Seattle, Washington - September 14-20
We don't get to Seattle, Washington and the Great Northwest often enough to visit my sister and her family, so when the Fall Vision Meeting came to Seattle this year we jumped on the chance to get a little science education and visit the family too. September in Seattle is usually their Indian Summer, and we were lucky to have just that during our visit.
There are always many culinary adventures to be had when in my sister's presence (yes, she loves to eat and explore food as much as I do), so she wasted no time the first morning we woke up to give us her latest concoction of blended pond water for breakfast. She has taken up juicing, and I mean juicing everything- vegetables, herbs, fruit - all together, to make the most interesting blends of vitamin packed
swamp juice (she will even juice you if you stand in one place too long). Here is a photo of our first juicing adventure:
Carrots, kale, pears, ginger, apples, and I'm not quite sure what else. Delicious! We were a little apprehensive about how far we wanted to get from the W/C after we consumed all of this. Always an adventure with my sis! Not sure our digestive systems will ever be the same :o)
On our first morning, we wasted no time trekking right over to the flagship REI store to do a little shopping. Here is Pat and Rowan at the REI cafe window looking at the downtown view as we waited for our fabulous Thai lunch.
That evening we went out with the whole family to have Greek food. My sis, her hubby Don and my nephews Dustin and Jake (including one of Jake's friends from school) had a great time running through this park and, of course, being wild and crazy. You can always count on our family having fun. I am taking the photo.
My brother-in-law Don came home one day with this nifty Mini prezzy for my sister. Trouble with a capital T is all I can say. My high energy sister zipping around in this toy is a ride of a lifetime (I have the white knuckles to prove it!) :o) Too much fun!
So, one thing my sis and I LOVE to do when we get together is go for an afternoon at the Korean Spa.
Go here: http://olympusspa.net/lynnwood/index.aspx
What these fabulous Korean women do to one's body is just amazing. First we always spend at least 2 hours lounging around the various hot rooms (between 100-150 degrees), sweating all of life's nastiness out of our systems. Napping is always included. Then, we spend another hour in the steam room, sauna and various hot pools, the whole time pouring hot mugwort water over our bodies on trips between here and there. Then our own adorable little Korean woman comes to get each of us and takes us in for our body scrub, facial and all around body cleansing. Heaven is the only way I can describe it.
They scrub your whole body from head to toe at least 3 times with hot mugwort water in between. THEN, the hot olive oil, hot milk and then honey from head to toe!!! I'm serious! It makes you feel like you are the main course at a dinner party. By this time the body is like jelly and feels like the skin on a baby's butt. Then, hot towels are laid over the entire body so the oil, milk and honey penetrates the skin. When all of this is in place, the facial starts. First exfoliation, milk, honey and then cold cucumber. All of this is left for about 20-30 minutes. When my FABULOUS Korean goddess came back to unwrap me and try to get me to sit up (yeah, right!), all I could do was hug her and tell her I wanted to take her home with me.
Since adventure is never lacking in our world, my sister took me out so I could see her and her sculling group do their thing out on Lake Washington. It's really zen to watch a boat of 8 people do this thing together, all the way from getting the boats out as a team and then rowing as a team. Can you say co-op-er-a-tion?
We had our first bit of foodgasm at the Bistro Box. We jumped right on the Kobe Beef Sliders. Melt-in-your-mouth beef with a layer of goat cheese with herbs and a tomato chutney to die for! Go here for a fantastic menu: http://www.bistrobox.net/catering.html
Our next craving was for Thai: http://www.kaosamai.com/.
We both agreed that a good way to judge Thai is by having the Pad Thai first. So, here it is:
You can imagine by this time we were starting to get full. Well, we decided we just had, had, had to try two more things. First, a stop at the fabulous Air Steam kitchen of The Skillet. Heck, just the fact that the kitchen is in an Air Stream makes it a must see. http://skilletstreetfood.com/company.php
The sandwich we were about to ingest ended up being the biggest food orgasm of the day. Can you say, FRIED CHICKEN SANDWICH????
