Seattle, Days 4 and 5

Last night after our sticky rice and mango, I inquired of the others what our plans were for the morning.  Working backwards from the time that we needed to leave the hotel for the day would allow me to determine what time to get up and go for yet another run.  Unfortunately (or fortunately?) I fell asleep while they were trying to decide what time to get up, so I skipped the running and just slept in a bit.

E had gotten a breakfast recommendation for a place called Toulouse Petit, which just happened to be across the street from our hotel, and boy was that a good idea!  Happy hour for breakfast!  E and I each had a Katie-Mae, which was a positively delightful a.m. concoction made from Fris vodka, St. Germain, grapefruit juice, and prosecco.  Another?  Yes, please!  (Actually, not really.  But it sounds awfully good right now.)

We all four shared a plate of beignets, which were not as good as mom's, but a solid effort.  I think their oil was a little too hot.  For my main meal, I had a classic egg breakfast, but instead of potatoes (which were darn tasty; I had some of E's) and toast, I had a plate-sized pancake.

After breakfast we needed a little break to laze at hotel, then walked down to the Olympic Sculpture Park, which was very near our hotel.  From there, we caught the bus to Chinatown and the International District.  There were plenty of restaurants and the most enormous Chinese/international market/food court I had ever seen, but because we had just eaten such a scrumptious breakfast, nobody was hungry for lunch.

 

The train left the dock and rolled through town while we were waiting for our bus.

Our back-up plan was to meander over to Pioneer Square, but along the way, we were sidetracked by the Last Resort Fire Department's collection of old fire engines.

Check out the license plate: "horseless carriage." I love it!

The Blue Angels were all over the sky that week, sometimes singly, sometimes in packs.

Someone on the sidewalk pointed us toward the art/craft fair at Pioneer Square, where E got a lovely gold bracelet, and there were lots of other goodies.  I even got a few ideas in case I'm every feeling particularly crafty and adventurous!

K was amused by the "Honey Bucket" port-a-potty!

I managed to squeeze in a short run when we got back tot he hotel, and snacked on last night's cupcakes before another hour or two spent at Caffe Ladro doing some reading and enjoying their refreshing iced tea.

We had just enough time before dinner to take a spin around the Space Needle, and - touristy though it may be - the views were amazing!

Mount Rainier in the background.

People doing yoga in the park at Seattle Center!

Lake Union

Between the railroad tracks and where that ship is docked is my running path.

Sailboats and cargo ships.

Dinner this night was our big outing.  We met up with our cousin S and her husband L at the Dahlia Lounge, another recommendation from E's friend, and one of the many restaurants run by famous Seattle chef Tom Douglas. Between the six of us, I can conservatively say we ate enough food for half again that many people.  Conservatively.  It was great! For my part, I shared L's appetizer of potstickers, as well as had my own of beef brisket.  The entree portion of my gluttonous fabulousness was a pork chop with lots of garlic, and dessert was a cherry almond tart.  Oh, and fresh-made doughnuts.  Lots and lots and lots of food.  It was shameful, but not so bad I can't write about it! And delicious!

Dinner was late (8:30), so by the time we left the restaurant at 11, it was straight back to the hotel for bed.

And I wish I had more to say about day 5, but it went like this: run down to the fishing pier (it was overcast and "spitting" [as L says] for the first couple minutes of my run, but then stopped); eat breakfast at the hotel; shower; pack; ride to the airport.  Not too interesting.

Seattle, Day 3

Knowing I needed to stay in shape, I started out another day with a jog along the Elliott Bay Trail.  I was impressed with a couple of things: 1. I went running two days in a row; 2. the weather was lovely again; 3. The day before, it looked like someone had recently broken some of the glass coverings over the lights that line the trail (there was still glass on the ground, and yellow caution tape).  But by the next day, the lights were fixed and all the glass had been cleaned up!  True, they could have been broken weeks before and I would have no way of knowing, but I got the sense that whomever it is that's responsible for taking care of the parks was really on their game.

Our big activity for the day was a trip out to Bainbridge Island, for some shopping and generally relaxed living.  Seeing as how Bainbridge Island is, well, an island, the easiest way to make the trip is by ferry. It was an easy ride, probably about 30 minutes, but it was awfully cold and windy up near the bow.

