May 31 - Sushi, West Seattle

Da-dum. . . da-dum. . . da-dum. . . chopstick attack!!

So Carlo zoomed quickly through Seattle on his way back out of town, and I of course sprung on the opportunity to go out for more food. Food!

Sushi off the starboard deck!

Sushi was the decided course of action, so we went for a quick bite at Hana, on Broadway. Yay! I ordered the Hana special. It comes in a boat. A boat!! Man I love that. Why doesn't more food come in vehicles? I would totally eat a burger out of a racecar. Or spaghetti out of a helicopter!

So the boat housed a california roll, some tuna, whitefish, salmon, and shrimp nigiri. That's a boat I can get on board with. Get it? Get it??

Bite size?

Carlo had a shrimp tempura roll. I don't really get tempura rolls. To me, sushi is freshness and fishness all wrapped up in rice and seaweed. Frying it sort of negates the point, but those sorts of rolls are crazy popular around here. And it went over pretty well with Carlo.

I hear you haz a coffee.

On their way out of town, Carlo and his friend Aimee wanted to pick up some caffeine for the road. I could think of no better place to fuel their addiction than Espresso Vivace. The god of coffee drinks.

Picture pretty!

Made more nifty by their habit of swirling the steamed milk on top of the coffeeness into cute shapes - like hearts! Awww!

CAW!!

After Carlo left town, I had plans to accompany Maverick to West Seattle. It's a far-off land that holds little appeal for me, but I've been told I need to familiarize myself with the area to truly appreciate its charm. You know what I found out?

The only thing I can think to us it in is sno cones.

West Seattle has butter extract. W.T.F. How did they do that? How do you extract butter. . . from butter? I mean, I know how vanilla extract works. As far as I can figure, that wouldn't work with butter. Plus, it's clear. I mean, would the essential butteryness of butter be clear? Hmm. It both intrigued and terrified me.

Assembly line?

While poking around the non-extract goods of Husky Deli, we watched the delidents prepare our sandwich. Looking at this now, I'm not sure why they need so many people to sandwich. I guess there's a lot more to sandwich making than I knew. Ah, the mysteries of life.

Toasty>not toasty.

I suppose I'm glad that they take so much care with the art of the sandwich, because they were delicious. Something about chicken pesto cheese melty crunchy goodness. . . . it was all very good. I wish crunchy and cheesy and melty incorporated themselves more into my day to day life. What a life that would be!

Ice cream: the happy maker.

And how does one top off such a carunch of a lunch? With ice creams!! I'd only been hearing about Husky Deli's ice creams for months and months, so needless to say, the anticipation was killing me. Just a little bit more than not having ice cream usually kills me.

Maverick was drawn in by the temptress Kona Koka Rum. I don't know what that entails, but the nibble I had was awfully tasty. And Rummy!

WANT

I went with the blackberry cheesecake. All I will say about it is that looking at this picture is bringing back the memory of how good it was and I'm fighting the Pavlovian response.

Are those kids exiled from Oz?

Hey, check out more West Seattle wall art! And I couldn't figure out why the Wizard of Oz would be so prominently featured, but then it struck me: Seattle is the Emerald City. Get it? They went to the Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz! Now if only I understood why Seattle is called the Emerald City. Mysteries all over. . .

May 25 - Picnic, breakfast, and rock shows

My, what a lovely place to queue.

The picture above is the reason I am no longer interested in SIFF. I went to one of the films last year and spent way too much time standing around the block from the theatre. And this is with pre-purchased tickets. More like Seattle International Standing-in-Line Festival. HA!

So instead of waiting around for hours to see a maybe brilliant movie, I opted to have a lovely picnic in the park to take advantage of the (now sorely missed) beautiful springtime weather.

Tiny!

Since my friend Carlo was visiting from the West coast, I thought perhaps I'd take him to the god of sandwiches to experience some sense-obliterating delicious.

After picking up our bag of golden tastiness from Paseo, we walked a few blocks to picnic on the grass outside of the Woodland Park Zoo. As much as I longed to go into the zoo and point at all the animals, the lovely weather has a tendency to bring out the rugrat-toting families, so we kept it to the front lawn.

There's a metaphor for life in here somewhere.

