Wedding in Fun Diego!

My friend from college, Music, got married this past weekend in San Diego. When we arrived on Friday morning, the weather was gorgeous - warm and a little windy. By Saturday evening though, some fog and clouds had rolled in so it was a bit chilly on the deck of the Berkeley, the historic ferryboat where the wedding and reception took place. The evening turned out very nicely anyway since the reception was inside. The candelights from the tables set a very romantic mood against the stained glass windows and dark wood paneling on the boat. It was nice to see old buds from CMC again too, although it is sad to note we all have less and less in common now and are growing apart. I guess it's all part of growing up.

Dim Sum in Seattle

When my brother, Kin, and my cousin, Samantha, came to visit last weekend, they were happy to help me find dim sum in Seattle! We were in the International District and stumbled upon Jade Garden. For a Monday, the place was packed and we had to wait about 15 minutes before we were seated. The variety of dishes was a bit disappointing, but that may be because of it was a weekday. We were sadly missing tripe, bbq pork rice noodle rolls and pea shoot dumplings. On the bright side, what we did have was pretty good! We liked that the bbq pork buns had big chunks of meat in it, and the loh-bak-gow was as tasty as grandma's. I'll have to take Scott here to see what he thinks!

Budget Seattle for Visitors

USAToday had an article today about visiting Seattle on a budget. For the most part, I agree - Seattle CAN be done on a budget. I liked their food tips best, especially since we haven't tried any of their suggestions. Also, I didn't know Oprah liked fried chicken in Seattle!

'For cheap eats at all hours of the day, stick to Seattle staples like Dick's Drive In, an old-school burger joint with five locations, or Ezell's, with three locations in Seattle, to gobble up some of Oprah's favorite fried chicken. Salmon lovers should check out Ballard Brothers Seafood and Burgers, 5305 Fifteenth Ave., NW, 206-784-4440, where the house specialty, a Cajun-style blackened salmon sandwich is just $7.'

Underground Tour

Scratch the Underground Tour off of our "to do" list! We did this one yesterday!

The Underground Tour does exactly that... it takes you into the underground of the Pioneer Square area of Seattle. Back in the 1800's when Seattle was first settled, the main commercial hub was built on tidelands that was filled in with sawdust from the local sawmill. This meant the ground was always muddy, uneven and smooshy. When a fire destroyed most of the city in the 1880's, local city officials grabbed at the chance to rebuild the city on a higher ground. Their idea of higher ground was to literally build on top of the existing structures. What you see now as Pioneer Square is actually the 'new' ground floor built on top of the 'old' ground floor. Below Pioneer square, in the basements of many of the buildings, are remnants of the original city. Only a small portion has been restored so the public can down and take a look-see.

Our guide, Dan, was good, but not great. He was a good speaker, but I felt he didn't go in chronological order of what happened and so I was confused on how they built the new ground floor, and what the old ground floors were used for. All in all, an interesting tour though. The 'sets' reminded me very much of Disneyland though. They seemed so fake even though I knew they were not. Or, I guess, you can say maybe Disneyland seems so real!

Port Townsend

In our quest to visit all of the nearby islands and peninsulas, last weekend we headed out to Port Townsend. It was a beautiful day, perfectly clear and warm (who knew the sun could be so fun?). Talk about rare, you could see Mt. Rainier all the way from the ferry.

We took the ferry from Edmunds across to Kingston. While we were in line to get on the ferry, a grandmotherly lady walked past the car and started yelling at May "Welcome, welcome to Washington". Keep in mind that she was yelling because our car windows were up (good call with all the crazy friendly people around). After being startled a bit we realized we were the only car in line with a California license plate.

Wooden boat festival! Yes, as luck would have it we arrived and it was the wooden boat festival weekend. The harbor was filled with hundreds of old sailboats, including a couple replica Mayflower type ships. The streets of Pt. Townsend were very quaint and victorian, however the people were a different story. There were two types of people present: gypsies and old white people. It was a strange mix.

We decided to take the scenic road back by driving down the penninsula onto Bainbridge island and had a nice dinner at Nola. I love that place, I vote we move there.

NOOOOODLES, long and soft!

