ramblings of a Seattle travel, food and photography hound
Bacon tastes good with almost anything. By itself, bok choy is pretty bland, almost grassy in taste. While my wife loves the stuff, I find its sole redeeming feature is its crunchiness when not overcooked. Could the addition of bacon improve things? This recipe, prepared by Ronnie E., a friend of my wife's family, convinced... Continue Reading →
For my money, the best soft tacos in Bellevue are served at El Maestro del Taco. La Cocina del Puerco served terrific ones too but the restaurant closed a few years ago. Cocina was a sit-down restaurant, while Maestro is a food truck that also sells tortas, cemitas, sopes, quesadillas and a carne asada plate... Continue Reading →
Crispy salted chicken (yan su ji) is so popular at Taiwanese night markets that it's doubtful there are stalls that don't serve it. Served as a snack, chicken pieces are cut up into nuggets and normally double-fried. They get their distinctiveness from a subtle five-spice flavor, batter of sweet potato flour and fried Thai basil leaves that accompany them. So, it was with... Continue Reading →
On the Eastside, I Love Sushi is one place to get good sushi. While the chefs may not bask in the fame of the big names in Seattle, they quietly go about their business of making praiseworthy sushi which reflects extensive training in Japan, a rarity in this age of cookie-cutter sushiya. There are two locations, one on Lake Union in... Continue Reading →
My lunch excursion started out as a drive to I Love Sushi for a bowl of their terrific nabeyaki udon, but alas the restaurant (and every other place in the lot) was gone—demolished because of new construction, presumably another high-rise project, having met the same fate as other strip malls in the valuable downtown Bellevue real estate market. (I later... Continue Reading →
It's a welcome shift in the industry that more burgerias are starting to offer grass-fed beef on their menus. I've been on the lookout for grass-fed beef burgers. I haven't found an outstanding one yet. It isn't that grass-fed beef doesn't taste good. I've used Costco's organic GFB in meat loaves with wonderful results. At the Issaquah Farmers Market over... Continue Reading →
Eight-petaled flowers are rare, so it was a mild surprise to see plantings of Crowned Beggarticks (Bidens trichosperma) near the Museum of History and Industry. The button (or disc) in the flower's center is just beginning to blossom, ringed by a "crown" of eight pistil-like structures to mimic the number of petals and each aligned with... Continue Reading →
I was stopped in my tracks when I saw this thistle-like plant, cultivated in a garden outside Seattle's Museum of History and Industry. What makes it unusual is the intense purplish-blue color of not only the blossom but the spiky leaves surrounding it. My guess is that it's a false blue thistle. Regardless, the plants were... Continue Reading →
When Amazon moved its headquarters from the imposing, ex-VA hospital building atop Beacon Hill to the soon-to-be industrial park at the southern end of Lake Union, it dramatically changed the economy and redevelopment of a section of town that had been characterized by light industry, small businesses and warehouses. Not only do employees of Amazon now work... Continue Reading →
How many colors can a drake have? Judging by this one, whose photo was taken at Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park in Renton, quite a few. If the ladies are attracted to colorful decoration, this guy is a stud.
zoomeboshi 