ramblings of a Seattle travel, food and photography hound
From the outside, you would never guess what the inside is like. Curtains are perpetually drawn over windows on the storefront that's half sheathed in plywood, half in brick, milk chocolate in color. There is likewise no indication that a restaurant occupies the space, let alone a Thai one. A small sign written in Thai and two elephant statues on the... Continue Reading →
Hillary Clinton will not pick Bernie Sanders as her running mate at the Democratic National Convention, but the pair of Bernie O'Malley and Hilary (one "L") Emmer have teamed together and were named Vashon Island's unofficial mayors for the 2016-17 term. Done obviously in fun, they capitalized on their 'name recognition' to run for the unofficial office and... Continue Reading →
I think it's fair to say that the ramen craze in the Seattle area started not in Seattle, but on the Eastside, on the other side of Lake Washington. Sure, there were several restaurants that served ramen before Kukai (now Kizuki) opened its doors in Bellevue, preceding the arrival of Jinya and Santouka within months of each other,... Continue Reading →
It was a year ago almost to the day that my wife declared the fish and chips served by Nosh as the best ever she's had in the States. When I sampled the fish, I couldn't have agreed more. The thing is, Nosh is a food truck and the venue was the Crossroads Food Truck Snackdown. Since... Continue Reading →
California is a really long state. In the north-south direction, drivers traditionally traverse the state on either U.S. 101 or Interstate 5. Highway 101 is more picturesque, going through seaside towns and redwood forests and boasting gorgeous coastal scenery and mild weather. It's also slower. Travelers wanting to make haste take I-5, but south past Redding the penalty... Continue Reading →
What did Stonehenge look like when it was erected thousands of years ago, in the Salisbury Plain of Wiltshire, England? Dedicated as a World War I memorial for 13 fallen local soldiers, the Stonehenge in Goldendale, Washington, is a replica in size and form of the original, as far as experts knew back then when the altar stone was laid in... Continue Reading →
Nestled against the hills of Lincoln Heights, my wife's old stomping grounds, is Mom's Tamales, considered one of the best tamalerias in Los Angeles. Recipe handed down from grandmother, to mother and and now to current owner, the tamales are so popular that any of the six on the menu may be unavailable at any time because customers may have... Continue Reading →
Through the hilly neighborhood of Highland Park just west of the Arroyo Seco runs York Boulevard, the neighborhood's main commercial thoroughfare. It supports not one, but two supermarkets, within blocks of each other, that serve the mostly Latino community. When my daughter lived in New Zealand, she rued that she couldn't get Mexican products readily (or inexpensively). In Christchurch, there was... Continue Reading →
One of the best—if not the best—reasons for eating in Los Angeles' sizable Koreatown is the opportunity to taste specialties not on standard Korean menus. For instance, take kalgooksoo (or kalguksu), a noodle soup similar to Japanese udon with its thick wheat-based noodles in a rich broth. Hangari Bajirak Kalgooksoo specializes in it, so highly regarded that a wait... Continue Reading →
We were en route to Los Temos Taqueria in Salem, Oregon, when we saw them. Blooming in the fields were millions of irises laid out in swaths of almost every color imaginable. If it weren't for the season, we would never have noticed, as we hadn't in all our previous drive-bys. But, there they were in all... Continue Reading →
zoomeboshi 