Last weekend, I took a trip I’ve been wanting to do for awhile: Snoqualmie Falls, famous for being the area where a lot of Twin Peaks was filmed.

But before we talk about that, Diane, we need to take a little detour into My Personal Life. You know how I feel about reading about the compulsory heterosexuality of food advertising and food blogs. With this in mind, I had initially not wanted to include my own marital status amongst the posts here, but I eventually got more comfortable mentioning my spouse in my own blog because he was a big part of my food life. I bring this up 1. because I’m going to talk about Twin Peaks, one of our shared interests, and 2. because he left me recently. I haven’t been posting as much because I could barely eat for 3 weeks, and it might be another few weeks or so before my kitchen equipment is properly unpacked in my new place, so please bear with me.

Now that we’ve gotten that uncomfortable personal admission out of the way– part of my self-care process is trying to do things (within my budget) that I want to do, which, of course, means food and travel. I’ve wanted to take a day trip out of Seattle for a long time now, so I channeled my inner Agent Cooper and headed out to Snoqualmie Falls to treat myself to a hike, some craft beer, and a slice of cherry pie with my friends.

Harry, I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don’t plan it. Don’t wait for it. Just let it happen. It could be a new shirt at the men’s store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot black coffee.*

 Snoqualmie Falls Brewery and Taproom

Snoqualmie Falls Brewery and Taproom has pub sandwiches and soup (with a couple vegetarian options) and amazing homemade root beer. Since we’d never tried this brewery before, my friends and I split a sampler to determine which beers we’d each order. I picked the Harvest Moon (not in the sampler) and took home a growler of the Perfectly Good Amber (PGA) because I liked it so much.

My tasting notes:

Zippy Lemon Ale
Zippy is right! This may wreck your palate, so best not to combine with the beer tasting. Tastes of non-sweet, vaguely botanical Lemonheads, like an extreme shandy. High gravity and brewed with lemon juice.

Harvest Moon
Good balance of mellow malts and hops–would be a good session beer. (It’s hard to describe ones that are simple but delicious.)

Avalanche Winter Ale
Aromatic hops, slightly bitter. Perfect for the PNW winter.

Steam Train Porter
This is like a proper Michigan porter. Mellow, malty, thick, with robust caramel and espresso.

Wildcat IPA
Very hoppy and almost sour rather than bitter.

Copperhead Pale Ale
Very mild, solid pale ale; not too hoppy. Clean finish.

Haystack Hefewizen
Served with a lemon. Spice, yeast, and citrus notes in a mild beer. Would be perfect in summer.

Perfectly Great Amber (PGA)
Light but full-flavored; mild without being boring. Medium body.

PNW beers tend to kick you in the face, so these milder-but-full-flavored beers were a nice change. (The Zippy Lemon is totally a kick in the face, though.)

Twede’s Cafe

The site of the Double R Diner of Twin Peaks fame, Twede’s Cafe serves “Twin Peaks Cherry Pie and a Damn Fine Cup of Coffee.” Although the inside doesn’t really look like the set anymore (see link above), it was a lot of fun to go there. Especially when I noticed all the other 20~30-somethings, grinning ear to ear as they came into the diner with their DSLRs out. The pie is delicious, the pie crust is exceptional, and the coffee was pretty good, too. I missed you, free refills.

I REGRET NOTHING.

Self-care: achieved, thanks to amazing friends
Kitchen packing progress: 75%, also thanks to amazing friends
Next stop: beignets

*Sorry, can’t hear you over the sound of how OTP they are.