I have decided that Seattle is a pizza town. They don't have a type of pizza that they've made their own (like Chicago style pizza or California pizza), but still, there's lots and lots of pizza places in the city. I wonder if there is some sort of correlation between number of pizza places and number of microbrews!
Anyway, since my good friend Barb was in town for a few days, I looked up a few good restaurants we could try to meet up at and
Via Tribunali, a Neapolitan-style pizza joint in Capitol Hill that I've heard about, was walking distance from her hotel. Her sister had been before and gave it a nod of approval so off we went!
From the outside, the restaurant looks small and cozy, but when you walk in, you realize that the brick walls are VERY tall and that the room extends pretty far back. With all of the dim lighting and tall booths though, it actually felt quite cozy. It somehow felt old-world European, and just right!
We each ordered a starter salad (I got a classic salad of arugula + parmesan) and then split 2 pizzas: the Via Tribunali and the Salsiccio. Both were very good, with top-notch ingredients and a nice thin, but chewy, crust. The Salsiccio was the better of the two and I have a sneaking suspicion that it may have been due to the tasty little sausages on there.
So now, I think I've tried most of the big pizza joints in town except for Serious Pie (which I've heard good things about and I am trying to find an excuse to go!). My general assessment so far is people take pizza pretty seriously here and load the pies up with good, interesting toppings. I don't mean they use funky combinations like you can find at CPK, just more like high-quality types of salami. Probably because of that, pizza isn't a cheap meal here though.
From what we have found, Seattlites take snow storms very seriously, the city literally shuts down... and for good reasons, including:
We've had a really chilly front this past week (the high is below freezing!) and the weatherman predicted that we'd get a big snowstorm yesterday. Their warnings were so dire that schools were closed in anticipation of the snow, and Scott and I decided to work from home so we wouldn't have to deal with traffic. Well, turned out Seattle saw a 'donut effect' yesterday - because we're boxed in by several mountain ranges, all of the surrounding areas got tons of snow but the city saw nothing. Nada, zilch. In fact, I saw patches of blue sky yesterday! We were sad we didn't get any snow and felt sorta cheated.
When we woke up this morning though, we were greeted with snow slowly falling and about an inch on the ground already! I guess our weather from yesterday got delayed a bit; it has been snowing steadily all day and the snow just keeps piling up! As of 3pm, we have several inches on the ground. Not much, but enough to make snowballs! Some of the neighborhood kids have even gone sledding down the street. We ventured outside for a short walk around the neighborhood to stretch our legs and play with the snow. I think everyone else is staying home today and feeling cooped up too because the streets were packed with people walking around. So far, these snow days are really fun! Can't wait to get more of them!
Last night May and I dined like kings and queens while feasting on a few lobster tails. May saw an ad in one of the mail fliers for a sale on lobster tails. Hook, line and sinker we fell for the bait and went out of our way to find an Albertson's. It was worth it, the little guys were 
indeed very tasty. Next time we know to buy more. May broiled them for approximately 10 minutes. (Word to the wise for visitors, try and come on lobster sundays!)
Last night May and I watched "Fred Claus" while monitoring the snowflake density outside. The movie was pretty bad, but our fire was warm. Around midnight the snow fall started to pick up, at one point the snowflakes were the size of a Canadian Loonie 
(May says they were nickle size, I admire her patriotism). Unfortunately, it looks like 1.5" is the most we'll see from this storm. It's looking like it will clear up today, settling in to a brisk 20 degrees!
Last weekend May and I went with our friend Eric to the 4th annual Winter Beer Fest at Hales Ale Brewery in Ballard. Who can pass up an event with that name? We started our adventuresome evening by hoping on the nearby #5 bus and taking it to down to Fremont. We climbed out and walked a 1/2 mile in the brisk evening air to the Hales Brewery backdoor. We joined a few work colleagues from Expedia who called ahead and mentioned there was a long line to get in. Thankfully, by the time we arrived it was a short wait.
