We took a short trip to Seattle about a month ago and it was a life changing experience. I completely fell in love with that town. We had so much fun: the food was incredible; the people were so nice; and the scenery can’t be topped.

I have a friend who is equally in love with Seattle and visits frequently. She gave us some restaurant suggestions that proved phenomenal. One of the places was Thai Ginger. I was wary of having Thai in Washington because I’m fairly certain that the best Thai food on the continent can be found in Los Angeles. Why go elsewhere?

We ended up near Thai Ginger and decided to try it. I had a pumpkin curry that was grand! It was one of their specials. Actually, a shrimp pumpkin curry was one of their specials but they made me one with chicken. It was the perfect amount of spice and the pumpkin was cooked just right.

Not only was the food good in Seattle but the coffee went above and beyond. The connection between Seattle and coffee is seriously no joke. I had no idea coffee could even taste that good. Hands down, the best cup of coffee I have ever had was in Tacoma at the Babblin’ Babs Bistro. The owner mentioned that they get their coffee from a local roaster 2 to 3 times a week. It is super fresh. They had no pumpkin but their menu is ever-changing and I’m sure pumpkins make an appearance but I simply had to give them a shout out!

We did have some good tea also. Tully’s Coffee has a Pumpkin Spice Tea Latte, which was good and unique. They are located near Pike Place Farmer’s Market where we also purchased three little pumpkins: one was made by a local crafts person, one was purchased at a store that only sells windup toys, and one was from a toy store and is made out of wood but didn’t make it into the pictures.

Someday we will be back and hopefully it will be for a more permanent stay.

Pumpkin Spice No-Bake Cheesecake from Gina’s Weight Watcher Recipes
I have enjoyed several recipes from Gina’s Weight Watcher Recipe blog and was looking forward to making the pumpkin cheesecake. This recipe seemed perfect: pumpkin and guilt-free dessert. I’d tried making a similar recipe before minus the pumpkin and was not impressed. Still, my hopes were high. However, the cream cheese was just too strong and tangy. We didn’t finish our slice. Maybe next time we’ll add more pumpkin and lighten up the density with some fat-free whipped cream

Pumpkin & Corn Fritters by Emeril Lagasse
I haven’t eaten many fritters before or I might have know better than to have made this recipe. Essentially these are like a savory pumpkin bread with corn added and then fried. A more realistic name would have been fried pumpkin corn bread. They did have some good flavor but they were just too much. It needed some kind of sour cream chipotle sauce…actually any sauce would have been an improvement. I ate a few of these but most of them went in the trash. Savory fried bread balls are not my thing. However, these Golden Ricotta Pumpkin Fritters sound like a delicious improvement and so do these pumpkin banana fritters.

Pumpkin Waffles by the Pumpkin Waffles Blog
We have also been pumpkin waffle making fools lately and I really do mean fools. The first batch of these pumpkin waffles that I got from a recipe at the aptly named Pumpkin Waffle Blog turned out CRAZY BAD. They were runny and thin and I couldn’t get them to cook without burning in the middle. I had no doubt that I’d done something wrong. Trying out a new recipe early on a Saturday morning without taking the time to drink a cup of coffee beforehand is a bad idea. I gave them another try a couple of weeks later and they were completely delicious. They have the Pumpkin Passion Seal of Approval. Yummmm!

Pumpkin Bread by the Polka Dot Cottage
Hands down, my favorite pumpkin recipe we tried over this past Pumpkin Eatin’ Season was the Pumpkin Bread recipe over at Polka Dot Cottage. I swear that I would not be eligible for a spot on the Food Network’s “Worst Cooks in America”–btw, I HEART Rachel Coleman. I can be a pretty decent cook when I try but I almost messed this recipe up too. I didn’t read that this was a recipe for two loaves, instead of the one gigantic loaf I tried to make. Luckily I realized my mistake shortly after putting it in the oven. I quickly took out the full loaf pan and took out enough batter to make 12 gigantic Costco muffins in addition to the one loaf. Even with this mistake the bread and muffins came out wonderfully. We’ve made this recipe several times and have frozen and thawed the second loaf without being able to tell that it wasn’t freshly baked. It’s moist and delicious. I highly recommend trying this recipe all year long. In fact, I think I’ll make some more this weekend!