About

Food and travel are my passions. For me, both broaden my perspective on the many ways in which life is lived. They let me make comparisons between what is and isn’t familiar, to be more aware of what makes us all the same and different. I live in the Seattle area in the Pacific Northwest. My experiences and outlook are profoundly shaped by the fact that I have lived on the west coast of the U.S. all my life and therefore in need of serious broadening. This is a blog on the food and travel I’ve experienced in places both near and far. I hardly consider myself a seasoned world traveler, but every trip brings me a step closer.

In these posts, I try to write down what I’ve learned about a place I’ve visited, so in that sense, the blog is not just a chronology. A few posts are just observations. A few are opinions.

A great pleasure of travel is eating the local food, a passion you’ll have no trouble figuring out. The Seattle area provides excellent opportunities to try many different kinds of ethnic food. The overwhelming majority of reviews here are of restaurants serving Asian food, admittedly my favorite (though very broad) cuisine. Regretfully, the food posts far outnumber travel ones for the simple reason that eating out happens much more often than hitting the road or hopping on an airplane.

It isn’t possible to know a place by visiting, in most cases just once. I do form impressions. The same is true of restaurants. Based on just a few dishes, I form an opinion of the kitchen.

With that, I’ve instituted a rating system that hasn’t been fully implemented throughout the site.

☆½	awful
☆☆	uninspiring
☆☆½	acceptable
☆☆☆	good
☆☆☆½	very good
☆☆☆☆	excellent

I’ve long been interested in landscape and nature photography as a hobby.

One of my favorite subjects is flowers, whose beauty and complexities make me ponder the mysteries of the universe.

I have done most of my shooting with a EOS Canon Rebel T3i, which suited my requirement for a lightweight yet capable DSLR until it finally broke. I now own a Rebel T6s. I also purchased a pocket Canon Powershot ELPH 300HS, terrific for the times I need to take snapshots in restaurants or when I don’t feel like toting my bigger camera around. Despite experts’ recommendations to the contrary, I don’t like tripods because they inhibit spontaneity and movement. I have used them though. In any case, I will likely never become a serious photographer, i.e., one whose work deserves a portfolio.

You’ll also notice in many posts one other topical interest of mine—geology, a subject in which I’ve long been interested but lack formal training. I’m always curious about the landscape and the natural history of the places I visit, what the rocks reveal, and less obviously, what great changes the planet has experienced in the past. I eagerly read interpretive panels at points-of-interest.

In my blogs, I don’t reveal my or my family’s or friends’ names for the sake of privacy. Likewise, I don’t participate in social media because I’ve never felt a need to connect digitally with “friends” in the way Facebook and Twitter is intended.

And what about the name zoomeboshi? It’s a kind of hybrid word that borrows from my name and a salted Japanese plum.

Thanks for stopping by.

Zoomeboshi