Bite of Seattle 2013 & Olympic Sculpture Park, plus some Chihuly

This weekend is the bite of Seattle. Naturally this means I’m quite excited and had to partake in the festivities. Twice. Once on Friday and once on Saturday. I highly recommend going to the Bite of Seattle, or any other “bite” type activity you have in your area, as it’s a great way to enjoy a variety of foods from the area at a reasonable price. In my case I went to “the alley“, which is the event’s largest fundraiser, donating the money to Food Lifeline, a local charity. The menu is different on all 3 days, so I posted a link to it above (“the alley” link) but I’ll explain as I show you the food below. But first, the Space Needle. You can also see the fountain spraying water below the Space Needle, which is a fun attraction especially for children as they try to run away before they get wet.

Friday:

From the yellow rice, clockwise, and then the middle:

Far-Eats: Tender chicken morsels simmered in an aromatic sauce with herbs & spices then slowly baked with basmati rice until flavors blend
Dahlia Lounge: Ginger pork salad with blueberries, mint and chilies
O’Asian Kitchen and Lounge: Baked Barbecue Pork Pastry
Purple Cafe: Summer Quinoa Salad
Din Tai Fung: Veggie & pork wonton with spicy sauce
Yippie-Pie-Yay: Peach-Bourbon Hand Pie
Belltown Pub: Chicken & Seafood Gumbo

I really liked everything, except for the Belltown Pub’s gumbo. However, if you like extremely smoky flavors, you might have liked it. My favorite was the Dahlia Lounge’s ginger pork – it was amazing. Another favorite was the wonton from Din Tai Fung. Fortunately, the wonton was served on both days that I visited.

Saturday:

From the bun, clockwise:

Local 360: Root beer glazed pork belly
Palace Kitchen: Slow cooked brisket, blueberry BBQ, sweet corn pudding & blueberry pickles
O’Asian Kitchen and Lounge: Baked Barbecue Pork Pastry
PinkaBella Cupcakes: Root beer float cupcake
Din Tai Fung: Veggie & pork wonton with spicy sauce
Shanik: Roasted spiced eggplant, squash & tomatoes with crispy wheat flatbread
Salty’s on Alki: Fresh Oregon BayShrimp Cocktail with marinated local vegetable slaw finished with a house-made cocktail

The brisket was amazing, (and of course blueberries are my favorite food) and the shrimp cocktail and spiced veggies on flatbread were respectively fresh and nicely seasoned. The root beer float cupcake was delicious, though very heavy on the frosting, to the point that it fell over in my corn. But it was still good!

After we left the bite we walked around the area, and ended up at the Olympic sculpture park where there were a few interesting pieces that I hadn’t seen before, and a few I think I just haven’t taken a close look at before. We also wandered by a new Chihuly piece which was visible from the walkway. They reminded me of Dr. Suess flowers.

Metal tree!

Eyeball chair! As demonstrated by lady with stroller.

The infamous naked fountain, though the other figure is obscured by water.

I’m told that this sculpture is fashioned after an old-timey eraser with a brush on the end. I thought it was some kind of sea creature…

Temporary art installation:

And the flowers.

Post and photos by: Melissa

Orlando Adventure days 3&4: Disney World, a diner, and the rest

We woke up early(ish) Sunday morning to get ready for Disney World. I’ve been to Disneyland, but never Disney World and I was pretty excited. I felt lucky to live in a place at least semi-close to such a popular tourist destination, if not in the actual BIG CITY. We stopped to get ready in the morning by picking up some Subway sandwiches, snacks and smart water from Target, and we were on our way!

Disney cast spotting (Johnny Depp impersonator/Jack Sparrow, making some great faces):

And of course, Aladdin and Jasmine (making great faces as well):

I had also not been on the It’s A Small World ride. What I learned from the ride:

Goats are all around the world.

Owls are universally adorable.

And lastly, I’ll close the Disney World section with the iconic castle:

The next morning, we started out with breakfast at 5 & Diner. I had the breakfast sandwich on an English muffin and HOME FRIES. SO good. I have been absolutely in love with home fries since having them at a continental breakfast in a hotel on my road trip. These were even better, of course.

