Friendly neighborhood construction project

We are getting a new light rail station in Capitol Hill. In five or so years. But I am very excited. The station is a block away from where I live now so I keep peeping out at the construction. They're going to be starting the tunneling portion soon. I am just glad that the condo is not on top of tunnel... caving in much?

When the station is complete, if I am still living where I am, I could take the light rail straight from there to the airport or downtown. Amazing! Instead of taking a separate bus downtown and then the rail to the airport or taking the bus and waiting in the cold outside... inside rail! And no problems with traffic! Amaaazing.

Too bad it will take a while. For now I'll keep spying and enjoying the updates on the building.

Russian River Brewery

No I did not go to the actual brewery this week (though I was there in December!). Just tried a bunch of the beers.

Ryan has always been a great fan of Consecration. I used to hate it (because I kept trying it after I drank Duchesse de Bourgogne which is on the sweeter side making drinking something sour after it unpleasant), but I have recently discovered a great love for it. Unfortunately it is rather expensive so it is not something that can be drunk often. It is very sour and delightful. :)

So on to the reviews. Ryan picked up a couple of bottles at Trader Joe's for us to sample.

Damnation: Kind of boring. A little plain. I do not think of it as so different from cheaper brands. Very wheaty and a little bit sweet. I would not get it again.

Temptation: A little bit tangy, but very light. It has a nice tang to begin with but does not have such a nice finish. It is okay, but I think other beers are better.

Sanctification: Not as sour as consecration, but sour enough. I really liked the fact that it is had both the wheat flavor and the sour flavor. Would return to this one. :)

Umi Sake House - the new sushi place?

I've raved and raved about Japonessa many times now. When I've checked their reviews though I see people referring to Umi Sake House as a similar place, with debates about which is better. I've been meaning to check it out for a long time but finally made it.

The selling point for this particular visit was that happy hour goes until 8pm at the bar at Umi and the bar area is larger so it is easier to get a spot (and it is a shorter walk from my place).

Thoughts: I think it might have won over Japonessa. Woah!

Several reasons. The main one would be the sauce. You can see it on the left in this photo. Most of the sushi has it. It is thick and kind of covers over the taste of the sushi. Umi has no such thing. It also has a much much better Seattle roll than Japonessa, which is one of my favorites. It also has yummier sushi (non-rolls). I rarely get non-rolls at Japonessa because I was not a huge fan the one time I got them. I also liked the service better - more friendly servers (real feeling friendly, rather than the fake that I often feel at Japonessa).

What does Japonessa still have? Super amazing Bad Boy roll. One of my favorites. Also the portion sizes are larger so thats always great for a good deal.

Also I should note that I've only been to both of these places for happy hour. I do not like spending an arm and a leg for sushi so $20 for two people at happy hour is very acceptable for me. :) I think Umi has a cheaper selection for non-happy-hour so I'd be more likely to check that out, but in general.. cheaper is better for me (especially when it does not compromise quality at all).

Will I stick to one over the other? Most likely not. I like both. But I think I'll be taking more trips to Umi. :)

Hearts of Brownies

I've never been much for 'festive baking'. Like having orange cookies for halloween and whatever Christmas breads. So when I saw everyone popping up with super cute heart cutouts for V-Day, I was actually interested. Not at that time... thats like going with the masses. But I put it on my list to bake soon. Soon turned out to be more than two months later, but that is not the important part. :)

The important part is that I love this way of baking. So awesome to make a super easy design while cooking. I happen to have a beautiful set of heart cookie cutters so this was a necessary task.

The brownies did not hold together very well though. Maybe a gooier brownie would work better, but the tended to fall apart when you grabbed them not in a perfectly straight manner. No problem - easier to have brownie pieces for snacking.

I'd also add more chocolate - the dark brownies were not dark enough and not chocolaty enough for me.

