Sunday came and we needed to head out relatively early to Sammamish Slough for the relay - the initial estimate was that Laurel would get done with her biking leg sometime between 11-11:30 and we'll have to start our paddling then. So, we hauled the kayak down there and set it near the water by 9:30, then wandered over to Victor's for coffee and breakfast (Seriously, racetime is one of those few instances when I have *zero* appetite, anything I try eating seems to taste like cardboard!). We hung out there for a good hour and stared out the window as it got increasingly windy and rainy as we waited for Han to call us about our paddling leg.
Well, it was past 11:30. And we heard the not-so-good news. Han fell off her mountain bike navigating a sharp turn and damaged the handlebars in the process, which in turn delayed Laurel. Hmm ... as we waited around (almost 12:30), we heard news about people getting lost on the bike trail. Finally, we hit the water a few minutes before 1 pm. By then, it was pretty overcast and it had been drizzling on and off. Guess we got our wish - we were among the last ones out and pretty much had the slough to ourselves! :)
Hmm ... a couple of miles in and we're both thinking "Maybe kayaking this route just 2 days ago wasn't such a fabulous idea!" Our arms were hurting some, but the bigger deal was that the route seemed a little ... well, boring?! Friday had been a much prettier day, we had seen a lot more birds then, sunday was kind of dreary, we had waited forever before starting and the birds seemed to have gone away. *bleh*!
So, after endless paddling, we finally got to Lake Wa - only to be caught in incredibly choppy water! We paddled around relentlessly, trying really hard to head to the shore at Log Boom Park, only to keep getting turned around by the waves. Quite freaky! Finally headed to shore, then a long ride to Redmond to get the car, another long ride to drop the kayak off. Yeeesh, *so* much of work! :)
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Go Ms!
Where the hell was my parking karma when I really needed it?!!
I was heading to watch the Ms game earlier this afternoon and made the big, big mistake of driving downtown. What was I thinking? That my reliable parking karma would hold me in good stead and land me a prime spot near Safeco? Well ... no! It failed me! Miserably! I drove around for over an hour trying to find a spot somewhere, anywhere! Finally, finally, after seemingly infinite stops at every light along the way, I was able to sneak into the Qwest parking lot and snag a spot on the roof level. *phew*
It was the perfect day for baseball - the sun was coming out, it was getting increasingly warmer, the Ms were playing the Sox, we're at Safeco (*such* a fabulous ballpark!) - good life (albeit parking woes!).
After a sluggish first half, it turned out to be a great game - right up to the nailbiting finish when Lopez doubled in the 11th to win the game! Ichi rocked with 3 hits (hope everybody remembered to cast his all-star vote!), Putz was spiffy. And I'll let USSMariner tell the rest of the story :)
All in all, very entertaining game. Good baseball, great weather, entertaining fans attempting lame waves! And we kept wondering why there are so many Boston fans at the Ms home game. Well, we don't have the answer. But we sure are not the only ones wondering!
I was heading to watch the Ms game earlier this afternoon and made the big, big mistake of driving downtown. What was I thinking? That my reliable parking karma would hold me in good stead and land me a prime spot near Safeco? Well ... no! It failed me! Miserably! I drove around for over an hour trying to find a spot somewhere, anywhere! Finally, finally, after seemingly infinite stops at every light along the way, I was able to sneak into the Qwest parking lot and snag a spot on the roof level. *phew*
It was the perfect day for baseball - the sun was coming out, it was getting increasingly warmer, the Ms were playing the Sox, we're at Safeco (*such* a fabulous ballpark!) - good life (albeit parking woes!).
After a sluggish first half, it turned out to be a great game - right up to the nailbiting finish when Lopez doubled in the 11th to win the game! Ichi rocked with 3 hits (hope everybody remembered to cast his all-star vote!), Putz was spiffy. And I'll let USSMariner tell the rest of the story :)
All in all, very entertaining game. Good baseball, great weather, entertaining fans attempting lame waves! And we kept wondering why there are so many Boston fans at the Ms home game. Well, we don't have the answer. But we sure are not the only ones wondering!
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Sushi, Miso, et al
Time to make sushi again! We're still struggling with rolling, but it seems to be getting marginally better.
I think it is time to take a class on this. PCC seems to have one, as does Uwajimaya, but I'm favoring the one at Culinary Communion - the wine class there was pretty fun, most of their classes are very hands-on and end up with everyone feasting on the giant spread that was just cooked up. Sounds delightful :)
I guess sushi-grade fish is pretty rare commodity in the grocery stores - the last time we wanted to make sushi, we got tuna from Whole Foods - it was amazing, but that was all they had! This time we wanted more variety, so we marched off to that asian food museum of sorts in SoDo. Uwajimaya has this wide spread of sushi-grade fish, so we ended up picking up tuna, salmon and yellow tail. As we started cutting up the fish for the rolls, we discovered that Whole Foods (more popularly known as Whole Paycheck) is pricey for a reason - quality. The tuna we had got there last time was a dream to cut up - like running a knife through butter. But this fish felt a lot denser, and the corners were somewhat leathery. Oh well! The rolls did turn out pretty tasty, but we might be scouting around some more for the perfect sushi-grade fish.
