July 2015 – The Adventures of a Calamari Queen

Grilled Tuna Belly

I grew up eating a lot of tuna belly in the Philippines because our area just has an abundance of seafood. I do not remember eating frozen seafood, especially fish for that matter! It’s kinda different here in Washington state, the “fresh” ones are so expensive and the frozen are not the best quality I’ve had. Oh well! That’s why I get so excited to go to the ocean because we always get fresh seafood, like tuna belly. The fishermen got it in the morning, and we cooked it for dinner the same day! It was so good:) When we got back home I just prepared the rest of our tuna belly because I didn’t want to freeze anything. I don’t mind having tuna belly for consecutive days if it is fresh and I don’t get to have it often. I marinade it in soy sauce (I used less sodium,1/2 cup), 4 or 5 tablespoon of olive oil, chopped garlic (3 cloves),then pepper. Marinated it for 4-5 hours. Then I grilled it for 4 minutes each side (medium heat). Enjoy with rice and dipping sauce (like vinegar or PINAKURAT is what I used;it’s a famous filipino vinegar.)

Westport and Ocean Shores, WA

Hello, Everyone! Last Friday morning we went to Westport (together with my Hubs family and our doggies) and Ocean shores for some family bonding (we got back yesterday afternoon). We’ve been wanting to do this for a while now because we wanted to bring the doggies to the Ocean and get some fresh seafood. Zach spent a lot of time at the Ocean during summer vacations growing up and they usually stayed at the Discovery Inn (sadly it’s in the process of renovation) and it’s not the same place anymore.

We did the usual things like go to Brady’s oysters for smoke seafood, get fresh tuna belly at Westport, spent time in the Ocean (the doggies had the blast), played some games, had s’mores one night at the Ocean with deer watching us. We really liked our rental, spacious and was more than enough space for all of us. Hopefully this will be a yearly thing for the family:) *picture overload about to happen!

Westport

Going to buy tuna belly and loin (so fresh, they got it that morning)

This guy was preparing our Tuna Loin (so good when it’s so fresh)

Pictures of our condo:

Our bedroom

My In laws room

Lexy hanging out at Julias room

We had tuna belly,shrimp, steamed clams in white wine and bread! Delicious!

The face Riley and I make when it’s too hot and too loud because of the motorcycle show!

With my Dad In Law Phil!

The deer hang out with us while we had s’mores

Excuse my morning face!haha..preparing breakfast with my Mom In Law Kathy (she made pancakes, I did the bacon!)

Grilled Rosemary Lamb Chops!

I made these grilled Lamb chops tonight and the Hubs said he liked them. I rarely make Lamb dishes because I really don’t like lamb (I only eat it in gyros) but Zach likes it so I make it for him. I got the recipe online (epicurious.com but it says Bon Appetit July 1995 on the recipe). I will probably prepare this again because it was easy and quick and I had all of the ingredients, except for the lamb 😉 After marinating for 4 hours I decided to use our gas grill instead of what the recipe was calling for.

Grilled Rosemary Lamb Chops

Ingredients:

3/4 cup balsamic vinegar

6 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

3 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary or 3 tablespoons dried

6 garlic cloves,minced

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

12 1-inch thick lamb chops,fat trimmed

1 1/2 cups mesquite wood chips,soaked in cold water 1 hour (optional) *I skipped this

Preparation

Mix first 6 ingredients in small bowl. Place lamb chops in single layer in 13x9x2 inch glass. Pour marinade over. Cover with foil and refrigerate 4 hours, turning lamb chops occasionally.

Prepare barbecue (medium high heat). When coals turn white, drain chips, if using, and scatter over coals. When chips begin to smoke, season lamb with salt and pepper and place on grill. Cover; grill chops to desired doneness, basting often with marinade, about 4 minutes per side for medium rare. Transfer to platter and serve.

Happy Birthday Julia!

Hello friends! Last weekend we celebrated my Sister in Law Julia’s birthday. My In laws ordered Ribs and fix-ins at Famous Daves (In Renton). It’s one of our fave BBQ places here in the Pacific Northwest! Too bad the restaurant is far from our place (I think it’s a 40 minute drive) depending on traffic. The Hubs made cornbread too because you can’t have ribs without some cornbread! We ate out on the deck because it was nice day and my MIL has covered the deck in pretty flowers, so we just had to eat outside. Happy Birthday Julia, many blessings to come your way!

MIL and her humongous plant — MIL and her humongous flower baskets

Being Silly while singing the Birthday song for Julia and Riley!

One of Julia’s B-day gift from her parents (Lenox figurines)

Ohana

Ohana restaurant opened a couple of weeks ago in Issaquah, in the old La Costa place (Mexican restaurant that’s been in Issaquah for 30 years). Hubs and I were really looking forward to trying this place because we love sushi and some Hawaiian dishes like spam musubi, kalua pork, and poke. After Church last Sunday we finally decided to check Ohana (they also have one in Belltown), I personally had high expectations because I noticed they’ve been under construction for a while now so they must be doing something big in there! I really liked the atmosphere the moment we entered, It did remind me of our vacation in Maui years ago. It was spacious too! The servers were attentive and really friendly. The food was decent, I ordered Loco Moco (the meat was too well-done for my liking but the sauce/gravy was flavorful) the one I had in Maui is still the best for me though. We shared an order of spam musubi, which had too much rice in our opinion (there’s this place in Renton that serves good spam musubi (Aloha Grill)) and Hubs had sushi. He thinks it was pricey for what he got. Over all a good experience but we probably won’t be back for a while just because the value wasn’t there for the price. The sushi was pretty over priced for the portion size / quality.