The was a fun project. Easy and super rewarding. :)

Recipe: Smitten Kitchen

Snowshoeing in Paradise

Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day so my first reaction (apart from giggling and jumping while looking outside) was to get us out of the house and on to an adventure. And what a better day to take a trip to Rainier?



The Paradise area is easily accessible in the winter (if you don't mind the 2.5 hour drive from Seattle) and absolutely beautiful. Already a ways up the mountain, you are in a winder wonderland. And I keep going to Rainier when the entrance is free. Crazy!

I didn't have a particular addenda - more like snowshoe and have fun. We ended up going about halfway up the Camp Muir trail. Could have gone further but the winds are a bit hard on the mountain. Also hiking up Rainier means a steep and constant incline... got to love volcanoes? I wanted to make it a round trip but it was hard to figure off where to turn right off of the ridge without being swallowed in an avalanche. I'll take a there and back trip over certain death. :)



Also insane how warm it was - wearing short sleeves on snow is odd. Well and insane amounts of SPF-50 and sunglasses (and I hate sunglasses so when I am wearing them you know it is bright).



Anyways - Paradise was amazing. LOVED the trail. Loved being out on the snow. Also learned that hiking uphill in snowshoes is WAY harder than in normal shoes. Or maybe it is just the snow?

Next time I come back I want some sort of sled or skis for the way down. We slid down the steep parts just with ski-pants, but all the skiers and boarders made me jealous.



And I leave you with a photo of a snow roller. They are very rare apparently. Ryan screached to a halt when he saw one on the side of the road.

Food and drinks

Glorious week of food. This gem is from Seattle Restaurant Week dinner at Barolo on Thursday. I try to get a group of people together every restaurant week (twice a year) for a luscious meal and this was the adventure for this spring. This particular course is the appetizer of the meal - pheasant. Delightful - maybe a little too fatty for my taste but definitely tickled my taste buds. I had ribs (fancy ribs...?) for main course and then creme brulee for dessert (ah, love...). That, two bottles of wine and some great friends is an amazing evening.



Then there was Ryan's birthday dinner at Metropolitan Grill. This is a horrible photo but sadly the best one I got. Somehow the lighting was very odd and I just could not figure out how to balance it properly during or before. I've been there a couple of times before (the default 'very nice dinner out' destination). Love love love the fillet minion there. Medium rare to perfection. Everything topped with a lemon drop and an apple dessert prepared on a roll out stove right at your table. :)



And the last photo is of a farewell dinner to a coworker at Gordon Biersch on Friday (woohoo, finally a dinner I don't have to pay for). The bar is at Pacific Place, which is one of the malls downtown. I've been to the mall plenty of times, but I've never wandered into the bar before. I'd rate the bar as average, but pretty awesome for a large group ordering lots of appetizers. In my still junior knowledge of beer I ordered the sampler. Probably something I should stop doing since all of the light beers are gross and the darkest is too dark. Two medium shots of beer is not enough. Good thing we got some growlers later. :)

Mercer Island bike ride

With spring comes warmer weather and less rain so a great chance to get some bike riding in. And since I recently acquired a new bike, I need to get some miles on it!

Last weekends' trip was to Mercer Island which is an island in Lake Washington in Seattle. The loop around the actual island is about 15 miles and is constantly up/down right/left insanity. Not the normal flat pleasure ride that I'd go for, but very pretty.

Also made me realize that I have a lot of work to do to get to biking shape. My butt was in major pain at the end of the trip (my bike seat is not the right one for me.. I hear you're supposed to sit on the seat, not slide off the front of it constantly). And the hill on the way back to Capital Hill were not so pleasant. Oh Seattle and its' hills.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

With the fact that Ryan loves cinnamon and I have a lot of it I decided to try out making Cinnamon Swirl Bread last week. The unfortunate part was that I decided this at 7pm, and the raising portion alone of the process is four hours. Lets just say I went to bed around 1:30am. :( This is why I love making bread in the bread machine - trying to plan for all the raising times on a weekday is impossible.