We figured a miso soup would go well with the sushi, we used a recipe out of this awesome Vegetarian Basics cookbook. I'll dig up the recipe and post it in a bit :)
I think it is time to take a class on this. PCC seems to have one, as does Uwajimaya, but I'm favoring the one at Culinary Communion - the wine class there was pretty fun, most of their classes are very hands-on and end up with everyone feasting on the giant spread that was just cooked up. Sounds delightful :)
I guess sushi-grade fish is pretty rare commodity in the grocery stores - the last time we wanted to make sushi, we got tuna from Whole Foods - it was amazing, but that was all they had! This time we wanted more variety, so we marched off to that asian food museum of sorts in SoDo. Uwajimaya has this wide spread of sushi-grade fish, so we ended up picking up tuna, salmon and yellow tail. As we started cutting up the fish for the rolls, we discovered that Whole Foods (more popularly known as Whole Paycheck) is pricey for a reason - quality. The tuna we had got there last time was a dream to cut up - like running a knife through butter. But this fish felt a lot denser, and the corners were somewhat leathery. Oh well! The rolls did turn out pretty tasty, but we might be scouting around some more for the perfect sushi-grade fish.
We figured a miso soup would go well with the sushi, we used a recipe out of this awesome Vegetarian Basics cookbook. I'll dig up the recipe and post it in a bit :)
B & O Espresso
I've always loved B&O's fabulous desserts - those Rum Balls are to die for! But last friday, we were especially happy to have B&O around. After a long kayak ride and the drive back, it was almost midnight and we were dying of hunger. And B&O serves dinner till 00:00 hours! Woo Hoo!! So, we rolled in there all grubby and starving!
The menu there is such a hodge podge of cuisines - obviously a lot of middle eastern flavors, but they also have a ton of sandwiches, some pastas, steak and probably a lot more! We got the lentil soup - they totally ODed on the vinegar here. I usually love the flavor of a dash of balsamic vinegar in moroccan lentil soup, but this soup had way too much of it, totally overwhelmed the bay leaf and lentil flavors. Guess Pupp's clam chowder (New England style, as I learned :)) was pretty decent.
We then dug into the Egyptian foul (pronounced "fool") and a spinach salad. The foul was again doused with vinegar (instead of lemon juice?!) and wasn't as flavorful as I remembered. The spinach salad had mushrooms (I think that's a no-no for spinach salads!) and almost swimming in dressing *ick*. But when you're hungry, pretty much anything tastes quite decent :)
Our drink of the night was actually pretty decent - coffee spiked with Godiva liqueur and Drambuie (I think) - warm and fuzzy!
The menu there is such a hodge podge of cuisines - obviously a lot of middle eastern flavors, but they also have a ton of sandwiches, some pastas, steak and probably a lot more! We got the lentil soup - they totally ODed on the vinegar here. I usually love the flavor of a dash of balsamic vinegar in moroccan lentil soup, but this soup had way too much of it, totally overwhelmed the bay leaf and lentil flavors. Guess Pupp's clam chowder (New England style, as I learned :)) was pretty decent.
We then dug into the Egyptian foul (pronounced "fool") and a spinach salad. The foul was again doused with vinegar (instead of lemon juice?!) and wasn't as flavorful as I remembered. The spinach salad had mushrooms (I think that's a no-no for spinach salads!) and almost swimming in dressing *ick*. But when you're hungry, pretty much anything tastes quite decent :)
Our drink of the night was actually pretty decent - coffee spiked with Godiva liqueur and Drambuie (I think) - warm and fuzzy!
Paddy Coynes - *yay*!
*lots* of kayaking ==> tired muscles and hungry bellies!
Our starving bellies were craving burgers after the Mountains to Sound relay. And it was time to try out Paddy Coynes off Fairview. And we loved it except for the irish music playing in the background (I was too tired to start my riverdance that evening! :) ).
Like often, I ordered the all-exclusive garden burger (?!! I kid :) ) and Pupp got the Fish'n'Chips (didn't realize this had Alaskan cod, maybe I'll try it next time!). My burger was awesome - granted it was just a garden burger, but the bread was great, the onions was awesome. I was *happy*. And some shoestring fries and we were in carb-heaven :)
Plus they seem have a pretty good selection of beer on tap (not like I drink much beer, but I did have a pint that day :))
Our starving bellies were craving burgers after the Mountains to Sound relay. And it was time to try out Paddy Coynes off Fairview. And we loved it except for the irish music playing in the background (I was too tired to start my riverdance that evening! :) ).
Like often, I ordered the all-exclusive garden burger (?!! I kid :) ) and Pupp got the Fish'n'Chips (didn't realize this had Alaskan cod, maybe I'll try it next time!). My burger was awesome - granted it was just a garden burger, but the bread was great, the onions was awesome. I was *happy*. And some shoestring fries and we were in carb-heaven :)
Plus they seem have a pretty good selection of beer on tap (not like I drink much beer, but I did have a pint that day :))
Kayaking the Sammamish Slough
As training for the Mountains to Sound relay on sunday, we decided to do a test run of our route along the stretch of the Sammamish Slough. This whole kayaking thing sounded like a lot of fun (to me atleast! :)) but all the prep work is turning out to be really tedious. I had a minor panic session a few days ago when NWOC said that they were completely sold out of take-away kayaks for the weekend. "There is some race happening this weekend ..." said the gal there. "Well, we're taking part in that race! We need a kayak too!!" Oh well! Moss Bay finally bailed us out and even offered to help us get the kayak on the car. Thanks, Moss Bay!
We planned on starting our kayaking about 5ish, but it turned out to be more like 6:45 when we hit the water. And the slough seemed more like a puddle in places, we couldn't put our rudder out and were scraping the bottom with our oars. But it was an amazing ride - the weather was perfect, the sun was out and there were tons of birds around. We saw several kinds of ducks, geese and a ton of herons that kept flying over our heads. And we even got to see several beavers!
