C. crEATion: Bucket list- Food tour in Seattle and Vancouver Day 1 9/21/12

Bucket list- Food tour in Seattle and Vancouver

The home of Starbucks Coffee

Woke up at 4AM to catch the flight at 7AM and our food tour has officially begun when we arrived the Sea-Tac international airport. Woo Hoo!!!!

(Source: https://www.portseattle.org/Sea-Tac/Maps-and-Directions/Pages/Terminal-Overview.aspx)

The Seattle-Tacoma International airport (SEA) is huge and most travelers need to take an underground transit to get to the main terminal for luggages and transportation. Our flight (United) parked at N-gate and we walked downstairs to catch the transit.

Once got off the plane, follow the sign for transit

Transit to the Central Terminal

Complicated map @_@

Arrived the Central Terminal- one sign for baggage and transportation

One floor up from the transit station is Baggage Claim, 4th floor for transpotation

Cross the bridge to parking garage and walk toward left for the Link Light Rail

Thanks google new app for “mapping indoor” and you can easily locate and maneuver within the airport. (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/new-frontier-for-google-maps-mapping.html#!/2011/11/new-frontier-for-google-maps-mapping.html) Once we got to the main terminal, we followed the sign for the link light rail station. We took an escalator up to the 4th floor and walked across the skybridge for the parking garage. We keep walking toward the left side of the garage and followed the signs for the rail station. It takes 45 mins from Sea-Tac airport to downtown Seattle and only costs $ 2.75 one-way ($5.5 day pass) to ride this free Wi-Fi equipped train, what a deal!

(Source: https://www.portseattle.org/Sea-Tac/Parking-and-Transportation/Ground-Transportation/Pages/default.aspx)

Link Light Rail Station, one floor up for the light rail

Link Light Rail

Interior of the Link Light Rail~ with Free Wi-Fi

The terminal of the Link Light Rail is Westlake station and we took the “3rd Ave & Century Square” exit. Once we were on the surface street, we walked toward the 1st Ave (should be on the left hand side) and looked for the legendary Pike Farmer Market (1st Ave and Pike street).

Terminal of the Link Light Rail- Westlake Station

3rd and Pine St. Exit

(Source: http://www.visitseattle.org/Essentials/Seattle-Maps.aspx)

Since this is a food tour, I did most of the research on food only (but of course, I visited several landmarks such as Space Needle, Seattle center, Seattle public library, Chinatown, Pioneer Square, etc). There are tons of good restaurants and eatery places around the Pike Market and I got only 1 tummy- I had to find out what could be in my “To-Eat list” today. Thank you for a group of dedicated foodies and they spent months to try most of the restaurants in the Pike Market. They wrote a forum and ranked restaurants from “must try” to “don’t bother” and this could save me time and tummy space to explore the food in the market. (http://mouthfulsfood.com/forums/index.php?/topic/15057-pike-place-market-lunch-crawl/page__st__390)

The Chocolate Box- part of the Wine & Chocolate Tour. Yelpers like the icecream, truffle and hot chocolate here

The Pike Market- Pine and 1st Ave

The Pike Market- Pike and 1st Ave

A food tour hanging around the Pike Place Market's unofficial mascot, Rachel- the Bronze pig

"We ship the seafood to your place"

Looks like the Chinese firecrackers for New Year- but a more colorful one.

A lot of flower stores in the Pike Market

The first thing we did was to see the “flying fish”. Saw that 2 times during staff meeting at work (a tape about making workplace more enjoyable) and this time I have to watch it personally. As seen in TV, the staff are really enjoying their job!! What could be better than working with what you like? If you would like to have a peek of this fun place, check this link out and they have a live webcam setup for the “show”. (http://www.pikeplacefish.com/fun/webcam/)

The Pike Place Fish- famous for their Flying Fish

They will "Fly" your fish to the guy at the counter and clean it for you

Staff are very friendly and helpful~ they enjoy their work very much!

