Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Seattle so far!

Hello everyone!

David and I have arrived safely in Seattle, and it's been a whirlwind of nonstop family time as well as doing lots and lots of exploring the Seattle area these two days.  I've already covered most of the places we visited this time around in these posts (because every time someone new comes to visit, there are places that they just have to visit! even if that means that it would be your 5th time visiting the place or doing that activity...)
so this will be a quick recap of everything that is not the Chihuly Garden and Glass because Oh. My. Goodness! Chihuly Garden and Glass!  That deserves a post of its own that is coming tomorrow!

Also, this would be a pretty good sample of a 1 day trip itinerary for anyone who has only one short day to enjoy this amazing city I get to call home =)

So we began the day bright and early (at 6:30 am to be exact,,,) with a leisurely walk around our neighborhood with my baby, McKinley.  We also visited a local forest (these are everywhere near Seattle  haha), but sadly all of those photos came out pretty blurry thanks to the little man being so excited about running around sniffing anything and everything.



Then, after a brunch, we paid a visit to the Theo Chocolate Factory for their tour.  Let's not discuss how many times I have been on this tour, because you know, it's so tough getting to try amazing chocolates so many times  ;)  haha  It was amazing as usual, and we left having tried probably a pound of chocolate each.
Before the tour, rocking the hair nets  haha

After, we hit up Ivar's for some of their famous fish&chips.  Late lunch! Yes, you're allowed to have brunch and lunch in one day...

some cousin lovin
(Though we didn't have time that day, the Gas Works Park is really near this Ivars, so you can go there to walk off your fish & chips!  That park is definitely worth a visit, and it has a great view of the city as well!)

After we've fed the ducks and the geese what remained of our french fries (I mean chips, excuse me), we parked our car near the Space Needle, and walked around the Seattle Center.


Chihuly Garden and Glass happens to be right next to the needle so you can kill 2 (or 4 if you want to visit the EMP and the Pacific Science Center) birds with one stone!  but more on Chihuly tomorrow  ;)   In the meantime, here is a little bit of a teaser photo of all the gorgeousness that is the Chihuly.

Oh, and on the way back to the parking garage, you'll notice these strange metal strips planted into the ground.  I thought it was pretty cool, quite bamboo esq from afar, and it makes for a fun little frolicking venue if you're still into frolicking and all..  We most certainly are!  ;)

If you drive (or walk, or take the bus) a couple of blocks, you'll be at THE farmer's market.  Only one of my favorite places ever!  

You'll probably be hungry by this point, so go ahead, try as many samples and buy as many tasty goodness that is offered there!

And we had a wonderful time trying some tea (and tea ceremony) at one of their tea shops!  It was so nice to just sit and enjoy some hot tea before we headed back out to brave the chilly rain outside.

Then, since you're close by, you have to go by the Seattle Art Museum to take a picture with the hammer man!  and visit the museum too!  I love going to this museum, but we just didn't have the time to fit it in this time...  =(


If you drive a little South, you can walk off all of the calories you consumed at the market (I always consume an exorbitant amount of food every time I visit the market...) at the Alki Beach!
It's too cold to swim, but it's a really beautiful walk along the coast line, and if you go visit it at night, you can see the iconic Seattle skyline (the one on every poster and card you see of Seattle) with your own eyes!!
It also has a mini Statue of Liberty of its own  ;)

 Though it's really nice in the summer, Seattle spring can be a bit,,, temperamental and on the chilly side, so we stopped in for some coffee and tea to thaw at one point...


We wrapped up our day with a lovely dinner with my friends Sarah and Matthew, who were kind enough to invite us all over to their new home!  For some reason, I don't have any with them, but I do have a picture of their pup, Joey, who joined us at the table for dinner, so I leave you with a picture of this adorable Yorkie!  ;)


I hope you are all having a wonderful week so far!
Thanks for stopping by!
--Janny



Monday, May 27, 2013

Happy Memorial Day!!

Happy Memorial Day everyone!!