Result - I like it. Not insanely sweet, but lots of cinnamon to have some spice in the mix.

The not so happy result - mine didn't cook evenly. When it took it out the first time it was a little burned on the outside and not cooked on inside. My bread pan is a little thinner than most I've seen so I think my bread ended up too thick rolled up to fit into the pan nicely. I cut the bread in half and put it in the oven a bit longer but it didn't help that much.



I've been eating the bread toasted because that makes the hard sides eatable and makes the center feel kind of like cinnamon buns without the insane amount of frosting.

So I'd love to make this again... with more planning and either less dough or a wider pan.

Hawaii from a different side

If somebody showed me that photo and asked me where it was taken, Hawaii would not be anywhere on my list. It is crazy how small the Hawaii islands are and how different the vegetation and landscape is. This particular spot is on the southernmost point of Hawaii (and the US actually). The winds are astronomically intense there and so little can grow there (or stand there) without abiding to the winds.

I've been back from Hawaii for most of a week now and having trouble getting back into taking photos. I guess everything I look at is 'less impressive than Hawaii'. I've taken photos for a total of 3 out of 5 days that I have been back. (two of which were on two sides of midnight baking). Pretty bad. I am trying to return to taking photos... as well as go through the crazy task of editing all of the Hawaii ones. The underwater ones alone are in the 450 range.

Swimming away in Hawaii

Couple of more glimpses at Hawaii. My underwater camera alone has 411 shots in it so I have so many more to process when I get back (to Lightoom).

This particular gem is at near Kona at a freshwater/saltwater pool. Not entirely easy to get to: you have to hike about 20 minutes from the road to get to the beach partially along the sand. But then once you get there, few people. Most folk there were sunbathing and playing around at the start of the pool so the far side with the sea turtles was empty. They are resting so it is important not to get to close, but if they swim up to you then its great. :)

And the lava fields that form this pools' sides are from 1859. Just for reference of how young Hawaii is.



Next exhibit is from snorkeling around Captain Cook Monument. The monument that was placed where he 'fell'. Aka in most accounts... eaten.

The trip there involves a 20 minute kayak paddle. We were planning on leaving at 8am and had arranged with a rental company to drop off a kayak... but by 8:30am they never showed and were not picking up their phone. Fairly pissed off we drove up to a very nice different company, picked up and drove down a kayak from them. Very annoying (and I am writing a simply splendid review for the first place) but in the end... kayaking!

The reefs near the monument are amazing. Full of live coral and all sorts of fishes. :) Also great to not have many people there as you have to get there by boat, and you need a permit to get ashore (which we had).

Tomorrow is the last day in Hawaii - looking forward to exploring the south side of the big island that I have not visited yet. :) Then a red-eye flight back to mainland America.

Hello from underwater in Hawaii

Preview of my adventures in Hawaii. It is not even noon and I've spent the morning snorkeling. Lots of different fishes and turtles. I am here with my family for a couple of days. Living right next to the ocean (the yard got pretty destroyed but rebuilt very well in the Japan tsunami). Lots of birds in the yard. It is cloudy but warm - fine by me - less chance of sunburn!

Plan for the afternoon: scuba diving with manta rays. Lets hope I still remember everything? Did a crash course reading over my PADI certification book but diving deep underwater is still intimidating. Can't wait!

Trip Report: Cedar Butte

Sunday was a short hike up Cedar Butte. Only three miles, and less than an hour out of the city? Great for a lazy Sunday.

The hike starts off on the Iron Horse Trail for about half a mile. Then a small turn off to the side down a muddy (well on the day I went) trail up the hill. Lots of trees down, but easy to get around them. The trail is not very steep and mainly covered (great for rainy day). Few people (some of whom were lost.... they asked us where the waterfall was?). Not that much snow - only a little at the top. You could see Mt.Si from there which was fairly covered.