The second place that we visited was the Slow Bar at Seattle Coffee Work. (http://www.seattlecoffeeworks.com/welcome-to-our-cafe-and-tasting-room/info_6.html) As recommended by Andrew Zimmern at Bizzard Food, the Slow Bar provided different brewing method such as French press, Vacuum method, Chemex brewing. We chose vacuum method ($9 included tax) for the brewing and tasted the coffee by Kenyan coffee beans. I’m impressed that the bartisian even set a timer for the water boiling time (2:20 minutes) and the whole brewing time (unable to read his timer this time) . They are serious about coffee!! Learned from the bartisian, beans from the East Africa are more acidic compare to the beans from Indonesia, India, Guatemala, etc. Thus, Kenyan coffee are relatively more acidic and it’s just not my cup of tea. Maybe next time I can request for a different type of beans. Check this website out to learn more about the coffee beans produced in different countries: http://www.zecuppa.com/coffee-producing-countries.htm

Seattle Coffee Works @ 1st Ave and Pike St.

The fun Slow Bar for the Shows

You can choose different brewing method for your coffee/ the Show

I chose the Vacuum method- this is the top of the "Vacuum" and the white thing is the coffee filter.

Set the timer for 2:20 minutes to boil this water

Once the water is boiling, it will go up to the top part

Due to expansion, hot water will be forced to "Excape"

Put the ground coffee in the water

Removed heat, brew the coffee in the hot water

Due to contraction, hot coffee will be pulled down to the bottom thru the filter

$9 for the show and one big pot (3-4 cups) of coffee. Bartisian said the French Press will extract the most flavor among all methods.

They also carry the Local Seattle Donut- Mighty O Donut

After getting my caffeine kick, it’s time to have some food. After reading that extensive forum, I had the ranking in my head already: our 3rd place to visit: the Russian bakery Piroshky-Piroshky (http://www.piroshkybakery.com/#). I picked the savory piroshky-- beef and cheese. It’s has a very soft bread dough ; the filling reminded me about the savory scallion-meat roll in Chinese bakery. Texture of the beef is soft and the cheese glue all the onion and beef together~ can’t complain anything about it. I’ve heard the sweet piroshky taste very good also-- but I already had my mind set for La Panier~ Sorry sweet piroshky, next time.

Piroshky Piroshky- close to Viginia St and 1st Ave

Got the Savory Piroshky

Beef and Cheese Piroshky

Piroshky before going into the oven

How could I resist!! ^^ Drooling~~

After solid food, it’s time to try the liquid food-- the 4th place that we visited was the Pike Place Chowder- voted the best chowder in the whole Nations. (Triangle Building & Post Alley Market http://www.pikeplacechowder.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=64:post-alley&catid=41&Itemid=73). I had the Chowder Sampler with 4 different 5 oz cups of chowder. ($13 included tax) I had the classic New England Clam Chowder, Seafood Bisque, Seared Scallop Chowder, and the Market Chowder- special of the day which has scallop, salmon, clam, dill, etc. All chowder I tried were very flavorful and fresh. Unlike the chowder I had in Boston or San Francisco, the chowder here are more brothy, not creamy, less potato starch.

Always crowded Pike Place Chowder

Chowder Sampler- Clam, Seafood, Scallop and Special of the day

The next stop, Chinatown. This summer, Seattle King County Metro Transit offered Ride-Free Zone and within the ride free area, we just hopped in and out of the buses for free.(In between Battery St to S Jackson St, from Alaskan Way to 6th Ave.) We took bus 36 (7 and 14 will stop at Jackson St also) and we asked the bus driver to alert us when we got close to the Chinatown. The Seattle Chinatown looks like the Hong Kong in the 80s- everything still kept in the retro style. We walked around the blocks and then we walked west to the Pioneer Square.

Chinatown- King St and 5th Ave

Chinese and Japanese restaurants

Look so 80s~ can't find this in Hong Kong anymore

Piggy food truck

Amtrak Union Station at 3rd Ave and Jackson St., close to Chinatown

Pioneer Square was the original Seattle downtown back in 1852. On June 6 1889, a young carpenter Jon Back by mistake and started the fire. The fire burned down 25 blocks wooden buildings and the city was forced to be rebuilt. New buildings were required to be built with stones or bricks; the streets would be raised from the original old streets; the whole city were rebuilt at least 8 feet or higher up and the original ground floor would be the new basement. There is an underground tour (http://www.undergroundtour.com/index.html) and I’ve seen groupon deal for this tour. Too bad that we only had 7 hours of activity time in Seattle and too many places that we wanted to see; otherwise, we would have joined the underground tour and explored this historic place.

