Uncategorized – Page 34 – The Adventures of a Calamari Queen

MIA!

Hello everyone! I’ve been MIA for the last 2 weeks because my older sister visited me here in Washington (State) and we just spent a lot of time doing fun things (shopping, dining, gardening, hiking, watching movies) the kind of fun things you do with your siblings! She’s already back in NYC (visiting my other sis), then off to Hawaii to yet again visit another sis! A lot of traveling for her but she loves to travel so she doesn’t mind. I’ll be posting about what we did while she was here because it such a great time and we miss her already. First weekend she was here, we went to see the Blue Angels (it was part of the SeaFair weekend). It was pretty cool to see them perform, it was kinda loud but I guess that’s part of the craziness! Hope you enjoy the pictures:)

Sis and I having a little picnic with friends while waiting for the Blue Angels!

After a fun long day we decided to have yummy seafood on the patio to enjoy the nice weather too! We had crabs and shrimps that we got from Costco! Seafood on a summer night…my kind of dinner!

Dungeness Crabs (my have) — Dungeness Crabs (my fave)

Farmer’s Market!

Visiting our Local Farmer’s Market is one of my favorite things to do in the summer! Fresh produce, fun activities, live music and yummy food is my idea of a fun weekend. Last Saturday the hubs and I checked out Issaquah’s Framer’s market, dogs are not allowed so our fatty Riley stayed home. My favorite parts were the berry and flower sections. They’re so fresh, yet so cheap! We ended up buying some berries, although they have the same price with our local grocery, the quality was superior. I bought potatoes, pappardelle pasta, honey that I will send to my mom in the PI (through balikbayan box) The Hubs and I enjoyed some tacos and crepes too, both of them were Okay and nothing special. Hope you all had a great week!

different kinds of pappardelle pasta! I end up buying the garlic chive kind!

Riley wasn't very happy that we left him,so I had to cuddle with him when we got home! — Riley wasn’t very happy that we left him,so I had to cuddle with him when we got home!

Gianfranco Ristorante Italiano!

Hello everyone! It was my sister in law Julia’s birthday last week, and yesterday (Sunday) we had a late birthday dinner with the rest of the family. We ate at this Italian restaurant called Gianfranco Ristorante Italiano. Although it’s a small resto (kinda cramped), the ambiance was nice and most importantly the food was great! It’s one of the best italian restaurants we’ve been to in a long time. The portions were HUGE too! I had Braised short ribs and I had the left overs for dinner tonight and I still didn’t finish the leftovers! Anyways, the Hubs and I will be coming back again soon to this lovely italian place! After dinner we went back to my In law’s to have ice cream and just hangout celebrating Julia’s birthday! Happy Birthday Julia, we love you:)

calamari affogati(sauteed in tomato,garlic,hot peppers,white wine)

My In Laws,they're the best! — My In Laws,they’re the best!

braised short ribs with creamy polenta and veggies

crab ravioli in pesto sauce (Hubs order)

Linguini alle Vongole (Fresh clams sautéed with garlic, olive oil, and white wine) — Linguini alle Vongole
(Fresh clams sautéed with garlic, olive oil, and white wine) My DIL’s order,he REALLY loved this dish!

In laws and their food!they had lots of left overs!

Rigatoni Inferno (the best sauce ever!) Julia's order! — Rigatoni Inferno (the best sauce ever!) Julia’s order!

the sweetest javanese baby Lexy! — the sweetest Havanese baby Lexy!

bday cards and gifts time! — bday cards and gift time!

Morton’s Steakhouse!

We had dinner at Morton’s Steakhouse in Seattle earlier and it was YUM! We’ve been to this steakhouse before so Hubs and I knew what to expect already. It’s a basement type restaurant and it’s pretty cozy (i like the ambiance of the place).I think this steakhouse has been here in Seattle for the last 20+ years and you can tell that by looking at the wall frames around the resto, it’s kinda cool to see the “opening day of Seatac airport” in one of the pictures I noticed in the place. Anyways, the food was great! Hubs really liked the Filet mignon Oscar style he ordered. I normally order the filet when we’re in a steakhouse but I wanted to have something different tonight. I checked their menu online yesterday (I was that excited!) and found out they have braised short ribs, so I knew what I would be getting. Let me tell you, it didn’t disappoint! My goodness the ribs were super flavorful and melt in your mouth tender! I will go back to this place for the short ribs alone.We also had seared tuna and lobster bisque (we will not order this again, it was kinda bland) for appetizers and mac and cheese to share (we didn’t finish all the food though…always good for leftovers). Hubby liked his drink but it was way overpriced (i think). It was an expensive dinner but we really had a good experience and will most likely go back in the coming months.

