Happy Cinco de Mayo!! Hope you all enjoyed some yummy margaritas, cerveza, and tons of chips and salsa.

I’ve had a lot of amazing culinary food adventures in the past month and I thought I’d share this with y’all.

First up, I surprised my boyfriend Joe on his 30th birthday at the beginning of April with a lunch of Paseo and lunch dessert of Trophy Cupcakes. Now, if you’re from Seattle I expect that you already know that Paseo has the best damn sandwiches in town, perhaps anywhere. If you haven’t ever been, drop everything you’re doing now and GO! Melt-in-your-mouth roasted pork, layered with onions, ham, inside a crusty baguette defines the Midnight Cuban Sandwich.

I’m normally not a huge fan of cupcakes. I’d much rather indulge in my beloved frozen yogurt than eat cake. However, upon viewing some great reviews for Trophy Cupcakes, located in the Wallingford neighborhood, I knew that I needed to surprise Joe with these. Verdict? Perhaps the best cupcakes I’ve ever had. Beats Cupcake Royale by far, in my opinion. My favorite was the Triple Coconut cupcake. Included were Carrot Walnut (top right), Chocolate Peanut Butter (bottom right), and the beloved Red Velvet (bottom left). We had small bites of each, and they all were delish!

Next up, some good eats while we were in Vancouver, BC that same weekend to celebrate Joe’s birthday. Vancouver is one of my very favorite cities ever. We try to make it there at least twice a year. Each time we head there, it’s a never-ending food and sightseeing tour.

The Pourhouse: All of the food was amazing, decadent, divine even. The mac and cheese was out of this world good.

Pork croquettes with HP sauce (HP sauce I guess it like A1 sauce?)… the dish was good!

Grilled cheese with split pea and ham hock soup… wow. The grilled cheese was delicious, buttery on the outside, ooey-gooey on the inside. Almost too decadent.

Crushed potatoes with crème fraiche and chives, and their mac and cheese. I think these were my favorite! In the background, you’ll see Joe’s Pourhouse burger. Mmm good!

Now, a trip to Canada in general is not complete without a favorite of mine: POUTINE!! We came across a place called La Belle Patate, which boasts an impressive menu spanning 30 different poutine varieties! This is comfort food at its best.

Last but not least, I would like to discuss the new trifecta of Tom Douglas establishments/restaurants that recently opened in the South Lake Union area: Cuoco, Brave Horse Tavern, and Ting Momo. I’m one very lucky girl as my work office and my gym are within one block from all three of these. This is good, but dangerous! I’ll go over my dining experiences in more detail.

My boyfriend makes fun of me sometimes for having such a love of Italian food. Hey, if I’m going to work out so hard during the week, can’t a girl just enjoy her carbs!? 🙂 This is why I was super excited for Cuoco to open up. We ended up dining there within a week of the opening.

We started off with their housemade bread service with evoo (extra virgin olive oil) tasting – colli etruschi, trampetti, mario. I really enjoyed the selection and found it unique that they offered a flight of high-quality olive oils, much like wine. If you enjoy dipping chewy, crusty bread in amazing flavors, try it out.

We continued our appetizer experience with their spicy sausage stuffed calamari with white bean cake. It was really tasty! The squid was very soft and succulent, the spicy sausage well-seasoned. Yum.

For my entrée, I had to order their gnocchi with yukon potato, pancetta, hazelnuts, and nettle pesto. I have a love affair with gnocchi, and my boyfriend knows this very well. I absolutely LOVE gnocchi, and this dish didn’t fail whatsoever. It really might’ve been the best gnocchi I’ve ever had, all buttery, pillowy soft pieces of heaven, melt-in-your-mouth style. I highly recommend it!

Joe ordered the seven layer lasagna with bolognese, besciamella, and parmigiano. Lasagna is not something that I would consider my first choice, but WOW… this lasagna was absolutely divine. The flavors worked together very well, and I do believe that the boy was satisfied!

Definitely give Cuoco a try if you’re looking for a new modern-style of Italian food. The portions aren’t the largest, but the flavors are amazing!

After our friends’, Janelle and Court, wedding shower the next day, we went out on the town to celebrate Joe’s 30th birthday with friends. One our destinations was, of course, Brave Horse Tavern.

What I immediately loved about the place was that the inside was so cool, so hip in a warm comfortable way. They have a couple of really nice, fancy shuffleboards, dartboards, and 24 taps of beer on hand, hand-selected by their beer connoisseurs. And what’s even more amazing, to me, is that they offer fresh hearth baked pretzels!

We ended up having the sour cream and crispy onion pretzel. Mmm soo good.

And check out that beer menu!

Okay, last but really not least, I tried Ting Momo during lunch on opening day and ordered to-go. Mr. Tom Douglas was there, and I always love seeing him in person! Of course, I told him that I had tried all three restaurants, and he was like “Wow, that was fast.”

I ordered the steamed Tibetan dumpling, called a momo, filled with shrimp, scallion, ginger, garlic, and red curry. It was served with a side of chickpea salad. It was delightful, very light, flavorful, and my first time trying this style of dumpling. Great place for the lunch crowd. Sorry I don’t have a picture!

That’s all, folks. Hope you’ve enjoyed the culinary adventures that I’ve had lately. To be quite honest, it might seem like I get to eat out a lot, but we end up cooking most of our meals at home throughout the week. I just enjoy dining out on the weekends. 🙂 This blog post, my friends, is only a small, small glimpse of the foodie adventures I’ve had lately. There’s so many more pictures that I need to upload. Until next time!

Might I add that I’ve lost 21 pounds since January 2011? I work out to be able to enjoy food. I can’t believe the success I’ve achieved! Anything is possible if you put your mind to it. 🙂 There’s no need to starve yourself. Everything in moderation, healthy exercise, and there you have it.