Another round of deadlines for work has ended and I always breathe a big AHHHH of relief on the first day of the new quarter with bouts of sleepiness mixed in throughout the day. But I'm trying hard to fight it and turn a new leaf because perhaps it is unhealthy to have to resort to becoming a social hermit one out of every three months, while I sit staring at two computer screens for 12 hours a day. I have to argue though, that these past two quarter's lapse into bad habits as not been entirely my fault... because of all the fun I've been having with people visiting and the trips I've been having!!!
First on the agenda was my good friend Thomas who took advantage of the flight over to the PNW to visit a friend in Portland before driving up to spend six loooong days with me. Wracking my brains and armed with the knowledge that he already had some fabulously good eats at the foodie city, we wowed each other's socks off checking out Maneki, this traditional Japanese restaurant in the International District. I say traditional because this place's focal point isn't the raw fish found at the very last page of the menu, but rather the traditional Japanese dishes like the agedashi tofu and the miso black cod collar. I tried to get Thomas to bust out some Japanese phrases but he got cold feet and only said menu item names, like onigiri, which wasn't too impressive since I can say onigiri too.
We also tried out this traditional German restaurant in the Ravenna neighborhood of Seattle, called Heidelberg Haus. Again, I say traditional because it wasn't like the regular German-themed dark-lit gastropubs you'd normally find with their pretzels and mustard. When we walked in, Thomas remarked that it felt very homey, like you'd expect to see in a restaurant within Germany. Good, because we found this place off of a reddit thread titled "Seattleites born outside of USA, what restaurant/take-out place makes the most authentic food from your home country?" :D. Again, I tried to get Thomas to bust out some German but he got cold feet and only said his order, which was the rinderroulade, and pshh anyone can trip their way through saying that, so I was not impressed. The entrees was amazing and for once, I can say German cuisine did not induce food-coma, so I'm anticipating the next time I go back to try out another item and beer.
Interspersed inbetween all the eating, we also checked out the Chihuly Glass museum and also went to our first Sounders Game!
We weren't too sad to see Thomas go because we were really tired of trying to entertain him. Just kidding. It's cause we were going to see him and our other friend Richard in a week's time in Whistler!! I jacked these photos from Thomas' G+ account but I don't care, I need some pictures.
The snow was better than expected and it was fun to all hang out but unfortunately I caught something on the trip so a break in the middle of the week was more than welcomed as we went exploring in Vancouver at the VanDusen Botanical Garden and I absolutely loved exploring Granville Island and trying out liverwurst for the first time. All in all, a very fun March!
In May, my friend Rebecca came to visit for a week, en route to her move to the west coast. The great thing about Rebecca is that she's super independent and braved the Seattle public transportation (bus) to go exploring on days that I couldn't skip work. We did catch up with our friends Tim and Tina from college by checking out the newly reopened Paseo in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle followed by trying some nice hard ciders at Schilling Cider House. We also spent a day during her visit to go hiking Lake Serene, which offered fantastic views of the PNW- the forest, the lakes, and the mountain skyline. It was probably my first hike of the season and a good reference point as to how out of shape I was!
And now I've been scolded for how long this entry is so I'll cut it short. Hopefully I'll remember to come back soon and write the other half of my summer so far!
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