House made fried chicken (fresh out of the skillet) House made herbed ciabatta bread, fresh young raw kale in an aioli sauce. Warm, crispy, crunchy, slightly spicy and green. Perfection! Go to the The Skillet Cafe on Capitol Hill if you are ever in Seattle (or find the Air Steam on the street), you won't regret it!
Time for a family moment. This is my extremely handsome and hunky nephew, Dustin.
17 years old - can sing, dance, draw, create, lifeguard, swim, make you laugh, asks good questions, gives intelligent answers and is stronger than you think.
This is my nephew Jake. A hunk of burnin love. In college, working too. Is extremely funny, kind, compassionate and has the ability to make just about anyone his fast friend. Can't remember how many of his friends were girls, but no girl-friends :o) Go figure............he is definitely in his element in college.
So you have to wait until the next post to see the art and culture of Vashon Island. I'm such a tease :o)
Stay tuned.........it's coming in the next couple of daze.......
We don't get to Seattle, Washington and the Great Northwest often enough to visit my sister and her family, so when the Fall Vision Meeting came to Seattle this year we jumped on the chance to get a little science education and visit the family too. September in Seattle is usually their Indian Summer, and we were lucky to have just that during our visit.
There are always many culinary adventures to be had when in my sister's presence (yes, she loves to eat and explore food as much as I do), so she wasted no time the first morning we woke up to give us her latest concoction of blended pond water for breakfast. She has taken up juicing, and I mean juicing everything- vegetables, herbs, fruit - all together, to make the most interesting blends of vitamin packed
swamp juice (she will even juice you if you stand in one place too long). Here is a photo of our first juicing adventure:
Carrots, kale, pears, ginger, apples, and I'm not quite sure what else. Delicious! We were a little apprehensive about how far we wanted to get from the W/C after we consumed all of this. Always an adventure with my sis! Not sure our digestive systems will ever be the same :o)
Me and my sister Pat (you can tell we are related by the size of our chops).
On our first morning, we wasted no time trekking right over to the flagship REI store to do a little shopping. Here is Pat and Rowan at the REI cafe window looking at the downtown view as we waited for our fabulous Thai lunch.
Rowan in the hat section trying on a very ridiculous hat. Something to hit the high seas in. We had a blast trying on clothes and hats and laughing and taking photos.
That evening we went out with the whole family to have Greek food. My sis, her hubby Don and my nephews Dustin and Jake (including one of Jake's friends from school) had a great time running through this park and, of course, being wild and crazy. You can always count on our family having fun. I am taking the photo.
Here is a more refined photo of us trying to behave. Jake is the bruiser out front giving us his totally toned 20 year old stud pose. :o)
My brother-in-law Don came home one day with this nifty Mini prezzy for my sister. Trouble with a capital T is all I can say. My high energy sister zipping around in this toy is a ride of a lifetime (I have the white knuckles to prove it!) :o) Too much fun!
So, one thing my sis and I LOVE to do when we get together is go for an afternoon at the Korean Spa.
Go here: http://olympusspa.net/lynnwood/index.aspx
What these fabulous Korean women do to one's body is just amazing. First we always spend at least 2 hours lounging around the various hot rooms (between 100-150 degrees), sweating all of life's nastiness out of our systems. Napping is always included. Then, we spend another hour in the steam room, sauna and various hot pools, the whole time pouring hot mugwort water over our bodies on trips between here and there. Then our own adorable little Korean woman comes to get each of us and takes us in for our body scrub, facial and all around body cleansing. Heaven is the only way I can describe it.
They scrub your whole body from head to toe at least 3 times with hot mugwort water in between. THEN, the hot olive oil, hot milk and then honey from head to toe!!! I'm serious! It makes you feel like you are the main course at a dinner party. By this time the body is like jelly and feels like the skin on a baby's butt. Then, hot towels are laid over the entire body so the oil, milk and honey penetrates the skin. When all of this is in place, the facial starts. First exfoliation, milk, honey and then cold cucumber. All of this is left for about 20-30 minutes. When my FABULOUS Korean goddess came back to unwrap me and try to get me to sit up (yeah, right!), all I could do was hug her and tell her I wanted to take her home with me.
Here we are as we were heading in for our mind and body adjustment.