Well, 12 miles with our super heavy kayak took a lot longer than we expected! It was dark by the time we got to Lake Washington and Thad had to navigate us around before we finally got to the shore. He was expecting us at Log Boom Park at about 9:15, but we ended up reaching there close to 10 pm! Thanks Thaddie for driving us around! :)
We planned on starting our kayaking about 5ish, but it turned out to be more like 6:45 when we hit the water. And the slough seemed more like a puddle in places, we couldn't put our rudder out and were scraping the bottom with our oars. But it was an amazing ride - the weather was perfect, the sun was out and there were tons of birds around. We saw several kinds of ducks, geese and a ton of herons that kept flying over our heads. And we even got to see several beavers!
Well, 12 miles with our super heavy kayak took a lot longer than we expected! It was dark by the time we got to Lake Washington and Thad had to navigate us around before we finally got to the shore. He was expecting us at Log Boom Park at about 9:15, but we ended up reaching there close to 10 pm! Thanks Thaddie for driving us around! :)
Montlake Ale House
After our first kayaking session this year, we hit Montlake Ale House on 23rd. We drive by this place all the time, but have never been in there.
Definite pluses:
* Pretty good beer selection on tap
* Hales Cream on tap *yay*!
* The bartender makes a yummy baileys+coffee+etc
* Nice space, fun company at the bar
The menu looked pretty good - they even have a bunch of veggie options. We got pasta in a wine sauce and this eggplant sandwich. And of course, being the unofficial onion rings reviewer around town, I had to swap out the fries for some rings - and they were pretty good. The pasta was mediocre - too runny, the sandwich was decent - a little too messy and rich, but tasty nevertheless.
We could hit this spot again, especially after another round of kayaking :)
Definite pluses:
* Pretty good beer selection on tap
* Hales Cream on tap *yay*!
* The bartender makes a yummy baileys+coffee+etc
* Nice space, fun company at the bar
The menu looked pretty good - they even have a bunch of veggie options. We got pasta in a wine sauce and this eggplant sandwich. And of course, being the unofficial onion rings reviewer around town, I had to swap out the fries for some rings - and they were pretty good. The pasta was mediocre - too runny, the sandwich was decent - a little too messy and rich, but tasty nevertheless.
We could hit this spot again, especially after another round of kayaking :)
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Woooo! First kayak ride of the year!
About time we did it too - given we're doing the kayak segment in the Mountains to Sound relay next week!
It was a pretty decent evening - 70F, partly cloudy. We headed up to Agua Verde and rented our 2-person kayak. Our route included going to Ballard Bridge, possibly past it to the locks. We had a headwind going in and we haven't kayaked all year, so it took a bit to get into sync. But it was a great evening to be kayaking and there weren't too many boats out there, so we didn't have to fight too many waves. It is pretty amazing how different the terrain seems from the water, we often didn't recognize the buildings (especially on the Queen Anne side)!
We kayaked till Ballard Bridge and wisely decided to turn back - my arms started getting tired though Pupp seemed to be going strong. *Yay*! Tailwind! Paddling gets easier! Pretty uneventful, we just moseyed back - saw a ton of ducks and several boats whose passengers were playing some scavenger hunt in the water! They asked us a couple of trivia questions that we didn't know the answer to:
Who is the Norse goddess of love? Apparently 'Freya', but we didn't know that!
And how deep is Lake Union? 15 meters (didn't know that either!)
Took us about 2 hours to do 7.2 miles - *much* slower than we expected. Hopefully, we can get a little faster (in the next week?!!) and paddling downstream along Sammamish Slough should be easier too.
*fun*!
It was a pretty decent evening - 70F, partly cloudy. We headed up to Agua Verde and rented our 2-person kayak. Our route included going to Ballard Bridge, possibly past it to the locks. We had a headwind going in and we haven't kayaked all year, so it took a bit to get into sync. But it was a great evening to be kayaking and there weren't too many boats out there, so we didn't have to fight too many waves. It is pretty amazing how different the terrain seems from the water, we often didn't recognize the buildings (especially on the Queen Anne side)!
We kayaked till Ballard Bridge and wisely decided to turn back - my arms started getting tired though Pupp seemed to be going strong. *Yay*! Tailwind! Paddling gets easier! Pretty uneventful, we just moseyed back - saw a ton of ducks and several boats whose passengers were playing some scavenger hunt in the water! They asked us a couple of trivia questions that we didn't know the answer to:
Who is the Norse goddess of love? Apparently 'Freya', but we didn't know that!
And how deep is Lake Union? 15 meters (didn't know that either!)
Took us about 2 hours to do 7.2 miles - *much* slower than we expected. Hopefully, we can get a little faster (in the next week?!!) and paddling downstream along Sammamish Slough should be easier too.
*fun*!
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
More kozhambu and Tinda curry - *yum*!
About time I cooked some traditional desi food - every once in a while, I crave for more kozhambu the way my mum makes it. And last night was one of those times. And I had white pumpkin (often used in indian and asian cooking) and some punjabi tinda, yay!
More kozhambu is a staple south indian dish - often made on most festival days. It is buttermilk based, but the spices can vary greatly depending on which region the recipe originated from. And it can be made with a variety of vegetables - actually one of the few dishes that I like throwing okra into!
Masala for more kozhambu:
======================
1/2 t fenugreek seeds
1/2 t coriander seeds
1/4 t cumin seeds
1 t channa dal
1 t tuar dal
1/2 t raw rice
1/4 cup grated coconut
1" ginger
1 red chilli
1 green chilli
1/4 t asafoetida
Dry roast all spices and grind them up finely in a spice mill.
More kozhambu (serves 2-3)
=======================
1/4 white pumpkin - peeled and julienned
1 t mustard
2 red chillies
1 t urad dal
A few curry leaves
1 cup fat-free sour cream
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 t turmeric
1 t sesame oil
Above-mentioned masala
Salt
Roast mustard, red chillies curry leaves and urad dal in oil.
Add 1 cup of water and cook the pumpkin with the turmeric (~ 10 mins).
Add the masala and salt and simmer for about 5 minutes.
Mix the sour cream and buttermilk and blend it till smooth (add a little water if it is too thick).
Add the sour cream mixture to the veggies and simmer.
Stir constantly to blend the flavors, but don't turn up the heat since it can break up the buttermilk.
Add a drop of ghee for flavor and fragrance - this makes a huge difference :)
Tinda is a seasonal vegetable in India, so we were always excited when we found it in the market. And when we did, my mum always tried new recipes with it - *so* much of fun! This is just one quick way of cooking it.
Tinda Curry (serves 2-3)
===================
1 lb tinda (the indian store often has it) - cut into quarters
2 tsp masala (equal parts of red chillies, roasted fenugreek, mustard - all ground up)
Salt
1 t oil
1 t cumin seeds
Roast the cumin seeds in oil
Add the masala and salt and let it cook for about 30 seconds
Throw in the tinda and toss the pieces in the masala
Cook covered for about 15 minutes on medium
Simmer uncovered for a few more minutes till any residual water evaporates
*yum*!
More kozhambu is a staple south indian dish - often made on most festival days. It is buttermilk based, but the spices can vary greatly depending on which region the recipe originated from. And it can be made with a variety of vegetables - actually one of the few dishes that I like throwing okra into!
Masala for more kozhambu:
======================
1/2 t fenugreek seeds
1/2 t coriander seeds
1/4 t cumin seeds
1 t channa dal
1 t tuar dal
1/2 t raw rice
1/4 cup grated coconut
1" ginger
1 red chilli
1 green chilli
1/4 t asafoetida
Dry roast all spices and grind them up finely in a spice mill.
More kozhambu (serves 2-3)
=======================
1/4 white pumpkin - peeled and julienned
1 t mustard
2 red chillies
1 t urad dal
A few curry leaves
1 cup fat-free sour cream
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 t turmeric
1 t sesame oil
Above-mentioned masala
Salt
Roast mustard, red chillies curry leaves and urad dal in oil.
Add 1 cup of water and cook the pumpkin with the turmeric (~ 10 mins).
Add the masala and salt and simmer for about 5 minutes.
Mix the sour cream and buttermilk and blend it till smooth (add a little water if it is too thick).
Add the sour cream mixture to the veggies and simmer.
Stir constantly to blend the flavors, but don't turn up the heat since it can break up the buttermilk.
Add a drop of ghee for flavor and fragrance - this makes a huge difference :)
Tinda is a seasonal vegetable in India, so we were always excited when we found it in the market. And when we did, my mum always tried new recipes with it - *so* much of fun! This is just one quick way of cooking it.
Tinda Curry (serves 2-3)
===================
1 lb tinda (the indian store often has it) - cut into quarters
2 tsp masala (equal parts of red chillies, roasted fenugreek, mustard - all ground up)
Salt
1 t oil
1 t cumin seeds
Roast the cumin seeds in oil
Add the masala and salt and let it cook for about 30 seconds
Throw in the tinda and toss the pieces in the masala
Cook covered for about 15 minutes on medium
Simmer uncovered for a few more minutes till any residual water evaporates
*yum*!
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Spicy Ramen with vegetables
A couple of days ago, I was craving indo-chinese spicy noodles - oddly enough, this qualifies as comfort food :) I couldn't find hakka noodles at PCC, so I had to settle for ramen instead - they now carry this spicy garlic-pepper veggie ramen noodles (that are low-fat!). Figured I could approximate the flavor I wanted by adding some bhel puri sauces.
Recipe:
1/2 cabbage - shredded (I *love* cutting cabbage!)
2 carrots - grated
1" ginger - minced
a handful of dry roasted peanuts
2 packets of ramen noodles
1 t garlic-green chilli sauce
1 t red chilli-tamarind sauce
1 t white vinegar
Cook the carrots, ginger and cabbage covered (no need to add more water since the cabbage sheds enough water).
Add 3 cups of water and heat till the water boils
Throw in the noodles and cook for ~ 3-4 minutes
Add the sauces, vinegar and peanuts and toss
Mmm ... tasty! Except that I tossed in 2 t of each of the sauces and kicked it up about 10 notches! Oooo .... *hot*! Even for my spice-loving tongue!!!
Recipe:
1/2 cabbage - shredded (I *love* cutting cabbage!)
2 carrots - grated
1" ginger - minced
a handful of dry roasted peanuts
2 packets of ramen noodles
1 t garlic-green chilli sauce
1 t red chilli-tamarind sauce
1 t white vinegar
Cook the carrots, ginger and cabbage covered (no need to add more water since the cabbage sheds enough water).
