Restaurants – The Adventures of a Calamari Queen

Herb Farm!

Hi Friends! I hope you’re all having a good Monday:) Last Saturday Hubs and I went to the Herb Farm (together with his co-workers and their spouses). They did some work on their website, and the owner invited them for a meal at the restaurant. What a fun experience this was for us (Hubs and I), what a great place. If you’re a foodie and happen to be in Seattle, it’s worth a drive to go and see this place in the Woodenville area.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect about this place. The Hubs told me it’s a farm to table kind of place and it’s going to be a 9 course meal, approx 4 hour dinner time! HA. To be honest we didn’t notice the time because we had such a lovely time/conversations with the group and we all got along so well (it’s my first time to meet all of them). The food presentation was amazing, the service was personal (always anticipating our needs), great ambiance, music just blended it all together throughout the night. It was such a cozy evening. The Hubs thought he’s in a Jane Austin novel or something! HA( there were carolers visiting each of the tables too (you could request a song ).

I don’t drink wine/alcohol but the non-alcoholic selections were great! The Hubs also preferred my drinks over their wine pairings that night (but we’re not wine people so what do we know?!HA).

Happy Birthday!

Hi Friends! I had my birthday last week and to celebrate my Hubs and I went to John Howie (my personal fave steak house in WA). Thanks to my In laws for watching the Boobear. Hubs bday is 10 days after mine,so we usually have a combine bday celebrations/gifts. They gifted us a John Howie certificate so we used that. We decided that we will not give each other birthday gifts this year. We really don’t need anything right now and we are saving for my car that we plan to pay for with cash:) I did get my free birthday drink from Starbucks earlier that day! YUM! I got their hot chocolate:)

I’ve tried the Japanese wagyu before and I personally don’t like it, it’s like eating butter in my opinion!HA

La Belle Farm Foie Gras, warm golden chanterelle and shaved Brussels sprout salad, Kurobuta guanciale, sherry vinaigrette, sweet yellow corn sauce .

Mishima Reserve American Wagyu Beef “Long Bone” R Mishima Reserve American Wagyu Beef “Long Bone” Rib Eye, mesquite grilled, duck fat roasted Yukon gold potatoes and Cipollini onions, roasted bone marrow, bordelaise (info from website)

definitely too raw for me! good thing the side part was cooked enough though:)

We we’re already too full and decided to skip dessert! Thanks to my family and friends for all of the birthday wishes. I’m so grateful for what the Lord has done for me this past year. Have a blessed week friends! Happy Thanksgiving:)

Appetito Craft Pizza and Wine Bar!

Hi Friends! I wanted to share another restaurant we tried while we were in Waikiki. Appetito is so convenient for us because this restaurant was located in our hotel. After a long day at the beach we wanted to just have a relaxing night, where we don’t have to go far from our hotel. We really enjoyed the place, we had Pizza (what they are known for) and it was really good. I totally enjoyed the Prosciutto Pizza. Prosciutto is one of my favorite cuts of meat so no surprise there! The Hubs dug their pasta, it was a lobster bolognese or something. If you’re in Waikiki, I recommend Appetito and you gotta try their Spicy meatballs and burrata Caprese salad too. As if we still needed food to eat, we decided to get dessert at Leonards and get their famous malasadas. Thanks to my brother In law who recommended them to us.

Have a great day Friends!

Yanagi Sushi

Hello friends! We’re having a relaxing Saturday at home right now. Hubs and I are watching Man in the High Castle on Amazon right now. He is loving this series. I thought I would continue posting about our Hawaii trip. We checked Yanagi Sushi one night and enjoyed their sushi. It’s a popular place among locals and tourists! They also have other food aside from sushi (I ordered a combo meal type, sushi and grilled kalbi ribs). We loved their misoyaki butterfish! Melt in your mouth goodness. The hubs ordered some weird sushi and end up not liking it (fresh Abalone)!HA

We spent the day at one of the lagoons in the Ko Olina area. I can’t remember what lagoon we stayed at but I loved it because the water was calm (no waves) and seemed perfect for little toddlers like Mia to be in.

Ichiriki

Hi friends! I love this place:) After a long day of doing touristy things at Spitting Cave and swimming at Waikiki beach, Ichiriki was the perfect place to end the day. I’ve never been to a hot pot type of place, even though I’ve seen this type of resto around the Seattle area. I’m so glad my sis and bro In-law suggested this place because I really enjoyed this type of dining. Casual and relaxed and good food! Delicious and filling:) I highly recommend going to Ichiriki if ever you’re in Honolulu ( we went to the Ala Moana restaurant).

attempting to watch the sunset at Waikiki

Side Street Inn

Hello friends! Our first dinner with our Hawaiian family, they suggested this place for a reason. I loved the ambiance (despite that it was really crowded) and the family style eating. No wonder this place is a fave of the locals. We ordered their famous kimchi fried rice and it didn’t disappoint! Our (my hubs and I) favorite was their kalbi short ribs, so much flavor and oh so tender! I could have it every week! YUM! Their famous pork chops were very tasty too. I’m getting hungry right now just thing about the food we had in this resto. We plan to come back here if ever we’ll be in Honolulu again. The night ended with our family and my sisters friends giving Mia her bday gifts. We so appreciate their generosity.