I hope you are all having a wonderful time being with your friends and loved ones as we celebrate the lives of the men and women who gave up their lives so that we could enjoy this freedom today!  

Instead of celebrating the day at a BBQ with friends, or perhaps a parade, I'm finishing up packing and then catching a plane back home with my boy!  ahhhhh I am so excited!  =D   I can't wait to see my family!! my puppy!! and also for them to meet David!  =)   the whole meet-the-parents process begins!  haha

This week (and also most of the weekend) was full of packing, packing, and some more packing...
but my room has never been cleaner!  haha   
Thankfully, I didn't have to move my furniture or take down all of the decorations because the person who is subletting my room wanted a 'furnished' bedroom.  She sounds like a very sweet person, so I feel content leaving most of my things in her care.

In between packing though, I did get some friend time in before I leave for the summer  =)



I will miss you all!!  but at least we'll all see each other again in a couple of months!  ;)

Oh, and we also got some pooch lovin' time with Houdini (Chris's Italian Greyhound), and Carmella, another puppy he is fostering.  I'm always a happy camper whenever I get to hang out with puppies, and Houdini is just such a charmer, so this was pretty awesome!  You can see Houdini in action here and here
HAHA Carmella's ear!
When David and I took Carmella on a walk, she insisted that she walk right in between us the whole time!  We kept asking her, 'don't you want to go sniff things Carmella?'  'don't you want to go run ahead and explore?'  but nope.  She wanted to stay right in between us, and wasn't interested in anything else.  Is this what well-trained dogs are like?  David and I both grew up with black lab mixes who could best be described as 'lovable terrors', so we were definitely at a loss.  What is this business of calm dog-walking? 

Anyway, to celebrate my last night in Houston, we had another game night!
This time, we played the "Amazing Labyrinth" that David got for his birthday and it was such a hit!  We liked it so much that we played it twice!  (we can usually only bear to play a board game once before we move onto the next one)
The object of the game is to acquire all of the objects on the cards that you are dealt in the beginning, but things are complicated by the fact that every other rows of the labyrinth are movable... and because 4 people are moving the boards at different times, things like the bottom left corner picture can happen, where you get hopelessly stuck with no chance of getting to your next object.  All of us went through the phase Amulet is going through in the picture basically every other minute where we just despair and groan as others move the board and completely destroy your plan of getting to your object!  haha  ;)

It was such a fun night with lots of chips, guac, iron skillet chocolate chip cookies, and ice cream.  After all, what is game night without lots and lots of junk food!  right??  =)

Happy Monday, and thanks for stopping by!
--Janny



Thursday, May 23, 2013

Life via food

Hello everyone,

We've been able to try a few more of our pinterest recipes recently, and we're happy to report that both of them have passed the test and will soon be moving onto the "Tried and Loved" recipes board today!

The first recipe we tried was a deep dish cast iron pizza recipe!  We have often talked about our love for stuffed crust pizzas, and how usually we're the only ones in the group who likes them,,,  (this is why we're roommates) needless to say, we were SO excited to try this recipe when we found it a couple of weeks ago!   Also, we absolutely adore bbq chicken pizzas at our apartment, so we borrowed David's cast iron skillet, and got to work!

First we made the dough, which was surprisingly easy, and it had grown more than twice in size when we got back home from grocery shopping--thank you, Houston, for being warm and humid..?  (did we just say that?)

We always take forever at HEB because Amulet and I both love trying all of the samples that they have there (and there are so many!!)  I swear we try every single station every time we go... samples are the best! no?  ;)  haha

And then, it was time to make our stuffed crust BBQ chicken pizza!!

And as you could probably guess from our love of stuffed crust pizzas,,, we adore cheese at our apartment! more cheese the merrier!!  so we heaped some cheese on top of our pizza, and into the oven it went!

and this beauty came out!!
we were beyond excited!
look at this beauty! 


and of course, the best part, the stuffed crust!!

