The funny thing about moving to the Pacific Northwest from Central Texas is that you have a hard time finding certain… cuisine… that you became accustomed to.  Now, I know that Texas BBQ is something that you can really ONLY find in Texas, so we’re not delusional enough to think that we might find it up here, but we’ve certainly been trying to find at least a close approximation.

Teddy Bear BBQ (Monroe)

Our first stop in the quest for Texas BBQ brought us to this little shack in the middle of nowhere, populated by bikers and locals.  We were brought here on the suggestion of our friend C, who said they have the best pulled pork sandies in the area.  I have to admit, it was merely okay.  The pulled pork was definitely juicy, not too overpowered by bbq sauce, and they offered a fine selection to mix and match your own sauce from.  I was a tad put off by how soggy the bread became, mostly due to the extensive grease, but that’s somewhat par for the course when it comes to bbq sandies.  The mac n’ cheese I ordered as a side was rather disappointing… just not very flavorful or satisfying.  Overall, I found it to be too expensive and too out of the way for my taste.

Manna Smoked BBQ (Greenwood)

Up next is Manna Smoked BBQ, over in Greenwood.  This is little more than a hole in the wall store with over the top pig-and-Texas decor.  Checkered table cloths, rope and branded wood all over the place.  I believe there were maybe 4 tables or so for patrons to sit down and enjoy their grub.  We opted for the takeout because, well, that’s what we do.  The first thing I have to recommend this place involves the pricing.  This is possibly the cheapest set of prices for bbq that I’ve seen in a while.  We opted for a couple of pulled pork sandies and a side of potato salad.  Again… inexpensive. The food was okay.  It wasn’t drowning in sauce, thankfully, and the meat tasted slow cooked, as a good pulled pork sandie should.  I wasn’t too keen on the potato salad, but then, I do tend to be rather picky about that anyway. Overall, though, it was quite smoky, flavorful, and the sauce wasn’t too overwhelming.  We’ll definitely be going back.

Wicked Rack BBQ (Everette)

This place is our latest new obsession.  We were steered here after a search on Yelp brought them up with some really glowing recommendations.  It’s not that far from the house, really, perhaps a 20m jaunt, depending on traffic, but the atmosphere is worth it.  I’m not talking about this place being amazingly decorated or anything.  It’s ALL about the people working here.  The owner is one of the nicest guys, his staff (which we suspect includes family too) are just the most awesome people ever, and the prices aren’t that steep.  We’ve tried the pulled pork and brisket sandies (both of which were fantastic…once you got past the “drowned in bbq sauce” part) but our favorites right now are the stuffed bbq potatoes. MMM! Huge potatoes (ALMOST like the size of the potatoes we were used to at Jason’s Deli in Texas) just stuffed full of smoked meat, cheese, sauce and, oddly enough, baked beans.  I’m not keen on the beans, but for my Dragon, it’s heaven in a carton.  They have an awesome selection of sides, including some of the tastiest fried mac n’ cheese I’ve ever had, and some fried okra that is just out of this world! (Even my Dragon ate it and he abhors okra.)  We’re definitely going to keep coming back to Wicked Rack whenever we get a craving for fast, friendly bbq.

Until next time!
~H&J

Pioneer Square, July 2008

I have a confession to make.

I had no idea what Pioneer Square was when we first moved here.  I didn’t know the history of it.  I didn’t know what an epicenter of activity it is. Nothing.

But oh how I’ve been schooled!

I won’t go into the extensive history of Pioneer Square here, but suffice it to say, we’ve been a few times!  It’s packed with clubs, restaurants, boutiques, tours, and so much more.  Any time we’ve been to see Abney Park, it’s been at the club Heaven in Pioneer Square. Any time we’ve gone to the Space Needle, we’ve been to Pioneer Square. There is, to be honest, some of the most interesting shopping down there. And we haven’t even taken the time to fully explore it!

Something we intend on rectifying in 2010.

The UPS Waterfall Garden in Pioneer Square

For now, all I can say is: if you’re coming to Seattle, you HAVE to visit the Square. Seriously.

XOXO,
H

The Iconic Seattle Space Needle

Ask someone to name a landmark in Seattle, and invariably, they’ll say the Space Needle.