 

 

Qwest and Safeco Fields

Along the way, though, I saw Hephaestus going back out to sea!  More accurately, I think it was actually anchored in the bay waiting to be reloaded.  But still, it was kind of fun to follow this one ship through the process of docking, unloading, and reloading.

When we arrived in Bainbridge, we began our shopping with a plan: up one side of the street, eat lunch, back down the other.  Our first stop was a kitchen store called The Berry Patch, then next door to a little boutique called Blinx, where I got two rings.  Mom had a ball in Churchmouse Yarns & Teas, while K and I enjoyed the paper products and home furnishings in Dana's Home Store.  E and I then ventured over to Sweet Deal, where I found the perfect shirt for her (a Porky Pig t-shirt that said "Vegetarians do it better," except that it was a little big.  I also managed to score a totally wild necklace for myself.

The huge lilies that greeted us

On the way down to Doc's for lunch

Lunch was at Doc's Marina Grill.  The menu was a mishmash of all types of food from Cajun to Greek; I opted for something with at least a mildly local flavor: lobster mac and cheese with a Spire Mountain cider.  It was a good choice.

After lunch we began our return trip to the ferry with a stop at a little store I can't remember the name of, but where I got a super-cute new hat.  Predictably, we found mom at the Eagle Harbor Book Company, and we met up with E again at Mora for some ice cream.  I had a scoop of dark chocolate and a scoop of peppermint, and it was so refreshing!

The end of our trip was a tad disappointing.  We tried to go to the Bainbridge Historical Museum, which had a small exhibit of Ansel Adams photographs called "A Portrait of Manzanar."  Unfortunately, we arrived at 3:45 and the exhibit closed at 4:00, so we just called it a day and headed for the ferry.

From the monorail, we had to walk through a park called Seattle Center in order to get to our hotel, and all week we had been looking at the flags for various events: CroatiaFest, TibetFest, TurkFest, Seattle Bites (a celebration of food), the Seattle International Film Festival.  K spoke up to make us feel better: "Well, we didn't miss every cultural event. We made Fleet Week!"

We also learned what it takes to be a hero.

I met up with  my friend M for sushi at Blue C in the U-Village.  While we were waiting for our table, we wandered across the street to shop at The Confectionary, and I nabbed some delicious sour peaches and Mariner-themed malted milk balls.  When it was time for dinner, I discovered that Blue C is a conveyor belt-style restaurant, and it was the first one like that that I had been to.  How fun!  Whenever you want something, just grab it off the belt!

For dessert, we tried to get doughnuts at Top Pot, but unfortunately they were closed.  So we opted for the next best thing: cupcakes!  (According to E, cupcakes are the most efficient vehicle for getting icing to your mouth.  And you have a good cake-to-icing ratio.)  M steered us to Cupcake Royale, where I got snacks to take home: a Kate, a Lemon Drop, a Salted Caramel, and a Coconut.

I got home to discover, however, that K and Mom also brought home dessert: sticky rice and mango!  So we ate that and saved the cupcakes for the next day.

Seattle, Day 2

I started out my day with a - wait for it - jog!  From our hotel, it was a quick jaunt down the hill to the Elliott Bay Trail.  I ran for about 40 minutes, which is about 40 minutes farther than I'd had run to that point this calendar year.  I'd call it a success, although walking down hill (which there are many of in Seattle) or stairs did become a bit of a challenge for my sore muscles.

The park and trail were so very Seattle, though.  It's organically-maintained, and has separate biking and running paths, which is a wonderful thing!  There is a lovely and delightfully delicious-smelling rose garden that I ran past as well.  Almost at my turning around point, I came upon the Hephaestus, which was sitting in port being unloaded.  The flag on the Hephaestus (in Greek, the god of craftsmen and artisans) was Moldova, and I have to say that I was pretty sure Moldova was one of those European postage stamp countries that only exist in the movies to be made fun of.  Turns out (at least according to Wikipedia, and it knows everything) that Moldova is in fact a real place. Who knew?  Either that, or someone has taken a practical joke very far.