As expected, I heard very little in the way of conversation from Carlo as he nommed down his Cuban press sandwich. This is standard operating procedure - I know people don't expect words to come out of my mouth when it's filled with slow-roasted pork and caramelized onions.

I love chomp photos.

Moos and I enjoyed our sandwiches similarly.

Looking at these pictures is seriously depressing me, considering the cosmic shame that's been raining down upon our heads here in the Pacific Northwest of late. Oh, how I miss May. . . As soon as the weather stops hating me you can bet I'll be taking a book and a tasty beverage to the nearest park to take advantage.

Don't worry, we disposed of it properly.

Since Carlo was just passing through town on his way to the Great White North, we saw him off the next day with breakfast at the newly renamed Table 219. It used to be El Greco, but I think they did something and wanted people to take notice. I kind of miss the old name, because it made me think of that weird Spanish painter guy.

No longer Greco. Or in Spanish.

Luckily, they're still serving El Greco's sweet-ass brunch menu. Man I love brunch. And I'm not sure why, because I always get the breakfasty food rather than the breakfast/lunch hybrid foods. I guess it's because I can continue to do so until 3:00 in the afternoon.

The feta scramble called my name from the menu, and it ended up being a hot mess of cheese, tomatoes, and eggs all brutalized into a breakfast mass of delicious. I'm also a fan of their breakfast seasoned potatoes, but I could pretty much add potatoes to any meal and consider it an improvement.

Eggs in scrambled formation!

The eggs also come in the slightly more refined omelette format. I've never really understood the salsa/sour cream on eggs phenomenon, but I guess it has its place in the breakfast world. Or so I'm told.

Eggs in omelette formation!

It became clear to me as our meal progressed that I made a mistake in not getting the pancakes du jour, which this jour happened to be banana/chocolate chip. Kickass. They were light, fluffy, and freaking delicious - or so I noticed from the bites that I stole from Moos's plate. Mmmm. . . pancakes! The chickeny sausage was weird, but I always get weirded out by poultry in sausage form. It's a strange concept for me to grasp.

Eggs in upstaged-by-pancakes formation!

Since I am recently unemployed, I've been putting off getting a Pro Flickr account. This means that I have a ton of concert photos I've taken that are getting posted nowhere, which is sad for me. And the world. So I'm going to put some here. Check it!

On May 23rd, I got to check out a couple of bands at Nectar -

Walter Meego - they opened up the show, and were a surprise winner that night. I had no idea they were going to be there, and they pretty much kicked ass. Their music is great, but their live show goes way beyond what I had expected after having heard a couple of songs on the KEXP. I'd definitely suggest checking them out, if you're in the position to do so.

It was raining circular ghosts.

The Presets: As they were the headlining band for the evening, I was pretty jazzed about getting to see them rock out. I'd heard amazing things from people who'd seen them live before, and I was ready to shake a tailfeather. Unfortunately, by the time they went on I was pretty tipsy and kind of danced out, but I was mostly won over by their stage show. The drummer/keyboard guy was awesome, by the way.

The green wire! No, wait, the red one!!

My very favorite Seattle-area musician had a show at The Comet on the 28th, so I put aside my issues with the place and went.

Baby Panda: Paul, the lovely/amazing frontman, has toyed with the live format of the band a little bit. He had dropped the full band in favor of a two guitar approach, with the occasional backing track provided by an mp3 device. It was a little different, but Paul's vocals shine in pretty much any situation.

He sings quietly to my heart.

Counselor: I actually really liked their sound. It was more straightforward rock stuff, and I can't for the life of me find them on the interwebs, so my description ends there. And with saying that I loved the lead singer's tattoos.

What's the drummer doing??

The Uprights: I was ready to love this band after I'd seen their adorable publicity photos on their website. So cute. And they were really good! Sadly, I couldn't stay for their entire set, but you can bet I'll go out of my way to see them the next time they're playing around town.

So cute!!

Hopefully I'll find myself with more money soon, so I can give some to Flickr and get a real place to post my concert photos. Sigh.

May 19 - Japanese, Sandwiches, Farewells.

Miso face!

After our afternoon Japanese food fail, Xtine, Brenna and I gave it another shot. I'd never had luck getting into Maneki, something of a foodie legend in these parts. Also, incidentally, the recent winner of the American Classic award from the James Beard Foundation. Everybody I know has pledged their undying allegiance to the place, something like. . . "in sushi and udon we trust."