Braised Beef short ribs with pappardelle

can't wait to dig in! — can’t wait to dig in!

thank God for our yummy dinner:) — so full:)

We decided to walk around Seattle after dinner, because we need it! We were so full and it was a nice summer evening and we wanted to use our new camera that we got this week. It’s a Nikon D3300 and so far we are loving our new gadget. Hubs is still teaching me the basic things about DSLR cameras. My iPad is acting up so the new cam is really handy right now.

long line at SB and hubs is not very happy about it!

streets of seattle — lots of one way streets in seattle

on our way home,we saw the super moon tonight. And this is my attempt to capture it but I failed big time!lol — on our way home,we saw the super moon tonight. And this is my attempt to capture it but I failed big time! (inside the car + flash = bad pics) lol

Hope you had a good weekend friends!

Happy Birthday Riley!

Riley our mini schnauzer turns 4 today! We had a simple celebration yesterday with my In Laws. We ate pizza and cupcakes. Riley loved all the attention and gifts he got from everybody. While writing this post,the birthday boy is just sun bathing in the yard. He really think he’s a little human being! The funniest and most adorable dog in the world!

Sister’s Visit to Seattle (part 2!)

More pictures of our fun activities while sis and her friends were here last week!

While sis did the EMP,Hubs and I did the SAM.

Richard and I at the porcelain room (Seattle Art Museum!)

We did the Argosy cruise and this is our view! — We did the Argosy cruise and this was our view!

we're grilling pork and tuna belly — we’re grilling pork and tuna belly

i LOVE this pic of Riley staring at the smores my sis is eating — i LOVE this pic of Riley staring at the smore my sis is eating

dinner at Earl's (Bellevue) — dinner at Earl’s (Bellevue)

another filipino breakfast! dried fish and eggs

meatballs and spaghetti,guacamole and chips for our last dinner with them

Sister’s Visit in Seattle!

My sister joined the Seattle Rock n Roll last weekend (she’s from New York). Two of her friends joined her because they’ve never been to Seattle. It was so much fun doing the touristy things with them and spending time with family and friends. We miss them already ,but hopefully we’ll see them again later this year!

enjoying the view of Seattle in Alki Beach

dinner at Duke's! we enjoyed the sunset while having dinner here. — dinner at Duke’s! we enjoyed the sunset while having dinner here. This is my crab cake dinner:)

day of the race! early morning to avoid traffic in Seattle!

Weekend Fun!

I hope you had a great weekend all. It was a quite and relaxing one for us. We are dog sitting my In Law’s dog Lexy, I don’t mind it because she s such a good Havanese. We watched the new Tom Cruise / Emily Blunt movie (Edge of Tomorrow), lots of play time with the doggies, watched a couple of documentaries on Netflix(Fat,sick,and nearly dead; Killer at Large; Forks Over Knives). My SIL also visited us and had Sunday dinner with us. We enjoyed Thai food from my favorite local restaurant. Scenes from our weekend:

Good deal at Krispy Kreme to celebrate national doughnut day!

Thai food for sunday dinner — Thai food for Sunday dinner

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Family and friends! He is Risen! Jesus is Alive!

We had a simple Easter celebration at home. We went to the first service at 8:00am (usually we attend the 10:30am service) because we invited my In laws for Easter brunch. For the previous years, we usually go out,have a brunch buffet in one of the hotels near our church but this year we decided to just have it at home. We prepared french toast, crab benedict, bacon and eggs and banana pudding cake (prepared by my SIL).Brunch was tasty and I’m still full right now and will probably skip dinner! I hope you had a great and blessed Easter weekend! Jesus is Alive!

Hub’s 2nd Crab Benedict with Hollandaise sauce

Tulip Festival!

Hello Family and Friends! I hope you all had a great weekend! We had a lovely weekend here. Spring is finally here and we’ve been enjoying our nice warm weather here in the PNW! Every April there’s the Tulip festival in the Skagit Valley,Mt. Vernon WA!The last time I visited the festival was 2 years ago (the traffic is one of the reasons why we don’t visit yearly). It’s usually 1 and 30 minutes drive from our place but with traffic we end up traveling for 4 hours. What nasty traffic! I guess everybody had the same idea on how to spent their Saturday. Anyways, the Tulips are so pretty, my favorite colors were the pinks and deep purple ones! After the festival we decided to have sushi somewhere in Everett. Enjoy the pics!

yummy sushi for dinner after the festival!

Riley totally passed out when we got home!