Duchess of Downtown Tacoma

I thought I couldn't do this blog today because I didn't eat at any restaurants this week. Its kind of unusual for me since I am surrounded by great restaurants and most of my meetings take place in them but I was kind of reclusive this week. Then I remembered that I did get some butter chicken to go from India Mahal but since I ate it at home I didn't take any pictures. Here's a picture from a previous visit.   Look at those giant chunks of chicken! This butter chicken is the BEST!  On Thursday I visited Hotel Murano  to make arrangements for our visit there during the next ART BUS tour . I got a sneak peek at the new gift shop and was surprised by excellent parking spot this person was given. Right smack in the middle of the lobby! Talk about your VIP parking! :) What does this have to do with Menu Item Monday? If you ride the ART BUS in September you could win an overnight stay at Hotel Murano and breakfast at their restaurant ( BITE ) which i...

I simply adore summer in Tacoma. So many wonderful events give me lots of opportunities to see my favorite people. I felt like I spent a lot of time at home working but looking back through my photos for the week I realized I was still quite social! Last Tuesday I visited 6th Avenue and had a lovely rooftop dinner with some of my favorite ladies. We feasted on Masa's delicious happy hour tacos. See pictures below:  Masa Restaurant 2811 6th Ave., Tacoma, WA http://www.masatacoma.com Connect on Facebook I can't remember which was which but everyone agreed they were scrumptious. And I'm sure that had nothing to do with the margaritas. :) Tacoma Farmers Market 6th & Pine St., Tacoma, WA http://www.tacomafarmersmarket.com Connect on Facebook I also snapped some shots of fresh produce at the Tacoma Farmers Market. Fresh rasberries ! Cucumber, blueberries, cherry tomatoes and more ... Peaches, plums, cherries - oh my!  This happened earlier...

We took the week off last week, did you miss us? In her day job Lady Jacqueline is transitioning from one employer to another so she's training at one while still working at the other. Did I mention she has a husband and kids too? She's like a super woman! Not only that but we had a really exciting ART BUS tour last Thursday with Komo 4's Elisa Jaffe and TONS of great prizes so we really had our hands full getting everything ready. Despite all that, this blog reached a landmark while we were away. We've exceeded the 50,000 mark! As of this minute, we've had 50,230 pageviews! I am so blown away by the support for this blog! Another thing you might find interesting, is that this blog has visitors from all over the world. Countries that visited the Duchess of Downtown blog during the last 7 days include: United States: 1,242 Australia: 16 United Arab Emirates: 13 Mexico: 11 Russia: 10 Germany: 8 Canada: 6 South Africa: 6 Switzerland: 5 Philippines: 5 ...

This weeks Menu Item Monday is dedicated to a restaurant we will surely miss, Villa Caffe & Imbibery. This has been one of my favorite hang outs. But our pals Robyn and Jason who own the place have outgrown this tiny space and have been looking for someplace to spread their wings. It was only a matter of time before they found it. They have sold The Villa and will soon be opening in their new bigger space they are calling Tacoma Cabana . The pair of them have been very tight lipped about the location of the new spot, saying only that its within a 3 mile radius of University of Puget Sound. Until I know more, I just want to remember the good times we had at the Villa. Here are some delicious menu items I will miss. XOXO, Duchess of Downtown

This week I wanted to eat cherries with Sherry's. Unfortunately the Sherry's I know are very busy ladies! I wasn't able to coordinate scheduling with most of them but my good friend Shari Hart took time out of her busy schedule and we invited some of our other favorite people to join us for dinner. This time we decided to make our own dinner using only things we bought at the Tacoma Farmers Market. It was great food and great company. Two of my friends live in Sky Terrace Condo's and they have a rooftop gathering space with a couple of BBQ grills, a seating area, a swimming pool and a gorgeous view of downtown Tacoma and the waterfront. They were kind enough to let us use this as the venue for our dinner. Not only that, they also contributed food and helped us cook! It was perfection. Even the weather cooperated and we had a sunny warm dinner with the perfect breeze. It just shows you that sometimes plan B works out even better that plan A. My dinner companions were...