We went out to walk around Orlando again after breakfast, and ended up eating at a Latin place downtown where a lot of business people tend to eat lunch, called Latin Square Cuisine. I had the pulled pork plate with a side of yellow rice and red beans. I wanted to try the potatoes as my side, but they had run out! It was a very popular place.

The pork was really tender and garlicky, and you can tell you get SO MUCH of your side choices. They were good too but there was no way I was going to finish all that. It’s a very good value and a quick place to stop for lunch.

Lastly, we stopped at Whole Foods before heading back to the house (and me having to make the long drive home) and I picked up some more macarons. I don’t have a Whole Foods in my area, and I was excited to try them. Normally I wouldn’t buy so many, but they were pre-packaged and so worth it.

The rosy-colored one is raspberry and pretty much that and the green one (though I can’t place its flavor) are my favorites. If you have a Whole Foods near you and like macarons or just want to give them a try, pick some up. 🙂

This concludes my Orlando mini-vacation recap. Hope you enjoyed. Did you go anywhere over the 3 day weekend? I was glad I could get out of town for a while.

Photos by: Melissa
Post by: Melissa

road trip day five

We started off from South Sioux City today, leaving behind the lovely Marina Conference Center. It was a little hard to leave behind because it was so comfy, but fortunately we had vouchers for a free breakfast in their restaurant. I snapped a picture of the menu… I had the farmer’s breakfast with bacon and my mom had the banana nut French toast. We were both very full when we finished breakfast. Then we headed off toward Kansas City, Missouri.

 

We got into town later than we planned and settled into our charming room in the 1812 Bed & Breakfast. I took lots of pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the pictures didn’t turn out due to POOR LIGHTING. After we got settled we headed to dinner at Fiorella’s Jack Stack BBQ for some barbecue. We had the baby back rib, beef and ham plate and it was delicious. Our sides were bread, cheesy corn, a veggie kabob and baked beans.

 

 

 

 

We headed out to a park but it started raining so we went to the Plaza shopping center downtown which housed a variety of stores including my favorites (free people, anthropologie and urban outfitters). It also included a movie theater, restaurants and many sculptures. I really liked shopping there because everyone was dressed up. Very fun times.

 

After shopping we came back to the b&b and I hoped to get settled and go to sleep but this night was pretty much the worst so far and extremely frustrating. Through no fault of the place we are staying. *sigh*

Post by: Melissa
Photos by: Melissa

Bite of Seattle 2012 (Saturday)

I went to Bite of Seattle today with my mom. I haven’t been there in several years, but today was sunny and I had lots of fun. There were performances on stage:

Initially we looked around…

Then we headed over to the Alley and the wine tasting. The Alley is a $10 donation to food lifeline (per plate) that gets you food from 7 restaurants. We also shared in one wine tasting for the $12 happy hour price, which included 5 tastings and a commemorative glass.

Here is the plate of food:

The food includes (according to Saturday’s Alley menu):

Palace Kitchen: Flat iron steak with tomato salad and blueberry vinaigrette (bottom middle)

Al Boccalino: Bruchetta con la muffoletta (bottom right)

Belltown Pub: Semmelknoedel – German bread dumplings made with rye bread, parsley, onions and garlic (middle)

Salty’s: Mini salmon brat with fennel sauerkraut and Walla Walla onion mustard served in a house made Brioche bun (bottom left)

Fremont Fire Pit: Pulled Pork sliders (top right)

Din Tai Fung: Taiwan’s famous, hand-made, steamed pork dumplings filled with soup (top middle)

Pinkabella Cupcakes: Strawberry mini cupcake (top left)

We got the food from these  food stands:

More to come (ran out of time) on the non-food side of things, and more on the seeing-Seattle side of things!

We also enjoyed some free samples (of many random things like sweeteners, etc.) There was also a free So Delicious brand fudgesicle-type dessert made from coconut milk and free applesauce and peanut butter. We also tried Amy’s organic rice macaroni and cheese, and some Santa Cruz organic lemonade.

I will leave you with PUNK ROCK AEROBICS. Something that reminds me of Seattle.

