Pike Place Market

No visit to Seattle would be complete without at least a quick stop at the Pike Place Market. In the summer months, it usually gets so crowded with tourists at the market that you can’t even walk through. My favorite time to go to the market is on the scuzziest winter day in February, preferably a Tuesday or Wednesday (definitely mid-week). You can walk around swinging your arms about if you want to, and you can hang out and talk to the vendors, which is something I love to do. Going in the summer is tricky business, and so we got up first thing, and hit the market just after the vendors opened. Of course, summer at the market is a special time for very different reasons than in the winter. The flowers are, of course, the most outrageously beautiful in the summer, with some of my favorites–sunflowers!

And dahlias that look like bright explosions of fireworks or sea anemones. We’ve never been successful growing dahlias in our garden, for some reason, and so these are a special treat to see:

And the produce is awesome in the summer, of course!

And of course, one of my favorite things at the market–the hanging chiles. Every time I see them, they just take my breath away and remind me of happy visits to my godparents’ in New Mexico:

One of my main reasons for venturing down to the market on a regular basis is to go to MarketSpice. They have a gazillion spices and loose leaf teas at very reasonable prices.

They will measure out exactly how much you want and wrap it up nicely in a package to take home. I always end up getting more spices/teas than I plan on because I run into something new that I want to try. My standard purchase is 4-5 ounces of the ‘Market Chai’ and 0.5 ounces of dried stevia leaf. I like to drink at least 1-2 cups of chai in the morning with some stevia and a splash of rice milk. But this time, my sister pointed out the ‘Earl Grey Creme’, and I had to get some of that, too! I have been having a version of that flavor tea at Cafe Flora’s brunch recently and was delighted to find something similar. I also got some loose leaf peppermint tea, since I was out of my normal peppermint (from my one of my favorite local tea companies–Choice Organic Teas). Here’s what I came home with; I thought it was admirable restraint:

After we left Market Spice, we walked around for a few minutes and stopped at Cinnamon Works in the market.

If you’re walking down the cobblestone street outside the market, you’ll probably catch a whiff of the cinnamon-y goodness coming from this corner shop. They have an array of gluten-free items and vegan baked goods that are all superb! I wish I could have provided a picture of the vegan cinnamon rolls, which are practically as big as my head and are awesome, but alas, they were out of them when we stopped by. They did, however, have their vegan snickerdoodle cookies:

We could not pass up the opportunity to share one of the snickerdoodles, which are at least 6 inches in diameter:

All in all, it was a lovely trip to the market, and I’m enjoying some of my earl grey creme tea as I’m writing. One last picture to leave you with…I think it was the market pig’s birthday or something because he/she was wearing a tutu and birthday hat: