I went on the best date recently. We met at my place and walked down the street to <a href="http://www.cafebesalu.com/" target="_blank">Cafe Besalu</a>. I've been by this bakery/cafe plenty of times and when I moved into my neighborhood my Uncle J. told me that Cafe Besalu serves the best French pastries. Um, yes please.
<a title="Sweets by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/13002405943/"><img alt="Sweets" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7449/13002405943_ebb6c7a99c_z.jpg" width="100%" /></a>
I can't believe how long it took me to stake out a table in the window to enjoy and Americano and a croissant. This place was amazing.

While I sometimes dream of Paris, I now know I can get a croissant that rivals anything I've ever eaten in Paris within three blocks of my Ballard apartment. How great is that?!

But it's even better to be able to share it with friends.

<a style="line-height: 1.714285714; font-size: 1rem;" title="P at Cafe Besalu by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/13002240595/"><img alt="P at Cafe Besalu" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7320/13002240595_e75fbcbf78_z.jpg" width="100%" /></a> My date P. fit into the cafe just perfectly with his layered t-shirt combo. He had a hot chocolate and a cookie. Well actually, he decided that he didn't want his cookie. So his mom A. who happens to be one of my dear high school friends had a quiche, a cookie and a cappuccino (or maybe it was a latte).<!--more-->

The hot chocolate was perfect or so I must assume. Mr. P. drank his with a straw and never put it down. Then he got serious about drawing. He drew a lot of classic cars and Alaskan airlines. As you can see, his line work thoughtful if not impressionistic and his color palette is simple but allows for a wide range of emotion.
<a title="Drawing by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/13002392113/"><img alt="Drawing" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2436/13002392113_8f53eff902_z.jpg" width="100%" /></a>
Did I mention how cute my date P. was?

So cute and funny. Very funny.
<a title="P at Cafe Besalu by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/13002353843/"><img alt="P at Cafe Besalu" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7397/13002353843_39ebdce44f_z.jpg" width="100%" /></a>
<a title="Americano at Cafe Besalu by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/13002374943/"><img alt="Americano at Cafe Besalu" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3101/13002374943_0ee69eb42a_z.jpg" width="100%" /></a>
A. and I had a wonderful time catching up and marveling at how lucky we were to snag a table in the window. The cafe got steadily busier but no one every seemed huffy or in a hurry. The fact that it was a Sunday probably helped.
<a title="A and P at Cafe Besalu by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/13002657504/"><img alt="A and P at Cafe Besalu" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7440/13002657504_e5eb40aa96_z.jpg" width="100%" /></a>
Oh and I almost forgot, Cafe Besalu recently showed up on <a title="Yelp and Cafe Besalu" href="http://officialblog.yelp.com/2014/02/yelp-data-reveals-top-100-places-to-eat-bookmark-these-babies-now.html" target="_blank">Yelp's Top 100 restaurants in the US</a>. It's #33. That's pretty cool.

You should probably check it out.