Eating Our Way Through Seattle

I finally have some pictures to post. I thought I would start with pictures of our wonderful meals while we were in Seattle. You'll notice I mention "we". My darling brother (DB) and I flew into Seattle last Thursday to attend a weekend wedding for our cousin, Greg.

Thursday:

Can you believe I forgot to take pictures??!!

My Godmother, Avis and her hubby Henry, took us to dinner at the House of Hong in Chinatown. OMG, the food was absolutely delicious. The fish melted in my mouth as well as the wonderful tofu dish. The curry chicken was not spicy, but very, very tasty. The way curry chicken ought to be. Not the burning in my mouth and can't taste anything afterwards feeling.


Early Friday morning:

For our first breakfast, we wanted to try a place in Pike Place Market. We got up early (6am) and headed down to Starbucks for some coffee and then off to Lowell's. Lowell's was voted "the best breakfast in Seattle". DB started off his healthy breakfast with a bowl of fresh fruit.



DB also had a bowl of hearty oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar on the side.



My breakfast consisted of smoked salmon & egg scramble with a side of capers, hash browns, and wheat toast. Okay my meal was not as healthy as DB's, but very tasty and very filling.



It's lunchtime...already?

We spent most of the morning walking around the waterfront, walked through parts of Pioneer Square, and came back to the waterfront to do some shopping. We were seeking out a good seafood restaurant and came across Fisherman's down at the waterfront at Pier 57.



We had to try out the soups. Here, my DB, ordered the fish chowder. Yes, he's quite happy...I don't remember what got us laughing so hard.






I had to try out the chowder and you know what? It was devine. Can you tell?
And yes, DB is still laughing at this picture of me.



Here's the salmon steak DB ordered. Our fish meal came with asparagus and rice pilaf. As you can see these were simple meals presented, but the flavors were awesome.




Here's my fresh swordfish. Yummy! We both agreed this was by far the best seafood restaurant we've been to. I am getting hungry again, just posting these pictures.



Dinnertime!




We met up with our cousins, their spouses, and other family members and walked over to the Crab Pot also on the waterfront (same building as Fisherman's).






My meal was very simple and consisted of salmon, halibut, and mahi-mahi on skewers with rice and lots of veggies. Yes, very healthy and very good. Okay, so I'm a vegetarian pescetarian. Sherril, did I get that right?





The rest of the folks ate a seafood combo which consisted of shrimp, crab, mussels, corn, potatoes and sausage. Sorry, I couldn't remember the name of the this feast. There was a lot of pounding and cracking at our table.





It was interesting to see how fast they devoured all this food. They did a great job with clearing off most of the table.







Here is my sewing buddy, Tricia and Mandie...looking very content after their seafood meal.









Saturday Lunch:


We needed to eat a light lunch as we were attending a late afternoon wedding. We went to Etta's near Pike Place. Tom Douglas was the caterer for the wedding. He also owns four (4) area restaurants including this one. We had to try it out.





We both ended up with a tuna sashimi with scallion pancakes appetizer and shared a plate of ginger bok choy. Yummy and so tasty! I suspected the food at the wedding would be just as fabulous.




Sunday Breakfast:

Here we are at Lola's. Another Tom Douglas restaurant. Right around the corner from the Warwick Hotel where we were staying at. DB ordered a bowl of hot oatmeal with marionberry fruit on top and a side of peanuts and chopped almonds. He really mixed this oatmeal up good.


I ended up with homemade granola with greek yogurt and fresh fruit on top. This was quite crunchy and very healthy and very delicious.




So that was our eating frenzy. We had a great time seeking out different restaurants. We also looked for the Zagat sticker. I haven't had a bad meal yet. Now, I am going through some major food withdrawals.


Next up: Pike Place Market. Stay tuned.

Back from Seattle

I just got home 2 hours ago...back from my wonderful trip to Seattle. Tired, bleary-eyed, and eating my gigantic oatmeal cookie I picked up from Pike Place.

I ate my way through part of Seattle and need to go back soon.

I will be posting the rest of my adventure along with the promised pictures. First, I need to post the wedding pictures I took...at my website.

Happy Monday!

Day 2 - Seattle

Today, DB & I started out at 6:30am & walked down to the first Starbucks down at Pike Place. We took some early morning pics of the market as they were beginning to setup for their daily rush. If you can picture this, it was so calm & quiet. The only noise that could be heard was the few early bird vendors who were setting up their shops.



We had breakfast at Lowell's and had a nice view of the waterfront. Of course DB ate the most healthiest meal.