Add 3 cups of water and heat till the water boils
Throw in the noodles and cook for ~ 3-4 minutes
Add the sauces, vinegar and peanuts and toss
Mmm ... tasty! Except that I tossed in 2 t of each of the sauces and kicked it up about 10 notches! Oooo .... *hot*! Even for my spice-loving tongue!!!
Beans and Pasta Casserole
Got to love that Joy of Cooking book! I've been reading more of that than anything else in the last several days!
I got a bunch of fresh green beans at PCC and started poking around JofC trying to find a new beans recipe. And I stumbled upon a couple of casserole and gratin recipes. But both asked for cream of mushroom soups - and I didn't have any (not a big fan of them creamy soups!). So, this is what I cooked up instead:
1/2 lb green beans - chopped into 2" pieces
2 cups of pasta (rotelle)
2-3 bay leaves
1.5 cups milk
1 tsp butter
1/4 cup flour
Salt'n'pepper
1/3 cup grated pepperjack cheese
1 tomato - finely minced (best to use a hand blender for this)
Cook the pasta till al dente.
Cook the green beans till tender (I just cooked both together)
Heat oven to 350F.
Heat butter, add flour and stir.
Add bay leaves and milk and stir (on simmer) till smooth and thick.
Toss the pasta and beans into this sauce.
Add the grated cheese, toss and pour into casserole dish.
Sprinkle the tomato shreds on the top.
Bake at 350F for 10 minutes.
*yay*!
I got a bunch of fresh green beans at PCC and started poking around JofC trying to find a new beans recipe. And I stumbled upon a couple of casserole and gratin recipes. But both asked for cream of mushroom soups - and I didn't have any (not a big fan of them creamy soups!). So, this is what I cooked up instead:
1/2 lb green beans - chopped into 2" pieces
2 cups of pasta (rotelle)
2-3 bay leaves
1.5 cups milk
1 tsp butter
1/4 cup flour
Salt'n'pepper
1/3 cup grated pepperjack cheese
1 tomato - finely minced (best to use a hand blender for this)
Cook the pasta till al dente.
Cook the green beans till tender (I just cooked both together)
Heat oven to 350F.
Heat butter, add flour and stir.
Add bay leaves and milk and stir (on simmer) till smooth and thick.
Toss the pasta and beans into this sauce.
Add the grated cheese, toss and pour into casserole dish.
Sprinkle the tomato shreds on the top.
Bake at 350F for 10 minutes.
*yay*!
Friday, June 8, 2007
Alborz rocks!
Yay! Another trip to Alborz - my fave Persian restaurant around here - this small restaurant in Redmond is run by this couple who basically handle everything there - seating, taking orders, cooking, serving, the works! Their food is *so* good - simple, fresh and quite tasty! And they have the best pickled garlic ever.
As I was mulling over what I wanted to eat, Farah gave me a sample of the hummus and maust moosier (the fabulous shallot-yogurt dip) to go with my basil naan - this might be my new favorite naan here (it was always the sesame cumin naan). I finally settled on the Baughali Polo (lima-dill rice) - my old favorite along with a side of the eggplant ragout - absolutely divine. The lima-dill rice is perfectly cooked and incredibly fragrant - *so* good!
And obviously, I had to finish my meal with a cup of the minty green tea - the perfect end to a fabulous meal.
As I was mulling over what I wanted to eat, Farah gave me a sample of the hummus and maust moosier (the fabulous shallot-yogurt dip) to go with my basil naan - this might be my new favorite naan here (it was always the sesame cumin naan). I finally settled on the Baughali Polo (lima-dill rice) - my old favorite along with a side of the eggplant ragout - absolutely divine. The lima-dill rice is perfectly cooked and incredibly fragrant - *so* good!
And obviously, I had to finish my meal with a cup of the minty green tea - the perfect end to a fabulous meal.
Sushi time - Aoki
We've been lusting for sushi for a while now, but have been too lazy to make 'em rolls as yet. It was a nice evening, so we wandered around Cap'Hill and finally ended up at Aoki (the only decent sushi place we know on the hill right now).
So, it was .... "somewhat" decent, but barely. Actually, I think our first trip there was a lot better than this one. The edamame was weird - the shell kept peeling off in layers making it really hard to eat the peas. Quite irritating. The menu looked pretty good, so we ended up ordering these:
Spicy white tuna rolls - a variation! finally!! This was probably the best of the sushi we had that night. The fish was really tender, almost creamy, but definitely not spicy.
Broadway rolls - with salmon, alfalfa sprouts and some kind of roe - a little too smoky for us.
Veggie futomaki - this was really, really weird. Firstly, each roll was *huge* - about 3 mouthfuls. And it had waaaaay too much of rice in it, and was kind of dry.
Unagi - apparently decent, but not amazing
Spider rolls - these looked pretty good, and I guess they were :)
A decent experience, but there's got to be better sushi in Seattle! Or maybe we hit Aoki on an off-day!
So, it was .... "somewhat" decent, but barely. Actually, I think our first trip there was a lot better than this one. The edamame was weird - the shell kept peeling off in layers making it really hard to eat the peas. Quite irritating. The menu looked pretty good, so we ended up ordering these:
Spicy white tuna rolls - a variation! finally!! This was probably the best of the sushi we had that night. The fish was really tender, almost creamy, but definitely not spicy.
Broadway rolls - with salmon, alfalfa sprouts and some kind of roe - a little too smoky for us.
Veggie futomaki - this was really, really weird. Firstly, each roll was *huge* - about 3 mouthfuls. And it had waaaaay too much of rice in it, and was kind of dry.
