My Great American Road Trip – Washington

That’s right – Washington! I have now traveled through the magical portal in my kitchen to 46 states, with four more to go. All of the one’s left start with a W.

I like Washington a lot. Maybe because my trips to Seattle have been bound up in romance and friendship. I’ve have a rendezvous or two in rainy Seattle. In fact – what I haven’t had in Seattle is rain, now that I think of it. Seattle is so beautiful.

It was in Seattle that I visited one of my first Frank Gehry buildings – the Museum of Pop Culture (a museum designed for me). Now I work in a Gehry building!

The crazy glass artist Dale Chihuly is based in Seattle, and offers a magical way to spend a day.

Fun fact, I once watched a documentary on Chihuly and somewhere in the middle he started wearing an eye patch, that he wears to this day with no explanation why. (I know I can google it. I like the mystery).

And the last time I visited Seattle, in addition to a little romance, I got to see my wonderful friend Charlie and my gorgeous cousin Nelle.

I like Washington. And I like eating in Washington. Lots of seafood and fresh veggies, but, like Oregon to its south, it is a lot of ingredients in search of a recipe.

But then I remembered my first trip to Seattle, lo these many years ago. During this particular assignation, my friend brought me to an area he referred to as the “Brooklyn of Seattle,” probably only as a way to convince me to look away from the over priced tourist areas that I gravitate to. There we sat by the water, drank wine, and ate the King of Salads, Crab Louie. Seriously, it is known as the king of salads. And for good reason.

There is some debate about whether this dish has its origin in San Francisco or Seattle, but it is a Pacific Northwest specialty. The crab should be Dungeness, which, miraculously I was able to find, though it had been previously frozen. The hardest part of making this was getting the meat from the shells, but like any true New Englander, shellfish is no match for me!

The next step is to make the dressing. Crab Louie is served with a Russian dressing (can you see Russia from Washington?). Russian dressing is basically one part mayo, one half part ketchup, one quarter part sweet pickle relish. But I really like relish, so I might have gone a little heavy.

The dressing also called for chopped hard boiled eggs, check, and black olives, NO WAY. I hate olives.

Then you assemble the salad, All Crab Louie’s have lettuce, asparagus, and tomatoes, and then there’s a little room to go crazy. I added some sliced avocado and English cukes.

I enjoyed this salad so much, I had it for three meals in a row. For the fourth I had crab cakes and some grilled romaine. I’m finally out of crab, but it was great.

Oh, Seattle, the special memories you hold! As I left my oh so special friend on my last trip, I passed a sign that made me think…..

I thought “thank goodness I don’t believe in signs!”