Seattle Pictures…

My friend David that was visiting last week is an amazing photographer (and a great house guest). He has some great shots of Seattle and the surrounding areas on his Flickr account. You can see them here.

-amy

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I Love My Job

I have one of the best jobs in the world and today was one of those days that really affirmed that in my mind. Today I got to design and formulate the body treatments for the spa.  (Background Info: I am in the process of opening a spa in downtown Seattle with a projected opening date of September 1st – I’ve done this before and trust me, this is going to be good.) Anyways… read the deliciousness…. I can’t wait til training…

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I Swear This Isn’t a Food Blog….

But after a terrible lunch yesterday at Lunchbox Laboratory, Matt and I decided to hit up Skillet, the mobile food cart that is now going to be outside Sound Speed Scooters in Fremont on Thursdays for breakfast and dinner. I got the lemongrass pork sandwich with poutine and it was one of the best meals I have had in a long time and it was by far the best meal I have had from a mobile food cart. Advice: go there.

Their breakfast looks splendid too: (I stole this picture from Justin’s Flickr)

Cornmeal pancake, Maple pork belly and a fried egg.

-amy

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FAIL: Lunchbox Laboratory

Ok, ok, ok, I have read enough stellar reviews of Ballard’s new Lunchbox Laboratory. I even caught a couple national write-ups on the place so I was lead to believe that it was on par with the second coming of Christ. Now I am starting to believe that either their PR person has an unbelievable amount of charisma and charm or the media has been paid of and bribed.

I am SOOOO disappointed. Matt & I went yesterday for lunch.  The service was less than stellar, in fact, it was downright rude. I witnessed a customer kindly state that he thought he may have received the wrong burger just to hear the order taker girl complain to a room full of patrons that she thought she could let the cook bring out the food but apparently he wasn’t competent.

The food was disgustingly greasy. Don’t get me wrong, greasy CAN be good – but this was not. A greasy soggy burger for $11 with poor counter service – - this place does not live up to its hype.

In addition, it was shut down at lunchtime this weekend for “catch up time” and on my visit the credit card machine was down due to “broken phone lines.”

Do yourself a favor – save your money… there’s better burgers (and service) to be found in Ballard.

This place was so bad I won’t even give it the benefit of the doubt second chance. Luckily, todays lunch was better.

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Make Tomorrow Deliciously Good…

If you are anything like me you have probably read all the hype and amazing reviews about that quirky gourmet food truck named Skillet from Daily Candy, CitySearch, Seattle Weekly and The Stranger just to name a few. I have been overly intrigued by the reviews of this place so I was really excited this morning when a friend IMed me to tell me that starting this Thursday, Skillet will be serving up delicious goodness at Sound Speed Scooters in Fremont from 9-2pm.

Sound Speed Scooters

132 N Canal Street

Seattle, WA

Anyone wanna go? Anyone ever been before?

-amy

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Mtv Ruining Everything Everywhere.

Word is that MTV has contacted the Mosquito Fleet in hopes of doing a True Life Show on them/us. As if mopeds aren’t hard enough to come by… now every 17 year old hipster wanna be in the country will be after them. I hope we decline their offer. They could have at least come to us with a “Pimp My Moped” idea. Sheesh.

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HodgePodge of Everything Weekend

Last weekend turned out to be a little insane. Nothing was completely out of the normal but the sheer amount of stuff that I conquered over the weekend combined with the wacky weather made it seem like a crazy weekend.

Let’s start with the weather. I had been summoned to pick up my friends David and Shelby from the airport upon their arrival from Alabama. The plan was to leave my house and pick up a ZipCar and head to SeaTac. Simple enough right? Well, the second I opened my door to leave the sky opened up like I have only seen a few times in my seven months in the Pacific Northwest and it rained cats and dogs. The rain basically held steady up until I reached the ZipCar at which time it practically abruptly ended and the sun came out.

I retrieved them from the airport only to realize I’m in a Mini Cooper and they have brought along 3 pieces of checked luggage. It was a little cramped on the way back to Ballard.

So, now, as the time approaches for the ZipCar to be returned, the sun quickly retracted and out of seemingly nowhere – HAIL! Followed by rain, followed by snow, followed by thunder and lightening, followed by clear weather….and so on. I was expecting an earthquake and tornado to come through at any given moment. I was apparently not the only one confused by the weather as it was a big topic around town. Here, here and here.