Anyway, we got random last second reservations and hauled ass over to the international district. Raw fish time!!

Xtine started it off with some surf clam with a miso paste. Accompanied by cucumber and some crunchy noodly things, she seemed to enjoy it. It was definitely pretty.

Like a raw fish work of art.

I was pretty jazzed to try out some of that sushi I'd been hearing so much about. Unfortunately, I can't for the life of me remember what it was that I ordered. I think I just asked what was good and got two of everything the waitress recommended. In any case, it was pretty delicious. The fish was super fresh, though I've seen better cuts at other places. For these prices though, I'll put up with some rough edges.

I didn't understand the lemon.

The roll was similarly rough-looking. And, as before, just as delicious, so who cares really? Sushi enthusiasts are always about things looking pretty, and to a certain extent that is a nice element of dining out, but I always think that if it tastes good, it doesn't matter what it looks like.

This does not extend to things that are made to look horrible. (don't click that if you get nauseous easily)

Tiny trees?

The final installment of our dinner was miso black cod collar. So where is the collar on a cod? Is it the part around the neck? Do cod have necks? I'm inclined to say no, but they do have heads and bodies, so I guess a neck could be implied there somewhere. Anyway, I really didn't know where in the anatomy of a fish this cut could have come from. How big is a cod, anyway?

Why was this so perplexing? It shouldn't have mattered. What did matter was that the fish was crazy moist and tender, with a maximum of fish flavor. The miso didn't compete for attention at all, and the dish was probably the highlight of my meal. Even though getting the meat out of little cartilaginous crevices was a little trying.

Labor intensive, but tasty.

Sadly, Brenna and Xtine had to leave Seattle sometime. Sniffle. boo. What's even sadder was that I was going to bring them to Paseo for an awesome goodbye sandwich but I'm an MRF and failed to recall that Paseo is closed on Mondays. Good lord that was heartbreaking.

So we made our way over to Roxy's to drown our disappointment in New York style sandwiches.

Who is that guy?

It was my first time at Roxy's, and upon entering I was already pleased. There are crazy paintings all over the walls and a little window into the kitchen. I like this. I'm not crazy about dining in restaurants with totally open kitchens, at it tends to be very loud and I always smell like food for the rest of the night. And that can be weird. The kitchen window is nice because you can still peak in on the foodmaking but it controls the noise/fragrance factor.

Window to food.

Roxy's specializes in East coast style sandwiches, so that's what we all ordered. I guess the best way to forget about sandwiches lost is to replace them with other sandwiches. Just like friends. And dreams.

Xtine had some crazy hybrid sandwich of pastrami and roast beef. Do those go well together? I don't know. They must, because she seemed pleased with the fooding. And I am on board with not having to choose between menu selections. Less responsibility, please!

Oozy goo.

Brenna had what she claimed to be "the best French dip sandwich in the world." My argument there is, how could she know that? But as an indication of quality, I guess it's pretty clear. It was a good damn sandwich.

Awww, joo!

My sandwich choice was clear when I read the word "tongue" on the menu. How can I pass up tongue, ever? When I ordered it, the waitress gave me a sly look and said, "good for you!" Yes. This is how I gain self worth - affirmation from strangers over my bold food choices.

I am so lame.

Hey, it's sticking its. . . oh, wait.

The sandwich, however, was not lame. It was tender and tasty, all toasty and slathered in spicy mustard. Plus, sweet potato fries! You know I love the sweet potato fries!

That afternoon, Brenna and I went shopping through Ballard while Xtine took a nap. We saw a dingo in someone's car.

I hope they took the baby in with them.

Final dinner was to be Thai food. My favorite Thai place, like way too many other Seattleites, is Thai Tom in the university district. This is too bad for me, because the place seats about 11 and is constantly packed. So packed that we were forced to sit right on top of the woks.

Flashy!

Xtine, being half Thai, has some pretty serious expectations when it comes to the food of her roots. Her mom is something of an awesome cook, from what I've heard. She was also not feeling great, so all she ordered was a coconut milk soup.

Cilantro = awesome.

I had a spicy vegetable stir fry over rice. It was very spicy, which I like, but I was unfortunately already sweating because of the crazy open flame mere inches from my face. Is that safe? Come on, Thai Tom. I know you're small, but it can't possibly be a good idea to have customers eating next to fiery explosions.

