Seattle Trip “Ivar’s Seafood Bar”

Ivar’s is a famous seafood restaurant chain based in Seattle. They are the ones who has been sponsoring the 4th of July fireworks in Seattle every year since 1964.

Ivar’s own a few nice waterfront seafood restaurants in Seattle. They also have about 30 Ivar’s Seafood Bars around Washington state. There was one in Aurora nearby our hotel and decided to check that out for dinner.

We had no idea how their fish and chips is like. I thought that it would be the ones I had in London – big piece about 8″ long. So, we ordered the 3-piece fish and chip. The fish (Pacific Cod) were nowhere the size I thought. The batter was perfectly light and most importantly, not too greasy.

Seattle Trip “Trader Joe’s”

Friends have told us about Trader Joe’s and raved about how different they are from other grocery stores. We don’t have TJ’s in Canada and have always planned to check out TJ’s the next time we’re near Seattle. We found one in Everett on the way to Seattle.

TJ’s products are private labeled. They are known for their low prices and boasted the fact that each and every item in the store are tasted by their own panel. Only items they like are sold to the public. If you don’t like the things you bought, you could always return them, with no questions asked.

Since we’re travelling we just bought a couple of snacks for the trip, although there are so many other stuff we wanted to buy too. We bought a bag of TJ’s Spicy Soy and Flaxseed Tortilla Chips for $1.99.

The tortilla chip is really good. It has a flaxseed (like sesame seed) embedded on the chips which gives it a nutty flavour. The spiciness was just right. We couldn’t stop munching them in the car.

Seattle Trip “The City”

The Space Needle is definitely the most recognizable landmark in Seattle. The Needle was built in 1982 1962 (Helena pointed out that the Needle was built in 1962, not 1982. Amazing, over 40 years old!) as the central showcase of the Expo. We had been up on the Space Needle before and so did not go up there again on this trip.

At the Seattle Centre (where the Space Needle is located), there is a dome shaped fountain called the International Fountain. It was a pretty hot day and there were a lot of people cooling off near the fountain.

No visit to Seattle is complete with making a visit the Pike Place Market. This is the place where the first Starbucks shop was opened. We tried looking for it in the Market but could not find it. We found one across the street but I don’t think it’s the original one. Do you know where that original Starbucks is?

The purple coloured cauliflower caught our attention.

Seattle Trip “Bite of Seattle”

The Bite of Seattle is an annual affair held at the Seattle Center. The 2006 event is the northwest premier food festival and hosts more than 50 restaurants, 30 food product companies and other food and beverage related events. We were there primarily for the food.

When we got there at about 2 pm, there were already a lot of people. Couple with one of the hottest days, it was quite unbearable really. Our main grouse is that the organizers did not have a proper eating area with tables and chairs. So, most people ended up eating on the lawn under trees.

The below is Alligator Meat. It tastes a lot like chicken to me and do wonder if they really are alligator meat. A skewer costs $5 … it better had to be alligator meat for that kind of money!

The Louisiana Crab Cake costs $5 and is served over dirty rice and lemon garlic and tomato wine sauce. We’ve never tried this before but frankly, this does not stand up to Chinese style dish of the same sort. I guess we’re not used to having so much sauce drowning the rice.

The Salmon and Cream Cheese Piroshky is a Russian food very much described as a pocket pastry. It appears deep fried. It is crusty on the outside and has a pillowy pastry just under it.

Seattle Trip “McDonald’s Breakfast”

We just made a two-day trip over the weekend last week. This time was to Seattle to check out the Bite of Seattle event. We have never been to the Bite of Seattle and was really captivated by the scale of the event on the website. They appear to be much bigger than the EAT! Vancouver event here. So, here we go again … another series of blog on food and of our short visit.

Since we had to leave early, Suanne wanted to have breakfast out instead of getting up way too early to prepare breakfast, not to mention the time needed to clean-up. We went to the McD outlet in the Ironwood Mall.

The things we do for a blog these days! What we ordered was different sets of Extra Value Meals — McGriddles, McMuffins and Bagels. Besides the sandwich, the Extra Value Meal includes coffee/hot chocolate and Hash Browns.

We like their hashbrowns very much — made to perfection, if you ask me. Total calories 150.

The first sandwich is the Breakfast BLT (that’s Bacon Lettuce Tomato) Bagel. Looks pretty but seems very dry … need to wash it down with lots of coffee. That’s 430 calories.

Next on the list is the Sausage McMuffin with Eggs. The sausage (in the form of a patty) looked juicy. We liked the melted cheese look on the bun — does makes it look more appealing, doesn’t it? The bun looked dry. This has a bit more calories: 440.