I could get used to this

Woke up and decided to be ambitious, went to a local park on the waterfront. Sat on some driftwood and looked at Whidbey Island, across the Sound. Watched dogs chase eachother around, and set off on Objectives B and C for the day, a better cup of coffee and some charcuterie classics.

It was warmer today than it has been (it's been snowing in recent days), low fifties and overcast. I really can't complain, even about the snow. It snows a bit in the morning, melts by evening, no big whoop. The roads are worse than they would be in MA for the same amount of snowfall because they don't really salt.

Speaking of which, I decided I wanted a pizza last night. I went up to downtown Everett to Brooklyn Brothers. I did not realize before I made this decision that:

1) The roads were awful - wicked snowy
2) There was a hockey game across the street at the Everett Event Center, meaning massive crowds and no parking.

In conclusion, the pizza was good but would have been great eaten hot. Live and learn.

Anyway, after being served a fantastic latte by a girl with thigh-length white-people dredlocks, I wandered towards my charcuterie destination, Le Pichet. Le Pichet is a little bistro mentioned in the book "Charcuterie" that the missus got for me. (Charcuterie, of course, is the french word for the discipline of preserving meat)

I got the chef's assortment, best characterized as "pork heaven." This included a piece of pork belly rilletes, basically a pork belly pâté.

If you've had scrapple, think of something with a sublter taste and a much lighter body, but with the same level of decadent richness. There was jamon iberica that blew away any proscuitto I've ever had, something that looked and tasted like a marvelous sopressata, and some terrine, all served with crusty baguettes and poisonously strong espresso.

I swung by the Pike Pub and Brewery (because I was pretty sure but not absolutely certain I was going to hell for gluttony yet) and tried a sampler of their beers, six in all. I'll note the best and worst, for brevity's sake.

Naughty Nellie "Golden Organic Artisan Ale" - Reminded me of Kolsch, or some other german lager. Light bodied, enough hop character to make it interesting.

Pike Kilt Lifter "Scotch Ale ... brewed with a small amount of peated Scotch whiskey malt" - The concept wasn't a bad one, a little smoky flavor was intended. It tasted like a blow to the face from a shovel wrapped in band-aids. Aggressive. The guy next to me was enjoying his, however.

Anyway, I could really get used to living here, if this is how this city eats and drinks.