Consumerism aside, the weekend has been nice. It started a little early when Meagan finished her first year of medical school on Thursday, passing her finals with flying colors, including the much dreaded and oft-failed microbiology. We, and all of MS-1, as it turned out, celebrated at Knarr Shipwreck on the Ave – the dive bar was wholly unprepared for the onslaught of intoxicated future medical professionals, but it was a fun evening.

Friday night started off with a work social event. That was followed by an afternoon party/BBQ at the UW Med School “fraternity”, a house owned by some medical school alumni association who rents it out to medical students. It’s a large but a bit rundown house in a really nice neighborhood, situated right on the Montlake Cut with a fantastic waterside lawn – it was a great spot to enjoy a burger and a few beers – again with partying future medical professionals. A group of us then headed to Ballard to have a few late night cocktails and frites at Sambar, probably Meagan’s and my favorite bar in Seattle, before heading home for the night.

Saturday morning I went for a Mercer Island spin on the bike with my friend Pete. Meagan and I then had brunch at Portage Bay Cafe in the U – this is a place I’ll definitely be heading back to – cool menu, fun space, and lots of fresh, organic ingredients. I had an asparagus and mushroom omelette, Meagan had boysenberry and vanilla yogurt pancakes. The carbohydrate-based breakfast options (pancakes, waffles, French toast, etc) included a trip to the toppings bar, with lots of fresh fruit, syrup, and whipped cream. Since I pass by this place whenever I bike to work, I considered adding it to part of my bike commute, but I think I would quickly lose out on the health benefits gained by riding my bike.

After shopping and not buying anything, we met our friends Melissa, Alex, and Nick for dinner at India Bistro in Ballard. That too was fantastic – it’s fun doing family style with five people. Afterwards, we closed out Saturday at the Sitting Room in the LQA with a few glasses of wine before heading home.

It’s now Sunday afternoon, and the rest of today will be spent stopping by a friend of Meagan’s who is having a BBQ down the street, followed by a random collection of household errands, planning, and packing. After tomorrow, I’ll be on the road for the next ten days or so for a variety of reasons, so lots to take care of.

Although I am a pretty diverse eater, I am a bit of a late Asian food convert, most at home with “white boy” food. However, dating a Thai food lover and working in the international district of Seattle has changed me. One of my favorite places in the ID, Seven Star Pepper, has a lot of awesome dishes with fermented black bean sauce, so I’m looking forward to trying to make one on my own. Maybe this weekend. Might have to buy some MSG too!

Mark Bittman is one of my favorite food writers (his minimalist philosophy of keeping things simple, letting ingredients speak for themselves, and dealing with limitations at hand resonates strongly with my food, and, by analogy, life philosophies). His books, like How to Cook Everything, Fish, or the Minimalist Cooks At Home, are a great way to get into cooking.

And if you notice in the picture, I’m only holding up half of the prize – there’s two of them. It was pretty tasty, but as you can imagine, a bit too much breading.

Read their review, and go before the foodie crowd overruns it.