Spokane Gin

I can't pretend to any real knowledge of liquor but when I heard about a new distillery opening in Spokane - the first full commercial distillery in Washington State since prohibition - I got excited. I'm a sucker for locally produced goods. I tried in vain to get my hands on a bottle of the Dry Fly gin when it was first distributed near the end of last year but it wasn't until March that I came across a bottle in stock at the Queen Anne liquor store. Batch #5 suckas. The liquor is brewed from local wheat and infused with juniper, coriander, lavender, mint, dried apples and hops. I'm no expert but Sun Liquor has been spoiling me with their cocktails for awhile now and this makes one tasty gin & tonic. 

Banh Cuon Tan Dinh

After a work lunch of unplanned leisure, I like to offer my services for a banh mi run.  Vietnamese sandwiches are easy on wallet and the coders can work through their lunch and free themselves from any guilt remaining from yesterday's two hour excursion.

There is a perfectly serviceable Vietnamese restaurant less than ten minutes walk away but they charge the outrageous price of $3.25 for their sandwiches. Fewer than ten years ago I was purchasing these sandwiches for less than half that price at a small shop in my parents' neighborhood so naturally I can not bring myself to pay such an exorbitant amount even taking inflation in to account. Instead I hop on the bus for a 45 minute round trip visit to the Little Saigon neighborhood. There are a number of shops within a two block radius all offering near identical versions of my beloved BBQ pork banh mi.

Which brings me to my provider of choice - Banh Cuon Tan Dinh. There isn't much that banh mi dealers can do to distinguish themselves. They tend to have the atmosphere of a convenience store with a large display of unfamiliar ready-made food items for a quickie lunch stop. Banh Cuon has yet to serve me a stale loaf, they accept credit cards, the counter guy is friendly and helpful, and the menu is entirely in Vietnamese. The sandwiches are $2.25 and it's located on a side street so it doesn't get the traffic of its competitors. I've chosen it as my favorite and you should eat there too.

Here goes...

I love to eat. I think about food, talk about food, and take pictures of my food. I make the people around me hungry. The reason I'm writing here is I've realized I don't have the ability to talk about food the way I would like. I lack vocabulary and perception. I am an adventurous eater and I think I know what tastes good but I'm not very good at explaining why. My hope is that writing about what I eat will help me learn how to verbalize my dining experiences and maybe even make eating more pleasurable.