I joined Karen, Ryan & Melissa for a party for the Seafair Torchlight. In 10 years in Seattle, I’ve never seen so much diversity in one place for one activity. It felt like every cultural group in the area had representation from Leavenworth-Bavarian beauty queens to high school drill teams to Mexican-American equestrians to Pacific Islanders dancing to Sikh Martial Artists. The crowd was nearly as diverse. Like. Plus, there were the well-known pirates, clowns, and special guests: Alaska Airlines flight attendants doing a choreographed routine to “I Gotta Feeling,” while being led by traffic controllers down 4th.

And crocodiles, too.

More in the set here:

There’s been buzz about the Buckaroo closing, but I first caught wind of it earlier today.

Else, today was dedicated to naps.

My friend Tom turned 21 today. His sisters planned him a crawl on Capitol Hill. Good times.

Quick change — puppy shot!

near The Wild Rose

This is one of those days that feels like it deserves two entries.

After an earlier dentist appointment (the picture above was my view for an hour), we began the day’s highlights at the new Bamboo Village Dim Sum in Wallingford, near the Greenlake/Stone Way intersection.






I feel like I speak for the entire northern half of Seattle dim sum lovers when I say I’m thrilled to have this new dim sum restaurant only a mile or so from my house. We had a table for 5 & started at noon. The restaurant was half-full, but two in our group had been on Monday lunch when it was packed. I tried dishes I hadn’t had except on our DimSumCouver trips — many dishes were on par, though one or two didn’t hit the same high notes as we’ve had there. Still, an epic lunch at about $11 a person. I enjoyed the pastry-wrapped BBQ pork and the salted custard buns.

I wasn’t even hungry 7 hours later when it was time to head to June Seattle for our Burger of the Month dinner. I soldiered on. I ordered the Thundering Hooves beef done medium rare, with a thick slab of bacon and Taleggio cheese. A damn great sandwich. Naomi ordered the lamb collar, an exceptional hunk delivered in a bowl of pasta. Everything I tried — including appetizers of salty stuffed morels and the creamy rillettes — reminded me to remember to bring Mr. T back for dinner.

Today was quieter than most in a while but full of errands & working on my apricot backlog. I caught this picture on my way home from trivia.

Sprizee & I took the Bremerton ferry today for a shower for Misty! Her sister threw the shindig & really did a great job. The affair took place in her sunny backyard.

I overindulged on lumpia, but had enough room for cupcakes.

the flowergirl

Afterward, we ferried back to Seattle to catch the Sounders winning, 2-1.

Sometimes, I have these weekends where a day will have multiple highlights.
Lately, they seem to be happening more often than not.

Mr. T proposed a bike ride to the Ballard Locks. The plan: we would picnic lunch with sandwiches provided by the Golden Gardens Paseo outpost. We had 2 obstacles on our way — firstly, the nail Mr. T found in his tire as we cruised through the no-man’s-land industrial section of Ballard which prompted a 20 minute tire-fixing session and secondly, the 45-minute wait at Paseo. They mixed up our order, which we didn’t discover until after we ridden on to our next destination. Both prawn sandwiches were still excellent. I’d link to them on urbanspoon, but they need no publicity.

Fidgety Feet Dixie Land Band was playing a fun Summer concert as we arrived at the Locks. It was like some summertime of yore — they were excellent. We ate our lunch under the trees by the waterside and watched batches of boats make their way to and from Shilshole Bay.

Later in the day, we trekked to Lynnwood for an errand. We played that into an opportunity for dinner at Sorabol, a Korean restaurant we’d read about when Jonathan Kauffman wrote for the Seattle Weekly. (Come back, Jonathan, come back!) As soon as the waitress rolled in the Dol-Sot-Bee-Bhim-Bob on her steel cart, I knew we were in for a great one.

Dol-Sot-Bee-Bhim-Bob: a dish of assorted “veggies, cuttlefish, beef, egg & spicy bot sauce over steamed rice, sizzling in a hot pot.” This dish was everything you hope BiBimBap/Bee-Bhim-Bob to be. Spicy & comforting. I love when the rice starts to crisp up into a crust at the bottom of the hot pot. (I’m from Louisiana; rice is my ultimate comfort food.)

Yangnyeom Galbi “premium-cut beef short ribs marinated in house special sauce.” Also like the rice in that it was everything you hope korean short ribs to be. How else can I describe this? Perfectly cooked with dense layers of dynamic flavor.

Hae-Mool-Pah-Juhn: “pan-fried seafood (pancake-sized) with green onions.” We found good octopus within this seafood cake, but the crispy fried parts made it. Mr. T noted we’d never had anything quite like this before. I’d return for just this dish, then again, I’d return for all the dishes we tried.

The best Korean I’ve had, barely surpassing the equally sublime Kaya Asian BBQ in Shoreline. We over-ordered, but now I have at least 3 fab lunches for the week. They needed more patrons on a Saturday night — please visit so I can keep going there!

Our final Saturday highlight: we wrapped our day with a visit with Celine & Ms. N at our neighborhood Pies & Pints.

