Delicious Sushi & a Great View Near Vancouver, BC.

The first thing of note was the surprisingly amazing and CHEAP (considering what you get) sushi place I stumbled into called Sushi California.

PERFECT tuna & salmon don. I want to order it again and again!!

Spicy spring roll <3

The views from Inn at Westminster Quay.

Rattlesnake Lake (North Bend, WA) Set

Autumn 2010: British Columbia, Oregon, Washington, Seattle Eats.

Once again I’m here to prove that I still exist and still take snapshots of where I go and what I enjoy. I’ve just been busy and distracted lately. Working, learning, socializing and sleeping apparently take up a lot of time!

This Autumn was especially fantastic because I got to do a tiny bit of traveling around Oregon and Vancouver, BC.

On the way to Vancouver, BC we ran into an MG Car Club and some of their fancy rides.
(I believe this one is a very beautiful Jaguar.)

Entering Vancouver, BC. What a lovely city!

Sadly the next day brought cold and clouds hid the beautiful blue sky. (@ Stanley Park)

Fast forward a few months and I find myself at Bob’s Corn Maze back in Snohomish, WA! My shoes and the bottom of my jeans were muddy at the end, but fun was definitely had.

Then my office moved back to Queen Anne and the Space Needle became a fixture of my daily life again. (I’ve only been up there once, though.)

In November I spent a weekend driving through Oregon. It was fun! The next couple of photos were taken on the road toward Crater Lake.

Crater Lake itself! It was quite ridiculous how fast the clouds were flying across the sky up here.

I can’t stop having fun with this new iPhone app Instagram. (Happy Oregon Cows.)

And… of course… some good ol’ Food Spam…
(Please remember that this group of photos was taken over a period of several months. I don’t eat seafood every day or even every week!)

Chirashi Bowl @ Japonessa (Downtown Seattle)

Seared tuna & heirloom tomato salad @ Emmer & Rye (Queen Anne)

Albacore Tuna Crudo : Local Watermelon : Pickled Rind : Chervil @ re:public Happy Hour. YUM! (South Lake Union)

It’s not ALL about seafood! This is the September special with figs @ Tutta Bella. (Wallingford/Fremont border)

Takoyaki @ Wann Japanese Izakaya (Downtown Seattle/Belltown border)

Power Hour Cheese Plate @ Brouwer’s (Fremont)

Tuna, tomatoes, arugula @ Ventana. I believe it’s called the Six Minute Egg Salad. (Belltown)

Hopefully it won’t be so long until I update again. I’m pretty sure I think this each time I post, though…

-I

Mmmm… Food Addictions!

I’m sitting at home on a Friday night with no plans in sight. I guess this is a good time to think about delicious food that I love and am perhaps a little bit addicted to?

Sushi – Especially nigiri and sashimi. Tried sashimi don for the first time recently at Umi in Belltown. Like the sauce they put on the rice under the sashimi a whole lot. (The following two are snapshots I’ve recently taken.)

Seaweed salad. Mmmm green sea veggie goodness. I think there’s some vinegar in there, too.  I enjoy the regular salad and the gunkan sushi (right). (Google image search photos!)

Udon Soup – Especially those $1.99 “just add hot water” Annie Chun’s bowls from Trader Joe’s. PCC and Amazon Fresh carry them as well… but charge $3-4 each. Ouch! (Google image.)

Dolmas! I usually get these from the PCC deli section. Yum. Just started loving them recently! (More Google. Sigh.)

Small tomatoes. Grape, cherry, whatever. Organic is good. Slightly hard, perhaps almost not ripe. YUM. I do dislike them as they get softer, though. They’re pretty tasty with a little bit of balsamic, but I usually just end up snacking on them straight from the box… (The following is yet another Google image.)

This one’s not an addiction, but a “first” for me. I’ve been eating a pretty low-meat diet lately, and about 1.5 weeks ago I got a craving for a little bit of beef. I ended up getting the Painted Hills beef tartare w/ warm baguette (instead of rosemary crostini) @ Quinn’s in Capitol Hill. It was quite delicious and I plan to order it again. Perhaps at Quinn’s, perhaps elsewhere. I’ll just think twice about the spot because I wouldn’t trust just anyone when it comes to raw beef. (This photo is one of mine.)

Feeling hungry yet? I sure am.

-I

Hikes, fireworks, and food – oh my!

I had all these grand plans of keeping this blog up and frequently updated. Sadly and happily, life has taken over lately. I’ve been busy with my new job, events, household things, continuing on my path of learning to drive, doing some hiking, etc.

No matter.

I have time right now.

Here’s a little snapshot from a trail in the Snoqualmie National Forest.

These few are from Wallace Falls State Park near Gold Bar, WA.

Lower Falls

Part of the Lower Falls…

The view from Chinook’s at the Fisherman’s Terminal (in Seattle). Did I like it? It would have been great if I loved fried foods and big servings.

4th of July fireworks / Photos taken from Wallingford neighborhood

I tried going without posting photos of food… but, I just can’t do it.

European Salmon Plate @ The Sitting Room in Queen Anne

Octopus Tako Yaki @ Kushibar in Belltown

OMG bacon wrapped goat cheese stuffed dates @ Pintxo in Belltown. SO SURPRISINGLY GOOD!

Pesto Vegetarian Thin Crust Pizza @ Kylie’s Chicago Pizza in Fremont

Mostly happy hour, mostly food..

It’s been a long while since I’ve updated. Why? I got a little busy with a new full-time job. It’s been fun!

