Restaurants by Lake Washington Showdown

There are so many options to dine by the water in Seattle. The question is which waterfront do you want to check out? There are several bodies of water around here, and we have mainly explored Lake Washington thus far.

Seattle had its restaurant week in late April, and we picked a restaurant based on the midway point between our work and our friends in Redmond.

I remembered Kirkland as a well-to-do neighborhood. It's still highbrow but, I didn't expect the area around Bin on the Lake to be pretty and relaxing too!

We strolled around the park by the restaurant  before dinner and poked fun at the parade of fancy people arriving by boat to eat at the various restaurants near the dock.

View of Lake Washington from the park at Carillon Point

A good way to avoid traffic if you can afford it!

View from Bin on the Lake

The restaurant week menus were a bit disappointing at all of the participating restaurants because they were very similar by cuisine and you can tell that they were heavy on the filler or common ingredients - tons of pasta, chicken, flat iron steaks, and salmon. Bin on the Lake was one of the few that stood out to me because it was seafood-centric and the desserts weren't just "choose a sorbet flavor."

I'm not an oyster fanatic, but apparently our friend recognized the kind of oysters that we got as the appetizer just by looking at them. I was very impressed, Bing!

Mignonettes with red wine vinegar

Mike definitely isn't an oyster person, so he opted for a very warming carrot bisque.

Charred baby carrot bisque with preserved lemon crema, carrot greens, and crispy prosciutto

The main course dishes were very well done but on the small side. However, after finishing all three courses, we felt sufficiently full. The restaurant week portions are definitely the "shared" appetizer portions on their regular menu, so the $30 meal per person is almost the same as ordering 3 "shared" dishes on a regular day. But regardless of how much of a deal restaurant week actually is, we enjoyed celebrating friendship and breaking up the work week with delicious food!

Wagyu flat iron steak with miso glazed potatoes, braising greens, and black garlic demi

Pan seared scallops with braised oxtail, brown butter parsnips,

chanterelle mushrooms, and arugula

A tip for future Bin on the Lake customers, get the doughnuts and skip the skimpy cheese plate!

Cheese plate

Ricotta doughnut holes with lavender sugar and caramel

We had another great dinner by Lake Washington after work recently because Mike had an off-site meeting in the Leschi neighborhood. We have never been in the area and were surprised at how pretty it was as well! Bin on the Lake is on the east side of the lake and looks towards University of Washington with the Olympic mountain range in the distance while Bluwater Bistro is on the west side of the lake and looks towards Bellevue and Mercer Island. It also has an awesome view of Mount Rainier!

View of Mount Rainier from Bluwater's parking lot!

View of downtown Bellevue

Happy hour appetizers here are pretty awesome! I never liked American-Chinese crab rangoon but Bluwater's are so delicious!

Dungeness crab and cream cheese wontons

 with mango coulis and Thai sweet chili sauce

 The clams are simple and fresh.

Steamed local manila clams

The main course dishes are also very well done. I love it when the sides are not just an afterthought.

Fish and chips

Parmesan crusted rockfish with herb roasted red potatoes and sautéed green beans

Overall, I think Bluwater wins in terms of food, portions, price, service, and view, but Bin on the Lake focuses on more elevated dishes and it's still a great option!

Groupon-ing Our Way around Downtown

Apparently I purchased some Groupons around the same time and they were all expiring in the same month. As we both recovered from a nasty cold, we rushed out and celebrated our crawl back to good health!

I heard that the Sky View Observatory has a better view than the Space Needle and is less crowded. It did not disappoint!

Columbia Center

View of downtown from the 73rd floor

SoDo

Area where Mike works - posh

Area where I work - grimy

After taking in Seattle from high above, we headed over to Gameworks to indulge in an afternoon of video games ($15 Groupon for an all day game pass with some points for ticket-dispensing games). I remembered when Gameworks was opening for the first time in downtown Seattle in the late 1990s, my brother and I were super excited to test out the latest arcade games there. The arcade area hasn't changed much since then, but they've added a computer gaming area on the second floor. I think I'm getting too old for the loud environment, but I did enjoy spending our ticket game points at the photo booth!

Say "Cheese" - y

On another weekend, we got to know the seedier history of Seattle by taking a "Beneath the Streets" walking tour. The tour took us around Pioneer Square and shed light on what life in Seattle was like at sea level (now underground) in the downtown area from the 1800s through prohibition.

Shady Entrance to the "Beneath the Streets" Tour and

Pioneer Square with Chief Seattle's Bronze Bust

Entering a speakeasy from an alley

The coolest tidbit we learned was that all the glass squares on the sidewalks were actually the skylights built for the underground (or sea-level) passages for shady businesses after the city raised the ground to prevent flooding. The remnants of these skylights are everywhere around Pioneer Square!

Skylight glass from the surface and

Skylight from an underground comedy club

I'm glad that we can still do fun things around downtown and not just associate it with work!

Seattle, "der Lenz ist da!"

Ever since we moved to Seattle, everyone we met has been telling us how everyone here lives for the Spring and Summer. It's supposed to be exceptionally beautiful.

Well, Spring has finally arrived, and it's glorious! I can't help skip a bit every time we step outside when the sun is beaming, and the cheer in this 1930's German song really reflects how awesome this time of year is (yes, I'm aware of the sexual innuendo in the song but it doesn't negate the joy of the season)!

