After our stop at the Crumpet Shop, we made our way to browse Melrose Market in the Capital Hill area (almost a straight walk up Pike Street and then a couple blocks over, about 15 minutes away walking), which is a small market full of various artisans shops all together in the open space of one large building.

Looking at the selections of fresh butchered meats at Rainshadow Meats really put me in the mood for steak. And lamb. And pork. And sausage. And mortadella. And pancetta.

I also stalked Sitka and Spruce- I so wanted to be sitting at that table right by that kitchen that seemed like I was eating right in someone’s home. You’ll see this repeated shortly at our dinner at the Whale Wins in a later post…

At Calf and the Kid, I bought two cheeses, but am even more excited about the fact that they had temporary cheese tattoos. Here are some of the selections of cheeses they offered and the fun descriptions they had (I’ve pulled out a few in bullets for those too lazy to click the photos to read):

• Quadrello di Bufula: “Soft yet strong; husky yet full of panache; the Brawny Man of cheese”
• Harbison: “This sinful delight of a cheese should be rated R”
• Tarentaise: “Yep, I could take a bath in this cheese”
• Pondhopper: “Sweet, floral, and bathed in a beer, just like a prom date you’ll never forget”
• Montgomery’s Cheddar: “Darth Vader in cheddar form. Feel the force!”
• Caveman Blue: “Smells like a skunk in a sweatsock, tastes like pure blue cheese heaven”
• Gruyere 1655: “The Liberace of cheese; rich, fruity and smooth as velvet on a baby’s ass”

We reluctantly parted ways and headed towards Elysian Brewery. We had to wait 10 minutes or so before they opened, and held ourselves back to only getting a sampler of the current specialty beers, and one glass of the special beer that caught my eye, the Superfuzz Blood Orange Pale Ale. They had other beers as well, but since they were their regular lineup we had some before, and figured we would be able to get them in the future if desired.

We then returned back to downtown to get ready for our Pike Place Market food tour, which is the next food post. At this point, including the last post, we have only been in Seattle for 4 hours… if it sounds like the tour I am giving my friend includes a lot of walking and a lot of looking at food this day at various eating or drinking destinations .. you are correct.