happy hour

What do you do when it's 75 degrees, sunny and you're done with work at 5:30? You head to happy hour, naturally. Seattle is apparently known as a happy hour town, and it was a perfect day to sit outside with a glass of wine.  Luckily, my roommate was equally non-busy and in the mood to soak up the sun (and some wine), so we headed to an area of Pike Place Market known as Post Alley. 2 glasses of wine and 2 1/2 hours later, I felt like we had sufficiently taken advantage of the beautiful indian summer day. There's definitely something to be said for work-life balance, and Seattle has been great for making the most of it.

lazy days

Seattle was graced with unseasonably warm weather this past weekend, so we headed outdoors to the sculpture park for a lazy afternoon picnic. Some of the best times are the times when you doing nothing much at all...

Sunday's weather was more of a mixed bag, but my roommate and I moseyed over to Pike Place where we ate our way through the free samples at an artisan food festival that we stumbled upon.  We then spent a relaxing few hours tasting local wines while keeping a wary eye on the ominous rainclouds above. Not a bad way to pass the day considering that we didn't have anything planned to begin with.

I look forward to Sunday nights right now because both Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire are on. The cinematography in both is great, and I guess I'm a sucker for well-done period shows too. I'm especially in love with the opening credits for Boardwalk - the surreal imagery and the music are spot on, as is the visual allusion to Magritte's Son of Man.

LA eats

While I am not a huge fan of LA as a city, it certainly does have some good eats. 

Because I happened to be visiting a self-proclaimed ramen addict, we naturally had to check out one of the LA ramen spots. We've been to Santouka before, so this time we decided to go to Orochon in Little Tokyo. It's most famous for having an insanely spicy ramen, but since I wanted to actually enjoy my ramen rather than burn off my tastebuds, I stuck with the #4 level spicy (range of 1-7, non-spicy to "extreme") which ended up being a solid choice. With the addition of some char siu pork, it was a satisfying meal. It isn't Ippudo or Minca amazing, but I'd go back if I were in the area.

 

The real highlight of my trip, though, came later that day in the form of mango shaved ice. This was no ordinary shaved ice - Class 302 specializes in snow shaved ice, which is unbelievably fluffy and flavorful. The mango, mochi and condensed milk topping was equally amazing (as a side note, can someone please explain why you can't buy good mangos in the states?) I would come here every day if I lived in Rowland Heights. Looking at this picture now is actually making me drool a little bit.

We finished off the weekend with a trip to Apple Pan, which is supposed to have the "finest example of a California-style burger." Usually I dread going to places that are hyped up because there are inevitably lines and ridiculous waits, but Apple Pan was surprisingly quiet when we went. Others have commented on its retro feel, but it really did feel like an old-fashioned oasis in the modern day suburban wasteland of LA. From the red leather bar stools, to the funny paper hats worn by the servers, to the deliciously simple burgers, everything seemed straight out of an earlier, more peaceful era. If you go, don't skimp on dessert  - the oversized slice of banana cream pie may have actually been better than the burger.

LA may be a sprawling smoggy congested city (sorry I'm such an LA hater), but I guess I can cut it some slack for having good ramen, shaved ice & burgers.

Re-

I went to Kerry Park after work today on a whim - I felt like wandering around and clearing my head for a bit, and photography always helps me refocus. Since the park is at the top of a huge hill - the kind of hill where you can hear your car engine struggling as you drive up - it affords a pretty spectacular view of the city. The weather was sub-optimal since it had been raining all day (story of my life in Seattle), but the area around the viewpoint is quite scenic, so it was perfect for aimless wandering with camera in hand.

I'm excited for the weekend - the weather forecast says sunny & warm on Saturday, so that's sounds promising. But more than anything else, I think I need some time to recharge and reflect. Tonight's wanderings and a pizza & wine & gossip session with the girls was relaxing, but there's still a lot of churning going on in my head.

fly me away

It's nice to have a change of scenery occasionally, and it seems that I picked a good weekend to get away from Seattle. While it was pouring rain back in Washington, I was enjoying the (mostly) fabulous weather in LA. I got in some great sightseeing (Getty Villa, Venice Beach, Griffith Park, Hollywood Bowl), as well as some great meals (Orochon Ramen, shaved ice in Rowland Heights, Apple Pan for burgers!). More to come on those.

On the topic of different cities, I recently read this very thought-provoking article. I've had many conversations on how cities shape people and how cities have a unique energy and atmosphere, so this essay really struck a chord with me. I'm still trying to decide how to describe Seattle - there is certainly a lot of ambition here, but it's not the wealth or power-driven ambition of New York and Silicon Valley, respectively. I almost want to describe it as a very down-to-earth kind of ambition, if that makes any sense. There is a noticeable lack of pretension here, which I find to be a refreshing change from New York (as much as I love NYC!). Any thoughts from my 4 readers? Haha.

I leave you with some photos from my weekend.

like a moth to a flame

Walking home today, I found myself drawn to the water yet again. The misty fog drifting over the water pulled me in and then an hour later, I found myself still by the piers, watching dusk turn into night.

I'm off to sunny LA this weekend, so hopefully I will have more cheerful photos to post :) Enjoy the weekend!

Yin yang days

Seattle has extremely bizarre weather patterns, especially for someone used to an East Coast climate. Mornings are usually overcast or in today's case, so foggy that everything is obscured.  But miraculously, by afternoon the clouds will usually clear, revealing blue skies and sun. In fact, it can get so sunny that driving across the bridge on the way home requires sunglasses, car visor, and a healthy dose of squinting to avoid being blinded.

Like a true photo junkie, I took my camera to work today to capture the view from my 26th floor rooftop deck. It's a breathtaking view, with Mt. Rainier visible in the far distance on a clear day. I know I've been going on ad nauseum about the beauty of nature (I'm not turning into a hippie, I promise), but I really can't get over how accessible everything is. In Philly and New York, you can't see these kinds of views without driving a considerable distance. Anyway, from what I hear, I only have a few more weeks to enjoy the sunny days so I appreciating every moment of sunlight. After that, there will be gloomy mornings, gloomy afternoons, and gloomy nights...

let's grab a cup of coffee

Given that Seattle is the birthplace of Starbucks, it seems fitting that I can summarize the past two days through the cups of coffee that I drank. This is the first weekend since I moved here that I didn't really have any plans, so I used the free time to do some exploring. Seattle is a lot bigger than New York, so it takes a little bit more effort to wander through the different neighborhoods.

My roommate and I took advantage of the surprisingly pleasant weather on Saturday to check out the U District. It's a cute college-y area with an eclectic mix of stores - we shopped our way through the main thoroughfare, stopping by a couple cafes to refuel. We both felt rather old (at the ripe age of 24) as we watched college kids walking around, all hyped up for the Saturday football game.  Too bad neither of us really knew what it was like to actually care about a college sports team.

The next day, I made way over to the Capitol Hill neighborhood to meet up with my brother after struggling to overcome my inept sense of direction (I couldn't find the right bus stop, then realized that I was at the wrong bus stop, then waited 20 minutes for the right bus...). We ate at Cafe Presse, a French cafe with a bustling brunch crowd. I love that Seattle is a brunch town, since weekend brunch is one of my favorite activities. I ordered a tomato soup and stole a bite of my brother's croque monsieur (both delicious). I wanted to see more of the area, since it's supposed to be one of the "cool" neighborhoods in Seattle, so I headed over to Roy Street Coffee, which is actually a Starbucks concept store. You pick your beans and method, so I ordered Kona bean coffee made with the pour over method. Naturally, I had to get some doughnuts to accompany all the coffee. Luckily, Top Pot Doughnuts, which is mentioned a lot in Seattle food buzz, was a short walk away.  My glazed applesauce doughnut was moist and light - a perfect follow-up to all that coffee.

All paths seem to lead to the water though, and I ended the weekend by the piers in some good company. Can't wait to drink my way through the rest of Seattle's coffee!

a single green light, minute and far away

It wouldn't be Seattle without a little gloominess. I had already given up hope on catching a nice sunset given all the clouds, but I had my camera on hand to take pictures of an adorable Maltese that I'm helping dogsit for the week. He's a hyper little dog - I think I still prefer big, cuddly dogs that you can curl up with after a long day and just relax.