We braved the bus system (which was actually fairly easy to figure out) on our way to the Pike Place Market.  K and I had skirted the edge of the market when we got lunch the day before, but what we saw was nothing compared to the bustling crowds doing their shopping and gawking on this morning. 

In the heart of Starbucks Country

Wait...I thought we had left St. Louis?

The beautiful market flowers

I don't think I've ever actually seen fresh garlic spears for sale about them before.  They were an urban food myth until this day!

Ha! I know the feeli...

I stopped at a produce stand and got a delicious mango which we all shared.  Mango = delicious.  As K and I were leaving the market stalls to have lunch, Mom said, "Hey, there are some cute chicks!"  K and I both turned around to see whom she was talking about, before we realized it was us!  K said "Oh! I was unclear whether we were looking for girls or chickens. Because in a place like this, you never know."

Really?  Does it get much cuter than that?

E's ideal yard art

We had lunch at a place called Matt's in the Market, which had been recommended by a friend of E's'.  I had a delightful pulled pork sandwich, although there was a little too much liquid in the sauce; the bread basically dissolved.

So, we're sitting there having lunch, and out the window behind K I see a warship passing by the market, headed into port.  A little courtesy of the all-knowing answer box informed us that it was the USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), which was in town for Seattle's version of Fleet Week, Seattle Seafair.

After lunch, we wandered through a bit more of the market, and we made certain to stop and see the fishmongers throwing fish.

See that flying silver thing?  That's a fish.

I spent the afternoon at Caffe Ladro drinking iced tea in the lovely sun, catching up on a few e-mails and some reading while everyone else napped.

That night, we ventured down to Safeco Field to see the Mariners host the A's (T: "Sorry, but both those teams suck.")  While that may be true, it was an interesting game, dubbed "a night of odd happenings" by the Seattle Times.

First inning...

 Lots of empty seats.

And lots of hot dog...hats.

Oh, and I caught a foul ball!  Well, I didn't so much catch it as I watched it bounce through three other people's hands and land at my feet.  But whatever.  I caught a foul ball.

When the team stinks, you've got to entertain the crowd somehow.

E and I rather enjoyed keeping tabs on the Cardinals' game

...Ninth inning

The weather was lovely the whole evening, probably about 75 degrees when they closed the roof at the end of the game.  And the Mariners won!

Seattle, Day 1

After a very early departure from St. Louis this morning, K and I arrived in Seattle at almost exactly the same moment.  We both had layovers in Denver too, but unfortunately we were in different terminals.

It was going to be a few hours before mom and E arrived, so we headed into town for lunch at Pike Place Bar and Grill.  I had the lunch special, which was a blackened Cajun burger with blue cheese and bacon.  It was awfully good, but I was so hungry that I bet shoe leather would have tasted pretty good.

After we were sufficiently sated (K not only cleaned her plate, but also ate all my leftover french fries), we motored off to the hotel to drop our bags, then back to the monorail station to pick up mom and E.

The Space Needle, right near the monorail station

After depositing their baggage, we made the long walk to Elliott Bay Books (and though she tripped over her shoes many times, K managed to never fall down).  We're all book people, and Elliott Bay is a famous shop.  They recently relocated from their previous location, which I never visited.  According to C, though, it was a charming space cobbled together over time.  Their new location has lost some of that, but it is bright and very open, and really quite lovely.

The Paramount Theater, originally built in 1928, which we passed by on our way to Elliott Bay

It's a bad picture, but I just had to post it!

C recommended "a great little restaurant a few doors down from Elliott Bay" for dinner, and when I saw Oddfellows, I knew that was what he was talking about.

My dinner consisted of a very lemony summer squash soup with Dungeness crab (a staple on every Seattle restaurant menu), and the "something chocolate," which that night was a rather large pot de creme, which mom helped me finish.

 E's dinner: watermelon salad and sauteed greens

 Mom's asparagus with poached egg

K had a veritable pupu platter of meats, cheese, and anchovies (which were left uneaten), but my picture of the lovely array didn't turn out, and I'm pretty sure K would have poked out my eye with a fork if I made her wait any longer to eat.  Alas, no picture.

After our long day of travel we were all pretty beat, so we tromped back to the hotel, and that was it for the night.

