Trip to Los Angeles

A few weekends ago, Tina took Monday and Tuesday off from work, and we decided to take a trip out to the sunny city of LA.  I think it was a much-needed break for Tina, and it was great to see friends. 

We arrived Friday night, and on Saturday, Tina shot a wedding with Carol while I hung out with Laura and Andrew.  We had lunch at Porto's Bakery with Lawrence (sorry, no photo).  Then Laura took Andrew and I to the Huntington Gardens, where we saw lots of cacti, ate strange fruit, and read the Gutenberg Bible.  It was a very nice place, but it was huge and we weren't able to see it all.  I think I got enough of a feel for it to know that I'd like to go back on a future trip to LA.  For dinner, we ate with Tara at Musha Pasadena, a Japanese tapas bar that was quite delicious.  Tara was in LA for a health care conference, so the timing was perfect!  :)

Dinner with Laura and Tara at Musha.

Sunday morning, before Tara had to go back to NC, we ate at Huge Tree Pastry, which was probably my favorite meal of the trip.  It was a Taiwanese breakfast full of soy milk, "oil sticks" (you tiao), flaky pastry bread? (sao bing), scallion pancakes, sweet tofu (dou hua), and my favorite: sticky rice wraps (fan tuan).  I probably wrecked the English translations, but hopefully you get the point.  It was delicious.

Dou hua with soymilk in the background.

Fan tuan.  So tasty.

The rest of Sunday was spent at the Grammy Museum in downtown LA, followed by a meal at UMAMIcatessen, which is part of the Umami Burger chain.  The burgers were ok, but I was most impressed with their home-made ketchup.  And it's hard to go wrong with cheese tots.

On Monday, we started the day with a meal at Dorados Ceviche Bar, which had awesome ceviche.  We don't get a lot of that in NC or Seattle, so it was a good choice for a meal.  Plus I ate too many tostada chips.

The ladies at Dorados Ceviche Bar.

We then spent most of the afternoon in Santa Monica.  First at the beach, then at the Promenade.

Laura and Carol playing Laura's paddle ball game at the beach.  I think the record for the day was set by Laura and Tina, but I don't remember their score.  We spent a lot of time playing this game.  And just sitting on the beach, which was nice too.

Dinner that night was at Road to Seoul in Korea town.  All-you-can-eat Korean BBQ = amazing.  Plus, they had a pretty nice selection of meats to choose from.  Laura and I were of course distracted by the Monday Night Football game going on in the background, but it was still good to eat with Jez and his brother Philo.

All in all, a wonderful and relaxing trip.  Thanks to our wonderful friends for helping make it happen!

Snow Lake

Tina and I took a day-trip to Snow Lake for some hiking on one of her rare days off.  It was a cloudy day, and a bit chilly as well.  But the rain didn't come to ruin our day, and it was still an enjoyable hike.

We had to climb up a mountain in order to climb down to the lake.  There were some nice views on the climb up.

Our flight up the mountain made us quite warm, but as we descended down to the lake, things definitely got chilly.

Tina by the lake. :)

Dumpling Party

After Jackie and John (probably more so Jackie than John) heard about my attempt at making home-made dumplings, they (and we) insisted on having a dumpling party.  So Tina and I invited them over, they brought over Albert, and we had ourselves a party.  

Of course, we allocated different roles for different people.  I started off making and rolling the skin (my favorite part of home-made dumplings are the home-made skin).  John and Albert were assigned the role of stuffing and folding the dumplings.  Jackie is in the background prepping the filling for her wontons (which were absolutely delicious, by the way).  She ended up making a shrimp, pork, and bok choy filling, but I think what made everything so tasty was the sauce she used - a spicy chili sauce reminiscent of what they use at Din Tai Fung, with cilantro on top.  Very good.

After some time, we switched roles.  Jackie finished her filling and came to the table to help make the dumplings.  Albert switched over to skin rolling, and Tina also started to make some dumplings.

John started getting ambitious with his dumpling-making, and decided to see what types of shapes he could turn his dumplings in to.

This is what resulted.  From left to right: Dumpling Camel (or Dog?  Or some sort of animal?), Dumpling Cube, and Dumpling Pyramid.  I was impressed at his ability to manipulate the skin and make these shapes.  It wasn't an easy feat.

Final layout of the meal.  On either side were dumplings, and in the middle was bok choy (top) and the spicy wontons that Jackie made (bottom).