On my way back home, I caught a glimpse of some pretty sunset action above the water, so I made a beeline for the sculpture park to catch what I could of the remains of the day. I ended up spending a good half hour just taking in the peaceful combination of lights, water, and clouds and having some fun with bokeh :)

It's been a rather long 4-day week, and while I've made progress on a few things, I feel like I still have a lot of ground to cover. I'm trying to be proactive when possible, but some things are out of my control. So I guess I'll keep reaching and hoping.

weekend perfection

Having visitors gives me a good excuse to check out places in the city that I normally wouldn't go to. With an old coworker in town for the long weekend, I managed to hit up Kerry Park, Golden Gardens, and Discovery Park, as well as a few good restaurants.

Of course, no visit to Seattle would be complete without a round of food grazing at Pike Place Market. I've been there many times now, but it still retains its charm. With three people, we were able to try a few interesting places without exceeding our stomach capacity. Perfect! Last time I was at the market, I kept ogling all the people who were walking around with these enormous, delicious bread/bun-looking things.  Turns out they were piroshkys, which are indeed delicious bread creations. Other highlights included Japanese-style hot dogs and grilled sandwiches from Three Sisters Cafe (yes, we like our carbs). We finished with an espresso from the Chocolate Box to wake us up from our carb-induced stupor.

We took a break from being foodies to see the scenic side of Seattle. The view from Kerry Park was pretty stellar - I would love to go back at sunrise or sunset, or even with just a zoom lens (I only had my 35mm) to get some more shots. And I think we were all pleasantly surprised to find out that Golden Gardens is neither a Chinese restaurant nor a garden, but a rather nice beach.

The day ended with dinner at Shiro's, a great Japanese restaurant just a few blocks away. The unassuming decor and location belie the quality of the food - the sushi was incredibly fresh and the service was impeccable, if a little fobby (herro!).

If all visits are this perfect, I'm looking forward to hosting more guests :)

good till the last drop

This past weekend was one of those that leave you feeling like you need another weekend to recover. There was certainly a pleasant whirlwind of activity.  Saturday's urban wine tour gave me an excuse to start drinking at 2 pm, and I continued to imbibe various forms of alcohol up until 2 am. A good 12 hours of drinking made for a slow start the next morning, but I still managed to cover a lot of ground until Monday evening. I'll save those adventures for next time though - can't fit too much fun into one post!

I've been to a few wineries in the past, including ones in Napa and Tuscany which are obviously more established. The ones we went to in Seattle were much smaller, but I really loved seeing the enthusiasm and passion of the winery owners. It is clearly tough to succeed in this business, but they've taken a risk to pursue something that interests them. I'm continually drawing inspiration from these kinds of stories - the entrepreneurs, the people with the little side projects, the bloggers - anyone who has an idea and has enough passion to follow through with it.

A stop at the Wine Outlet included a food pairing which was quite interesting. For example, we first tried both a red and a white wine alone, then the cherries alone (really sweet), then cherries + white wine (the cherries make the white wine taste much less sweet), then cherries + red wine (great combination). Repeat with salami and smoked blue cheese.

We got somewhat distracted by an adorable dog at the Stomani Cellars... 

We ended the tour at 106 Pine, which is an adorable wine shop/bar by Pike Place. They actually own the chocolate store next door as well, so we finished with a pairing of subtly spicy chocolate + framboise wine. You really can't go wrong with wine & chocolate...

Weekend adventures to be continued...

End of a season

It seems that Mother Nature knew that Labor Day is coming, and generously gave Seattle one last beautiful summer day.  Walking home around 7, I had the sudden urge to grab my camera and head for the sculpture park next to my apartment.

I'm happy I obeyed my instincts because the sunset view from the park is really breathtaking - mountains, water, some modern art - what's not to love? My next goal is to make it to Kerry Park, which supposedly has amazing views of the city.

Sadly, the weather for this weekend is looking pretty drab (high of 65 degrees today - really?). I have a feeling there will be a lot more gloomy days from here on out, but at least I got to catch the end of a Seattle summer.

My photo editing/collage skills are a work in progress, so I've been browsing flickr and other blogs for inspiration. Advice/comments are welcome!

Happy holiday weekend!