New patio

At long last, the backyard is finally done! Well, nothing ever done per say... but at least the patio is finished. The crew we hired had a few hick-ups with the slope in the beginning, but in the end it turned out great. Sandstone for the main patio area, new side-yard walkway and a new lawn to boot! Come on May, let's break out some Sangria and celebrate the beginning of a northwest summer.

Over the weekend while we were in Bellevue, I managed to convince May and her folks to stop by one of my favorite local breweries and stock up on a couple growlers of Mac & Jack's (wheat and african amber of course).

Greenwood Car Show... Block Party Style

On Saturday, Phinney ridge hosted a car show on Greenwood Ave. It was 12 blocks full of cars from all vintages, makes and models. It ranged from a jet car to a Stanley steamer. I can't get over how many people showed up; as far as they eye could see it was wall-to-wall people. Food stands all over the place looked quite tasty. All in all good fun, can't wait to do it again next year... seriously, it's that good. The key is viewing the cars early as they are arriving and before the crowds appear. Matter of fact, I should charge for parking.

I forgot to mention that on Friday evening I went with a co-worker for a sail around Lake Washington. The weather was beautiful, the boat was relaxing and I can't wait to pick me up a boat for myself! Hmmm.... what can I barter with to get a free boat.

Hike!

I had been feeling cooped up so on Sunday, I requested we get outdoors and go for a long walk. We hadn't been to Discovery Park in a while, and had never walked all the way to the lighthouse, so we decided to cross that off our list.

We took the North Beach path and then wound our way around the tip where the lighthouse is (picture to the left) and headed back up the South Trail. We tried to walk pretty fast because we kept hearing distant thunder and noticed how fast the dark clouds in the distance were heading towards Seattle. The skies finally opened up during the last 10 minutes of our walk back up to the parking lot but it wasn't too bad of a downpour. It was kind of funny to see how the people on the trail were still hiking like it was no big deal. It was even funnier to see how many people were in the parking lot getting ready to go on a walk. I tell you - rain doesn't stop these Seattlelites!

Aloha! Ramen!

I'm so excited that two new noodle places have opened up walking distance to me. Yippee! The closer of the two is called Aloha Ramen and we stopped in last night on the way home from a Summer Solstice nip at Naked City (lagerfest!).

The restaurant is tiny - probably about 6 two-tops and a counter that seats four. Decor was very bare and they were blasting Hawaiian music so the place had a bit of an odd feel. Anyway, we sat down and quickly scanned the very small menu - it only lists 3 types of ramen (Shio, Miso and Shoyu), homemade gyoza and garlic fried rice! Not much choice, but enough for us! Scott ordered the Shoyu while I went with Miso. A few minutes later, out came steaming ginormous bowls of noodles, topped with a few slices of pork, corn kernels, fish cakes and bean sprouts. Scott slurped his up in no time and couldn't stop raving about the noodles. Me, I liked them too, but I still have to say Daikokuya in LA is the one to beat. Aloha Ramen's were good though - noodles were toothy, broth wasn't overly salty and the pork was tender tender. I think I liked the Shoyu flavor better than Miso. All in all, a nice addition to our neighborhood! I was sad though that we were one of 3 tables at 7pm, so I hope their business picks up soon. I would hate to lose them! Summer doesn't usually scream for soup noodles but once it turns fall, I'm sure we'll be heading back.

We did walk by the other noodle joint - New Noodle - and checked out the menu. It consisted of mostly Thai and Vietnamese dishes. I'm going to wait for the weather to cool down a bit and then try out their Tom Yum Noodle Soup!

Fremont Fair

Summer Solstice was here! Last year, we celebrated by having a drink on Ray's deck, but everyone kept telling us about the crazy Summer Solstice festival that happens in Fremont. We decided to check it out this year and hopped on good ole #5 bus and headed down to the Center of the Universe.

We missed out on the famous parade, but there was still plenty of nakedness on display at the fair itself. There was also lots of costumes and craziness, and multiple beer gardens. We each had a corn dog and decided it was the worst corn dog we've ever had. Ick.