Pioneer Square

The Fallen Firefighters' Momorial @ Pioneer Square

The Victorian-Romanesque architecture- Pioneer Place Pergola in 1905

The Underground Tour

The underground

The Pioneer Square ended at Cheryl St and we walked East from 1st Ave/Cheryl St to 3rd Ave/Cheryl St to catch a bus. We got off at the bus stop in between Spring St and Seneca St and then walked uphill to 4th Ave for the Seattle Public Library. You might be wondering why library will be part of the tour, huh- ha~ I think it’s cool to see a library with an unique book spiral design, glass exterior, an observation deck on 10th floor and a coffee shop on 3rd floor~! People in Seattle are really into coffee--- even library provides coffee!! (http://www.spl.org/locations/central-library/cen-building-facts/cen-glass-exterior)

Seattle public library @ 4th Ave and Spring St.

Tenth floor Observatory deck

Corner window office

Coffee shop on 3rd floor of the library

We hopped back on the bus and got off at Pine/3rd St. We went back to the Pike market around 4:30PM to catch dinner before the market close at 5PM. I got the grilled halibut sandwich @ Market Grill, and then we headed to Le Panier for cookies and Mee Sum Pastry for BBQ Hum Bao (for the next day breakfast). A lot of restaurants offer happy hour menu from 4pm to 6pm and some offer smaller portion of the signature dishes. I think it’s a great opportunity to try multiple dishes in one setting.

Market Grill, where I got my halibut sandwich. People love their Clam Chowder too

I love the way how each store support each other

Grilled halibut in La Panier Baguette~ YUM!

Hazenut-Chocolate Shortbread from Le Panier

Mee Sum HomBow (for next day)

As recommended by Andrew Zimmern, the HomBow-as BIG as your hand

Beecher's Handmade Cheese

Beecher's Handmade Cheese- cheese making

Beecher's Handmade Cheese-front store

Cafe Campagne http://cafecampagne.com/ Nice happy hr menu

Three Girls Bakery- well known for their sandwich

The BEST chocolate covered cherries- Chukar Cherries @ Pike Market

Street performance while we are in line for the Pike Place Chowder

The original Starbuck with performance in front of the store

The 1st Starbuck

On our way going to the Monorail, we stopped by at the Dilettante Mocha Cafe in the Westlake Center(4th St and Pine St). We got the 72% coca extra dark chocolate mocha, chocolate covered fruits medley and chocolate covered bing cherry. Yum~~ the extra dark chocolate with a kick of caffeine is a must-try items. Glad and not glad that LA doesn’t have a Dilettante Mocha cafe -- not glad that I have to come all the way to Seattle for this treasure but glad that it not accessable to me everyday so that I will be saved from gaining weight! There is a Daiso close by the Dilettante cafe but the variety of goods is far less than the one in Vancouver, B.C and Torrance, Los Angeles.

Dilettante Mocha Cafe @ Westlake Center

72% Coca Extra Dark Chocolate Mocha

Monorail Station

Inside of the Monorail

Sitting in the front of the Monorail

We took the Monorail from the Westlake Center to the Seattle Center ($2.25 one way) and explored around. Space Needle is south of the Monorail station and it’s the landmark of Seattle. Right next to the Space Needle is the Chihuly Garden and Glass (http://www.chihulygardenandglass.com/) Gorgeous glass works and sculptures by Dale Chihuly. It reminded me about the Bellagio garden in Las Vegas but this garden is far more classy and vibrant to me. There is an admission combo package for the Space Needle and the Chihuly Garden and Glass ($ 33 US Dollars for both, price as of 9/21/12). On the east side of the Monorail is the EMP Museum. The exterior design of the EMP Museum and how it is “cut up” by the Monorail are the state of the art. EMP Museum has different type of exhibition: from Rolling Stones photographs exhibit, traveling exhibition, to fashion exhibition. (http://www.empsfm.org/at-the-museum.aspx)

Space Needle

The Chihuly Garden and Glass

EMP museum "Cut up" by the Monorail

EMP museum

EMP Museum

We passed the Key Arena, Memorial stadium, Mccaw Hall and Seattle Center, and then we arrived at the Maxwell Hotel on 3rd Ave and Roy st. (http://www.themaxwellhotel.com/?gclid=CKzapaC877ICFeeDQgodGxkAmw) I personally really like this hotel just because of the location, ammenities offered ( free shuttle to downtown, complimentary bicycles, free Wi-Fi, free gym and pool, free afternoon goodies with free Starbuck, dog friendly, free parking, etc) and the price! It’s also really close to the Quick-shuttle bus stop where we will take the shuttle to Vancouver on the next day.