Unagi - apparently decent, but not amazing
Spider rolls - these looked pretty good, and I guess they were :)
A decent experience, but there's got to be better sushi in Seattle! Or maybe we hit Aoki on an off-day!
Beans'n'Rice and Corn Maque Choux
We figured it was time to try another recipe from our latest Jay Solomon book - fast becoming one of my favorite cookbooks now. This is the same book that I made the gratin from a while ago. He uses a West Indian recipe and recommends replacing some of the water for the rice with 1/2 cup of coconut milk to enhance flavors. Both the beans and rice were heavy on thyme (I like it way more than I realized!) and cumin (yum! nothing like fresh-ground cumin to enhance the aroma!). We threw in 1/2 cup of wine from one of the many bottles we brought back from BSM into the beans - good idea! I'm now curious about what kind of flavors wine adds to the food. Using a wine vinegar often imparts tartness accompanied by this aftersweet, but wine seems more complex.
Once the rice was cooked (the coconut milk was a killer idea), we mixed the beans and rice and let them simmer for ~ 10 minutes for the flavors to blend - and they did, quite happily!
Corn Maque Choux - Ok, I'm still trying to figure out how to pronounce this, but I'll eat it any day:
1 can corn (couldn't find fresh corn at MM that day)
1/2 bell pepper - chopped
1/2 sweet vidalia onion - chopped
1 tomato - chopped
1 tsp butter
4-5 garlic cloves - minced
Saute onions and garlic in butter till brown
Drain the water from the corn and keep aside
Throw in bell pepper, corn and tomatoes - let this cook for ~ 15 minutes
Add some of the drained water and let it simmer for 5 minutes
Add salt, pepper and a (big) dash of hot sauce
(I might try this with minced jalapenos next time around)
Once the rice was cooked (the coconut milk was a killer idea), we mixed the beans and rice and let them simmer for ~ 10 minutes for the flavors to blend - and they did, quite happily!
Corn Maque Choux - Ok, I'm still trying to figure out how to pronounce this, but I'll eat it any day:
1 can corn (couldn't find fresh corn at MM that day)
1/2 bell pepper - chopped
1/2 sweet vidalia onion - chopped
1 tomato - chopped
1 tsp butter
4-5 garlic cloves - minced
Saute onions and garlic in butter till brown
Drain the water from the corn and keep aside
Throw in bell pepper, corn and tomatoes - let this cook for ~ 15 minutes
Add some of the drained water and let it simmer for 5 minutes
Add salt, pepper and a (big) dash of hot sauce
(I might try this with minced jalapenos next time around)
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Happy Ethiopian food!
Queen Sheba is a happy place. Even if they have lame overpriced bottles of wine. It is a major desi hangout place, I remember hitting it for dindin every couple of weeks back when it was the only ethiopian place I knew in Seattle.
We headed up there after the Obama talk to have dindin with Autumn and Jeremy. We ended up with our staple - a couple of the veggie combo platters and a salad - usually quite yummy, and they kick it up with chopped jalapenos! But this time around, it was lame, seriously lame. A bunch of iceberg lettuce with wonks of tomatoes and little else - and seriously oversalted. They replaced it right away, but the second one wasn't that much better either. It doesn't seem to have the chopped onions anymore - sucks!
The platter was great, as always - even better with their house hot sauce. The lentils and peas were yummy, the cabbage was incredibly flavorful. The greens were a little bland, but still decent. The best part of the meal was the injera that lined the platter - it soaks up the flavors and juices from all the entrees and tastes simply divine! :)
I was poking around reading about Ethiopian food and read that the injera is literally used as a tablecloth for a meal - crazy!
And I just saw this great recipe archive that seems to have a ton of african recipes.
We headed up there after the Obama talk to have dindin with Autumn and Jeremy. We ended up with our staple - a couple of the veggie combo platters and a salad - usually quite yummy, and they kick it up with chopped jalapenos! But this time around, it was lame, seriously lame. A bunch of iceberg lettuce with wonks of tomatoes and little else - and seriously oversalted. They replaced it right away, but the second one wasn't that much better either. It doesn't seem to have the chopped onions anymore - sucks!
The platter was great, as always - even better with their house hot sauce. The lentils and peas were yummy, the cabbage was incredibly flavorful. The greens were a little bland, but still decent. The best part of the meal was the injera that lined the platter - it soaks up the flavors and juices from all the entrees and tastes simply divine! :)
I was poking around reading about Ethiopian food and read that the injera is literally used as a tablecloth for a meal - crazy!
And I just saw this great recipe archive that seems to have a ton of african recipes.
Sorella - *bleh*
Biking to Madison Park left us famished. The problem was that we were craving brunch and the few brunch eateries there stop serving at 1 pm! That is plain wrong - they need to learn from all the great places up on Cap'Hill that dish out brunch till 3 pm!
So, after much fruitless wandering, we landed up at Sorella's - this pizza/pasta place near the water. Looked decent, pizza sounded passable, so we went in there. The guy who handled our order was plain weird - he seemed extremely flustered, even though the place was not packed and tried to rush us through our order. Autumn wanted one of her "custom" italian sodas with little fizz, lots of cream and flavoring. And he didn't seem to think she needed more cream!
Autumn: "I'd like extra cream in my soda"
Guy: "Oh, our sodas come with a lot of cream."
Autumn: "But I'd like more cream in mine."
Guy: "I don't think you'll need more."
Hmm ... wait, so he knows what she wants better than her now?