We didn't have a camera on hand, but if you want to see pictures, you can check out: http://www.fremontuniverse.com/

We both decided that the festival was interesting but very crowded and probably not something we'll have to do again next year.

Bloedel Reserve, WA

My family visited May and I last weekend for a little summer fun in Seattle. We did all the tourist things visiting Green Lake, Fremont Chocolate tour ("Theo"), Gas Works park, Ivar's clam chowder restaurant and Queen Anne's Hill Top Ale House. On Sunday, we decided to jump on a ferry and head over to Bainbridge Island to see the much anticipated Bloedel reserve.

Bloedel is definitely worth seeing, but make your reservations ahead of time. It's a 2 mile nature walk weaving throughout the property's 150 acres. The variety of landscapes is the most impressive, ranging from 6 foot tall grass fields, to dense forests, to reflecting pools to english gardens. My only recommendation - more benches along the path. Perhaps even Segways for guests. Heck, I was running things over there I'd merchandise it to the hilt, add some zip lines, gift shop and snack bar.

My sister (Missy) and I both had flights early Monday and my folks took off to explore the Olympic peninsula for a few days. This past weekend when my parents returned we decided to take advantage of the sun and go kayaking on Lake Union. Aside from a few heart-pounding moments trying to get out of the sea-plane runways, we had a lot of fun checking out the hundreds of house boats in the marina. We debated for awhile which of the homes was the 'Sleepless in Seattle' home, so I guess that means we need to watch the movie again. In the afternoon we decided to explore Luther Burbank park on Mercer Island. It was surprisingly big, tons of area to spread out, relax and watch the boats pass by.

Tapas En La Espana

What better way to kick-off Memorial weekend than a visit to Spain? Exactly what we thought too. Actually no, it was a celebration for Dr. "Ojo Yu" and I suppose my birthday too (someone remembered it in the afternoon). It was a whirlwind of a trip, after Way's graduation we took off to Madrid. We meandered through the city, checking out the Royal Palace, gardens, museums and long strolls through little cobblestone streets - sampling the local fare (cervesa, jamone tapas and churros). If I had to sum up the trip in a sentence I would say we ate, had beer and walked (note that I leave out sleep). There is a lot to see in only 6 days, and with the exchange rate as it was, time was too expensive to waste.

After Madrid we took the dawn-patrol train over to Seville (sah-vee-ya). Overall a very picturesque town, home to matadors and flamenco dancers... and the tasty Iberico Jamone (dried ham). Oh yeah, and there was this guy named 'Chis Columbus' who had a tomb which everyone was taking pictures of. As they say, "kind of a somebody". We also saw the tower that was made to store the gold Mr. Columbus found from the new world. Interestingly enough, restaurants seemed to align themselves with one of the five big Spanish breweries. It was rare to see more than 1 beer on draught at any tapas bar. Tasty, but rather ho-hum lagers. Can you say "Cruz Campo"? The tapas bars (in my opinion) were generally excellent, lots of seafood and meat dishes to try. And the siestas, well let's just say it wouldn't be Spain without them... a lifesaver for eating dinner at 11pm.

Last stop before heading back to Madried for the flight home was Granada. I think the droves of gypsys psyched kevin and I out a bit after a flock of them transcended upon a group of nearby german tourists, but we recovered. The town is famous for having the largest/most famous Moorish palace in Europe. Located at the top of the nearby hill, "La Alhambra" was huge - gardens, pools, fountains, palaces galore. It took a good portion of the hot sunny day to explore the grounds. The intricate detail in the walls and ceilings was spectacular.

So what products is Spain known for you ask? We asked the same thing. We came up with olive oil, dried ham and bulls. That's about it. But what they do, they do very well. I think Spain is ahead of the game, if Europe is going to meld into one country eventually, each country has to pick a couple products to specialize in - make it be known, Spain has laid claim to these three.

Would I go back to Spain? Yes, to see more of Seville and Barcelona and the Cruz Campo factory.