Here are some random photos (mostly of food) from the last couple of months…

Amazing Bacon-Wrapped Prawns @ Peso’s Happy Hour (Never thought I’d enjoy them!)

Tuna Melt @ SAM Taste’s 3rd Birthday

The pretty colors of the Blue Fin Tuna Crudo @ Mistral’s Happy Hour

The build-a-burger my friend had @ The Counter

Friends that arrived @ Mistral Kitchen after we finished a bottle of wine…

My dad has a few main hobbies, and one of those is to go fishing. The time I spend time with him outside of family vacations and holidays is likely to be spent at a park with a lake. This photo was taken the most recent time we did that whole “spend time together” thing.

A peek @ Volunteer Park Conservatory.

I heard about the Volunteer Park Conservatory about a year ago, but didn’t make the time to go see it for myself until today.

There are many lovely plants in there AND it’s free. I love it!

PS: I snapped all these pictures with my iPhone camera. It amazes me how quickly technology is getting better! I remember having a camera-free phone with a black & white screen just 5-6 phones ago!

Walking in Gas Works Park, Dining Raw, and chilling at a “Speakeasy.”

Yesterday I started off my day with a walk to Gas Works Park. I LOVE THAT PLACE. It’s so beautiful.

Then I ended up heading over to the Pike Place Market area around lunch-time. Then back to Wallingford. Then to Belltown for a haircut. I was getting slightly amused because I was doing Yelp check-in’s the entire time (with a little bit of Foursquare ones as well) so it must have looked like I was…. having an interesting day?

As I was leaving, a friend of mine called to see if I would like to come hang out with her and a couple of her friends that were passing through Seattle. They are all mostly on a raw diet right now (and at least vegetarian normally), so they decided on Chaco Canyon in the U-District. The staff wasn’t especially friendly there, but we did enjoy the food. Next time I really want to try the raw pizza and the raw “noodle” bowl!!! This time I had the Cucumber & Sea Veggie salad. It was tasty, but mostly consisted of spinach and cucumber… and we were really hoping for more of those sea vegetables. Oh, well. It happens. Still good. I like meat and fish and don’t intend to stop eating them anytime soon, but I also enjoy frequently enjoy vegetarian or vegan dishes. This was my first time specifically going for a raw menu. Definitely enjoyed it!

Raw "Noodle" Bowl @ Chaco Canyon

Raw Pizza @ Chaco Canyon

Cucumber & Sea Veggie Salad @ Chaco Canyon

Towards the end of dinner, one of the visitors asked if we have a “gay district” in Seattle. Then he mentioned wanting to enjoy a drink in a lounge. This was their only night in Seattle, so I thought of the perfect place: Tavern Law in Capitol Hill. I’ve only been there once before, but both times we went the route where we picked up the rotary phone and got admitted upstairs into the “speakeasy” section. The people sitting right next to the door seemed to stare at me when this happened, so I wonder if that many people really DON’T know about it? In any case, that space upstairs is absolutely lovely. There is a 1920′s theme with the furniture, decorations, music. In the bathroom they have little hand towels that get tossed into a basket when they’ve been used. Looks classier, feels much nicer than a paper towel, and they get washed & reused. I like it. I like it a lot.

They do a lot of classic cocktails and don’t have a menu. My friend and I were both not interested in cocktails, so we ended up getting lots of water refills. They were great about that! Their menu has a variety of delicious sounding (and very non-vegan) small plates. I tried the Pan Seared Trout with Peas. It was rather delicious and the sauce was great. The prices are a bit steep, but definitely doable when you’re not spending $10 on a cocktail. (Sadly & thankfully they don’t allow photos upstairs at Tavern Law.)

Lovely day and a wonderful evening. I am thankful for the opportunity to experience it.

How about some Beatles?

In January, a friend of mine messaged me about going to Pike Place Market to see the Beatles cover band Creme Tangerine perform. This would be their second time having a concert there, and it was all to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Beatles rooftop performance in London.

I didn’t think I’d go at first, but after thinking about it for about an hour I realized… How often do I get a chance to hang out at Pike Place Market on a Friday afternoon and experience a roof-top performance of Beatles songs? NOT THAT OFTEN! So I went and I had a great time.

Creme Tangerine

I'm LOVING all the coffee cups in this shot!

Getting ready to graduate and face my unknown future.

Wow. I haven’t updated in ages. I’m sorry. I’ve been a little preoccupied finishing up my Bachelor’s at the University of Washington. I won’t get to walk until June, but I’ll be done with all of my classes in one week. I can’t believe it! Life has been a bit of a stressful whirlwind lately. I can’t wait to restructure it and adapt to life after college. I don’t have a job lined up yet, so that should be… interesting. I don’t plan to worry about that until after I’m done, though.

My main goals right now are to get through Finals week, to finish up the last week at my student job, and to purge my apartment of everything I don’t need. Life is feeling cluttered lately and I need to simplify.

Here’s a sample of some of the pictures I’ve snapped since November. Mostly just scenery I’ve appreciated.

This was from the other week. I was relaxing (and studying) at a waterfront home in the Juanita area of Kirkland. Pretty decent spot to spend an afternoon! I was a little frustrated that Mount Rainier ended up looking so far away in the photo, but… that happens sometimes.

This is a strange and somewhat disturbing (imo) piece of art next to Bellevue’s City Hall.

Lovely morning in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle. (I love walking and having the Burke-Gilman trail near my home.)

Rediscovering the wonderful view from Gas Works Park. I need to walk over there more often!

Trees on the UW campus often strike my fancy.

This netbook is SO CUTE. Why is some technology “cute” these days?

-Inna