This will not, however, keep me from going back in the future. It's some spicy delicious food.

Eating on the edge of danger!

So that was it. Xtine and Brenna ended their Seattle adventure with a little fireside eating, and I saw them off the following morning. I do love it when people come to visit me. Partially because I can't afford to travel anywhere to see my friends, and also because I love playing tourguide in my new home city. There's nothing better than showing the people you love the crazy awesome cuisine native to your neighborhood. Except for peer pressuring them into singing Prince at karoake.

A lot of fire for a bunch of noods. . .

April 6 - The Arboretum, Pub Lunch

Hey, Jon, thanks for showing me how my manual focus works!

This rainy city I live in has been enjoying some unseasonably gorgeous weather of late. I pretty much love it. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the soul-crushing gray rainy winter as much as the next Seattlite, but when the sun comes out, it really becomes a beautiful place to live.

I took advantage of a sunny summer Sunday afternoon with a friend by going to the arboretum. It's this lovely inner-city forest set on 230 acres in the middle of Seattle. Well, kind of the middle. Sort of on the right, I guess. It's managed by the University of Washington, probably their botany department. It's for education. Because knowledge is power!

Tagged for your convenience. Also for ur lols.

Being an urban-dweller, it's nice to have something like this within bussing distance. Seattle has no shortage of public parks, but this one is serious. I could get lost here for days among the creeks and shrubberies. But I guess that's not saying a whole lot, considering I almost starved to death trying to navigate my way through an Ikea.

At least the arboretum is very pretty. Prettier than that stupid Ikea.

Like beautiful, pink lop bunny ears.

It also provides a pondful haven for one of my favorite critters: ducks! The good kind of ducks, not the evil kind.

Man, I love ducks.

In one of the ponds, I saw this rock that kind of looks like a little island. I mean, technically I guess it is, but visually I think it's kind of neat. This is probably what I would film if I were making a low-budget Bond movie and we were working on the shot where the helicopter was closing in on the villian's private island.

Dr. Geoduck's Island of Razor-Toothed Squirrels. The horror!

I'm not sure where this shot would work into my Bond film, but I thought it looked kinda spooky. What made these trees fall away from each other like that? Mystery.

I bet it was the Sasquatch. That bastard.

Erm, anyway. After wandering for days through the woods, we'd worked up quite an appetite. We decided to remedy this at Latona Pub in Greenlake. It wad my first time there, but considering they decided to decorate their pub with a suit of armor, I was pretty excited.

Lancelot? How did you get up there?

Living in the land of the micro brew, I sometimes feel a little left out since I'm not really a beer drinker. As much as I try, I can't enjoy it. And I have tried. I'm a sucker for peer pressure.

Luckily, I generally have the option of ordering a hard cider in place of beer. My favorite kind is Ace Perry Pear Cider, but I think you can only get those at Linda's bars. Still, I'm always up for something new, and my interest was piqued by the presence of a black currant cider on the list.

I would maybe drink it in a box.

As exciting as the idea of black currant cider is, it ended up being something of a disappointment. It was refreshing enough, but I didn't get a black currant experience. Someday I will, but not this day.

Latona's menu was more enticing than your average pub fare. The lunch menu offered a selection of tasty sounding sandwiches on Columbia City Bakery rolls, which are lovely with a floury chewy crust and tender flavorful innards.

I ordered the turkey n fixings sandwich, which was filled with roast turkey, stuffing, sprouts, and some kind of cranberry something. It was delicious. I like the idea of taking an entire meal and condensing it into a single-serving form. As long as we don't take that idea too far.

What did you say, jive turkey?

My lunch date, Jon, went with the grilled chicken sandwich. It seemed comparable to mine, except his came with a spike through the middle to keep the innards in check. I guess chicken is the more unruly poultry. Or they thought Jon couldn't handle a freestyle sandwich.

Action shot!

This teaser of a not-quite-summer day has me pretty excited for the real thing. I can't wait to take my cat for a walk in the park, have a Paseo picnic in the sun, and maybe a little kickball.

In closing, here is my favorite picture that I took in the arboretum. It's a fuzzy flower. How cool is that!

It makes me want to say something poetic.