Hey kids,

I found a pretty cool restaurant guide for Seattle. They seem to be foodies without being decor snobs, and it looks to me like they know how to eat rice. They've got an easy ratings system, which I might not fully agree with, but you can tell it's very thoughtfully done, and all listings include address and phone number. I'd like to see more links, but a lot of these places probably don't have websites. I know, huh.

H wanted to go to Ibiza tonight. Long story short, we ended up at the Harvest Vine, easily the most celebrated taperia in Seattle. We had pulpo, salchicha asada, jamon cerrano, a french basque cheese, and I had a San Miguel. It was all delicious, but expensive. We were the first to arrive, but we didn't take a table; we sat at the big copper counter so we could voyeur the cooks. The food was fresh made, so even though the dining room is tiny, the staff was slammed.

Note: if you want to to be a tapas chef at the Harvest Vine, you have to be skinny, attractive, and have moves, because you are totally on stage, the kitchen is tiny, and the entire menu is being ordered all at once.

Pulpo: this takes an hour to boil, so I'm sure they were pre-boiled. The tender tentacles were chunked, salted, dusted with paprika, and drizzled with evoo; acompanied by a red potato. The result is a texture much more tender than the flash cooked taco you get at sushi restaurants.

Jamon cerrano: five impeccable slices of the cured ham, covering a large square plate, nothing else. Perfect.

Salchicha asada: reminded me of europe, where salchichas are long and skinny, perfect for high heat grilling. And of course, there was a red coloring, which looked beautiful with grill mark crust.

Missing from the menu: tortilla espanola, patatas bravas . . .

Invita la casa: two pieces of toast with some creamy hummus-like legume pate. H thought there might be chese in it.

Bueno, time for a house warming party. Hope I don't see the neighbors. We're bringing some vinho verde and a cork stabber.