tried to enjoy our breakfast at a leisurely pace since we had hours to kill, but alas, our plates were clean and coffee mugs drained. Off to the next destination!

Discovering Fremont

We generally stick to visiting our tried and true favorite places whenever we venture out of Issaquah, but today was a day for new experiences. First, partially based on our desperation to find something to do and also because of my prolonged curiosity to see a rather mysterious Seattle icon, we decided to pay a visit to the Fremont Troll. It was originally commissioned as a way to create a greater sense of community in the Fremont area, especially since that particular location at the time was often frequented by drug dealers and other delinquents. I can see why they thought this idea would help straighten the place out... after seeing the monstrous troll in person, it is definitely not something I would want lurking in the background of any type of meeting at night. Also, here's a fun fact: this sculpture appears in two Hollywood movies - the 1999 teen comedy 10 Things I Hate About You and Love Happens, the romance drama featuring Jennifer Aniston. So I guess that's kind of cool, right?

Oh you know, just our friendly neighborhood troll who lives under the bridge, nbd

I love the look and feel of the buildings around this area, it kind of reminds me of a mix between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Also, I'm guessing this building used to be a barbershop, but once the space was bought and turned into a restaurant, they changed the barber's pole into something a little more... appropriate (poor plastic piglet).

Lunch at Cedar's

Soon enough, it was time for lunch. We returned to our favorite Indian restaurant near the university campus and ordered a few of the dishes I always crave when Indian food comes to mind.

Aloo Gobi (potatoes and cauliflower sauteed with onions and fresh herbs), Butter Chicken (tomato cream sauce), Lamb Shahi Korma (brown curry with spices, herbs, and nuts)

Our gigantic and super fluffy garlic naan, colorful curries

Just looking at these photos has me craving Indian food again... too bad the leftovers are already gone.