The Song I'm Loving Today

Wanna Take You Home (Gloriana)

This song is a perfect example of guilty pleasure, country music style.  It has a cute band - the lead singer has a Billy Currington-esque mop of curls; the male backup vocalist has Gary Levox's frosted blond tips; there's a hot brunette who can sing, and an blonde cutie who appears to be channeling Julianne Hough.  Singing together, they're working on some Little Big Town harmonies.

Of course, we shan't overlook the significance of cowboy boots, nor the image of lots of girls doing lots of booty-shakin' in very short denim shorts, straight out of one of Brooks and Dunn's goofiest and most fun videos, "Play Something Country."  And for what it's worth, this one's got a pretty catchy beat in its own right. Oh, and of course there's an old man in a rocker.

However, let's not for a moment think this is high quality stuff.  It's basically the Danielle Steele of the lyrical world.  But fun.

I know absolutely nothing about Gloriana.  This is the first song of theirs that I think I've ever heard (and that happened only a few days ago on the radio), although their first and only studio album came out in 2009.



Well I've been watching you girl,
The way you move, got the room on fire.
Oh yeah, rock my world,
Wanna take you home with me.

Well I ain't lettin' you go
Home with a boy who don't deserve you.
Oh yeah, baby don't say no,
I wanna take you home with me.

You should never be lonely (lonely),
You're the best that I've ever seen.

I wanna take you back to my place,
You can do your dance on the kitchen floor.
I wanna hear your boots knockin' down that hallway,
Right on through that bedroom door.
I wanna lay you down next to me (next to me)
I wanna ease your mind, maybe set you free.
Can't you see?  I wanna take you home with me.

Oh my, time does fly,
Two a.m. and the bar is closing.
Are we saying goodbye,
Or are you coming home with me?

You should never be lonely (lonely),
You're the best that I've ever seen.

I wanna take you back to my place,
You can do your dance on the kitchen floor.
I wanna hear your boots knockin' down that hallway,
Right on through that bedroom door.
I wanna lay you down next to me (next to me)
I wanna ease your mind, maybe set you free.
Can't you see?  I wanna take you home with me.

Lay your body next to me, all your troubles up and leave.
Ease my mind and set me free, c'mon, c'mon.

Lay your body next to me, all your troubles up and leave.
Ease my mind and set me free, c'mon, c'mon.
Baby stay with me tonight, hug and squeeze and hold me tight,
Kiss your face in the morning light, c'mon, c'mon.

I wanna take you back to my place,
You can do your dance on the kitchen floor.
I wanna hear your boots knockin' down that hallway,
Right on through that bedroom door.
I wanna lay you down next to me (next to me)
I wanna ease your mind, maybe set you free.
Can't you see?  I wanna take you home with me.

Lay your body next to me, all your troubles up and leave.
Ease my mind and set me free, c'mon, c'mon.

Journey!

I have been going to a crazy number of concerts lately, and while they weren't all one right after another they are ending up that way on the blog just because I've been so busy!

T's and my attendance at the Journey concert was originally intended to be an easy, relaxing evening after a couple of tough days.  And it actually ended up being that, though for different reasons than originally planned.  For starters, I was the one who had had the tough days, although I probably didn't make them very easy on T either.  And second, the original plan had been to get there at a reasonable time, camp out on a blanket, and just listen.

But I was having a little trouble (okay, a lot of trouble) dragging myself out of bed, so we got there late, the place was packed, and we ended up standing the whole time, leaning against the fence all the way at the back of the amphitheater.  But that was okay too, because there was a nice breeze up there!

T says it was so crowded not because they sold more tickets to this concert than they usually do, but because all the fans just take up a lot more space than the teenagers and twenty-somethings who are at most of the concerts I go to!

The sad news is that, due to my troubles, we missed all of Night Ranger.  We caught maybe 5 or 6 Foreigner songs, of which I think I knew two: "Hot Blooded" and "Feels Like the First Time."  Then came Journey, and all the forty-somethings went crazy!

Luckily, we had stopped for snow cones on the way in, which (along with the breeze) helped keep us cool while we were watching the show.