Autumn: "Well, I'd like some extra cream in it anyway!"
Guy: "I'll bring your soda. And if the cream isn't enough, I'll get you a couple of little containers of half'n'half!"
Give up, Autumn! Just drink that soda. Well, Jeremy will drink it anyway! And he did :)
So, back to our order. We're starving, so we order a 1/2 pesto, 1/2 cheese pizza. And the hummus appetizer that sounds yummy. Except it doesn't quite taste that great. The bread is awesome, the hummus ... tastes like store-bought. And swimming in a plate of oil. *bleh*
Ok, pizza is finally here. Hmm ... slathered in cheese. Not great. Not much to write home about.
Scratching Sorella off our M'Park restaurant options.
So, after much fruitless wandering, we landed up at Sorella's - this pizza/pasta place near the water. Looked decent, pizza sounded passable, so we went in there. The guy who handled our order was plain weird - he seemed extremely flustered, even though the place was not packed and tried to rush us through our order. Autumn wanted one of her "custom" italian sodas with little fizz, lots of cream and flavoring. And he didn't seem to think she needed more cream!
Autumn: "I'd like extra cream in my soda"
Guy: "Oh, our sodas come with a lot of cream."
Autumn: "But I'd like more cream in mine."
Guy: "I don't think you'll need more."
Hmm ... wait, so he knows what she wants better than her now?
Autumn: "Well, I'd like some extra cream in it anyway!"
Guy: "I'll bring your soda. And if the cream isn't enough, I'll get you a couple of little containers of half'n'half!"
Give up, Autumn! Just drink that soda. Well, Jeremy will drink it anyway! And he did :)
So, back to our order. We're starving, so we order a 1/2 pesto, 1/2 cheese pizza. And the hummus appetizer that sounds yummy. Except it doesn't quite taste that great. The bread is awesome, the hummus ... tastes like store-bought. And swimming in a plate of oil. *bleh*
Ok, pizza is finally here. Hmm ... slathered in cheese. Not great. Not much to write home about.
Scratching Sorella off our M'Park restaurant options.
Wooooo - biking!
Finally! First bike ride of the year! We mounted our bikes and headed off towards Madison Park with Autumn & Jeremy earlier today. We checked our route down there and back and yes, it seemed hilly, but we could do it, right? Well, I conveniently forgot that I'd just done 16 super hilly miles on saturday and my legs were quite tired. And that showed. Real soon!
Just the ride down to Madison Park from Pike isn't really all downhill. There were a couple of steep hills we needed to conquer before we finally started flying down the mountain - felt *so* good. That's one of my favorite parts of biking- the wind rushing in my face! So, we headed down to Madison Park Cafe for brunch - we'd heard good things about their food and were starving. So we go in, sit down, guzzle some agua and wait ... the waitress comes up and says "We've been really busy, so we're out of potatoes and spinach and ..."! What?! No breakfast potatoes?!! That sucks! So, we leave and scrounge around for another place to eat. We finally land up at Sorella's (we'll save the details for later!), finish up a very mediocre brunch and start biking back.
*wow* The hills seemed steeper on a full stomach! So, we weaved our way around, trying to find a flat side street to break the arduousness of the hills. We wrapped around the hill, up McGilvra to avoid directly cresting it - and it definitely helped some. My gears still seem a little flaky - got to figure out what's going on with that.
Pretty short route, but hard and fun, lots of fun!
Just the ride down to Madison Park from Pike isn't really all downhill. There were a couple of steep hills we needed to conquer before we finally started flying down the mountain - felt *so* good. That's one of my favorite parts of biking- the wind rushing in my face! So, we headed down to Madison Park Cafe for brunch - we'd heard good things about their food and were starving. So we go in, sit down, guzzle some agua and wait ... the waitress comes up and says "We've been really busy, so we're out of potatoes and spinach and ..."! What?! No breakfast potatoes?!! That sucks! So, we leave and scrounge around for another place to eat. We finally land up at Sorella's (we'll save the details for later!), finish up a very mediocre brunch and start biking back.
*wow* The hills seemed steeper on a full stomach! So, we weaved our way around, trying to find a flat side street to break the arduousness of the hills. We wrapped around the hill, up McGilvra to avoid directly cresting it - and it definitely helped some. My gears still seem a little flaky - got to figure out what's going on with that.
Pretty short route, but hard and fun, lots of fun!
BSM - *yesssssss*!!!
The perfect birthday eve meal. Seriously, it couldn't get any better than this. And we got to see Vee and Martin for the second time in a week! Wooooo!! We finally got around to taking Bobbie and Nami up to BSM after months of threatening to drag them there. And Daria came with us too. *so* much of fun!
So, this is among our top 10 restaurants. *ever*. Even outside of the fact that our friends own the place :) I've had midnight cravings for the nudi ravioli - seriously mindblowing! And that is the only restaurant where I tried a steak - loved it!
We started off with a li'l snack - a thin tortilla chip with a pineapple-mango-onion-something else salsa that was fabulous - a perfect starter! I can still taste it in my mouth. And then the signature Bistro San Martini - *so* tasty!
We then ordered the asparagus (Daria and I can *never* resist fresh asparagus :)) and the ravioli. And Martin brought us a plate of stuffed tomatoes - *so* yummy! And then we sampled the cucumber soup - I'm not a fan of cucumber soup - ever since I had the weird cold cucumber -puree (aka soup!) at Ray's Boathouse, I've been semi-turned off on cucumber.