My mother once told me that when I was very young, I’d had the chance to visit the Needle while passing through on a trip.  I don’t remember this…and I don’t think there’s any photographic evidence to back up that story But I do know my parents have always been awesome about making sure my brother and I got to visit landmarks when on road trips.

We drive past the Needle pretty often. Any time we’re cruising down I-5, it’s there, on our right (or left if we’re coming home) and we’ve seen it in so many different weather conditions: rain, snow, sunshine, and haze.  Night or day, it never ceases to amaze me how prominent it is!

Our first visit to the Needle happened when we first arrived. We didn’t actually go INTO the structure, but we certainly saw it from our vantage point down in Pioneer Square.  Our first foray into the Needle didn’t happen until December 2008, when we visited for lunch on our anniversary just prior to seeing the Nutcracker performed by the Pacific Northwest Ballet.  I’d made a promise to my Dragon that the Nutcracker would be the first show we saw when we arrived, and damnit if I didn’t follow through!

The vista from the top is truly breathtaking. The entire city is laid out before you, 365 degrees of awesomeness.  Even the grey of winter and the snow/ice on the ground couldn’t take away the lovely nature of the view.  Ditto for seeing it in the summer, when my parents came to visit.

Mom's picture of the Needle, July 2009

I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of seeing it, especially at night when it’s all lit up against the glittering lights of the city below. The Tower of the Americas in San Antonio just does NOT compete.

There is only one Space Needle.  And it’s in the city I now call home.

XOXO,
H

I can’t even believe that 2009 is almost over.  We’ve done so many things this year, experienced so many new places…I will say this: Moving to Seattle has been, hands down, the best thing (aside from marrying my husband and getting my Psych degree) that I have ever done.

Ever.

Do I miss my family and friends way down yonder? Absolutely.  But I had the chance to share our little world with them when they came to visit this year.

Oh so much has changed and yet, this feels more like home than ever.

More updates to come, as the weather’s getting chilly (a brisk 33 degrees out right now) and there’s the threat of SNO next week!  As long as the winter this year isn’t as hellish as the one last year, I’m pretty sure we’ll be okay.  At least THIS year we have a proper sno-shovel (one that, by the by, ended up costing $60!) so we won’t be lodged in the driveway…not that I plan on driving in the sno for any reason whatsoever that isn’t a dire, life threatening emergency.  But yes! Yay! Sno!

And my birthday is fast approaching. Yikes. Hopefully this year is better than last:) I’ll keep my fingers crossed!

Okay, enough babbling. Onward!

XOXO,
H

The weather is changing again.  We’ve gone from an essentially hot, dry summer to a very wet and chilly Autumn.

Where did the year go? We’re coming up on our second Thanksgiving here and it doesn’t even feel like we’ve spent a year hear at all!  Before we know it, we’ll be celebrating Yule and ringing in the New Year.

My how time flies.

So I’ve been largely quiet, and there’s a good reason. I’ve been working my little heiney off, trying to take care of bills and such.  I’ve also been trying out some new meds which, believe it or not, seem to be working.  We’ll see how long it lasts, though.

The cats, the hammie, and the Dragon are all still fine.  Every once in a while I feel a pang of loss for Habu, but then, she’ll always be missed.  J has, thus far, been successful in his attempts to keep me away from kittens and puppies for fear I’ll bring one home.

I’ve been knitting, reading, cooking and absolutely wrapped up in my Sims.  Now I understand WHY I never played this game to begin with.  It’s highly addictive once you get into.  Even J is a fan.  I suppose it’s a good thing, however, when you consider the weather outside. Not exactly exploration friendly, if you know what I mean.

We’re still doing the eating out routine, trying new places, returning to old haunts.  I will, before the end of the year, hopefully have all of our reviews up, perhaps including some updates on the reviews of the past!

I miss chatting at you all. Real life just got in the way.  OH! And I totally have to tell you about going to see Romeo et Juliette (the ballet). It was definitely a memorable experience!

Until then!

XOXO,
H

Okay, we’re going to file this under “Seattle’s weird weather” because yeah.

We’ve been dealing with quite a bit of rain lately, accompanied by some pretty severe windstorms. So severe, in fact, that one of them took our gazebo for a tumble across the yard, flipped it upside down and bent it to where we soon realized…it was toast. (As a side note, I’ll give mad props to the spider in the corner.  He was a fat HUGE spider, that we named Gimpy because he only had 7.5 legs, and he survived the tumbling. Hell, for all we know, he’s still out there in the wreckage.)

It’s become a pretty standard event to watch the news around here in the morning before taking J to work, just to see the local weatherman carry on with his enthusiastic “MOAR RAIN!” reports, but I’d like to mention that he said nothing at all about hail.

It’s important to remember this.

Friday the 13th, yadda yadda, notoriously unlucky day, so on and so forth. Not so much for me, but hey, there’s always a first time.

I was on the way to get J from work and turned the corner. Immediately, there was the pelting of what amounted to tiny little snowballs (they weren’t the hard ice hail I remember from Texas) that lasted all of, oh, 5 seconds.  I drove on saying to myself, “Huh. Odd. Way to be weird, Weather,” and figured that was that.

Boy how wrong I was.  By the time I actually made it to J’s work, it was coming down fast and thick, covering the ground, but here’s the odd part…it STILL was more like tiny snowballs than the “so hard it dents your car” hail.  When J came out to get in the car (I warned him via text message that it was hailing) he was so excited to see it that I swear I nearly drove off and left him in the parking lot so he could enthuse to the hail itself.

The storm didn’t last long.  Neither did the buildup of icy snowy slurry on the ground.

But man, it was fun to watch!  Pictures, once I get them off my phone:)

XOXO,
H

Blade, Creature of the Night

Shadow, Creature of the Night

Kratos, Creature of the Night

Mumbles....Chicken of the Night

It’s still Halloween for a few minutes yet, so I thought I’d hop on to say that I hope you all had a fantastic holiday:)

We can’t believe it’s been almost a year already. 2 more months to go!

We had an absolutely SPLENDID time on the Market Ghost Tour tonight. Our clockwork orange Host really knew his way around the market (and well he should, having had 2 generations of family own stores there) and we learned things that we didn’t know about the area.  Even C learned a few new things!

I’ll do more of a thorough write up soon enough, and I do apologize for slacking off and not updating as often as I should!  I hope that by the end of the year, I’ll have all the back posts for reviews done and posted. Lordy. 2 more months. *shakes head*  It doesn’t even seem like the year is nearly over.

But anyway, Happy Halloween everyone:)

XOXO,
H&J

Ahh, Mexican food.  After living in Texas for 11 years, I’ve been hard pressed to find good Mexican food up here in the great Pacific Northwest.  Granted, it’s a small price to pay for being in such a fabulous location with so many other cuisines to choose from, but sometimes, you just get a craving.

I stumbled across this place while perusing for good taco joints and I don’t think we’ll be going anywhere else for a good long while.  It’s nestled in a little back corner, across from a Chuck E Cheese place, and the bright yellow walls fairly scream “Mexican restaurant” at you. (Or maybe it’s just me.)

This is the real deal, folks.  Tasty, tender meat in a delightful white corn tortilla with only cilantro and onion as toppings.  So good. So filling!  I can’t get enough of them, it seems, and J agrees that they are totally worth it.  So far, we’ve tried the beef, the shredded pork, and the chicken, although there are three more options available.

I’ve also indulged in their Enchiladas A La Crema: Chicken enchiladas with an asparagus cream sauce, served up with refried beans and spanish rice. Mmmm. Very tasty!

J tried their Chicken Quesadilla and was also duly impressed! 

Ever since we had that little taco stand down in Wallingford last year, we’ve been looking for someplace comparable that didn’t make us wonder if we were going to end up sick.  Well, we’ve found it.  So very tasty, and as J said, the tacos are ME sized:)

XOXO
H

Okay. So. I’m not a huge fan of sweets. I like them, but a little bit goes a long way with me. My husband, on the other hand, has a sweet tooth that leaves him constantly looking for the next tasty, sugary nibblet.  My latest fascination has been with cupcakes.  They’re the perfect size, the perfect serving of cake and sugary frosting, and one or two is plenty for me to keep satisfied.

