I just finished resizing all our pics from Seattle and have decided to split them into two parts: food… and everything else! I’ll go against my usual priorities and write about the ‘everything else’ first. :)

Here we are on the train. Perhaps you can tell I was still angry that the custom people took our sandwiches that we had packed.

The way there took about 4 hours, including the border crossing that we didn’t even have to get out of our seats. The wifi worked on and off, so I didn’t manage to get my WHMIS training done as planned, but I did get a bit of reading done.

We were able to check in right away at our hotel, which was good. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt. It was lovely. That was our view and it had electric blackout curtains and a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge bathroom.

After a quick rest in glorious air conditioning (it was HOT the whole weekend) I dragged Scott to Paseo, a sandwich shop that had been recommended to me. We had to take a bus pretty far to get there, and then walk up a hill, but it was really good. I’ll write about that more in my food entry!

On the way back we swung by the intriguing ‘troll’ marked on the map under a bridge. It looked like this but I didn’t take a picture because some losers have graffiti’d all over it, and also there were other people there.

We bused back into the city to the Seattle Center area where you can find the Space Needle (too expensive), the monorail (too pointless), and the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum. After a bit of debate (I was hesitant because I wasn’t sure I would like it) I agreed to go and anyway it was fun.

They had all sorts of rock and roll history stuff. I didn’t really know what a lot of it was, but Scott seemed to enjoy it. There was an exhibit on Nirvana, and Jimi Hendrix, and this art piece made of guitars.

Then upstairs they had this really cool exhibit where you get to learn and try some instruments and do little challenges or just JAM. You can even record your session and make a CD.

There is Scott mega-concentrating on the drums.

And me trying out being a DJ. Cool!!

They also had an exhibit on Battlestar Gallactica which I walked through pretty quickly since I have never watched that show, and an exhibit about Avatar that was pretty interesting. They showed how they filmed with real people and translated it to animation and other neat stuff. I could move those seed things with my hand.

After that we went back to the hotel for showers (I was sweatyyyyy) and then we went out in search of dinner. We ended up hiking up a hill and having some drinks at a very dark bar (pretty much the opposite of that yellow chair picture). Very atmospheric. And super cheap!! After getting DRONK we tottered off to a fancy Mexican restaurant that I will write more about in my food entry. After a long dinner we went back to the hotel and relaxed and then had a lovely sleep on the super comfy giant bed.

Next morning we hiked up another hill (a Seattle trend) and had a Glorious breakfast at Glo’s. Breakfast that dreams are made of. So delicious and so huge. Details to come.

Then we did a lazy touristy stroll. Downtown, Pike Street Market, out by the water etc etc. It was OK except for the heat and the weird guy with his pants around his ankles possibly pooping into his armchair that he had brought down to near the market???

After that Scott and I went our seperate ways for a bit. Scott went to watch a baseball game (and got some great pictures, but that’s for Scott’s blog, not mine) and I went on another bus adventure to Target for a pair of cheap boots. They didn’t have the ones I wanted but I got another pair, and a plaid shirt. Then I came back to the city in a desperate search for air conditioning. I went to the fancy mall and looked in J. Crew and other stores but didn’t buy anything because it was $$$$$$.

At 5 I met back up with Scott and we trudged to Chinatown in search of a light dinner (still full from breakfast!!). We were pretty tired at this point, from so much walking and heat. We had Chinese for dinner, and then headed to the train station for our trip back! The way back took more than 5 hours, ugh. The train kept stopping to let other trains pass? And we were in a car with some really obnoxious loud OLD people. Anyway we arrived home to find that the hot water hadn’t been working all weekend so our showers had to be cold. BRRRR.

I was a bit tired at school on Monday, but happy because we had such an awesome mini vacation. Scott and I had so much fun together and it was just amazing to live a little differently than our usual routines for a bit. Back to being cheap and eating salads now though, haha.

Since I last updated:

  • Scott updated his blog (link over there on the right –>)
  • I took public transit to Ikea, something I hope never to have to do again (ow my arms)
  • Painted two of three paintings (sneak peek there –>)
  • Had some friends over to warm our house
  • Baked cookies (new recipe, delicious), made guacamole (yum as usual), bloomin cheese bread (ok), and whipped black beans (not so great)
  • Killed Rosemarie’s computer (oops)
  • Watched lots of movies and TV
  • Played Dominion (I won, as usual) and Agricola (I lost, as usual)
  • I won the Jorna family footy tips competition

I had a lot of fun yesterday at the fair at the PNE. I have always loved carnivals. Next year I have to find someone who wants to go on all the rides with me!!

