Mocha Praline

mocha praline
Originally uploaded by CuriousEpicurean

last saturday was a bit indulging for jack and me. we started off having brunch at the hawaiian restaurant, then stopped by next door, to buy a couple of slices of cake, one guava cake, the other passion fruit. of course, we didn't eat right away. it took a couple of days as we saved them in the fridge.

later we went to the REI flagship as they were having their "biggest sale of the year!" we bought a few items with the biggest, my new backpack that jack had me fitted for (being a shortie, it's hard to find one). the rei dude pulled out an extra small one that we didn't know they even made.

but i digress- this is a food blog.

after several hours at REI...yes several hours. we went to capitol hill, about 5-10 min away. clearly my favorite seattle burrough with their eclectic shops, restaurants and personalities. wikipedia says it's the "center of gay life as well as the city's center of counterculture." it's a neighborhood that i just love being in.

anyhoo, capitol hill has jack's favorite dessert place... jack was really wanting something from the dilletante chocolate cafe. and i was game for it as they had creme brulee - which i'm sure readers by now are sick of hearing me say, my "most favorite dessert of all time!"

but first we needed dinner, so a few steps down was a little mediterranean cafe called ali baba. jack and i shared their ali baba plate with hummus, bread, salad, and a plate of rice with fried eggplant & cauliflower, and lentil soup. there was complimentary sage tea that was oh so good.

but we were a little full for dessert so we walked for more than hour in capitol hill, checking out shops, people watching, etc... . then jack was ready for chocolate. he ordered the mocha praline that you see in the photo with it's lovely layers. when he got it, he told me, "this is perfect." not too cakey. i ordered my creme brulee (which they didn't do a good job with this batch - it tasted kinda yolkey). and we each ordered a cup of their copenhagen coffee with their famous ephemere chocolate in it. i did several sips then handed my cup to jack to finish. since i don't drink chocolate or coffee, that's all i could take but it was really good.

anyhoo, more photos of our foodie saturday here.