Needless to say, we were all very happy at the final product.  I think we were also all very impatient while taking this photo, because all we wanted to do was eat.  It takes a good amount of discipline to want to take a group photo when there's delicious food right in front of you waiting to be eaten, and you're pretty hungry because you've spent much of the evening preparing it.  It was a fun time, and I hope we get to do it again soon.  :)

Sabina Visits

Tina and I hadn't seen Sabina since we got married (3 years ago), so it was great to catch up with her.  She told us how glad she was that we were now on the West Coast and we'd be able to see each other more.  Because of Tina's schedule, we didn't have enough time to take a trip up to Vancouver, so Sabina came down to see us instead.  As you'll see by the photos below, we did a lot of eating.

We first went to Din Tai Fung in Bellevue, a famous restaurant known for its xiao long bao (soup dumplings).  Originating in Taipei, the owner brought its recipes and popularity over to America, opening two locations in LA and one in Seattle.  Was it good?  Yes, it was very good.  Was it the best I had ever had?  Not sure.  I have a feeling the original restaurant in Taipei would probably produce better xiao long bao - the ingredients are probably different, even though the recipe is the same.  But it was still great food.

Group picture with the xiao long bao.  I was surprised at how quickly everything came out, but I suppose they have to make a lot in a short amount of time to meet the demand.  We went early to beat the crowds, but I heard the wait for a table can get ridiculous during busy hours.

Tina and I with the xiao long bao and veggie dumplings.  We also got a taro-filled xiao long bao, which was as interesting as it sounds.  The filling was great, but I think I personally prefer the fluffy bao exterior over the dumpling-style skin for sweets.

Tina wanted to take a picture with the Din Tai Fung mascot.

Later that day, we went to Volunteer Park, where there was an outdoor concert going on.  Whole Foods was handing out free fruit popsicles, so we gladly accepted.  The rest of the day was spent walking around or watching episodes of Tin Tin.  

The following day, we went to the Broadway Street Farmer's Market, hoping to find some lunch there.  Instead, we decided to go to Plum Vegan Bistro, in part because Sabina prefers not to eat meat.  You can read the Yelp review I wrote, but to summarize it: it was very salty.  It's interesting how some vegan restaurants can try really hard to imitate non-vegan things, when they could probably make good food by just making food without using animal products as ingredients (they had imitation mac n cheese, ricotta cheese, vegan crepes, etc. - I think they just tried too hard).  It was good to check out a new restaurant, though.

Group photo at Plum Vegan Bistro.

Later that day, we walked to Melrose Market, where we experienced an interesting outdoor festival going on.  Then we headed to the International District, walked / shopped around for a bit, and decided to go to Spring Garden for Vietnamese food.

Group photo at Spring Garden.  Sabina and I ordered pho, which was not bad.  Tina had lemongrass beef with vermicelli, which she enjoyed.

Overall, it was a fun weekend.  The weather held up nicely, we were able to check out new restaurants, and most importantly, we got to spend some time with Sabina.  Next on the list of places to visit is Vancouver!

Portland, Oregon

Howard and Lan flew over to the West Coast to visit Portland, Oregon, and gave Tina and I a good reason to go see the city for the first time.  We spent the first day walking around the farmer's market at Portland State University, which was huge and took up much of the campus.  After eating some delicious Sin Dog Cinnamon Roll from Dave's Killer Bread and home-made biscuits from Pine State Biscuits, we decided to burn off what we ate by going for a hike around the Eagle Creek area.  It was a beautiful day for a hike, so it worked out well.

We easily became hungry again after our hike, so we checked out some of the "food pods" that were around the city.  These were just parking lots that had food trucks camped out daily (at least on the weekends).  It provided a good opportunity to try a little from one truck and a little from another, because they were all in one convenient location.

Tina at one of the food pods.  We didn't try anything from The Honey Pot, but it all looked good.

Our dinner - bits and pieces from the various food trucks.

We had to leave by noon the following day, so that only gave us time to grab brunch and walk for a bit.  We ate at Kenny & Zuke's Deli, which I enjoyed.  They had pretty good bagels and pastrami, which is what they are known for.

Group picture.

Tina ordered cheese blintzes, which were essentially crepes filled with a ricotta-like cheese topped with fruits and sour cream.  She really liked them.

Rebecca and Regina Visit

Our good friends from NC and Boston, Rebecca and Regina, came to visit en route to their family vacation to Vancouver and the Canadian National Parks.  Thankfully, both Tina and I had the day off, so we tried our best to show them around.

