ramblings of a Seattle travel, food and photography hound
In this fifth largest city of Oregon whose major employer is Intel, among other high-tech companies, almost one fourth of the population is Hispanic. It's not surprising, therefore, that a commercial district has developed in the city's southeast portion to serve this demographic. One of the most popular Mexican restaurants is Taqueria Hermanos Ochoa's that... Continue Reading →
The rain, or more accurately the showers, had been coming down off and on starting with our visit to the Washington Park Japanese Garden. There wasn't going to be anymore walking around outside today. Before checking into our hotel in Jantzen Beach, we headed over to a popular Vietnamese restaurant in the northeast part of... Continue Reading →
Moss is your friend. At least, that's what I try to tell my friends who've been battling to remove it from their Seattle lawns. I have long since given moss full sway in my front yard rather than covering it with sod. I'm allergic to grass anyway. After many years of inattention, there is a... Continue Reading →
When chef Cheng Biao Yang, one of Seattle's luminaries of Chinese—and specifically Szechuan—cooking sold Szechuan Chef to pursue another restaurant opportunity, fans began to wonder the inevitable. Would there be a decline in quality? As the weeks went by, there began to be reports that, yes, things have started to go downhill. I used to go there... Continue Reading →
Years ago, when I worked in Renton, a group of us used to go to Bai Tong for lunch, a Thai restaurant that was located on Airport Way near SeaTac airport. The interesting backstory is that an ex-Thai Airways flight attendant wanted to make familiar foods available to the Thai Airways crew on layover in... Continue Reading →
The recent run of good weather made it ideal for us to visit a local garden and admire the springtime displays. One of the small horticultural treasures in the Seattle area is the Bellevue Botanical Garden, a stone's throw away from the Bellevue commercial district. It's a resource for gardeners and a showcase for flowers, shrubs... Continue Reading →
We celebrated a friend's birthday by taking her out to a Salvadoran restaurant. El Comal has been in Bellevue for several years running now, having moved once from its location set back in a strip mall on the eastern edge of Crossroads Shopping area to one in the same mall but closer to 106th Ave... Continue Reading →
After a throat-parching, warm day of hiking in the Cougar Mountain Regional Park, we headed straight to a Mexican restaurant for a late lunch. There were no Cinco de Mayo specials, except for a few drinks and snacks for happy hour, somewhat of a disappointment since many area Mexican restaurants were offering specials (off-menu) just for... Continue Reading →
The greater Seattle area—as a matter of fact, the entire western Pacific Northwest—has been basking in sunshine since late last week, and is expected to continue to do so through the next. I can't ever recall sunny skies with temperatures in the 70s-80s this early in May and for such an extended period. The inevitable... Continue Reading →
Soft tacos are such a popular snack in Mexico that it was inevitable that they should make an appearance across the border. This has been a relatively recent phenomenon because the Mexican restaurants of yesteryear—at least the ones I frequented in Southern California—usually served tacos with crispy, fried shells and ground beef fillings. I have to... Continue Reading →
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