The only thing we would change for the recipe would be to cut the dough recipe in half.  As much as we loved the pizza, it was a bit too heavy in the bread department for our taste...  but otherwise, such a good idea, and we absolutely loved the stuffed crust!


The next recipe we tried was this Homemade Wheat Thins recipe.
I used to LOVE Wheat Thins when I was little!  Wait a minute, who am I kidding, I still love them!  but you know, once you get a bit older and start thinking about your girly figure, chowing down boxes and boxes of Wheat Thin every week no longer becomes an option...  (says the girl who just made and thoroughly enjoyed the stuffed crust pizza...  haha)

Anyway, this is slightly butterier than the store-bought version, but when has that ever been a bad thing??
They were really fun and simple to make, and everyone loved them when we brought them to the pool/BBQ party last weekend!
We followed the recipe exactly, and we would highly recommend it!
where did that squiggle come from?  haha
So the crips were not very uniform in size, shape, or thickness, but I personally like them that way.  It has more character, no?  ;)

deliciously buttery, nutty (I don't know, but I always think whole wheat things always have a bit of a nutty flavor,, is that weird?), and slightly salty  =)   a perfect 'healthy' snack!



nom nom!!!
I hope you've all been having a wonderful week!
--Janny

Monday, May 20, 2013

Zucchini Fries!!

Hello everyone!

Last night, we decided to try one of the recipes on my Pinterest boards.  My 'food' board where I pin interesting looking foods I want to try keeps growing and growing each day, and my 'tried and loved' board where I pin the ones I've 'tried and loved' is having difficulty keeping up.  This one, Zucchini Fries, looked really appetizing, so we made this last night, and because we loved it so much, we made it again today! This is definitely going onto the 'tried and loved' board today.




Per usual, I made some changes to the recipe, so here is the updated version!

Zucchini Fries!

Ingredients

2-3 medicum sized zucchinis
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 Egg
1 Tbs water
1 1/2 cup Roasted GarlicJapanese style Panko breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
sprinkle of black pepper


1.  Preheat oven to 425 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2.  Cut up the zucchini into thin 3 inch sticks.  I cut it into 3 inch chunks first, and then cut the zucchini logs into 8 'pizza slices'  ;)

3.  Place the flour and the cut up zucchini sticks into a large zipper bag and shake-a-shake!
this part is really fun actually, both for the shaker and the audience  haha
4.  Whisk the egg and water together in a small dish.
5.  Mix together the bread crumbs and the spices (garlic, cayenne pepper, and black pepper) in another shallow dish.
6.  Set up an assembly line of zucchini, egg, Panko mixture, and the baking sheet.

7.  Dip the flour coated zucchini in the egg, roll it around in the Panko mixture, then place it on the baking sheet.

8.  Bake for 20-22 minutes, until golden brown!

9.  Enjoy with some poppy seed dressing, or honey mustard, or really just about anything you like!


 I hope you enjoy this as much as we did, and Happy Monday!!
--Janny


Sunday, May 19, 2013

Hot...

Hello everyone,

I walked into our apartment earlier today and thought, "man! it's chilly in here!"  The thermometer told me it was 78 degrees inside.  Just a little perspective on exactly how hot it is outside right now in Houston...  I'm sure I'm going to miss this 90 degree weather when we get to Seattle and it's like 60 degrees, but for now, I'm really looking forward to Seattle weather!

Anyway, you may be noticing a pattern here; Houston summer heat = BBQ pool parties!!
There's really no way around it folks.  It's just waaay too hot here.  You can check out the last pool party here.


This one was held at Chris's apartment complex, and per usual, there were many munchies, beer, lounging around the pool and the hot tub (only for a little bit because it was too hot...), and of course, Houdini!!


Sai and Emily brought him this gigantic biscuit that was about half as big as Houdini  haha  and of course the little guy was in heaven--I've never seen a happier dog at a BBQ  ;)

 We always try so hard to get a photo with this one, but never seem to succeed in getting that shot that you would see in a pet magazine with the little dude.  It's really a shame because Houdini is SO adorable in person!!  if only we could get him to sit still long enough to snap a decent photo...   