We headed down to the waterfront and went exploring from Pier 59 south.



We walked down to Yesler Way and made a left and came into Pioneer Square. Of course not much is going as it's still quite early. We backtracked back to the waterfront & waited for some stores to open around 9 or 9:30am.



We did some shopping at the Pier 55 Shirt Company. That was the best place for Seattle gift shopping. IMHO. Prices were reasonable.



We ate lunch at Fisherman's & had the best fish meal ever. Picture this...salmon steak for DB and swordfish for me.



Went back to Pike Place & the lunchtime crowd had converged. We managed to weave in & out of the large crowds and bought some fruit to take back to our room for snacking. We rested and then headed out to do some window shopping. I found See's Candies behind WestLake Center. I'm bringing back some wonderful dark chocolates for my DH.



Yes, we're running non-stop. This is my first time to Seattle and I'm having a blast! I think I brought the clouds with me because I have yet to see the sun shine here.



As soon as I can find some computer time, you know I'll be posting pictures & adding my labels to my post. I'll try to edit my Seattle posts to include the pictures so that you can "relate" to my Seattle adventure.



Stay tuned...

Day 1 - Seattle, Washington

Yesterday, I flew into Seattle. My darling brother (DB) & I unpacked & headed down to Pike Place Market. Afterall, it's one of the top places to see in this lovely city.



There is a lot to take in here. There are many vendors selling fresh fruits & vegetables...I wouldn't have a problem here being a vegetarian. Lots of seafood: fish, huge lobster tails, crabs, etc. Lots of vendors selling crafts & gifts. Lots of places to eat.



For you coffee drinkers, we also found the first Starbucks store to open. A very rustic, but simple coffee house.



We met my godmother & her DH for dinner in Chinatown. The dinner was fabulous. They gave us the 50 cent tour of Seattle & I found that we have a lot of ground to cover today.



I of course took lots of pictures & will post soon. I apologize for any mispellings or bad sentence structures...I'm typing this on my Blackberry & it's 3:30 am & I'm still on East coast time.



Be back soon....

The Latest Issue of Sew News...

I was collecting magazines at my local Barnes & Noble for my long flight to Seattle later in the week. I came across the latest Sew News (Oct/Nov 2008). Now, I know I wasn't suppose to be skimming through this mag until I got on my flight, but I couldn't help it. Let me tell you, this mag has a lot of good sewing info.




First off, I came across this cool looking pillow picture on page 48. Now, that looks very, very familiar to me...the black and silver brocade fabric. Could it be? No, too much of a coincidence. But I had to go and check in my closet.

Sure enough, it's the same black and silver brocade fabric that I used for my Kwik Sew vest. Same fabric design, same colors. Wow. Just think, I purchased this brocade from Joann's earlier this year and now the fabric is being used in a Sew News article.


Oh yeah, back to the magazine. There are several interesting articles about silk fabrics, the different types, and some project ideas.

What caught my eye in this particular issue, was the section on How to Fitting - Pants. There's some pretty good line drawings about fitting issues and how to resolve them.

Also, there's a writeup on Fall fashion trends. I haven't even covered the rest of the magazine as I had to close it and hide it in my backpack. Okay, so I'm looking forward to my long flight.

I think this latest issue is worth a look.

Ending the Weekend With Another Necklace

I had to stop sewing and focus on packing and getting ready for an upcoming trip. I can't stop and not do something fun in the meantime, right? So, to fill in my hobby time, I'm making some necklaces. Here's the last one for today.

I found this sliding glass pendant at a local bead store in Oakton. It's a teal foil (depending on where the light hits it)with black running through it. This is the base colors I worked with. I used glass beads (black, teal, clear teal, clear grey), clear Swarovski crystals, and silver spacers.


Here's my bead board with the beads laid out. I used a nylon beading thread to temporarily string the beads and check for bead distribution, sizing and length. This bead board is a life saver. I can easily measure the length of my necklace that I'm working on.


I measure the length of my bead wire to accommodate the necklace length plus I add an additional 1-1/2 inches to each end for the lobster claw clasp and end ring. Before I string my beads on a wire, I attach the clasp to one of the wire. You can see that I add a seed bead between the clasp and the silver crimp. I also leave some wire on the clasp to allow it to move freely. I use my crimping tool and crimp the silver crimp tight on the wire. This end is now secured and I'm ready to start loading the beads on my wire.