With David and Shelby tired from their early morning trip, the night turned out to be pretty mellow. David was too tired to go to dinner and Matt was off talking to some sailing club about his trip so Shelby, Justin and I went to Gordito’s for burritos. After dinner we dropped Justin off and retrieved David and went to Cupcake Royale where Matt met up with us. Shelby loved Cupcake Royale… I knew she would.

After coffee and cupcakes, we decided to drive over to Kerry Park (#82 again). David is an amazing photographer and he really wanted to get some night shots of the city. The sky had cleared up just enough to make this possible but it was SOOOOOO cold. On the way to the park, Matt and I discovered that although we had both been there, neither of us were sure how to get to the park. So we basically spent a good portion of the night touring Queen Anne.

Saturday morning we woke up early in anticipation of a long day. We started off with a visit to the Fremont Troll (#51 again). From there we headed over to Gas Works Park ( #34 again). I have to say… Gas Works is one of my favorite parks in the city.

Now hungry, we went to Dick’s Drive In (#21 again) in Wallingford so David and Shelby could experience true Seattle indigestion. With the weather bitter cold we decided to eat the burgers at Seattle Mopeds while picking up some parts. After lunch, while still in Wallingford we went over to Trophy Cupcakes (#144) – because apparently eating Dick’s wasn’t bad enough for us. This was my first visit to Trophy Cupcakes and with it’s feature on Martha Stewart Living last week I had been anxious to go.

HOLY WOW! I have to say it… TROPHY CUPCAKES IS HANDS DOWN THE BEST CUPCAKE SHOP IN SEATTLE.

Leaving Wallingford, we headed down to the Sculpture Park (#47 again) and walked around for a bit. Next stop, Pike Place Market #23. I am assuming it was due to the weather but for a Saturday, the market was not as nearly as crowded as usual. We took some time and explored the market. I think David and Shelby felt a bit let down – afterall, there is quite a bit of hype over the market and when you get there, there isn’t that much to actually do. Its more about the action and things to see than the actual entertainment value. The most entertaining and disgusting part seems to always be the Gum Wall in Post Alley (#94 again).

photo credit: this blog

After the market we walked around the waterfront for a bit then headed back to Ballard. The night ended with about 20 people coming over to my house. It was a very long day.

On Sunday, we went to breakfast at the Baranoff. I had been to the Baranoff before and remember it as a seedy greasy spoon kind of place but after this visit I will never return. There is something about the smell of stale urine wafting around that makes the whole place undesireable. Imagine that.

Sunday afternoon David and Shelby headed down to Olympia to visit a friend and I was planning on meeting them Monday morning to head to Mt. Rainier – but, exhausted from my weekend, I sent them off to have fun without me. Mt. Rainier will have to wait.

- amy

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If you like Tequila…

I highly recommend the newly opened bar/restaurant in capitol hill: The Saint. Located at 1416 E Olive Way, this brilliant blue establishment boasts a huge selection of the delicious drink to imbibe (there has to be at least 80 varieties on the list). It does help to have a tequila connoisseur available (so as not to spend $11 on a shot of something you won’t enjoy) but the bartenders and servers are also quite helpful. As far as the menu goes.. it was really yummy, though not very veg friendly. Luckily I was with a table full of meat eaters, and got to try the majority of the menu’s offerings. On my plate was the puerco pibil, which was a slow roasted pork wrapped in banana leaves.. if I remember correctly. A bit spicy, but supremely delicious. My only complaint? It only came with two 3″-in-diameter (homemade, and delicious) tortillas, so the tortilla:meat ratio was a little off. I’m positive that the kitchen would have been happy to provide more if I had requested.. but it was their second night of business, and let’s just say the waitress was a little busy and hard to flag down. (Although, it seemed all the waitstaff was in bright pink, which made them easy to find.) In my glass was a mojito to start (WAY more impressive than the one in this post), followed by a shot of the Partido Resopsado. I was lucky that one of my tablemates knew his tequila, and helped me pick this one out.. it was a good pick. This place is a welcome addition to my neighborhood, although I won’t visit too often, because the tempting drinks cost more than the menu items. (but are so priced for a very good reason). Cheers to The Saint!

-jen

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What Was I Thinking?

Richmond is absolutely gorgeous this time of year….

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Who New Ronald McDonald Could Be So Bold???

Photo Credit: Flickr

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