Tuesday, October 27, 2009

first snow of the season

First snow storm of the season!

snow by the window
Looking out the window.


lookin' at the snow
Big snow flakes.


snowing
Snowy days always seem art-sy.


Time to have a delicious chai.

Monday, October 26, 2009

[Seattle 09.09] pike's market

Almost every time we went to Seattle we visited the Pike Place Market, and this time it was no exception.

pike's market


As usual, there were the fun fishermen, fun shops, stands, and foods, and fun street performers. Ahhh I love this place.

vegetables
Fresh veggies.


flowers
Pretty flowers.


Seeing people holding bouquets of flowers made me happy.

We walked inside the market, and then headed out onto the outer street, looked at the unique shops, and ate yummy snacks. Here were some of my favorites:

chinese buns
Hmm... the simple and delicious pork and curry beef buns.


cheese
Cheese!


piroshky pastries
Piroshky's pastries.


piroshky pastry
Yumminess.


After the light lunch we headed down where we could see the port.

seattle


Pike's Market was awesome.

Friday, October 23, 2009

[Seattle 09.09] espresso vivace

After the Victrola party we headed out to Espresso Vivace, and everyone knows this is one of my favorite spots in Seattle.

aweseom barista
And of course there was an awesome barista.


Happy and friendly, confident, efficient, and very skilled.

cappuccino
Cappuccino. John already took a sip before I took a picture. Yum.


macchiato
Macchiato. Yum.


On the second round John got an espresso and I got a small iced Americano. Yum.

Yummers, yummers, yummers!

vivace
It was a quiet evening, and oh so pleasant pleasant and comforting.


I love Vivace!

Oh, and on our way back to the hotel I made John act "against the law"...

being tough?
A total rebel! hahahahaha.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

[Seattle 09.09] latte art jam at victrola

victrola
Victrola hosted a latte art jam that Saturday night.


victrola
Lots of people showed up, and there was a lot of beer.


beer bottle pour
Fun stuff.


outside victrola
It was a beautiful night.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

takoyaki pancake

It's been months since my friend Nobu gave me his brand new takoyaki maker, and the other night I finally brought it out to use.

I didn't make takoyaki, I made pancakes!

I've saw the Ebelskiver pan at Williams-Sonoma and loved it! I then thought of my little takoyaki maker and figured I could theoretically make some pancakes with it as well.

takoyaki pancake


It worked! I even tried to put in some chocolate pieces for another batch. I'm gonna try to fill them with some sort of cream or jam next time.

The only thing was that I used skewers to turn the pancake balls (like I'd seen people do in Japan,) and they didn't work very well. I'm seriously considering buying a pair of these.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

pig in the sky

I saw a flying pig in the sky!

flying pig
and it was a chubby one!

Monday, October 19, 2009

[Seattle 09.09] crepe and stinky tofu

There's a little crepe place outside of the Convention Center. John and I had seen it many times but never tried it until this time.

crepe place
Cute girls are a bonus.


crepes
Lots of choices.


crepes
We got a savory one.


It had ham, Swiss cheese, spinach, herb butter, and white sauce. Simple, quick, and good.

How come we only got one? you ask. It was because we were heading down to the International District to have some Taiwanese food! When we were at Kappo, the lovely server lady told us about a Taiwanese food place called "Henry's Bento." We decided to give it a try.

eggs
We had the soy sauce eggs for appetizer.


beef noodle soup
Beef noodle soup with "shaved" noodles.


 stinky tofu
Stinky tofu.


They were tasty!

Crepe and stinky tofu for lunch was a good thing.

Friday, October 16, 2009

[Seattle 09.09] Chiso Kappo

Another big event for us in Seattle this time was to visit Chiso Kappo. John made a reservation for us, and it was one of the best dinners EVER.

We were served omakase style, and we got to talk to Chef Taichi, who was simply talented and amazing.

All the dishes served that day were delicious. I believe they came to us in a particular order so we could taste enjoy each of them competely (if what I'm describing actually make sense.) Chef Taichi even got John to try something he had never thought of having before!

We were served many dishes (and different sake), and I took too many photos. I loved all of them, but I'm just going to post a few here. You can check out the rest on our flickr page and see everything we had.

Chef Taichi started us off with a spinach and ikura. Delicious already. And here are some of the dishes we had that evening:

oysters
Super fresh small oysters. I think John actually enjoyed them very much!


taichi
Chef Taichi showing us how to enjoy the soup in the clay "teapot."


IMG_1128
Preparing one of the most delicious dishes ever...


Chef Taichi would explain each of the dishes to us in detail, which I totally love!

scallop yumminess
... mushrooms, clams, scallops, and magic.


big fish head
Yes it was a fishhead, and yes that was a fish eyeball. It was cooked in a special broth for a long time. Wow.


taichi
And then we got nigiri.


Chef Taichi's skills were amazing. The nigiri we had were very well crafted, the flavors were balanced, and the mouth feel and flavors were amazing.

sencha
After sushi we had some green tea. I believe it was sencha.


almond custard
Almond custard for dessert.


The almond custard had the most amazing texture. It was perfect to end the meal with a delicate and carefully prepared treat.

I was in love.

taichi
Cheers and bravo to Chef Taichi Kitamura!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

toasted mochi

I found this package of mochi that I brought back from Japan last time... it might have been past due, but the pieces looked perfectly fine, and they were still super tasty.

Some of you know I really love mochi, especially the toasted ones!

toasted mochi
Just out of the toaster oven.


Toasted mochi has a crispy skin, and a soft and gooey center. I love dipping toasted mochi in seasoned soy sauce (sometimes wrapped in seaweed.)

I must make some mochi with my mochi maker soon.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

[Seattle 09.09] Coffee Fest funness

One of the main purposes for our trip to Seattle this time was to attend Coffee Fest. John and I used to go almost every year before we opened up the shop. I really enjoyed checking out new products, meeting with the people that we usually only talked on the phone with, and all the fun stuff that Coffee Fest has to offer.

This year it was great, too!

gelato case
We tasted awesome gelato and pastries.


david and synesso
Mr. Schomer working behind the Synesso.


Mark at Synesso was kind enough to bring us parts for our Cyncra. Thanks Mark!

david and synesso
And we were fortunate enough to have David make us an espresso and a macchiato!


cup rinser
We also tested the cup/pitcher rinser. I want one.


matcha
Hmm... matcha.


latte art
I also watched the latte art competition...


judges
... with the cool judges.


billy
We also watched the NWRBC. Awesome.


ANd of course there were a lot of goodies that we got. My favorite were the Synesso pins and bottle opener. They were so cool. I even got some with Synesso's old logo on! Now that I think of it, I probably should have grabbed more of those.

Friday, October 09, 2009

Disney 25th anniversary glass

I found this 25th anniversary "Remember the Magic" glass from Disney, and I really like it!

Disney 25th anniversary glass


Disney 25th anniversary glass


And of course I have to drink all iced drinks in it for now.

Thursday, October 08, 2009

i want strawberries

The strawberry season is (almost) over, but I really want fresh strawberries. The ones in the supermarkets now don't really look good any more.

But the other day I found a lovely little snack stand outside a Mexican market:

snack stand


See "Fresas con Crema" on the sign? I was so happy, and had to order it using my very broken Spanish.

strawberries and cream


Oh my. The strawberries were so fresh and firm, and the condensed milk(?) and milk mixture was sweet and delish. Mmmmm.

I wonder where the stand owner got the fresh strawberries.

Ahhh I want strawberries!