After we've had our fill, we spent the rest of the day lounging about in this amazing pool.  Amulet was fully into the whole swimming thing so she was diving and swimming around like a little red haired mermaid while Emily and I lounged around in the shallow end making sure to not get our hair wet (we were going to an opera later that night, and we didn't feel like messing with washing our hair and the whole bit).  Emily's hair escaped unscathed, but I'm afraid pretty soon after this photo was taken, I was picked up bodily and thrown into the pool by David... so much for keeping my hair dry...  love you too dear.  You can totally see the mischief in his face right there in the last photo!  haha

I hope you're all enjoying your weekend, and that you're staying cool!!
Thanks for stopping by!
--Janny

Friday, May 17, 2013

Korean Birthday Soup and Ironman 3

Happy Friday!!!

When you're not in school, it becomes rather difficult to keep track of the days of the week, don't you think?  haha.  Today, for example, feels like Saturday because last night we went on David's birthday 'date' and I guess I just got really used to doing something like that Friday-Sunday during the school year  =)

So the plan was that I would have the 미역국, aka the Seaweed Soup, aka the Birthday Soup, adventure earlier in the day, and have that and 떡볶이, a rice cake dish ready for dinner by 5:30.   Well, due to certain things happening, like me locking myself out of the apartment--while the stove was on, while Amulet was 4 hours away, while my landlord was out of the country--things got delayed and David ended up helping me wrap up the rice cake dish for dinner  =)
I don't know what's going on with the swoops there with my hair  haha
The soup was definitely an adventure, and as expected, Mom got many "Mommy, how do I...?" phone calls throughout the process.  BUT!!  in the end, it turned out pretty well!


I mean, it didn't taste exactly like Mom's but it was actually pretty good!  And I know it doesn't look all that pretty, but it tastes good, and it's all sorts of good for you  ;)

Our dinner of birthday soup and the rice cake dish.  I was worried what the birthday boy would think of the seaweed soup, since,,, well, it's not the most common thing in the U.S., but he ate it up like a seasoned Korean!  haha
 


After dinner, we opened some presents, and I had a lot of fun laughing at David struggling with the packaging  =p



I had been hearing a lot about Stickygram, and I was quite intrigued by the idea, so I got him some that chronicled our year together  =)  I thought they did a really great job, they were really quite cute, and most importantly, he loved them!  Such a great way to have pictures displayed in your house (kitchen)!  I miss the days when we used to print pictures all of the time.  At home, we have albums after albums of my childhood, but since we got the digital camera, we never print photos anymore... so sad...  So I think this is a great way to 'print' pictures (in a more displayable way too!) in today's digital camera world!

Another thing he opened was the board game, the Amazing Labyrinth!   I learned about this game when I was visiting friends in Nebraska, (post here) and it was so much fun!!  The board we used was kind of falling apart because it was so old, but everyone thought that they had discontinued the game, so it couldn't be replaced.  I had wanted to get him some board game to continue the tradition of having game nights, so I was ecstatic when I saw this in the game store in the Rice Village!  
We tried it out before we headed to Ironman 3!


We snapped this picture in the middle of the game sometime, and it was a good thing too, because then we realized that we were running late for Ironman 3, and all thoughts of picture taking went out the window as we hurried to the theater.

We actually both really enjoyed Ironman 3!!  Of course, there were a lot of things getting blown up, people getting pummeled, and people surviving things they shouldn't survive, etc.  But what I really appreciated about the film was that they incorporated a lot of humor into the movie.  It would be really intense, really intense, really intense, then all of the sudden, bam, and we would be cracking up at something or other.  And I thought that Robert Downey Jr. did a really great of bringing in that humorous, charming side to the movie.  If you're in the mood for an action summer blockbuster, we would highly recommend this one!


I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Thanks for stopping by!
--Janny