We are about well done at this point :o) HEAVEN!!
Since adventure is never lacking in our world, my sister took me out so I could see her and her sculling group do their thing out on Lake Washington. It's really zen to watch a boat of 8 people do this thing together, all the way from getting the boats out as a team and then rowing as a team. Can you say co-op-er-a-tion?
Here are Pat and Don (red and blue ball caps) as they are rowing away from the dock.
As we walked around Lake Washington we found some fabulous wildlife. Here is a great blue heron resting on a branch in a large lily pad area in a lagoon.
A turtle on a log in some sort of heat induced sun coma.
Our next adventure was to check out a Mobile Food Rodeo. Food Rodeo? Well, this gathering is like a local homemade food orgy. Hmmmmmm.....food orgy? Well, it's basically a place where a whole bunch of mobile food trucks gather (yes, the kind you see in many cities, or out in rural farmland. The ones that feed the masses with local delicious food). These folks have FANTASTIC offerings that will just blow your socks off. My sis got us earlybird tickets so we could get to the mobile food trucks an hour ahead of the big crowds. The trucks all come from Seattle and Portland, Oregon. We dropped Rowan at UW for her science meeting early this morning, so we arrived early for the event . We got a bite of breakfast at Whole Foods first and took a walk out to The Sound to get some exercise before we make pigs of ourselves at the food rodeo.
Here is the view of the sound from just north of downtown.
Mobile Food Rodeo: http://www.seattlefoodtruck.com/index.php/2011/09/2401/mobilefoodrodeo/
As we went through the entrance, in the field behind Whole Foods.
We were nearly at the front of the earlybird line so when we entered, there was really no one there.
We had our first bit of foodgasm at the Bistro Box. We jumped right on the Kobe Beef Sliders. Melt-in-your-mouth beef with a layer of goat cheese with herbs and a tomato chutney to die for! Go here for a fantastic menu: http://www.bistrobox.net/catering.html
Really, REALLY, fantastic!
We both agreed that a good way to judge Thai is by having the Pad Thai first. So, here it is:
Slurp, slurp...YUM! The chunky green chili sauce made it extra FABULOUS!
OINK!!! OINK!!! A person only needs to have one small hair size vein of smoked or grilled pork enter the nose area, and well, the brain instantly causes the human GPS system to go in the direction of that smell. The feet and head automatically turn in that direction and then it is almost like sleep walking until you are at the source of that wonderful smell. So, here we are! A WHOLE PIG HOUSE ON WHEELS!!!!! We almost passed out.
Here it is: http://www.maximus-minimus.com/
Maximus/Minimus
It's like a bed of pulled pork you can eat :o) OINK!
The sandwich we were about to ingest ended up being the biggest food orgasm of the day. Can you say, FRIED CHICKEN SANDWICH????
My sis almost lost a finger!
Animals! Sooooo darn good!
We didn't even have time to come up for air before we saw the fresh made mini donuts rolling off of the rack at Street Donuts. They sell their product exclusively on the street:
Look at these cardomom and ginger sprinkled warm drops of wonderfulness. Too good to be true! I feel like I'm going to have triplets in about 9 hours. :o) What a fantabulous, extraordinary, gastronomically adventurous and extremely delicious day. A nap is in order.
As we left the event, we noticed the huge line of people still waiting to get in. Good thing we left some food for them :o)
Time for a family moment. This is my extremely handsome and hunky nephew, Dustin.
17 years old - can sing, dance, draw, create, lifeguard, swim, make you laugh, asks good questions, gives intelligent answers and is stronger than you think.
Rowan, me and Don (not Colonel Sanders, but my brother-in-law)
One of our good friends, Anna, just moved from the mid-west to Seattle, so we made a trip out to Vashon Island by ferry to pay her a visit while we are here.
If you are familiar with this blog, you know by now I can't resist taking movies of this kind of stuff, so here is our ferry ride:
A beautiful day for a ferry ride on The Puget Sound.
So you have to wait until the next post to see the art and culture of Vashon Island. I'm such a tease :o)
Stay tuned.........it's coming in the next couple of daze.......
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