I love noodles. Soup noodles to be more precise. I can eat it for breakfast, lunch and/or dinner, in hot or cold weather. I always tell Scott that he doesn't need to treat me out to expensive fancy restaurants - I'd be happy going to a small cheapie noodle joint! For my birthday this year, when my parents asked me where I wanted to celebrate I gave them 2 choices: Beef Brisket Noodles at Mandarin Deli or Over-the-Bridge Noodles at Yun Chuan Garden. They laughed and thought I was funny, but I was serious!

So far in Seattle, I've now been to 5 noodle places. 3 pho restaurants, and with my parents in two, 2 chinese restaurants. Here's my reviews, in order of which I tried first.

What the Pho: I tried this last year when Scott was still in corporate housing in Bellevue. With a name like that, I rolled my eyes when we walked over and thought "how authentic can this place be?"? Turns out, never judge a book by its name! I was impressed they included tripe on their menu, and ordered the Pho that includes it (this is my usual pho order anyway). Very clean inside, and the staff was nice and efficient. Standard pho. Nothing to write home about, but plenty satisfying!

Than Brothers: When I first started looking up pho restaurants in Seattle, everyone and their sister pointed me to Than Brothers. It's a local chain known for the home-made cream puffs served with your pho. The closest one to us is only a few blocks away on Aurora/99 so we hit it up very soon after we moved in. The Aurora branch is their original (I think) and is small and a little dirty in that hole-in-the-wall kind of way. Anyway, the creampuff is tasty, but I was actually surprised that I did NOT like their pho. The soup was too sweet and they didn't give me any chilies (jalapenos) to put in my noodles.

Mike's Noodle House: My cousin, Brandon, is going into his second year at UW. When his dad, my uncle Tim, visits, they always head to Mike's Noode House in Chinatown. This was a good enough endorsement for me so after I picked up my parents from the airport, we headed over for some lunch. The restaurant is very small (15 tables maybe) but very clean and bright. I ordered their Wonton and Beef Brisket Noodle Soup (with wonton noodles) and we got a side of Chinese Broccoli. The noodles were terrific; they had the right amount of bite to them and didn't get smooshy as I took my time eating. The wontons were also good - big chunks of shrimp, just a little hint of white pepper and very very soft skins. My beef brisket though was lacking in flavor and a little tough. And the chinese broccoli was plain awful - way too old. I'm apalled they served it to us!

Toy's Cafe: My aunt in Portland likes this restaurant in Bellevue and promised me their Beef Noodles Soup was their specialty. Since I'm a sucker for that dish, I dragged my parents there with me last week. Funny thing is we couldn't remember the name of the restaurant in English, but in Chinese, it is spelled as "Sam Woo" like the chain noodle house down in LA. That made it easy to find. And, true to my aunt's word, the Beef Noodle Soup is go-od. It came with big chewy noodles that held up well with the very spicy, beefy broth and tender chunks of beef and tendon. Thumbs up on this one!

Pho Tic Tac: Since I was tired of eating leftovers for lunch today, I headed over to this pho restaurant on Greenwood and 85th. I brought a book with me becuase I was expecting slow service after reading the reviews on Yelp but my noodles came out within 5 minutes. The pho was tasty - broth was just right and the rare beef was actually VERY tender. I thought the tendon pieces were too soft and small though, but since that is my least favorite beef part, I can overlook that flaw pretty easily. Iced coffee came out fairly late though and was way strong. Overall, I'd say this one wins over Than Brothers even though it doesn't include the free cream puff.

Shop Shop Shopping

Yippee! I scored a pair of Merrell goretex shoes so now I can go hiking and not be worried about slipping and sliding. I had wanted to buy a pair of hiking boots from REI when they had their big sale over Labor Day weekend but by the time we went over, they didn't have my size in any of the shoes on sale. I heart Nordstrom Rack!

On a side note, my mom and I found a Talbot's outlet in Lynwood last weekend. She was SUPER excited about that! It will be her new excuse to come visit me, hehe.

Lastly, my aunt told us about this store called Best Kept Secret in Kirkland. It is a store that sells samples at really reduced rates. The problem is most of the samples are sized M for women and L for men. I couldn't fit into anything! I gotta say, some of the women's stuff was UGLY! I had never heard of some of those brands. The guy stuff seemed pretty standard (Born, Cutter and Buck, Nike, Izod etc). However, when we arrived on Fri last week, they did just get a new shipment of KEEN stuff and I was very tempted to buy a bag. Supposedly their inventory changes all the time so I guess sometimes they get some pretty good stuff!

