Food Friday: Eltana | Bagels

This morning, the unthinkable happened: Jon and I got out of bed and out the door at 7AM, a whole hour and a half before needing to be at work.  I know!  Shocking!  Granted, Jon had a quick follow-up doctor's appointment to go to, and it went much faster than we expected.  I was in the waiting room and didn't even have time to finish reading the People article on Pippa Middleton!  (Can I be her?)

With over an hour to spare before being at work, we were kind of like chickens with our heads cut off.  Should we go for a walk?  Get breakfast?  If so, where?  Oddfellows?  Glo's??  Having free time before work is unprecedented for us, especially at the end of the week, so we wanted to take full advantage.

Since we were in the area, we decided to go to wood-fired bagel joint, Eltana on 12th and Pine in Capitol Hill.  Jon had been before, once when I was out of town, and since he doesn't like a crap-ton of food in the morning (like me, the garbage disposal), it seemed like our best bet.  Plus, they were open.  (Damn you, Oddfellooooooows!)

OK, so Eltana does not have "cheap" bagels.  Well, the bagels are cheap ($1 each), but unless you want it plain you'll have to fork over an additional $2.50-$4 for cream cheese. But guys, c'mon, it's good cream cheese.

Worth it?  Yes.  I would say very much so.  My bagel (in the foreground) was a very fresh, everything bagel topped with date and walnut cream cheese.  Sweet and nutty and creamy—definitely a winner!  Jon's (background) was also an everything bagel, but his was garnished with spicy garlic cream.  Apparently he wants to smell at work all day.  (I tasted it, it was yummy, but not really how my ideal breakfast tastes.)  The only issue is that these are not big bagels, and even though taste-wise I think I got my money's worth, I will definitely need some more food in, say.... 10 minutes.  Next time, I'll order two.

So you might be thinking to yourself: Stacy, that's great—I'm glad you're a total food pig, but I don't live in Seattle so I don't care about the over-priced restaurants you go to.  Well, suck it up, peeps.  Over-priced food is Seattle's way, and as long as I live here I will be hunting down the best of it all and sharing my opinion with you.  Because if there's anything I'm great at in this world it's eating and giving my opinion.  Try it, it's fun.

There's something about Fridays that make me want to escape everything and just eat new foods and try new things with Jon.  The mornings are absolutely my favorite time, and they're wasted at work for 5 out of every 7 days!

All I know is I'd be a whole lot happier and more productive during the week if Friday was part of the weekend.  I might actually pick up a book for once!  Or take my dogs on an 8-mile walk!  Or, you know... sleep.

What would you do if you had one extra day of freedom a week?