My wire is fine/thin enough to feed into my necklace. I start at one end and feed the wire along the nylon string that's temporarily holding my beads. This is pretty easy to do and I don't lose any beads in the process of stringing.


I have to make sure that the initial beads are threaded over the double wire around the clasp area. After that, I can start pushing my bead wire through the necklace. Depending on the holes in the beads, I can typically thread anywhere from 5 to 20 beads at a time.

Once the beads are threaded on my bead wire, I can then pull the nylon thread from the necklace.


For finishing the end ring, I use the same application for finishing the clasp. At the end of my necklace, I add a silver crimp, a seed bead, and the end ring. Then I feed the wire back through the seed bead, silver crimp, and some beads from the main necklace. I pull the wire slightly taut, but allow the end ring to move freely on the wire. I proceed to crimp the silver crimp piece. I trim the wire close to largest bead on my necklace and tuck the end into the large bead.


So, here's my finished necklace back on the bead board. I love this bead board. It has measurements (number with a circle) with zero starting at the bottom center and increments in inches to left and to the right of the center. For example I can see at 5 inches, I have a black bead on the right side and so there should be a black bead on the left side. This is a great way for me to check if my design is even on both sides and if I'm missing a few beads in my pattern.


I've included a close up of the sliding pendant. I use the silver spacers (on each side of the pendant) to keep it from moving too freely around the necklace.




I have to redo the matching bracelet I made. I thought I had a brilliant idea of using a stretch nylon cord for this. I had some issues with tying the knot right and trying to hide it within the beads as well. It looked terrible. I'll end up restringing it on a bead wire and adding a clasp and end ring.

I have to mention a little ooops that I did last night when I temporarily strung this necklace. I tied a knot in the nylon cord so I could run to the powder room mirror to check the length. Well, on my way back through the kitchen...there was a crash of beads hitting the wood floor. Oh crap! I lost half of my necklace on the kitchen floor. Yes, the knot came loose. DH instinctively ran from the family room and got on his knees to start collecting the loose renegade beads. Between the both of us, we were able to find all but one bead.

So, what is the learning lesson with this hobby? I found a hand mirror with a folding base (at the dollar store) that sits on my table where I do my beading.

I hope to have some pictures to show the length and what the necklaces look like on me.

Another Beaded Necklace

It appears this is the weekend for beaded necklace postings. Since I sew a few black garments as well as purchase a lot of black RTW clothes, I thought how appropriate to make some black necklaces. Here's an 18 inch necklace I made. My color theme for this necklace was black and bronze. I used large black round beads with a little sparkle (doesn't show up too well), black/bronze glass beads, small bronze beads, and gold spacers.



Here's a close-up of the necklace and beads.


I find that having an inch of smaller beads closer to the clasp allows me to hold the clasp open long enough to put my necklace on. I know, that's a silver lobster claw clasp. For some reason, I didn't have a gold lobster claw clasp in my bead stash. Not to worry, my hair will cover the back of the necklace.

I am currently working on new necklace with a small pendant slider. This one will not have any bronze beads in it. I need to remember to take pictures during the process. I have to find my tabletop tripod to set my camera on. Kind of hard to take a picture when both hands are working on the necklace.

I'll be back....

My Other Hobby - Beaded Necklaces

I have many hobbies and interests. I enjoy giving my right brain a good workout. A lot of my hobbies are self-taught (excluding watercolor painting...yet another hobby). Here is one that I wanted to share with you. I enjoy making simple beaded necklaces.

I typically start with a central bead, pendant, or collection of center beads. I then incorporate smaller beads with similar colors and/or different textures. This would include my main colors from the central bead or pendant and incorporating shiny and matte texture beads. I prefer working with glass beads and yes, my necklaces can get quite heavy. That's why I incorporate a lot of smaller beads towards the back neckline. To help lighten the load. Also, my hair covers the back part of the necklace, so I am less worried about the design towards the back.

Here's a close-up of the clasp area. I tend to leave the bead wire a bit loose back here. On my first necklace, I had pulled the wire too close and too tight, crimped it, and one of my glass beads shattered near the clasp. Too much pressure.

Here's a side view of the necklace. Notice I gradually go to smaller beads towards the back.



Here's a close-up of the front beads. I could have incorporated a lot more color into this necklace, but I wanted to keep the focal point on the front square beads and to keep the necklace bright and cheerful.



Just like my sewing stash, I have a bead stash. Beads are readily available at local stores and come in different styles and colors. Thank goodness beads are really small and I can easily store them. How do I store them? You'll have to wait for another post.

Happy Friday!