Cafe Rumba and Canon

It has been awhile, faithful blog readers. To be honest, I have not found anything super exciting to be blogging about, but I recently was able to get out and about and had some divine encounters with awesome cocktails and food.

I visited Seattle a couple weeks ago and met up with a dear old friend of mine. With him, my girlfriend and I went to Canon bar and drank some concoctions of amazingness.

Canon is nothing short of genius as far as bars go. Seattle, this is a shining star you have. With some of the best bartenders in Seattle (if not the country) tending there, mixed the ambiance of an era gone by, and stiff drinks to help ease the pain of living in these woeful modern times, Canon is by far one of the best things to ever happen to any drinking scene anywhere, period.

Located at 928 12th Ave in Seattle, WA, the unassuming store front hides well the powerhouse that it really is. I really don't feel like going into detail here about the great bar tenders, there are tons of articles on them already, but I will say that Jamie Boudreau owns it and Murray Stenson is employed there. There are other capable tenders as well but I am unacquainted with their names.

Their drinks are many, and the mixing is great if not perfect. The bathroom is the best in all of Seattle. Seriously, I could spend hours in that thing.

I had a Canon Cocktail, of which it was made of I can't recall but I assure you it was splendid. Sitting on the corner of the bar are old drink/cocktail books. I am always interested in new drinks and lately have tried a Boss Tweed and a Rapscallion; both are strong and taste good.

I picked up the top book and flipped though it to see if there was anything in there that I might want to order, and I ran across this number, the Bennett Cocktail.

So of course I had to have one. I asked the purveyor of drinks working behind the wood bar top if he could make one of these, and he casually glanced at the page and said "Yeah, no problem."

A few minutes later and I had it in my hand. It was either the two drinks prior to this one, or the fact that I may have drank it too fast that led to me not capturing it in a photograph, but who am I kidding, it was both those things.

A great evening all in all, and a place I would visit again on my next Seattle visit.

Cafe Rumba

I was wandering around Bellingham a couple weeks ago and ran across this new Peruvian deli in town called Cafe Rumba. It was closed when I walked by, but mentally noted their business hours to make a visit when they were open.

I do not regret this in any way shape or form. Antonio and Marco are great hosts and the food they prepare is outstanding. It reminds me of Paseo, but Peruvian instead of Caribbean. Whatever, they both serve delicious pork with a sauce on amazing bread.

I am in love with their chicha morada, a purple corn drink that is out of this world and from what I can tell healthy for one as well. I asked Antonio and Marco if I could buy it by the gallon, and they said yes which made me extremely happy. They also imparted to me that they get the ingredients for their chicha back from Peru as they can't find ingredients here to make satisfactory chicha. I didn't ask to see their invoices as I took them at their word about this, and why shouldn't I. A new business in town could hardly lie to a loyal customer who buys in bulk from them, could they?

As far as music goes, I have not been out much these days. Between the study load and the lack of funds being a student, it is prohibitive. Besides, this is Bellingham, and I am not sure how often well known bands get up here. But I guess that is the thing about this smallish, sorta quaint liberal hippy town; there are new bands every week here, home grown, and one of them might turn out to be the next Death Cab for Cutie or Posies.

Oh well, I guess I can start seeing shows once I get a little more free time (Summer, I'm looking at you) and have some more resources available to me.

Until next time, keep your chin up.