I joined Mr. T’s colleagues for a viewing of Inception at IMAX. Recommended. Not as deep or mentally challenging as I expected but being action-packed made up for it.

I started my day with Naomi downtown for the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. Not only is she a great partner in crime on the food front, but I think this was my favorite shopping day of the year. Maybe the last two years. Now I’m now well-equipped with new layers of clothes for this year’s strange weather patterns AND I finally sprung for a pair of Hunter Wellies. Bring on the rain. Um, in two more months, please.

After a mid-afternoon vet appointment (see yesterday), it was time to pick up apricots & cherries at the Queen Anne Farmer’s Market for this weekend’s canning. I read off recipes to Mr. T as we drove to Delancey for dinner. We settled upon a first plan of Apricot Current Jam. I haven’t had much experience with currents, but a) he remembers them growing at the house where they lived in Germany when he was a child and b) more importantly, he really liked them and c) I overheard they’re in their brief season right now. Sold and sold.

Sidebar, regarding dinner: visit Delancey for their pizza, yes, but right now you should GO FOR SOME OF BILLY’S SUMMER GEM TOMATOES. Their dish comes with Sheep’s milk feta, preserved Meyer lemon, and basil-shallot vinaigrette. To die for. You can thank me later. (Only 12 more days until their pizza with Padrón peppers is back!)

A friend of mine known as pouryourheartintoit on Flickr, captured a great picture of it:

We held this week’s picnic at Madrona Park, a lovely spot on Lake Washington. I took The Baron along. He looked so big-eyed & sad as I was leaving to join friends; I couldn’t leave him home alone on a sunny day.

About halfway through our visit, he did the equivalent of stubbing his toe. (I think. A vet visit later, we still don’t know. I feared it was related to earlier, multiple i$$ues we’ve had with his paws.) He wouldn’t put pressure on it for a bit and sort of limped around. In the picture above, he’s holding his paw in the air for that reason, not just cause he’s charming.

But even in pain, check out how darn happy he is to be outside and enjoying the lake views.

I met friends for lunch in the ID today at a Vietnamese/Chinese restaurant called Hue Ky Mi Gia. To start, we ordered the Fried Butter Chicken Wings. I had happy flashbacks to Phnom Penh of Vancouver BC’s spicy garlic wings. I still believe those are the best anywhere, though Naomi declares these were better. They were awfully close cousins in deliciousness. We’re gonna have to revisit that and soon.

Soon after the wings, the Braised Duck Leg Noodle Soup appeared.

Good broth & duck leg.

Next, Seafood Chow Mein.

I kept going back for more of the tasty crunchy noodles in the sauce, though at this point I was back to thinking about the wings.

Next, Beef Sate Chow Fun.

I liked the beef & the sauce, though the veggies overran the dish.

Finally, tofu stir-fy. This was my least favorite.

Hue Ky Mi Gia is located at 12th & Jackson.

I’ll be back for more Fried Butter Chicken Wings. Those were so good, they’ll haunt my dreams. And I won’t have to cross a border to get them!

I had business to attend to in Madison Park tonight. I stopped for a quick moment at the beach to discover a pack of UW students enjoying the early evening. This one decided to work on his balancing skillz, away from his crowd.

For our bi-monthly cookbook club, we selected wo cookbooks:
Pintxos: Small Plates in the Basque Tradition by Gerald Hirigoyen and Lisa Weiss
Rustic Fruit Desserts: Crumbles, Buckles, Cobblers, Pandowdies, and More by Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson

See more in the slideshow!

Mr. T & I rode our bikes down to Cicchetti after dinner. Then, we caught the tail end of the sunset from the South Passage Point Park.

Today was a Friday Picnic of the Unemployed. After a week of sunshine, the gray AM skies were a bit of a surprise. Celeste remarked, “It feels like we’re a PEMCO ad.” Indeed. It reminded me of my favorite commercial in the series: Blue Tarp Camper’s “We Bring Our Own Blue Skies!” (I’ve been on that soggy camping trip to the coast pictured in the commercial, with Kate, the subject of the image above. Ah, good times.)

In the first hour, we had one visitor on her lunch break (also, pictured above). Then we hung out for hours more, waiting for the marine burn-off. Regardless of weather, it was a great way to spend the afternoon.

Picnic #1: Success.

I took a 3-hour long bike ride today. On the trail, I stopped at a lemonade stand run by an eight year old girl. Turns out, the only payment she accepts is a confession or secret in the comment box. Of course, I participated.

It was a lovely afternoon. Tonight, Tina Fey’s Date Night…and maybe some BBQ!

Today took me to Snohomish County to run errands. I saw this little pig at the market.

Second week in a row, I made it to trivia!

On my walk, I discovered the neighborhood Bull Moose Festival snuck up on me this year.

This was a friend’s delicious beverage, the Vessel 75. Our friend Rocky works at Vessel on Mondays. I got friends together to visit him, one of whom came fresh off the pirate boat. She brought us accessories: eye patches, hats, temp tattoos. High five the little hand!

And this gem, in small form since I was laughing so hard. Such a transformative look. I couldn’t stop shaking long enough to take a better picture: