11th Step - Seafood Noodle Soup

"Seafood Noodle Soup"

I honestly forgot about the blog. Haha. I haven't been eating much good food besides toast and butter for the past few weeks. I guess from the lack of nutrients my mind is becoming hazy.



The drinks are Young Coconut juice and... Pepsi. Undoubtedly, the soda is mine.

This is at Chinatown in Seattle.

10th Step - Sushi

"Sushi"

Nothing too special. Decided to stop by the Sushi Toyama restaurant in Everett after dropping off the relatives at the airport.

I really need to take pictures before jumping in. In the picture is the Spider Roll(very top; contains soft shell crab), the orangey pile of bubbles is Ikura (salmon roe/eggs), and then there is tuna nigiri. I can't remember what the white one is.

9th Step - Canada Trip

Aquarium - Clown Fish
Aquarium - Jelly Fish

Family decided to take my cousins on a trip since Seattle was getting a bit old. Since it was only a 2 hour drive, we went on a little adventure through Britich Columbia, Canada.

I forgot to take a picture when we ate Dim Sum in Richmond.
Aquarium - Jelly Fish (again)

We went to Queen Elizabeth Park and ate some fruits and the left overs after shopping through Japan, Indian, and China town. I saw a dried lizard in a Chinese medicine shop.

"Grilled Corn"

I think I shouldn't have scared my grandma because she didn't let me buy it. The shop ladies and customers had a good laugh from her reaction and my immaturity.

Me: Hey! Grandma, I found something pretty cool.
Grandma: What is it?
Me: LOOK! Lizard! -shoves said dried critter towards her face-
Grandma: JSLDZ MY GOD! You're mental! Get that away from me!
Me: Can I have my wallet?
Grandma: NO.
Me: It's dead and harmless, grandma. I wanna buy it. Come on, touch it onceeee.
Grandma: GKDSJ MY GOD! NO. GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU SH*T. PUT IT DOWN. You really do want me to die early! You're ungrateful!

At least I made their day. I wanted to scare my mom, but she ended up disappearing off to somewhere. It's rude to scare guests, so my cousin got a free pass.

"Kimchi Dog"

We also explored through the aquarium located in Stanely Park and eventually went to the Summer Night-Market. We ate some takoyaki, grilled corn, banana sticky-rice w/coconut milk, squid kabobs, fried spring rolls, and drank some bubble tea.

I had the kimchi dog; a bit too sweet for my liking. Only time it was spicy was when a piece was lodged somewhere in my throat.


Was too full to try the Thai and Japanese dog afterwards. It looked good too. Maybe (hopefully) in the future.

"Fried Spring Rolls w/ Sweet-Sour Chili Sauce"

"Banana Sticky-Rice w/ Coconut Milk"

Looks like a fancy, deep-fried twinkie with icing, eh? :D

"Takoyaki"

Seems empty since I ate a couple with the nephew before remembering to snapshot it.

I didn't get a chance to buy some fried potato flakes and fried cheesecake. The lines were ridiculously long. Basically, if you made it out of the mob, you have the right to brag about it.


Epic Convos with Great Aunt
→ On the highway to the border, she talks about the GPS.

GPS: Turn left in 300 feet.
Her: Wow! She talks a lot! She's very good. How do you get the job?
Her daughter: What job?
Her: Job to talk like that. She must make lots of money!
Daughter: Mommy! What the hell! It's a computer!
Her: Oooooh!!! Is there a man one? That will be very cool!
Her daughter's boyfriend: Actually, there is a man voice installed too.
Her: Ohhh, that is nice! I bet he get paid lots too!


→ At the aquarium in front of the beluga tank. There are facts about the whale displayed on the computer screen, near the top.

Her: Look! Read up there. They're showing words of what the fish is talking about!
Her daughter: They're talking about the fish! It's not the whales talking!
Her: Ohhh. Hahaha! Woops!
Daughter: Oh my god, mom.

→ Heading home. In the car, after we took a shortcut through the railroads to the parking lot. Didn't know about it and took the long route to the market.

Her: We took the shortcut? Did you know about it?
Me: Nah. We found out after seeing a bunch of people heading from that way.
Great Uncle: Too bad we didn't find out earlier. It was a long walk there.
Her: Yes. The longcut was very long.
Her daughter: What the hell, mommy?! Longcut?!
Daughter's boyfriend: Haha! She invented another word. It's the "long way."

Her: Hoho! Okay. Haha! I said "longcut!" Supposed to be "long way!" Is it "shortcut" or "short way?"

Daughter: It can be either! You're so weird!
Her: Mommy like daughter!

8th Step - Thai Suki

"Thai Suki (Thai style Hot Pot)"

Another family get-together to welcome my cousins from France. We were at my youngest aunt's house yesterday to eat sukiyaki, Thai-style. I almost forgot to snap a picture again. I ended up taking it during the midst of splurging on the food.

The layout was impressive. Out of stupidity and curiosity, I touched a raw cow tongue. And what do you know? It's real.

I thought the whole thing was a very well crafted table ornament...

The soup is made from a vegetable soup base. We added some udon noodles, rice vermicelli, and spinage while bringing it to a boil. Then whomever wanted to add whichever to the soup, they went for it.

There was tofu, taro, squid, cow tongue, veal, bacon, meatballs, lobster-balls, shrimp, beef, clams, quail eggs, thousand year old eggs, mushrooms, chinese cabbage, lettuce, etc. ...

7th Step - Shrimp Angel Hair Pasta

"Shrimp Angel Hair Pasta"

I completely forgot to take a picture of the family meal at my Great Uncle's house today. I seriously want to catapult myself through a brick and cement wall.

The layout was great; we had BBQ pork ribs, seasoned stir-fried beef, green papaya salad, sticky rice, "kaeng nor mai" (bamboo shoots boiled in thick bone stock with anchovy, calantro, green onion, and sesame seeds), pork rinds, and cabbage. Dessert was "Che Ba Mau" or Three-Colored Dessert (in Viet). No idea what it's called in Laotian though. "Tom Wan" maybe?

Instead, I'll show you a picture of the pasta I made last week. Only fault of the meal was that I forgot to remove the crispy tail off from the shrimps. At least it added some kick to the pasta?

6th Step - Chicken Curry, Pickled Veal, Bread

"Ca Ri Ga"

Not very many chicken pieces in the curry (bottom bowl) and the pickled veal (very top bowl) could be less sweet. Overall, it was a good luch. The chicken was very tender and the curry wasn't at all spicy - unfortunate for my part though, haha!!

5th Step - Vietnamese Coleslaw

"Goi Ga"

Like the title says, it's Vietnamese coleslaw. It contains white chicken breast strips, shredded cabbages, pickled carrots, mint, and cilantro with sprinkled chopped-roasted peanuts. No mayo.

That white carton you see on the faaaaaar right of the picture that almost blends well with the equally white styrofoam contains the dressing. It's called "nuoc mam gung"... or fishsauce with ginger. This version is a sweet-sour flavor to compliment the salad. The other version is salty/sour/tangy to compliment savory foods, like baked fish. There's a squeeze of lime, red thai chili paste, and sugar in it too-- and maybe a dash of rice vinegar.

4th Step - Vietnamese Sandwiches

"Banh Mi"

The one I had was a roasted/grilled pork sandwich. The food is pretty filling, savory, and cheap. It's like... two sandwiches for the price of one McDonald's meal.

I know. It's unbelievable.

Where I bought mine is at the Seattle Deli on 12th Avenue South street in... well... Seattle. Prices varies from $2.00 - 3.00. This is my favorite place to buy them. Obviously, I'm recommending you to go to Seattle Deli for a quick sandwich fix, if you so happen to be in the district.

There is also a vegetarian option that consists of tofu. If you don't like pork or tofu, you can choose chicken instead or ham. Or cold meat. Or any other filling that I didn't bother to look at and remember. You can purchase them without the vegetables in it. Otherwise, it's typically filled with pickled vegetables, cucumbers, jalapenos and cilantro.

Parking is like a death metal coffin. But the reward is excellent-- in my opinion. Haha.

3rd Step - Lamingtons

"Lamingtons"
Decided to give another (x300 and still counting) shot at baking. This is an Australian dessert. But there has been claims that it originally originated from New Zealand.


Lamington is a spongecake covered with chocolate and coconut. If you want to know more, remember, Google is everyone's best friend. And the fact that I'm a slacking wetblanket that doesn't want to bother finding and posting links.

It's a proud moment, since this is the first pastery I've ever accomplished without burning the whole thing. It's dry, yes, but not rock hard.

Happy 4th of July, by the way. 8D

2nd Step - Baked Potato Casserole

"Baked Potato Casserole"
No buying pre-made meals at the market, heating it up, placing it in a baking dish, and calling it mine this time. Just pure scratch.

Overall, it tasted edible. The only misfortune that happened was that the oil splashed onto my finger. Not too bad. At least it didn't get into my eye nor on my face. Knockonwood.

1st Step - Chocolate Lava Cake

"Chocolate Lava Cake"-- No, I'm not joking.

Parentals had a new stove/oven installed today. I had a mini fiesta by testing it out with my superior baking skills. Yeah, a few fire alarms did have a blast blaring their sirens.

I rarely do like eating sweets; perhaps it's my fate that I should stay away from making one too. It's so dry, that the "lava" turned into a pumice rock.

To clarify things: those aren't salt crystals on the cake. It's sugar. How's the taste of the cake? It tasted like hard, crispy rubber. Check out Youtube channel: Foodwishes for a super-less ugly version. You'll be thankful.