Miso Soup

Loco Moco

This was really good! Salmon and Yellow tail..

Liking this gravy on my Loco Moco dish!

Spam Musubi

Issaquah Farmer’s Market

Happy Weekend friends! Hope you had a restful and fun weekend with your loved ones. We (Hubs and I) went to our local farmer’s market yesterday (Saturday morning) and got some fresh and cheap produce. I always enjoy going to the market and exploring booths. I wish they were open everyday! Our market is open June – September (maybe till October?), so I always make sure I get to do this in the summer, after all they’re not around the whole year. One of my favorites are the fresh and very affordable flowers (they remind me of Pike Place Market and the flower section they have displayed!). They’re so pretty and the prices are not bad:) We skipped the food area because the lines were long, but they have decent selections like Thai, Greek, Mexican, Pizza, etc. We got some fresh corn, berries, sugar peas. We’ve already enjoyed the corn and berries, both were delicious.

He's done doing this farmers market thing!hehe — He’s done doing this farmers market thing!hehe

We had the corn tonight with left over ribs and it was good!

We ended up going to Fat Burger after the market because I’ve never been to this Burger chain. I remember years ago when I asked Zach what the “worst” burger for him was and he answered “Fat Burger”! haha..so I’ve always been curious and wanted to check this place out, and see if he’s exaggerating or what! So off we go and I think the burger was decent, a little dry but definitely not the worst on my list! It actually reminded me of Jollibee burger (famous Filipino fast food). The place was cozy and lots of family we’re there too. I still prefer Five Guys over this place though.

What we’ve been eating lately!

Happy Wednesday all! It’s still HOT here on our side of the country, and I’ve been enjoying iced coffee lately. I just had one with my Mom In Law earlier at Starbucks. Anyways, we’ve been eating most of our meals lately at home (aside from tacos and take-outs during weekends) and I wanted to share what we’ve been having lately:

Stir Fry pork belly and string beans (I think it's called snake beans in one of my chinese cookbook) — Stir Fry pork belly and string beans (I think it’s called snake beans in one of my chinese cookbooks)

Breakfast for my hubs! yogurt with strawberries and bowl of cantaloupe! — Breakfast for my hubs! yogurt with strawberries and a bowl of cantaloupe!

Steaks that I prepared! Normally it's the Hubs who do the steaks here but he was busy lately that I had to do it. It turned great:) — Steaks that I prepared! Normally it’s the Hubs who does the steaks here but he is busy lately so I had to do it. It turned out great (according to him)

Filipino breakfast for dinner! Milkfish and eggs.

Chicken coconut curry (recipe from panlasangpinoy.com)

grilled shrimps for tacos — grilled shrimps and mango avocado salsa for tacos

excuse the bad angle and the chin, the Hubs wanted to take a pic of me preparing the Ribs!hehe

Oven Baked ribs and coleslaw (we had ribs two nights in a row because I prepared 2 racks)

Take-outs and dinner out (Hubs and I try to support our local, small business/restaurants in our area)

Sushi from our neighborhood — Our neighborhood Sushi place (it’s our fave)

pulled pork from Dickies bbq (another Issaquah restaurant)

Pork Blood stew (dinuguan) kare-kare (oxtail meat in Peanut sauce);from the Asian market in Seattle — Pork Blood stew (dinuguan) and kare-kare (oxtail meat in Peanut sauce);from the Asian market in Seattle

Pizza from a food truck place (so good for the price, we'll be back for sure) — Pizza from Tuscan Pizza food truck (so good for the price, we’ll be back for sure)

I do not cook every day. I try to follow the “cook once, eat twice” rule. These are the meals (mostly dinners) we’ve been eating for the month of June and this 1st week of July. Happy cooking and eating friends!

Seafare Weekend!

Hello Friends! A couple of weeks ago, we went to Alki beach in Seattle (met with my In laws, they went biking that day) to see some “pirates” as part of the Seafare 2015 activities this year. It was Okay for me and we’ll probably not do it again next time just because it was too crowded, too loud (from the pirate cannons) and too hot especially for Riley! The parking was terrible, we had to walk almost a mile just to park the car. We did enjoy hanging out with my In laws for a while though and got some Filipino products after from Foulee (one decent Asian market in Seattle .) Hope you’re having a great day, we are enjoying some sunshine here in the Pacific Northwest and it’s just glorious:)

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence day, America! I’m so grateful to enjoy the freedom of living the American Dream. The Hubs and I (and Riley) stayed at home,though we had some invites from family and friends (thanks for being so thoughtful guys!) we did watch a movie and did some errands earlier today. We hope you are having a fun and safe 4th of July weekend! God Bless the U.S.A!

Some of the things we did today: cuddle with the fattypuss, Riley, enjoyed some Jamba juice, ordered pizza, did a little couponing:)