Forks, WA

I'm currently obsessed with the Twilight series (by Stephanie Meyer). It's a pretty awful teeny-bopper soap opera all about a human teenage girl named Bella and how she falls in love with the vampire Edward. It's melodramatic, with lots of silly incidents (he saves her life a gazillion times, there are werewolves, etc) and Edward, as the hero, is completely unbelievable becuase NO guy is like that. But for some reason I'm hooked on the silly love story. It's the same feeling I get when I watch Dawson's Creek or Felicity and I'm rooting for Joey and Felicity to end up with the right guy and live happily ever after.

The series is set in Forks, WA, which is located on the Olympic Peninsula. I'm curious to go visit now. Not just Forks, but Olympic National Park in general. There should be lots of hiking to do and the mushroom festival to check out.

btw, they are making a movie based on the first book of the series. It is due out in December, and so far, I'm not digging the previews. Hopefully, the movie will be good though.

Missing Card Reader

I can't find our card reader so can't take the pictures off of my camera to post about our trip to Port Townsend. Very frustrating!

Hale's Ales

Scott has been dying to try out our local breweries so we headed over to Hale's Aleslast night. He was especially rarin' to go since I brought home a 6-pack of the Cream Ale when I found it at Trader Joe's last week.

The brewery restaurant is your typical brewpub. Standard American food (meatloaf, sandwiches and burgers) and a big viewing area of the beer barrels and fermenting room. I guess its interesting to those who care about such things! :)

I ordered a schooner of the Cream Stout and Scott got one of the HSB Cream Ale. My mom declared she smelled liver in the Cream Stout, but I tasted no such thing! It was a lot lighter than I thought it would be - it sorta tasted like bitter water. I wasn't much in the mood for beer though so I didn't try out the other beers. They all have cute names like Troll Porter and Drawbridge Blonde. We'll probably go back, not for the food, but maybe for happy hour to try out more beer.

I love Dahlias

When we were at Pike's Market a yesterday, dahlias were everywhere. They were gorgeous - vibrant, deep colors and big blooms. I bought a bouquet and I'm loving them on my dining table right now!

For Diana's birthday, we continued with the flower theme and made reservations at Dahlia Lounge, Tom Douglas' signature restaurant in Seattle. The interior was painted in a deep red, there were mosaic dahlias on some of the walls, and paper fish lanterns hanging from the ceiling. Very chic! I expected a lot from Dahlia after learning from a work colleague that this was his favorite restaurant in Seattle and I would say I wasn't disappointed!

We started with a sample platter from the Sea Bar and while the portions (tasting sizes) were TINY, all were fantastic. I couldn't get enough of the Olive Oil Poached Halibut! For my main, I ordered the Rotisserie Roasted Five Spice Peking Duck with Udon Noodle Salad. None of my entree was earth shattering, but all very well executed. Duck was flavorful (ie: fatty!) and tender, while the udon salad was nice and refreshing. For dessert, our table split the classics: Triple Coconut Cream Pie, Doughnuts with Seasonal Jam and Tom’s World Famous Crème Caramel. All were seriously good, and I'm not big into dessert.

So now, with a week of Dahlia's under my belt, I'm really loving this flower!

Seattle To-Do List

I added in a "Seattle To-Do List" on the side of our blog to keep track of all the different things we want to do to explore the PacNW. If there's anything interesting you think we should add to the list, let us know!

haha, I didn't add restaurants to that list becuase that would have made the list way too long! :)

Snow in August!

Way's friend hiked Mt Rainier last week, and the pictures she took looked beautiful! All of the wildflowers are in bloom right now so we decided we wanted to check it out as well. We woke up early Sunday morning to head over since it is about a 2 hour drive from Seattle. On our way, we stopped by Herkimer's for some coffee and Top Pot Donuts for some breakfast. There was a huge line waiting for donuts, and even though the varieties are interesting, we all agreed that there was nothing special about these pieces of fried dough. Good, but not great.