Post by: Melissa
Photos by: Melissa

Pork and cabbage gyoza

These dumplings are a modified recipe we read out of a magazine somewhere. They are simply delicious and make a great side of main course with rice. I like to cook fried rice with these, but any rice would do or you could add them to some chicken terriyaki. We forgot to add ginger to this batch, but if you do it is great! This recipe makes about 48.

Ingredients:
1 lb pork
Half a cabbage
2 tablespoons of grated ginger (we didn’t add to this)
3 green onions
Cumin, salt, pepper to taste
Wonton wrappers (48) We normally make our own, but we didn’t feel like rolling them all out.

Recipe:
Step 1.  Chop up cabbage and salt. Let sit out for 20 minutes so the water sweats out of the cabbage.

Step 2. Squeeze cabbage to get water out and put in a large mixing bowl.

Step 3. Cook up pork chops and cut green onions up. When cooking the pork I added pepper and cumin.


Step 4. Cut pork into small cubes to stuff into the wrappers.

Step 5. Mix all ingredients together except for wrappers. I added more cumin at this point too.

Step 6. Get wrappers and read instructions on how to seal them. Put about two spoonfuls of filling in each wrapper. Make sure they are sealed well.


Step 7. Turn on the music and begin the wrapping fun. It took about 45 minutes for us to get all 48 done. We did random shapes and sizes, do whatever works for you.

Step 8. When cooking pan fry on one side and then steam for 5 minutes. Serve on top of fried rice and have dipping sauce nearby for these delicious things.

Post by: Colin
Photos by: Colin

Apple cider pork chops

Hey all it feels great to be back from vacation, actually I’d rather be there sitting on the beach with nothing to do. School is starting up for me in a little over a week and Melissa will be going back to work. Before I left I tried out a recipe I saw online, but I don’t remember where. These pork chops turned out well with a nice taste to them.

Ingredients:
1 lb pork chops
2 apples, cut into small cube pieces
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Recipe:
Step 1. Cut apple into small cubes and start to cooking with the sugar and cider vinegar.


Step 2. Begin cooking pork chops and season with pepper and salt, when they are done let them rest so they retain their juices.


Step 3. After resting for five minutes put the apple mixture on and serve with anything. I also made grits, but I will post those another time.

Post by: Colin
Photos by: Colin

Sweet and sour beef

Hey all! Sorry this post is so late in the day; we are on vacation in Oregon and have been enjoying the beach. We will post more about what we have done on Friday.

But for now, here is my attempt at Beijing beef. It turned out to be more like sweet and sour beef because I didn’t have all the stuff and I didn’t want to run to the store to get them.

Ingredients:
1 lb. beef (I used sirloin and cut it into small bit sizes slices) You can also use pork or shrimp for this.
1 head of broccoli
Half of a green bell pepper
Half of a large white onion
2 tablespoons of flour (for the beef)
2 tablespoons of lemon juice (for the beef)

Recipe (There are not many steps to this):
Step 1.  Slice steak into strips; put in a bowl and add lemon juice and flour and let sit for 2 hours in the fridge.

Step 2. Cut up veggies and onions and get them ready to cook. Cook these first (before the meat) and then set them aside.


Step 3. Cook meat on medium high heat for about 8 to 10 minutes or until desired color. Add sweet and sour sauce or a custom sauce here. I tried to make it a little more spicy, but because I used store-bought sauce it was pretty sweet.

Step 4. When sauce has been added let sit for a few minutes then add the veggies and let simmer for 8 to 10 minutes. When the veggies are nice and tender the dish is ready. Serve over rice and with dumplings for a nice balanced meal.

Post by: Colin
Photos by: Colin

Lentil Soup

Colin and I have never made soup together before, though he has made soup on his own. We decided to make a lentil soup which is very simple, though the cooking time is a bit longer than a normal dish. This is a great meal to start cooking a few hours before you want to have dinner and the leftovers are fantastic. You want to slow-cook this so that all of the flavors will be released into the soup.