Regina and I are unofficially non-traveling-together travel buddies.  As in, we've seen each other in so many different places around the world, not having traveled there together.  Here is a quick rundown of those places:

Cleveland, July 2007.

Not pictured: Princeton, October 2007.

Shanghai, July 2008.

Taipei, January 2009.

Chapel Hill, July 2009.

New York, December 2009.

And now, Seattle, August 2012.

We went to Pike Place Market, and they decided to get some coffee from the original Starbucks.  I think they were pretty happy about it.  We also went to Piroshky, Piroshky, Pike Place Clam Chowder, and did some walking around.

Then we took them to Kerry Park for the nice view of the city.  This was the obligatory city skyline photo.

The circles sculpture is where their true personalities came out.

We then went to the Ballard Locks to see the salmon swimming upstream in preparation for mating season.  I think Regina was more interested in how she could look like a gargoyle or a Tim Burton character atop these interesting sculptures.  Tina was the one who told Regina to pose, but she was thinking more along the lines of this:

Close enough, I guess.

We also made it to Pho Bac in the International District for dinner.  It was good, but there was too much MSG in the soup.  It made me very thirsty afterwards.  We also took them to Molly Moon's for ice cream.  I think the Earl Grey flavor it was a hit, especially with Rebecca.  It's quite good!

Oregon Coast Surfing

John and Jackie put together a weekend trip to the Oregon coast, because they have become big fans of the area and the surfing.  They were nice enough to invite Tina and I to join them, but Tina couldn't make it.  Tina was busy at work all weekend, so I figured my time may be better spent checking out a new place.  It was a decision well-made.  A few other of John and Jackie's friends went, and it made for a good trip.

This was a beach near Gearhart, a town near Seaside, Oregon.  The beach was very close to the house we rented, and you could drive your car on the beach.  I had never driven in a car on the beach, so that was a neat experience for me.  One of John's friends who had a Land Rover let us all take his car for a ride.  It was pretty cool.

We spent the first evening out here watching the sun set.

The sun setting.

The second day was spent surfing in the frigid waters of Oregon.  It was so hot that day (90+ degrees), but the water was still freezing.  I had to wear a wet suit, but they didn't give us gloves, so my hands were numb after about 15 seconds.  I guess I got used to it after a while, but it was a huge contrast from NC beaches.  Our surf spot was at Oswald West State Park in Smuggler Cove, also known as Short Sands (I think?).  It was a cove, so there were rock cliffs on both sides of the beach, which provided excellent scenery while sitting out in the water waiting to catch a wave.  The waves weren't huge, but that was probably better, since I'm still no expert at surfing.  It was tiring and freezing, but a lot of fun.

We also stopped by Cannon Beach, with the somewhat-famous haystack rocks.  We only stopped for a few photos, though.  We were surfed out from earlier.

Mount Rainier

For our 3-year anniversary, Tina and I had some time over the weekend to visit Mt. Rainier National Park.  It was about a 2.5 hour drive, and we stayed in Packwood, WA, a nearby town.  We started our day of hiking from Paradise, which I believe is one of the more popular areas of the park because of the Paradise Inn.  We did the ~6 mile Skyline Trail Loop hike, and it was definitely worth it.  It was July, and much of the trail was still covered in snow.  However, the sun was out, which made it warm enough for us to comfortably wear t-shirts.

This photo was taken as we were climbing up towards the mountain.  A lot of the trail was covered in snow, which we weren't prepared for, but we still survived.  It made for a funner hike, especially on the way down.  Also, there were some clouds in morning, so occasionally the mountain was covered.  Luckily, there were times when the clouds would move away, so we had to take advantage of those instances for photo-taking.

We hiked up to Panorama Point, which was the highest point of the Skyline Trail.  It had some nice views, so we stopped here for lunch.

Tina wanted to take a jumping picture near the area we ate lunch.  I tried taking a couple of floating pictures, but hers turned out better.

On our way down, we found ourselves sliding down the trail, because it was hard to walk down the steeper parts.  I managed to do most of the sliding on my feet, as if I were skiing without skis.  That was probably the funnest part of the hike.   But Tina opted to sit and slide, which made her pants wet, and I don't think she had as much fun.  But I think she still had fun.

This was a nice little creek and bridge along the path.

I think this was the Reflection Lake, which provided a nice backdrop for the mountain, and was accessible along the Stevens Canyon Road.

We then went to the Grove of the Patriarchs Trail, near the Stevens Canyon Entrance.  We encountered many large trees, as seen above.  Tina wanted to nap against one.

