PHOTO-A-DAY: June Day 24

"on my mind"

seattle...going out...beautiful weather...summer!!

went to Issian again with erika again and it was delish!

(japanese restaurant/izakaya in Wallingford)

James loves the place too!

i was nervous about bringing Kai out to a restaurant since i knew we'd be there for a while but he was so good!  didn't cry or anything.  he had his dinner with us and played around mostly..

he seemed entertained enough by the atmosphere that he didn't fuss around.

i guess that means we can go out more frequently now, eh?

hee hee, cute squirt of mayo!

(this is the bacon wrapped mushroom skewers but i LOVE their grilled shiitake skewer!!)

this was scallops...baked? i think..with a creamy sauce and onions... yuM!

we also had tons of other plates...the main dish being the Maguro no kama.

Maguro no kama is the whole head/jaw of a tuna fish baked!

ya sounds crazy and it's huge but a great deal and fantastic!

i'll have to get a photo next time

purple cafe & wine bar...!

last weekend jamus and i finally made it out to the (newest location) Purple Cafe & Wine Bar♥
wow it was so fancy! super nice interior and wines just stacked everywhere!
i'm still very much an amateur when it comes to wine tasting....
you can order wine samplers so i did just that.

i knew i wanted to try red wine...but other than that i had no idea.
so i judged by the titles they offered.
i went for the "i love italy" sampler.
mmmm it was good and i got tipsy fast!

i also got their calamari appetizer because it was featured on the Food Network's "best thing i ever ate". meh.. yea it was good but it wasn't the best thing i ever ate. hahahaha
we went in the afternoon but i'd love to check out the place on a weekend night--it's probably super romantic and O-TO-NA ♥

O! and they totally played Prince's "purple rain" while we were there.. hehehe

chaos at belle square..!

so on my actual birth-day (20th) jamus and i headed over to the Lincoln square to eat dinner.
we don't eat out too often but we decided to try somewhere nice in the Bellevue square area ☺
turns out, microsoft opened a new 'microsoft store' in the mall and there was a grand opening deal going on... the Dave Matthews Band had a surprise performance--then apparently Miley Cyrus performed just before we got there--and the Kardashians made an appearance at the Nordstrom to promote some fragrance thingy....
umm... why?!?
i wasn't aware of any of this! i wish i knew because we had to wait 40 minutes to get seated :'(
(or maybe that's normal...?)
a lot of rich folks for sure... this mall is quite fancy...
hmm..speaking of, i still haven't checked out The Bravern..

"the restaurant"...!

so you know that famous "restaurant" featured in the Seinfeld show?

i found it..! i downtown seattle..!
i never walk this street (i think it was union..? or university? can't remember)
i couldn't get the corner shot, but it just says "restaurant" on both sides and from the right angle it could be the friggin restaurant from seinfeld! it's like a coffee shop-deli too
hahaha funny

OREXI greek cuisine...!

"let's go out to eat! hmm..where to..where to... i know! that one restaurant in downtown belle!"
Orexi is (i thought it was a Mediterranean restaurant) but it's a Greek restaurant..but then i was told Mediterranean and Greek are the same so... Medi-Greek restaurant!
back when i adored meat more than i do now, i got their lamb meat ( i think ) and i recall it being super delicious! so i tried a veggie dish... kinda bombed on that one :(
i got the spinach phillo which is basically a croissant type pastry with spinach and cheese inside... which the french bakery @ crossroads pleases my stummy better... so that was poo-ey. but the rest of my dish had yummy potatoes and veggies!
erika had a eggplant dip .. SUUUPER good♥

o, and their lentil soup? to DIE for ! best lentil soup i've had♥

erika agrees!

i did the Chaco...!

i decided i should start out with something simple... they had a wide selection of 'vegan' foods that..i've never had... and wasn't quite sure if i'd like it.. (ie: their lentil burgers, kelp noodles, etc) so i stuck to the familiar sammich
i got the tomato-avocado-alphalpha sprout-sammich with veggienaise (like vegetable mayo)
EVERYTHING is organic...no preservatives...fresh out of the earth ♥
also with a side of spinach salad..(mmmm delicious dressing)
it definitely tasted 'healthy' and i loved it♥
i think it was too healthy for erika... unfulfilling maybe?
we also spotted a really cute sushi restaurant next door that i'd like to try next time.
it was called village sushi... yea! that's my next sushi venture!