First thing we got a deep fried Mars bar. That’s been on my ‘to try’ list for ages so we gave it a go! The concept was delicious but the batter was weird and ick. I was expecting this:

But we got this:

Huh it looks like a pogo? I don’t even get how it could look like that considering the dude had a box of Mars bars right beside him. I thought batter like that could only come out of a factory.

Anyway I’m glad I tried it but it wasn’t really worth the money.

After that we went on the new GIANT swings thing. It was so tall it makes the drop zone look puny!

It was better than I expected. It went really fast and made my eyes really watery. You got a good view from up there too! Again, glad I tried it, but probably not worth the money or time!

For dinner we had fancy hotdogs. I almost couldn’t decide what to get! Scott convinced me that I could make the macaroni and cheese one at home, but not the poutine one, so I had that. It had fries and gravy and bacon and cheese. Scott had the vegetarian one with corn chips and guacamole and loads of veggies.

Sorry for the crappy pictures. This was instance #2 where I brought the camera but forgot the memory card. BLAAARGHHHH.

The bun was very delicious. Actually the hotdog was the worst part of the whole thing. I didn’t finish the whole thing.

Hair inspiration?

To end the night we went and looked at all the animals, then headed for the buses. Unfortunately we timed our exit at the exact same time that the Kenny Rogers concert finished (dang, I wanted to hear The Gambler!) and we were swarmed by really riled up senior citizens. The entire bus was the seniors section, haha.

Well we made it home, full and happy. A good evening.

We’ve done a lot over the last few days! Unfortunately I don’t have many good photos because I keep forgetting to put my memory card back into my camera. MEGA DOH.

Friday Scott got his gross tooth pulled. This is a good thing. I made him a room temperature vegetable madras rice smoothy for dinner.

On Saturday I dragged Scott into the city to get a free pair of pants. Roots was having a promo where if you brought in an old pair of pants for charity they would give you a free pairs of pants. We got in line right at noon, in the blazing sun. Only then did I overhear that you actually have to take off your old pants in the STORE WINDOW. Bahaha. I asked him if he still wanted to do it and he agreed. It was pretty funny. An hour later, he walked away with a very nice new pair of khakis worth $75! I took a picture but I’ll leave that for Scott to decide if he wants it posted.

Later that day we went to a baseball game. This is instance #1 where I brought the camera, but no memory card. It was a work event for Scott so we got to eat and sit in the BBQ area. The best part was the free popcorn. Other than that I was pretty bored. I really don’t like baseball. I had no idea where to look or what was happening or if I should cheer or boo when anything happened without looking at the scoreboard. So you’re constantly looking all over the place and missing things. I would rather watch football than baseball.

They had a fireworks show at the end that was pretty good. They went for QUANTITY and had so many of the same fireworks going off at the same time that I laughed out loud.

On Sunday I baked bread. This time turned out much better than last time. I used this recipe. Those onions fell off as soon as you touched them though.

We had yummy roasted zuchini and eggplant sandwiches, with mozarella and tomato and ham.

Yesterday we went to the PNE after work, but I’ll make it into its own post because this is long enough!!

Mushroom Soup – a tasty Italian (??) soup with white wine and lots of mushroom and parmesan

I used some fresh tomatoes instead of tomato juice, and I also added leek because we had it in the fridge and needed to use it up.

4/5

 

Spanokopita – spinach and feta in phyllo

We just made a small half batch. They were yummy, but very very salty. Didn’t add any salt though, it all came from the feta, so not sure what can be done about that. Didn’t even use the full amount of feta.

3.7/5

 

Warm Beetroot Salad – beets with cumin and sour cream

Nice to have something different. Tasty.

4.2/5

 

Sichuan (although not really because I didn’t actually use Sichuan peppercorn) Eggplant – eggplant with tofu on rice

Super super tasty. One of my fave dishes to make. I vaguely followed the recipe, but also added in tofu near the end to beef tofu it up.

4.6/5 (I rated it 5/5, but Scott is a tough critic apparently)

 

Kylie Kwong Fried Eggs – fried egg with green onion, sriracha and soy sauce on top

An interesting new way to eat an egg. Quite salty.

4.3/5

 

Sour Cream, Cheddar and Green Onion Scones – savoury scones

SUPER DELICIOUS.

5/5

 

Ricotta Gnocchi – potato-less gnocchi

This gnocchi recipe does not use any potato and is super super easy. It tastes great! I have no idea how cheese could be a substitute for potato but apparently it us. I just did the garlic & butter thing to serve it. If I could find a cheaper source of ricotta I think I would make this often.

4.7/5

I wish all food floated when it was cooked.