You can really get creative with this recipe and add what vegetables are readily available in your area, try different types of soup stock, and make it with or without sausage/meat. 🙂

Ingredients

One container chicken stock (or other soup stock)
One leek
1/2 an onion, chopped
3-5 cloves of garlic, chopped
One small can tomato paste
One can diced tomatoes
Two chopped potatoes
2-3 cups of uncooked lentils
1 T. each cumin, thyme, (slightly less) salt, pepper
Vegetable oil (for cooking)
One kielbasa sausage (optional)
Croutons for topping (optional)
Grated cheese for topping (optional)

Recipe

1. In a large pot, spread vegetable oil and begin to sweat the onions.

2. Add garlic and the leek.

3. Add your cannned tomatoes and some of the chicken broth. Stir to combine.

4. Add your meat (optional) and more chicken broth.

5. Add the tomato paste (this thickens the soup and gives it a richer flavor)

6. Add your lentils, cumin and whatever other spices you wish to add. We added cumin, salt, pepper, and thyme.

7. If you want, add potatoes. (These take a while to become tender.)

8. Stir everything together and cook over low-medium heat until it smells delicious and the lentils are soft enough to enjoy. We served our soup in bowls with homemade croutons and grated cheese over top.

P.S. This is my favorite soup ever.

Post by: Melissa
Photos by: Colin and Melissa

Bite of Bellingham

I graduated from Western on Saturday! We have been very busy lately with the end of the quarter and packing to move at the end of the month. It’s been harder to spend time on cooking. However, today we went to the Bite of Bellingham downtown on the corner of Holly and Cornwall.

There were a lot of restaurants represented there, including The Table, La Vie en Rose, Mount Bakery, Jeckyl and Hyde, Veg Express, India Grill, Bayou on Bay, food by Haggen, El Agave, Rocket Donuts, Boundary Bay, Man Pies, Pure Bliss, Brandywine Kitchen, QQ Li’s, Silver Reef, the Copper Hog, the Co-Op and Cicchitti’s Pizza. We decided to go places that we hadn’t been to together. Here’s what we had!

1. Bayou on Bay

Sweet BBQ Pork Bun:

Key Lime Bar:

2. Cicchitti’s Pizza

Pepperoni Pizza slice:

3. Jeckyl and Hyde Alehouse

Smoked pull pork slider:

Sausage Chili:

4. La Vie En Rose

Ice cream sandwich:

5. Mount Bakery

Lemon Tart with fresh blueberries:

6. The Table by Bellingham Pasta Co.

Ravioli with brown butter sage:

Bison Pork meatball:

Tickets for food were $1 each and each dish had a different ticket price, ranging from 1-7 tickets. We mainly got small ticket items.

You could also vote for your favorites in different categories like sweets, drinks, etc.

Colin’s top 3

1. Bayou on bay pork bun
2. Bison pork meatball
3. Jeckyl and Hyde pulled pork

Melissa’s top 3

1. Bison pork meatball
2. Ravioli with brown butter sage
3. Sausage chili

We are going to try to start posting 3 times a week, M/W/F. Wish us luck!

Post by: Melissa and Colin
Photos by: Colin and Melissa

Open-face Cuban sandwiches

Lately we’ve been watching a lot of cooking shows, like 30 minute meals, Iron Chef America and Five ingredient Fix. A few days ago we were watching 30 minute meals with Rachel Ray and she made open-face Cuban sandwiches. With a few alterations, we decided to recreate these for dinner with some friends. Everyone loved them! (For reference: Rachel Ray also added yellow mustard and a pickle on top.)

Ingredients:

Equal parts ground pork and chorizo
1/3 of an onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic
sweet rolls (cut in half)
Cumin, red pepper flakes and red cayenne pepper
1/2 cup beer (we used a blonde ale)
A little Ketchup or 1/4 cup tomato paste
Swiss cheese slices for topping 

Recipe:

1. Begin cooking your ground pork, preheat oven to 350 degrees, and cut up rolls.

2. Cut up your onion and garlic, cook in separate pot/pan.

3. Add chorizo and cook on medium heat for a few minutes.

4. Add your ketchup or tomato paste and cook for a few minutes.

5. Add your beer and cook off excess liquid.

6. Bake your rolls in the oven for 5-10 minutes (until crispy)

7. Place mixture on sandwich rolls, leave open. Add cheese to tops.

8. Heat a few minutes in oven, or until cheese melts.

9. Enjoy!

Photos by: Colin and Melissa
Post by: Melissa