I got my usual veggie-surprise entree - roasted yams, potatoes, asparagus, beans on a bed of risotto with the trademark potato chip on top - *divine*! I couldn't eat it all there, so we got it boxed, but I quickly ate up the leftovers once we got home :) Pupp and Bobbie got the scallops - I tried one and it was really tasty, I might have to try it again sometime soon. Nami got the oven roasted chicken and loved it, Daria was pretty much drooling over her food, I didn't remember what she got, Pupp says she got the lamb chops. :)
Dessert was just one piece of the decadent Naughty Chocolate Cake with a hint of cayenne - delightful! And I even got a candle :)
We love that BSM - feels like home - fabulous food, lots of love and friends all around.
So, this is among our top 10 restaurants. *ever*. Even outside of the fact that our friends own the place :) I've had midnight cravings for the nudi ravioli - seriously mindblowing! And that is the only restaurant where I tried a steak - loved it!
We started off with a li'l snack - a thin tortilla chip with a pineapple-mango-onion-something else salsa that was fabulous - a perfect starter! I can still taste it in my mouth. And then the signature Bistro San Martini - *so* tasty!
We then ordered the asparagus (Daria and I can *never* resist fresh asparagus :)) and the ravioli. And Martin brought us a plate of stuffed tomatoes - *so* yummy! And then we sampled the cucumber soup - I'm not a fan of cucumber soup - ever since I had the weird cold cucumber -puree (aka soup!) at Ray's Boathouse, I've been semi-turned off on cucumber.
I got my usual veggie-surprise entree - roasted yams, potatoes, asparagus, beans on a bed of risotto with the trademark potato chip on top - *divine*! I couldn't eat it all there, so we got it boxed, but I quickly ate up the leftovers once we got home :) Pupp and Bobbie got the scallops - I tried one and it was really tasty, I might have to try it again sometime soon. Nami got the oven roasted chicken and loved it, Daria was pretty much drooling over her food, I didn't remember what she got, Pupp says she got the lamb chops. :)
Dessert was just one piece of the decadent Naughty Chocolate Cake with a hint of cayenne - delightful! And I even got a candle :)
We love that BSM - feels like home - fabulous food, lots of love and friends all around.
Dare to believe?
We were at Obama's Seattle kickoff meeting last friday. I've never been to any political rally or event here, so it was pretty exciting. We're obviously democrat, but somewhat idealistic - we want change, we crave change, lots of positive change. We want reform - in healthcare, schools, taxes, the works. We want action on global warming, the Iraq war, the oil crisis, what not! And being an immigrant, I can't help but crave for healthy cross-nation relationships. Yes, quite idealistic :)
We were told that the event was starting at 5:30, so we ran in hoping to snag a decent spot. It was our first time at WaMu theater in Qwest Field - not a bad location. The swarm of general attendees (including us) stood in the main area in front of the stage while the pricier tickets sat farther behind on the sides. The place was quite packed, Seattle in general seems quite sympathetic towards Barack, so that wasn't surprising.
Anyway, the event started off with a welcome address and some entertainment -a little unexpected, but sounded interesting. They started off with some high energy african music and dance - really fun. The performers were pretty good, the crowd loved it! And then, this kid from Tacoma came on stage with his guitar - and started belting out some really morbid songs about death and hopelessness (?!!) - and he wasn't even a decent singer! *such* a relief when he finally went off stage!
Finally, Barack came on - very personable, warm and welcoming - guess being at your best is also made easier in such a friendly crowd! :) I was first drawn to Obama when he made that inspiring speech at the 2004 DNC. His earnestness and intensity struck a note that has seemed like a rarity for a while - I don't remember the last time that kind of sincerity resonated in a politician. I think his biggest draw is how he draws people together - seems like bringing the society and community together is the best way to actually force change - the whole "government of the people, by the people, for the people" thing. He touched all the subjects that matter to us, did not necessarily outline his path to getting there, but did deliver the message about the disparity between where we are and where we should be.
Obviously, he needs to start detailing his strategies and vision, where do we go and how do we get there. But this definitely seems like a decent start!
We were told that the event was starting at 5:30, so we ran in hoping to snag a decent spot. It was our first time at WaMu theater in Qwest Field - not a bad location. The swarm of general attendees (including us) stood in the main area in front of the stage while the pricier tickets sat farther behind on the sides. The place was quite packed, Seattle in general seems quite sympathetic towards Barack, so that wasn't surprising.
Anyway, the event started off with a welcome address and some entertainment -a little unexpected, but sounded interesting. They started off with some high energy african music and dance - really fun. The performers were pretty good, the crowd loved it! And then, this kid from Tacoma came on stage with his guitar - and started belting out some really morbid songs about death and hopelessness (?!!) - and he wasn't even a decent singer! *such* a relief when he finally went off stage!
Finally, Barack came on - very personable, warm and welcoming - guess being at your best is also made easier in such a friendly crowd! :) I was first drawn to Obama when he made that inspiring speech at the 2004 DNC. His earnestness and intensity struck a note that has seemed like a rarity for a while - I don't remember the last time that kind of sincerity resonated in a politician. I think his biggest draw is how he draws people together - seems like bringing the society and community together is the best way to actually force change - the whole "government of the people, by the people, for the people" thing. He touched all the subjects that matter to us, did not necessarily outline his path to getting there, but did deliver the message about the disparity between where we are and where we should be.
Obviously, he needs to start detailing his strategies and vision, where do we go and how do we get there. But this definitely seems like a decent start!
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