With our tummies full, we headed towards Mt Rainier. The clouds were covering the mountaintop, but we didn't think much of this since it's more common that it is covered than it is not! Our destination was an area called Paradise, located on the southern side of the mountain. Cute name for supposedly the most popular and one of the most scenic areas of Mt Rainier.
Since it was a holiday weekend, we assumed the parking situation would be a nightmare and decided to park near the entrance of the park and then take the free shuttle to Paradise. On the shuttle, I was ogling the other passengers, who were decked out in winter coats, ski hats and gloves. It seemed cold, sure, but silly that they were THAT bundled up. Once we got to Paradise though, we were suddenly envious of all that cold weather gear. Paradise was cold and drizzly and slightly miserable!

We hurried inside to the new Paradise Inn for some brunch (they only do buffet brunch on Sundays) and while we were eating, the rain outside turned into SNOW! It didn't stick to the ground, but there were certainly big snow flurries everywhere. We decided we still wanted to check out the wildflower hike anyway, so braved the snow and headed out. It was really beautiful to see these colors everywhere despite the snow falling. It felt so surreal, especially to a California girl who is so used to sun 365 days a year. As Scott pointed out, after this hike, we'll have memories to last a lifetime!

Canoeing

Diana and Vicky were game to try kayaking with us so we headed over to UW Saturday afternoon to rent some boats. Unfortunately, they didn't have any kayaks for rent, but we made do with canoes instead. And lest you think canoes are easy and safe to ride in, the two girls who were in front of us getting canoes tipped in IMMEDIATELY after launching off the pier. Their poor dog was scared to death and Diana had to run after it while the girls were climbing back onto dry land.

We had no issues though and stayed inside our boat, on top of the water, the entire time we were out on the lake(s). We crossed the Lake Washington Shipping Canal and headed over to do the Arboretum Loop, then crossed Union Bay to the very tip that it becomes Lake Washington before heading back to the Husky Stadium. In all, we were on the water for about 2.5 hours and my behind is still sore from sitting on those hard aluminum benches!

Here's some fun pictures for you to see our adventure. Enjoy!

Being a Tourist

Scott got flack at work for this, but we spent all Friday being tourists in our own city. It was great fun!

First up, we headed to Pike's Place Market, where we oohed, aahed and ate our way through the various stalls. We sampled some "Oh My Gosh" peaches, Mayberry jam and Market Spice Tea and then stopped by Piroshky Piroshky to get a taste of their piroshkies. Then we assembled our dinner for the night: Beecher cheese curds for appetizers, fresh wild Alaskan salmon with Diana's famous lemon-tomato-basil butter and asparagus for our mains, and monster mangoes and peaches for dessert.

Even though we were tempted to stop and get more to eat, we had already made plans to head over to Salumi for lunch. Salumi is a cured meats deli that was started by Mario Batali's father. It gets tons of business becuase of this claim to fame, but it IS deserved becuase the food is so tasty. They are only open for lunch on weekdays so we scrambled over to get some eats. After waiting in line for almost 1.5 hours (!), we finally sat down at the communal dining table to our food. Vicky and I shared a sample Meat + Cheese Platter as well as a side of Green Beans with Pancetta while Diana ordered a Salami sandwich, and it was all taaasty.

With our bellies full, we mosied over to Seattle Center, home of the Space Needle, Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum. We zipped up 520 feet in the elevators to the top of the Space Needle, hoping to get some nice pictures, but alas, it was very windy and cloudy. Still, at least now I can say I've actually been to the top!

Last on our packed agenda was the famous Duck Tour. The "duck" is an amphibious truck that was first built in 1942 for use during WWII, and the tour takes you for a 90 minute ride through Seattle on land and water. This is the ultimate tourist trap - hokey, silly and embarassingly fun. Whenever you see these open-air trucks driving through the city, you can hear music blasting from the truck's radios and all the people sitting on the bus are either singing along at the top of their lungs or sliding down into their seats becuase they are embarassed to be seen. There is no middle ground - seems like people either love it or hate it!

And now, Scott and I can count ourselves as part of the pack that loved it! The tour itself isn't that great since the tour guide (ours was the crazy Helen Wheels. haha, get it?) didn't cover too much of the history or give us many fun facts about Seattle. It is a hoot though, that there is lots of laughing and singing involved AND you get to marvel at how the car drives straight into the lake and keeps on truckin'. And, lastly, the tour gets brownie points becuase I have been dying to figure out where the Sleepless in Seattle houseboat is and they floated us right by it! Can you figure out which one it is in the photo?