We’ve also decided that we’re adults and we can have dessert for breakfast if we so choose, so one of the first places we went when we arrived here was Trophy Cupcakes in Wallingford.  I was blown away by the variety of little cakes, rotating through the days and seasons of the year, and how delightfully they are decorated!  We’ve been there a few times, and by far, our favorites have been the lemon cupcakes and the red velvet.  They are moist and delicious, but my ONLY complaint is how sugary their frosting is.  They definitely pile it on top, which for some, is sheer heaven, but for me, when there’s more frosting than cake, then I find myself scraping most of it off in favor of the cake below.  Trophy has an amazing selection of cakes, from the standard chocolate and vanilla, to the more exotic dulce de leche and snickerdoodle.

Trophy Cupcakes - (left to right at top) Red Velvet, Carrot Walnut, Vanilla Chocolate, and 2 Lemons

So far, we’ve tried the red velvet, the lemon, the vanilla chocolate, the snowball, the carrot walnut, the chocolate peanutbutter, and the cafe au lait.  All of them are tasty but I’m very partial to the lemon ones. Mmm. 

I was recently looking around to see if we could find a few other cupcake places so we could compare, and we found out about Cupcake Royale in the ever lovely Ballard area.  Heading out there early, we made it through the line that stretched out the front door, to indulge our sweet-teeth on a little cakey goodness before wandering the city for the day.  They, too, have an impressive lineup of flavors and we settled on 6 to start (shared between the both of us):

-Salted Caramel
-Red Velvet
-Lemon Drop
-Lavender
-Classic
-Raspberry Lemonade

Oh my.  These are even better than Trophy, in my opinion.  The Raspberry Lemonade was not only beautiful, but so good! Light, refreshing and moist, perfect for a warm summer’s day.  The Salted Caramel was also quite delicious, and the lemon drop is a firm contender for the Lemon cupcake from Trophy.  The best part, in my opinion, aside from the flavors, was the ratio of topping to cake.  Not too much, not too little, and certainly not too sugary.

We’re still on the lookout for cupcake places, and I have my eye on the Yellow Leaf Cupcake Company next.  But for now? These two will do when we’re really craving some cupcake goodness:)

 Trophy gets:

Cupcake Royale gets:

XOXO
H

Clay Pit Dining Room

I am going to be the first to admit that my previous experiences with Indian Cuisine were, shall we say, less than stellar.  The food was always either way too spicy or entirely too bland, usually from a buffet, and left me with a bad taste in my mouth.  If you add to that the fact that I’m married to a man who just doesn’t like spicy things at all, then you’ll probably understand why I’ve been a bit gunshy about trying Indian restaurants.

C convinced us to find something good, so off I go to Yelp (my absolute go-to resource for restaurant reviews) and I came across the Clay Pit in Mill Creek.  Now, we’re quite familiar with Mill Creek because they have so many of the places we like to eat anyway.  We’d driven by the Clay Pit, but never felt compelled to stop.  We all hopped in the car and headed out after J and C were out of work for the day.

The ambiance of this restaurant was the first thing that struck me.  It was beautiful inside!  Not too busy, and the wait staff was incredibly attentive!  We were seated quickly and set about perusing the menu.  There are tons of offerings on here, all of them sounding just fabulous.  I decided to go with the Tomato Butter Chicken and Spinach Paneer Naan, while J settled on the Lamb Cashewala.

Let me just start off by saying that the Naan is the stuff that bread dreams are made of.  It was served fresh and piping hot, and the spinach paneer stuffing inside was just delicious!  I found myself having to hold back so I didn’t eat it all before I got my meal:)

The main courses were promptly served right after and oh. my. goodness!  My dish was a chicken breast stuffed with spinach, mushrooms and cheese, baked, and smothered in a creamy tomato butter sauce.  It was scrumptious.  There was a healthy helping of jasmine rice to help soak up the rest of the sauce, and it was honestly SO so tasty.  I had to slow down and truly savor each bite because it was just that good.

J was, surprisingly, impressed with HIS dish as well. Served in a nifty little copper pot, tender lamb simmered in a cashew cream sauce with jasmine rice to compliment it.  My initial fear that it might be too spicy was completely brushed away because he downright devoured it.  Thank heavens I’ve found a man who appreciates lamb as much as I do:) He gave me a nibble and truly, it was tender and lucious and lip-smackingly tasty.

The bill was, well, a bit spendier than we normally see, but at the same time, it was worth every penny. It certainly didn’t break the bank and it was a pleasant change from our normal fare.  This is definitely good eats that we’ll be revisiting in the future!

XOXO
H