Chaco Canyon...♥

so my co-worker who is very health conscious introduced me to the 'Chaco Canyon Organic Cafe' in Seattle. i haven't been here yet, but i think i'll need to check it out very soon!
here's their link:
Chaco Canyon - clickity click
now i'm not a total vegetarian...and nowhere near a vegan, but this place sounds delightful♥
i can easily find something here...i love my vegetables..and check it out! they even have their own organic beer O_o
i shall post my reviews once i experience the Chaco♥

samurai noodle @ u-district...!

so over the weekend jamus erika and i checked out the new SAMURAI NOODLE that opened in the U-district... jamus had yet to try some samurai goodness♥ boom noodle also serves 'ramen' but according to the jamus, it's not salty enough. SO i recommended samurai noodle (because for me...well...their broths are a bit too salty) he mentioned it still wasn't salty enough but it was better than boom noodle... yay! as for me, i tried something different...and BOO-urns! it wasn't delicious... i should've stuck to my usual 'tonkotsu' ..you can never go wrong with that one!♥

seastar v-day dinner...♥

jamus took me out to a lovely dinner at the SEASTAR in downtown bellevue♥
i must say, it was fantastic!
i also had a glass o wine♫
i managed to find a photo of the exact entree i had!
it's the ahi tuna with wasabi sauce (mm...that sauce was so good!) and rice♥
*drools*

for dessert, i had some cookies baked my the famous jamus...
my favorite! choco chips♥
now...let's work out all those calories!

*i wish i had taken a photo of jamus dressed up... he looked very nice♥

frankie's pizza & pasta...♥

i took erika out for her birthday dinner♥
FRANKIE's PIZZA&PASTA ya'll!!
we've been eyeing this place for a while...it's right in redmond downtown.
it's a really cute restaurant! small and cafe-like
(i've actually eaten here before...ages ago!)
we go in and the place is packed. not a large restaurant but that also makes it better...
they had dudes tossing pizza dough...and they had a display with cakes! (totally saw a tiramisu...)
erika got a kiwi cremosa (italian soda with half&half)
so gooood...i used to drink those all the time back in high school
i got the angel hair pasta ...DE-LICIOUS! the portions aren't huge either which is good♥
erika's italian wedding soup was probably the best i've ever had..
hmm..now... pegasus or frankie's? it's hard to pick now...
i definitely recommend this place♫

oysters @ flying fish...!

hahaha! wow, we are such nerds...
kelly erika and i experienced oyster happy hour at flying fish in belltown♥
raw oysters...with cocktail sauce, lemon and tobasco! mmmm!
we got a couple dozen between the 3 of us:)
i've been looking forward to eating oysters and..yep! i feel OTONA!!
i loved it and will definitely eat more again! i think next time we're gonna try
the oyster bar in downtown seattle, YEA !

*slurp*

the restaurant interior was pretty♥ the waiter ojisan was really cool too!
he saw erika and i going gaga over this whole oyster experience and
he was chuckling away... hahaha...a bit embarassed that he caught it...

marrakesh in belltown/seattle...!

so yesterday my co workers and i finally went to "marrakesh"--a moroccan restaurant in belltown/seattle ♫ this was my first time trying some moroccan dishes and it was delicious ♥ the restaurant itself was like a huge carpeted area with pillows everywhere! it was super comfy ☻
i had 2 glasses of cabernet and got pretty....buzzed/drunk
i ordered breka vegetarian, like an egg roll with potatoes and stuff in it

they even had us wash our hands just like this so we can eat with our fingers like they do traditionally.... they still provided us with forks tho ♥

the highlight we waited for were the belly dancers but...unfortunately, we got to the restaurant too early... belly dancers don't come out til later... so we decided we would come back another time at a later time and enjoy the dancers ♥ yayness!

after dinner we made a short stop at the "shorty's" bar and ordered another drink! i haven't been back to shorty's in ages...! it's a really cool bar with pin ball machines in the back, and old arcade games you can play for a quarter... the tables are all made out of old broken pinball games too. neat bar ♥

hostess...!

yep...for now i've landed a hostess job at the p.f. changs restaurant...! yay me! i had to go through 3 different interviews... at this point, i'm just glad i have a job... with the economy these days, it's been hard finding the job i actually want... so in the meantime i'll work as a hostess and continue looking★ the pay isn't as much as i used to make, but it's more than i expected a hostess to make, so that's a plus!