Nashville vs. Seattle Part 4

Part 4 of this ongoing subject revolves around food! Seattle is a well known foodie destination and boasts a huge amount of well known chefs and restaurants, heck, check out the latest James Beard Nominations, Seattle and Washington have tons! While this is exciting for Washingtonians like myself, I must say the ongoing culture shock continues as I find some things that are better in the Pacific Northwest and some thing that are not better.

Bacon
This one might surprise you and I might be committing an unforgivable sin by saying this but here goes... Seattle has better bacon than in the South... Before you get all upset, I'm sorry but on a general level it's true, especially in restaurants. The bacon I've had up here is thicker, bolder and juicier than most if not all the bacon you get in the South. Trust me, I was as shocked as you are right now and the first time I had it, I thought it was just one place that served this thicker juicier version of my favorite cured and salted pork, but no... it's everywhere and it's amazing!While in the South, you get more of a crispier and thinner style of bacon, up here it's more like quadruped thick pork belly.

BBQ
While Seattle takes the bacon battle hands down, they are absolutely massacred in BBQ. There are a few places that do BBQ here and there are a few chains like Famous Dave's but all of them don't hold a candle to what's available in Nashville. Most taste like grocery store BBQ, even the mom and pop places that smoke their goods in trailer smokers.

Cracker Barrel
Despite what you might think of their politics (which suck by the way) Cracker Barrel delivers some awesome southern food and if you've never had it, well, I'm sorry. And if you live in Washington , the closest one is hundreds of miles away... It's a horrible thing because once you've sat down and had a "Country Boy Breakfast" with steak medallions, over easy eggs, grits and cheese hash browns, you will undoubtedly get a craving for them and up in Washington, you simply have to go without.

Seafood
This is an obvious one but I think it's worth mentioning. The Seafood up here is local, fresh, and available at a lot more places. There are not a ton of readily available seafood places in Nashville unless you are going to a chefy restaurant or Red Lobster. And while I won't bash Red Lobster too much, I promise, the many little pubs all over the place have superior selections of fish, clams, muscles and seafood in general.

Sushi
Don't get me wrong, Nashville has a few killer sushi places but on average, Seattle has better sushi all over. You're average sushi place here is much better than the average sushi place in Nashville. The fish even looks a bit different... brighter in general. Something that is interesting is that there are not as many "fusion" sushi places in Seattle. Like it's hard to find a mango, strawberry, whipped cream sushi roll here while there are several places in Nashville that do that sort of thing.

Waffle House
Waffle House is a Southern staple. There's nothing quite like hitting one of the billions of little 24 hour diners after a party, or a movie or even on a road trip. They just make good consistent food and it's a marvel to watch them scream out the order at lighting speed and see the cooks just nail it with speed and accuracy every time. Also, if you enjoy food in any way, you simply can't deny the power of scattered, smothered, covered, and diced hash browns. Sadly there are no Waffle Houses anywhere close to Washington. So they just miss out on this wonderful part of life.

Southern Food
Another obvious one here but there is little to no Southern Food in Seattle. There is one place called Southern Kitchen in Tacoma that was featured on Diners Drive-ins and Dives so I got excited and went there... it was good... well, it was ok. I give them an A for effort but it just isn't the same. The thing that Seattle lacks most in food is Southern Food. I'm shocked that some transplant hasn't come up here and started a for real southern place. I think the locals would go crazy for it. As expected there are a lot of mm and pop Southern places in Nashville including the Loveless Cafe (the reigning king of all southern food joints) Something I feel like needs to be included in this category is Meat and Three's... Nashville has like twenty well known ones while I can't find a real one in Seattle to save my life. I always here Seattle has a higher suicide rate because of the rain and weather but I think it's the lack of Southern food.

Smoothies
I'm guessing that it's due to the climate in Seattle, but there are no Smoothie places. There are like fifty Smoothie Kings in Nashville. Of course it does get over 100 degrees on the regular in the summer in the South, but it is sort a bummer for that occasional smoothie craving.

Season of Arrows

Every now and then I like to post something about music, especially when it involves my friends. As most of you know I was in Fall With Me for a long time and most of those chaps are still kicking it today, putting out some amazing tunes. Let me introduce you to Season of Arrows from Nashville, TN.

A lot of you probably think Nashville is a purely country market but it has a kick ass underground music scene and has had a ton of up and coming bands come through there. Season of Arrows consists of all my homies and three ex members of Fall With Me. They've been honing their sound for a while now but recently recorded a record with killer producer and engineer, Mike Allred.... and holy cow does it sound good! If you like heavy stuff with a female singer this is so for you!

Seriously, check out their latest song, The Loved One on bandcamp here: http://seasonofarrows.bandcamp.com/track/the-loved-one

Oh, and like their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/seasonofarrows

Norwescon

I'm super excited to announce that Lizzie and I will be at Norwescon this year in Seattle WA. It's going to be at the Doubletree Hotel near the Seattle airport, a place we've actually been before when Steamcon was held there a few years ago.

We'll be selling and signing books in the vendor room so if you're attending or in the area, come say hi! We'll of course have both Thomas Riley books, Dreams of Steam and Dreams of Steam II, Her Majesty's Mysterious Conveyance and we're hoping that this might be your first chance to get the brand spanking new re-issue of Elizabeth's paranormal action romance, Bound By Blood!!

Neither of us has attended Norwescon before so we're very excited. It's been a while since we've been to an all around sci-fi con so we're looking forward to seeing some old friends and having a blast!

April 17-20 Doubltree Hotel Seattle Airport
Check out their site here: http://www.norwescon.org/

Portland OR

Lizzie always makes my birthday an absolutely amazing. This year she surprised me with a trip to Portland OR, a place I've always heard about and always wanted to go. We stayed at a hotel with a river view, immediately got a drink and headed out for the night. We ended up at the Kennedy School which is an old school where the classrooms had been converted to separate bars. We even got to see the end of the Seahawks football game and I have to say being around the excitement was pretty cool.

Ok... The Kennedy School is absolutely awesome! They have their own brewery and each room has a sort of theme that went along with what kind of classroom it once was. For instance, The Detention Room was a tiny place that could hold maybe twelve people and is one of two places left in Portland where you can purchase and smoke cigars indoors. The Honors Room was my personal favorite, another tiny room with a wood burning stove and each bartender made absolutely killer Negronis! We ended up having dinner in The Boiler Room which is exactly what you think it was but much cooler with old plumbing made into gates and decoration.

The bar at Vivant

Dessert at Vivant

The next day we slept in then had a couple's massage at the hotel then off we went to find some food. We wanted to soak in as much Portland culture as we could so we went to two small plate places for dinner. The first was Bar Vivant, a Spanish Tapas slash in house dessert maker run by a few bearded awesome guys. Talk about authentic! The bacon wrapped dates are to die for. From there we went to the dark and secluded Expatriate which is run by Top Chef Masters alumni Naomi Pomeroy. The Drinks were to die for as were the lobster rangoon. From there we visited the small but nice Blush club for the remainder of the evening. 

The entire trip was so great! I'm sorry we didn't get as many quality pictures as we hoped but we're already looking forward to getting back to Portland as soon as possible. 

My Birthday and 200th Post

Well hey, it's my birthday and my 200th blog post. First I want to thank each and every one of you for following my blog and reading it. My reader numbers far exceed what I ever thought they would be and it means a lot to me that you all take the time to be a part of my life no matter where you live. I appreciate you and your time so much!