"Veronika, der Lenz ist da" by the Comedian Harmonists

The moment it got warm enough to think about heading to higher ground, we headed out to Twin Falls in North Bend just beyond Snoqualmie east of Seattle. We are a bit out of shape so the trail was just challenging enough to make it seem like we're getting a workout without completely discouraging us. I want to work towards doing longer and more challenging trails at Mount Rainier by the end of the summer.

Really cool plant along the trail

Twin Falls

On the way back towards Seattle, we stopped by Snoqualmie Falls, which has become a major tourist attraction, but it's well worth battling the crowds when the falls are at its fullest.

Snoqualmie Falls

Getting photobombed by our friend

We took advantage of another beautiful weekend to check out the Washington State Fair in Puyallup southeast of Seattle. State fairs are kind of the same from state to state with the requisite fried foods, rickety rides that you pray won't break while you're on it, and farm animals. But it was still worth soaking up some vitamin D while hanging out with friends!

Favorite food from the fair - warm scone with raspberry jam

The thing that did us in at the fair and had us calling it a day was me accidentally winning the ring toss. Poor Mike had to endure the humiliation of carrying the monstrous stuffed animal to the car...my hero!

Nothing Like Mom's Soup!

I've been feeling under the weather lately and wanted something warm and comforting. As I was browsing through all the wonderful things I wanted to buy at Uwajimaya, the oxtails jumped out at me. I can make my mom's awesome luo song tang!

Luo song tang tastes a lot like borscht but without beets. The sweetness of the beets is replaced by the sweetness of the carrots, and in my mom's version, daikon radish. It looks like you can find different variations of this Chinese recipe. Many incorporate potatoes and more tomatoes than my version of ma's recipe.

My mom never wrote down her recipes for me. Everything I learned about Chinese cooking was by watching my mom cook from when I was a toddler through college. She never measured her ingredients, and I never stopped and asked her how much she's putting in. Instead, we chatted about other things going on in life while I served my time as her sous chef. Chinese cooking became second nature to me. By the time I had to cook my own meals, I didn't have to ask her for a collection of her recipes. I bought the ingredients for luo song tang based on my memories of the look, smell, and taste of the soup.

Luo Song Tang with Oxtail Bones

Ingredients

1 small cabbage, chopped into 1 inch cubes

1 medium daikon radish, chopped into semi-circles

3 carrots, chopped

1 large white onion

3 roma tomatoes, chopped

4-5 slices of ginger

2 bay leaves

salt to taste

I remembered that we preferred the lighter and sweeter taste of boiled daikon over potatoes, and I remembered that you need to have good chunks of beef bones to give the broth depth. Whenever my mom was going to braise meat or boil them in a soup, she always par-cooked the meat in water to get rid of the blood and fat. In Western cuisine, you would usually brown the meat in a pan on all sides to seal in the juices. That's really tasty, but I boiled the oxtail chunks this time because I didn't want a rich broth. I wanted a clear and soothing broth.

I chopped all the veggies while the oxtail bones where boiling and dumped them all into a slow-cooker along with the bay leaves and ginger. I added water to the slow cooker about a third of the way up the pile of vegetables. The vegetables release a lot of water, so don't pour too much water!

After the oxtail bones cooked for about 10 minutes, I pulled them out and placed them on top of the veggies in the slow cooker, sprinkled some salt, and I let it cook on high for 8 hours.

Oxtail chunks

Halfway through, I nestled the oxtail bones underneath the veggies. Once the soup is done (trust me, you'll know when it's done by the aroma that fills the kitchen), pull out the ginger slices and bay leaves, and skim out the beef oil.

You can serve the soup with or without the meat from the oxtail. My mom used to reserve the bone meat for the two of us to share after a hard day in the kitchen, and we would dip the meat in Chinese black vinegar. It was a simple but delicious treat!

Thanks for making me feel better, mom, even though you're not here in person!

Ballard Farmer's Market and Lunch at Macleod's

A few weeks ago, we checked out the farmer's market in Ballard for the first time. I was a little bit disappointed by the size and lack of variety, but, hey, I'm thankful that we can even go to a farmer's market in winter! Despite the rain and limited market offerings, Ballard is as charming as ever.

Fairly small market

Awesome floral flavored sodas!

Gorgeous Piopinni mushrooms

Purple broccolini

There were a lot of delicious but pricey eateries around the market. Macleod's was in our price range, and the Scottish seaside ambiance really caught our attention. 

Macleod's

Cute interior

The fish and chips were spot on and the fish tacos were light and citrusy. We liked that the scotch egg came with tasty accoutrements, but I happen to know that eggs past their prime tend to have a flat bottom like this one. I'll let that pass this time. ;-)

Scotch egg with pickled vegetables and cheese

Proper fish and chips

Fish tacos

Scenes from a Typical Work Day in Seattle

 As bad as the traffic is, we feel very lucky to spend some extra time together chatting in the car, listening to music or NPR, and taking in the scenery.

On a clear day, we can see Mount Rainier looming in the distance.

View of Mount Rainier as we drive towards downtown

As we approach the exit to Mike's office, we are reminded by the Space Needle that we really do work in Seattle now.

Space Needle and South Lake Union

I work in the area of Seattle that doesn't get any love on postcards, but the business and industrial activities here defined the city long before Amazon and Google came into town.

Plane parts being transported by rail in the Industrial District

The train tracks run between my office and the Starbucks HQ.

Coffee break at the Starbucks HQ