Mia’s bday gifts from family and friends!

Happy Birthday!

Hello Friends! How’s your week going? I’m still battling a cough and I’m so over it! UGH! Anyways, last week we celebrated my Dad In law’s birthday at home with a fondue (on his actual bday), but we also had a dinner at Maggiano’s Little Italy restaurant.

The Hubs made the fondue, Wisconsin Trio Fondue and it was so good! Thanks for doing all of the work, Ga. We also had crab cakes and shrimps. We used this fondue set we’ve had for 8 years now and it’s been worth it! YUM!

Love celebrating our Grandpa Phil! He’s such a special guy. So good to me and my little family! Happy Birthday to my DIL!

The Plaza!

Hi Friends! Hope you’re having a great Saturday. The hubs and babies (Mia and Riley) are napping, so I got a little free time to post our NYC adventure! My sis was very generous in treating us to a dinner at The Palm Court (Plaza Hotel). Originally we wanted their afternoon tea but they were fully booked so we opted for dinner. Before our reservation we made sure we had enough time to walk around Central Park and enjoy the scenery.

Took picture of the hotel lobby and their Christmas tree! So pretty, I love it!

The Palm Court is such an elegant restaurant! The interior (from the ceiling to the table) is beautiful. The service was quick and good but the food was disappointing for us! Not impressed with our orders, especially my roast Chicken (a simple dish in my opinion) and I found it quite DRY! I was like, “What in the world is going on in their kitchen?!HAHA! How can a prominent Hotel fail a chicken dish?!” My hubs and Sis found their dishes ordinary too. She had bolognese (the flavor was good though) and hubs had duck which he found dry too! Anyways, it was still neat to see the hotel!

The most expensive Root beer float ever!haha

After dinner we walked around Fifth Avenue and enjoyed the Christmas decorations/lights show. We also stopped at the Rockefeller Area, the tree was beautiful! What a fun and exhausting day:)

Thank You Auntie for treating us to The Plaza!

I love Henri Bendel! Fun fact: I own several bags of HB!

John Howie Steak

Hello Friends! A couple of weeks ago, the Hubs and I went out to John Howie Steak, this is our favorite steakhouse in Seattle/Bellevue. We’ve visited a lot of steakhouses but this is always our go to for special occasions and whenever we are craving steak. Although this is one pricey restaurant, the Hubs and I always love the service (superb!) and the steaks are always cooked perfectly to our liking (melt in your mouth goodness!). We’ve been to their happy hour also and that didn’t disappoint! The Hubs and I are already looking forward to our next visit:)

Brussels sprouts! so good..I can have this every week!

Lobster Bisque, fresh Maine lobster, caviar cream, chives!

Honeycrisp Apple with Preserved Apricot Vinaigrette! (organic baby greens, arugula and watercress, purple onions, dried cranberries, candied black pepper pecans, shaved Beecher’s famous reserve cheddar ) such a lovely salad!

Wagyu Beef Tenderloin Tartare (roasted garlic, cornichon, sweet onion, capers, quail egg, Guinness mustard, herb aioli, mesquite grilled crostini)

Foie Gras (with egg, pork belly, and pancake)

The Boo boo was in good hands! Thanks to my In Laws for babysitting Mia!

Baby Stuff!

Hello Everyone! Happy Tuesday! We only have 7 weeks to go before our due date and we are starting to get ready and prepare for our baby’s arrival. A couple of months ago (I think I was 5 months preggy here; I’m 8 months now) we invited our In laws to join us as we checked out baby stuff and help us decide what to get for the babe. We visited 2 stores (Babies R Us and Buy Buy baby) they are pretty close to each other,thus we decided to check them both. Both stores are overwhelming but we did have fun checking and testing baby items. A lot of the items are too gimmicky for us and we didn’t fall for the trap! We didn’t end up buying a single thing.

After our time at Buy Buy Baby and Babies R US, we had a late lunch at Bahama Breeze (it’s an American/Caribbean type of restaurant). We’ve only been here twice and we always enjoyed the atmosphere (it’s quite large too) and loved the food and drinks.

Hubbys Order: Caribbean style Lobster Mac and Cheese Lightly fried lobster tail with griddled Bahamian mac & cheese. Served with roasted bell pepper sauce, homemade chimichurri and green beans)

My food: Yellowtail Snapper Veracruz Grilled Yellowtail topped with vine-ripened tomatoes and Spanish olives. Served with yellow rice, Cuban black beans and sweet plantains)