For my 200th post I want to dedicate this to my lovely, amazing, mega-talented and truly perfect wife, Elizabeth Valentino, who literally showed me how awesome life can be. She inspires me every day and  she has made me the happiest boy on Earth. 2014 is already shaping up to be a blockbuster year for her, she's writing a lot of new things including a steampunk erotica anthology, a RPG with me and she continues to work on a full length book that is going to blow your socks off. Not to mention a re-release of Bound By Blood! Everyone be on the lookout, this year is going to be an exciting one.

To you Liz, you are my everything and thank you for your amazing love and my amazing family! I love you all so much!

Killer Women

I'm super stoked and proud to tell everyone to check out my cousin, Siena Agudong, playing Lulu Parker in the ABC television action/drama Killer Women. The first run of the show is 8 episodes that follows a Texas Ranger that tracks some notorious murderous women.

We in the Valentino household are insanely proud of Siena and we give her big props for not only landing such an great role but also for absolutely doing an amazing job. Seriously, she's awesome. We'll be watching in Washington! Check out Killer Women on ABC on Tuesdays 9PM Central and look for the mega cute girl with glasses.

Need some more info:
Check out the ABC Killer Women site here: http://abc.go.com/shows/killer-women

Also check out Siena's Website: http://sienaagudong.com/

Nashville vs. Seattle Part 3

Here's the third installment of the (in)famous Nashville vs. Seattle blog that highlights some interesting differences in life from a somewhat culture shocked Southerner. The last few blogs have gotten quite a lot of readers so I'm going to continue to do these as I keep noticing differences.

Neon
There's a ton of neon in Washington State, especially neon green. I suspect that the color's popularity originated with the Seattle Seahawks and the Seattle Sounders FC but it definitely doesn't end there. People rock neon green even if it doesn't advertise the local sports teams. I've also noticed Washingtonians like to match their neon, sporting neon stripped shirts with neon socks and shoes. They're serious about their neon here.

Vape Stores
Despite the cheesy name, Vaping is also mega popular here and I get why. Using this product/method has allowed me to stop smoking for over a month now and I'm pretty damned happy about it. Anyway, there are vapor stores all over the place, including two in Gig Harbor (which is kind of weird if you've ever been here). But in general, there's tons of these places popping up. I guess it's good money if you can get in on the trend. As I know it Nashville has a very limited supply of these places. (Hint hint if you wanna make some money)

Dispensaries
Ok, pot is legal in Washington. Of course at this point you still can't buy it without a medical card but from what I hear, it's harder to get a drivers license than it is to get a medical marijuana card. So what's everyone doing? Everyone and their mom, and their mom's dog and their mom's neighbor is opening a marijuana dispensary. If you thought Washington had a lot of Starbucks, you'd be right, but quickly dwarfing the coffee houses that make this land famous are white signs with green crosses on them indicating that they sell weed legally at that establishment. I'm not kidding about how many of these places are popping up, they're on every corner. My guess is everyone is opening a store so they have the licenses and stuff in place for when they can sell to the general public and they can all retire by twenty five. Since weed is very illegal in Nashville of course you're not going to find anything like this there. It was weird coming here and seeing weed stores but now I see them so often that it would be weird to not see them . Personally I don't care about weed but I'm glad it's somewhat legal .

Bikini Baristas
Ok, this may sound redneck but one of the awesomest little perks of WA is the freedom and open-mindedness that goes on here and yes that does include having little drive up only bikini barista coffee stands. They funny part is they often make better coffee than the latest "cool coffee place in town". Maybe it's just I'm a sucker for a hot girl making coffee... I mean your day is just a little better when your mocha is served by someone in pasties. In Nashville, they might literally try to throw the bible at you if you attempted to open one of these places but maaaaannnnn if you wanna cash in big time the South is ripe for the pickin.

Nerds take all
Ratio wise, there are a ton more "nerds" in Seattle than there are in Nashville. I mean that in the nicest way too because I consider myself one of them. You'll typically run into more "nerdy" folks here. It's kind of like being at a con all the time. Chances are pretty good that you'll run into someone that would love to talk about the weapon systems of Jaeger in Pacific Rim.