ramblings of a Seattle travel, food and photography hound
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 →
For a native Northwest coast mollusk, the banana slug is only spotted in the wild, it seems to me, vastly outnumbered in urban Seattle settings by the black and red slugs. The only times I've seen the bananas recently have been on forest trails where they are clearly visible as they cross your path. Yellowish in color, often... 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 →
There seem to be more butterflies this year, a result of our mild winter and warm spring perhaps. I was recently taking a photograph of a common foxglove plant (Digitalis purpurea) in the Cougar Mountain Regional Park when a tiger swallowtail suddenly appeared.
My mother used to make this dish using only chicken. The sauce is an intriguing combination of miso and umeboshi (pickled Japanese plum). Because it's a steamed dish, it uses no vegetable oil for cooking, only a splash of toasted sesame oil at the end. I've changed the recipe years ago to include tofu and vegetables. The main character of the... 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 →
zoomeboshi 