Journey has been through several frontmen since Steve Perry departed a dozen years ago.  The current iteration of the band includes Filipino-born singer Arnel Pidena, and honestly, he's pretty darn good!  He wasn't quite Steve, but he was close enough for a bunch of drunk concert-goers for sure.

Journey played a short set, and the second half was really the better half; the set list (for all three bands) is available here.  And even though there were a number of songs I didn't know, it actually worked out well, since what I was going for was an easy night out.

Keb' Mo'

On a random Thursday a couple weeks ago, I got an e-mail from a girl I know that Keb' Mo' was going to be playing at Celebrate St. Louis (formerly Live on the Levee, which I think is a better name) the following night!

It was steamin' hot (as it has been every day in St. Louis for the last 700 years), but T and I trekked downtown with a cooler full of cold water.  That's it.  Cold water.  It was too freakin' hot for anything else.  But somehow, melting in the heat seemed appropriate, given that we were sitting there listening to some old school blues.

It was a predictably mellow show, but a nice ending to a busy week.

The Song I'm Loving Today

Tomorrow (Avril Lavigne)

We all know I've been having an inexplicable love affair with Avril Lavigne for many years now.

Despite a few rough notes near the beginning of the song (she sorts it out by about the halfway point), the live version I posted below of the song is my favorite.  It's slow and acoustic and she has a sense of isolation about her, nearly alone on that huge stage in front of the crowd.  It fits the song well.  The first link at the beginning of the post is to the album version, and there are a number of other live versions online (like this one, which is somewhere between my fave and the official - more instruments, but not an angry raging band).

And I want to believe you when you tell me that it'll be okay,
Yeah, I try to believe you,
But I don't.

When you say that it's gonna be
It always turns out to be a different way.
I try to believe you,
Not today, today, today, today, today.

And I, I don't know how I'll feel,
Tomorrow, tomorrow.
And I, I don't know what to say,
Tomorrow, tomorrow is a different day.

It's always been up to you,
It's turning around, it's up to me.
I'm gonna do what I have to do,
Just don't....

Gimme a little time,
C'mon and leave me alone a little while.
Maybe it's not too late.
Not today, today, today, today, today.

Oh, and I, I don't how I'll feel
Tomorrow, tomorrow.
And I, I don't know what to say,
Tomorrow, tomorrow is a different day.

Hey yeah, yeah.  Hey yeah, yeah, and I know I'm not ready.
Hey yeah, yeah.  Hey yeah, yeah, maybe tomorrow.

Hey yeah, yeah.  Hey yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.  I'm not ready.
Hey yeah, yeah.  Hey yeah, yeah, maybe tomorrow.

And I want to believe you,
When you tell me that it'll be okay.
Yeah, I try to believe you,
Not today, today, today, today, today.

Oh, yeah.  Tomorrow it may change.  It may be a better day.
Tomorrow it may change.

I can't believe it really worked.

Jalapenos and contact lenses do not mix.

I was making salsa with a jalapeno in it the other night, and of course I don't have any rubber gloves, so I got some jalapeno oil on my hands.  No big deal, just be careful what you touch, scrub, scrub, scrub, and it's all good.  I even took my contacts out that night with no problem.

But holy hell, when I tried to put them back in the next morning, did it burn like crazy.  Well, actually, only one of them did.  The right one was fine, but the left one was on fire.  I managed to pull it out, and, not knowing what else to do with it, I put it in the case.  Since I was going to have to wear my glasses anyway, I then proceeded to take the right one out.

I wore my glasses all day while pondering the options for my contacts.  The people at the eye doctor said to throw them out and move on to the next pair.  All well and good if you have dailies or weeklies, but mine aren't disposable, and they're expensive.

I decided to get creative.  I reasoned that I could try things out, and if they didn't work, it didn't matter, because the contacts were ruined anyway.  Plan A: what do you drink with spicy food when you need to cool it off?  Milk.  So that night, I poured a teeny dish of milk and put the offending lens in it to soak.  And by god, it worked!  The next morning, I rinsed the lens and put it in with no problem!

It was the other one that was the problem now; it had gone in sting-free the morning before, but when I took it out, it appears that I transferred the jalapeno oil from one lens to the other.  So in it went to the milk bath for six hours or so, and voila!  Like new!