Alki Bakery in West Seattle

This is actually a pretty fun place to grab a quick bite o' brunch at, provided you get there early and can find parking. We both had the usual coffees (neither one of us are fans of Cafe Vita, but that can be forgiven), and breakfast croissants. Mine was bacon and hers was ham - the sandwiches were surprisingly light and fluffy and had a subtly sweet flavor, and the quality of the bread highlighted the egg and meat within. Afterwords, we had their cinnamon rolls, which were again lighter in texture than other places, and the topping was not overbearingly sweet.

Part dos

So, our Realtor (who also happens to be our current landlord) put in an offer that was about $25k below the seller's asking price. The seller "countered" with their original asking price, plus some concessions on our part. Carrie and I were thinking "WTF?"

It turns out that the seller's agent was one of these discount brokers who was on vacation in some remote area in Oregon, and wasn't really giving them any meaningful input - we were (and still are) dealing directly with the sellers themselves. So it was up to our agents to walk the sellers through the process, and show them why our offer was a fair one. In the end, we agreed on a price that was twenty grand less than what they were asking, and our agents provided the sellers with a market analysis to back up our offer - sort of like a mini-appraisal.

Which brings me to the next hurdle that we had to get through - the appraisal itself! The sellers bought the house during the height of the Seattle housing boom about three years ago, when it was a seller's market, and it was the people who were selling the houses who were pretty much providing the appraised values for the land. Flash forward three years to our present economy, and, while there are bargains to be had, if a seller wants to sell their house without taking too much of a loss, they will have a hard time doing so (and they buyer will have a hard time getting financing) if the property does not appraise for the agreed-upon price!

*sigh* More to come.

House Hunting, part one

Carrie and I are in the process of buying our first house (first together and as individuals).

First, we did the Redfin thing - looking up houses, then going out to the various locations and giving them a rather cursory visual inspection. We had done this with a couple of places in West Seattle, Beacon Hill, Seward Park, Madison Valley and the Central District. We ended that day at a condo in Columbia City.

Then, I had gone out with our realtors by myself looking for a place, since her work schedule is a bit less flexible than mine. We looked at a place that Carrie and I had looked at in Seward Park, but went inside this time. Wow - this place, which looked charming from the outside, was a bit depressing on the inside. We then went to Beacon Hill and found an Extremelly Nice Place which I thought that Carrie would fall in love with. We then ventured to view two blah townhouses, one in Beacon Hill and one in the Central District. There was also another house in the CD as well, but that one was tiny with no yard to speak of.

Carrie and I went out next to view a place in Judkins. Nope - too close to Ranier.

We then went out with our realator to Greenwood ( one really nice place, but too close to power lines, and one blah place), Maple Leaf (yikes! I mean the house, not the neighborhood), West Seattle (one in Arbor Heights - a bit too far from the action for me, one closer to Westwood - too small, and one around Gatewood - too small, and a couple of hoodlooms ruined the neighborhood experiance by yelping like dogs as we got out of the car), and Beacon Hill.

My instincts were right - Carrie loved the place!

Next up - the offer!

Hanger Cafe in Georgetown

Carrie and I have found a new favorite, and it's the Hanger Cafe!! The interior is a bit small, but that just adds to the ambiance. I had the Daily Egg Crepe, while Carrie had the Ham Crepe - both were excellent. The waitress was friendly and attentive, despite being overwhelmed by tons of patrons; my only complaint is that the kitchen, due to its tiny size, is ill-equipped to handle large numbers of requests; we had to wait a good twenty minutes - half hour for our order. But the food was well worth the wait!

Table 219

Table 219 is Geraldine's, but replace the homespun staff and genuine patronage with equal amounts of Capitol Hill Attitude, tempered somewhat on the staff's side with a genuine desire of customer service. If I weren't willing to drive to Columbia City to Geraldine's or walk to Madison Park to Flora, I'd happily voyage over to Table 219. I had the Lamb Burger with Tatziki, my wife had the Bacon, Egg & Arugula Sandwich. The Sandwich was a virtual clone of the one at the Counter, meaning that the owners / chef knows a bit about reproducibility and consistency. The Lamb Burger was Excellent, needing no seasoning whatsoever on my part; the sweet potato french fries were a welcome delight for me and an equally pleasent surprise for my wife, who was skeptical of the concept.

La Cote

Unfortunately, it's been a while since my wife and I visited this restaurant. We walked here during a rare warm early spring day for brunch, and were not disappointed. I can tell you that both the savory and sweet crepes that we had were excellent, and the waiter's wine recommendations for each crepe were spot-on. Good thing we had the walk back during which to sober up a bit!


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