Along the Grove of the Patriarchs Trail was Silver Falls.  The lighting was strange, so the waterfall looks super bright, sorry.  After this, we called it a day and went back to our hotel.  We were planning on hiking more the next day, but Tina got pretty sick, so we decided to head home and get rest instead.  We will definitely be back, though - the park (and mountain) is incredibly beautiful and a few days doesn't do it justice at all.

Jen & Trudy Visit (Part 2)

On July 5th, we decided to do some grilling out on our rooftop deck.  Luckily, it was not crowded at all, and enjoyed some chicken legs, grilled veggies, corn, and spam (Trudy's choice) from the top of our apartment complex.

There was fire pit, too.  But we weren't prepared well enough to make s'mores.

The next day was spent at Fremont.  Most importantly, we had lunch at Paseo.  I've said this before, but this is by far my favorite place to eat in Seattle.  It is just SO GOOD.  You wouldn't fully appreciate it until you try it.  There's no over-hyping it.  It's just that good.  We also went to Theo Chocolate, which is always fun because of all their chocolate samples.

Then we visited the Fremont Troll.  There was some zombie festival going on that day, so there were some interesting characters walking around Fremont.  If you look hard enough, you'll see one right behind me.  Jen was clearly freaked out by them.

After Fremont, we headed over to Kerry Park in Queen Anne for a nice view of the city.  And to check out some nice houses.

After Jen headed back home, we took Trudy to try (another) banh mi place - New Saigon Deli - in the International District.  I think she enjoyed it.  At least better than Seattle Deli, since her experience with their gasoline-smelling paper wasn't too pleasant.

And of course, documenting Trudy and Jen's trip to Seattle wouldn't be complete without paying respect to Molly Moon's Ice Cream.  Trudy decided that the earl grey ice cream was the best ice cream she had ever had.  In her whole life.  I was surprised by that assertion, but she liked it enough to buy a whole pint and finish it within the week she was with us.  Granted, Jen, Tina, and I helped her a little with finishing the ice cream, but still.

Unfortunately, I was not able to capture all of our food and travel escapades through our photos.  But for completeness's sake, here is a list of other highlights Trudy and Jen got to experience (by neighborhood / area).  I hope I remembered them all..

Capitol Hill:

-Volunteer Park, Capitol Hill

-Watching Bike Polo at Cal Anderson Park, Capitol Hill

-Frozen Yogurt at Yogurtland, Capitol Hill - This is Tina and I's favorite place to get dessert in Capitol Hill.  It's self-serve frozen yogurt, and their flavors are spot-on.

-Donuts at Top Pot Donuts, Capitol Hill - If you go here, try their old-fashioned donuts.  The other donuts aren't really worth trying.

-Crepes at Saley, Capitol Hill

-Korean Tacos at Marination Station, Capitol Hill

Downtown / Belltown:

-Chowder at Pike Place Chowder, Downtown (Pike Place Market) - It has pretty good chowder, and has won awards for it.

-Gum Wall at Pike Place Market

-Olympic Sculpture Park, Belltown

International District:

-Banh Mi at Seattle Deli, International District - This is Tina and I's favorite place to get banh mi (out of the.. 4 places we've tried so far in the ID).

-Garlic Chicken Wings at Hue Ky Mi Gia, International District - Unbelievably good garlic chicken wings.

Queen Anne:

-Discovery Park, Queen Anne

Lake Union / University District:

-Kayaking in Lake Union

-Biking along the Burke-Gilman Trail, University District

Ballard:

-Ballard Locks, Ballard

-Salmon Wraps and Salads at Trident Seafoods, Ballard - Surprisingly good food for a reasonable price.  Right next to the Ballard Locks.

West Seattle:

-Ice Cream at Full Tilt, West Seattle - Interesting flavors.

-Tacos at Taqueria La Fondita #2, West Seattle

Coffee:

We tried the black coffee at each of the following places, and this was (roughly) the ranking I would give them.  I think Trudy and Jen generally agreed to these rankings, with slight variations.  Note that I am no coffee connoisseur, so take it with a grain of salt.

-Caffe Vita, Capitol Hill - This ended up being a consensus favorite of all the coffee shops we tried.

-Kaladi Brothers Coffee, Capitol Hill

-Bauhaus Books & Coffee, Capitol Hill

-Espresso Vivace Roasteria, Capitol Hill

-Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Capitol Hill

-Victrola Coffee Roasters, Capitol Hill