There is not that much of a view on the top - too many trees. Some of the photos I see in trip reports seem to have fewer trees... maybe it is grown over now? Not much of a problem on that particular cloudy day, but if I was doing the trail in the summer I would have been disappointed.

My favorite part of the trail was the awesome trees (pictured above). They are like aliens!

Overall, I'd take hiking Cedar Butte over something at Tiger Mountain. Way fewer people. But I'd prefer Rattlesnake Ledge or Little Si for a not long hike with an actual view.

Lake Serene - Bridal Veil Falls

Forget the rain - I love hiking. Hiking trip for Saturday was Lake Serene/Bridal Veil Falls. The hike is not steep until the falls, with an offshoot to the top of the falls, and then pretty much just stairs all the way up to the lake.

I'd done this hike before last January, and there was only a little snow at the top. It was cloudy so we didn't see the whole of Mt.Index above the lake, but still beautiful. This hike, though later in the year (a much colder year), was much snowier and wetter.

On this rainy day, the snow was also melting so all of the many, many creeks that crossed the trail were overflowing. Lots of stream crossings. Made me glad my hiking shoes are semi-waterproof. We didn't even get to the top falls because you pretty much had to walk through a waterfall to get there - I am okay with streams, but falling down a waterfall from slipping does not sound so fun. I think they were beautiful from the bottom (photo of the day).

About 1/4 of the way up the the stairs portion, the snow starts. At first just on the open areas of the trail, and then everywhere. It is packed so walkable without snowshoes if you're willing to fall through to your knee every once in a while.

About 1/4 mile from the lake the trees open out to look out on to Mt.Index and the valley. This was the exact time that the sun decided to grace us with its' presence. Perfect timing. Trees covered in snow, blue sky and sun. Perfect.

I believe this is a trip report of one of the folk we saw right about there that told us about the streams ahead. We turned around shortly after because we could hear avalanches and there was a lot of melting snow and streams. Safety first?

The way down was slippery but with digging in the heels and not walking on the slippery snow it was not so bad. More adventure started when the rain came... or more like large hail which turned to sleet as the elevation dropped. My the end of the hike I was soaked but accomplished.

Good thing I didn't read about all the avalanches until after hiking - Highway 2 was closed in parts two nights before (the road leading to the falls). And then more avalanches on Monday. Granted - this is higher up on the highway than the hike, but it is on similar elevation to the top of the hike. Lots of avalanche danger.

Goodbye old apartment

Today was my last official day at my old apartment (and proof of it above, since my kitchen would never be so empty). Granted... I have not been living there for two weeks now, finished cleaning last Friday and left the keys there then. So I've been gone a bit. But last official paid day.

Sad to see the place go, but also happy not to deal with the inconveniences that it has (longer walk to work, being on hospital hill (gets for ER visits, not so great for sleeping), super thin windows making it loud and cold). Sad to see the sad parts of it go (amazing super hot water and super awesome water pressure). But then... a place is a place. I'll live in many more. :) But this was the first place I lived by myself and my first Seattle apartment. :)

And I am not completely separated from the building. My car is parked there for now. Oh the joys of parking in the city... or more like lack thereof?

Also - cleaning that apartment makes me want a cleaning person. Scrubbing the bathroom is not fun. Very much not fun. Does this make me lazy?

Random details

I am fairly far behind in posting. I take photos but... uploading them and editing and posting is a different problem. I think my pattern is upload once or twice a week and then take my sweet time posting. Well in the spirit of catching up I'll do a couple in one post here.



I guess the theme can be 'details'? A flower alone. A pretty detail of a building. It makes me happy to see little details like that on a building. This is not London or something where there are ancient relics inside of a modern building, but it is still great to see somebody put in some effort to make buildings special. Make them look a little different from the once next to it.



And then there are failure days. Days when I didn't get a good photo and then tried to come up with something cool and it does not work. I was trying to take photos through the lights in the apartment.... none of them looked very cool. It was sad. Maybe another day when I don't remember about photo taking until 11pm? Maybe.