Uncategorized – Page 29 – The Adventures of a Calamari Queen

Washington State Fair 2016!

Hello Friends! How are you all doing? I’m still here, getting heavy because of the pregnancy, but doing good all in all. A little busy with classes related to pregnancy (newborn class, breastfeeding, childbirth and labor,etc). We still have classes to attend in the coming weeks. It’s been hectic but exciting times for sure. Anyways, early this week my husband and I went to the Washington state fair to watch one of my favorite Christian bands, For King and Country (Matt Maher performed too). I love their music and there’s no way I’m going to miss their performance here in WA (they’ve been here before and I missed it). So fun to see them perform and hear their testimonies and relationship with the Lord. Fair food was a big bonus too!

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Pike Place Market!

Hello friends! Happy weekend! For the last weekend that my sis was here, we went to Seattle and browsed Pike place. We love the Market! It’s such a tourist destination but you’d be surprised that a lot of locals still visit the area on a regular basis. Before heading to the market we first had lunch at our favorite pizza place in Seattle “Serious Pie”. If you love gourmet pizza you have to try this one. It’s so worth it! We always order their Penn clove clam, pancetta and lemon thyme (my fave on their menu). It’s a small place so don’t be surprised if you’ll share tables with strangers. After our lunch, off to the market we went to eat more food! We stopped at Le Panier to get macaroons and coffee. My sister bought an over priced roast sweet corn ($5 each!) I didn’t want to participate in that nonsense! HA Surprisingly, the line was crazy long! Photo overload about to happen:

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Flowers at Pike Place Market are the best!

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As if we didn’t eat too much that afternoon, we decided to stop at Triple X to get their Pineapple Banana milkshake.

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Falls Buffet!

Hello Friends! It’s been a while since my last post. July was super busy here, there’s always an activity every weekend for us. My sister visited us for a week, we visited Leavenworth, we had my Hubs childhood friend and his family one weekend, and another weekend we celebrated my Sis In Law’s birthday. I’m looking forward to have a restful and not so busy August.

Anyways, when my sister visited we took her out to one of the “famous” buffets here in Washington. The Falls Buffet at Snoqualmie Casino. Every Tuesday night is their King Crab Buffet ($36.95 +tax/person). We went together with our friends Faye and Roger and their kids.I personally think it’s worth it for the amount of crabs we enjoyed that night. They also have other options like asian cuisines, pizza and pasta, Prime Rib. People lined up because of the crabs. I’ve only been here during their Crab buffet and we always had a good experience. We will most likely be back here sometimes when we have family and friends visiting who wants to eat some king crabs!

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Exciting news!

Hello Friends! How are you all doing?! It’s been a while since my last post because it’s been a busy week in our corner. My sister was visiting us for a week, she is living and working in New Zealand. We spent lots of time together, just hanging out and catching up. We also have some exciting news to share, WE ARE PREGNANT!!! It’s been a long journey for us but we are so blessed and thanking God for this gift and all praises to Him. Hubs and I (and our fur baby Riley) are so excited to meet our little babe before the year ends. Baby is due this fall. Looking forward to sharing more of our pregnancy journey with you all!

2016_07_05_DSC_7588 — 4th of July family pic!

What’s for Dinner?

Hello friends! It’s been a while since I posted some of our dinners that we’ve been enjoying. I’ve cooked every now and then but for the last 2 months we’ve been ordering/take out off and on. I really need to step up because I want to save more money when it comes to our grocery budget.I plan to do that this July! Wish me luck!

This may seem like a lot of food in one post( I even forgot to take pics of some of our dinners), but these are some of the dishes we’ve had for the last 2 months (May and June) excluding some of our dinners out. I plan to make a separate post about that! Happy eating friends!

mung bean soup and green beans adobo (filipino dishes)

seafood feast at home! grilled hamachi collar,baby squid in adobo,leftover clam soup

pork milanese,mashed potato,roast brussel sprouts

Some of our take out food lately:

Mexican food from our fave local taqueria:

We had dinners with friends and family too:

Happy Birthday, Riley!

Happy 6th birthday to our fur baby Riley! We got donuts from Top Pot and gave the birthday boy just a little bite! We love our birthday boy!

Father’s Day 2016!

Hello everyone! I wanted to share our Father’s Day this year (I know it’s kinda late). It’s just fun to look back on how we spent our day celebrating with the family. My Dad passed away 3 years ago (Happy Father’s day in Heaven Pa), so it’s just my Dad IL,and my brother(he’s in the Philippines though) who I get to celebrate Fathers day. We had a simple dinner at home for my DIL. My husband went to the asian market and got lots of goodies for his Dad! It’s dangerous if I send Hubs alone to get groceries because he doesn’t stick to my list and blows my grocery budget! My DIL wanted some clams and mussels, so we cooked some in butter and white wine, along with some crabs, some sushi (fresh geoduck and uni), and wagyu steak (so DECADENT and worth the price, IMO). It was a nice sunny Sunday afternoon too,so we had dinner out on our patio. Happy Father’s Day to all the Dad’s out there (a belated one!).

Hubs made watermelon juice too!so refreshing and perfect on a summer night!

In laws Bday celebration!

Hello everyone! We celebrated my in-law’s bdays 2 weeks ago. We decided to do a late celebration due to previous commitments and other Holidays (Mother’s day). We ended up spending mother’s day this year with my husband’s grandmother. The b-day celebration dinner took place at a local steak house in our neighborhood (Jaks Grill) and my MIL requested that my husband bake her a chocolate cake for her bday. After dinner we had the cake and coffee at home, just hanging out and relaxing. Happy Birthday (belated one!) to my MIL and DIL, I’m so grateful for what they both do for our family.

2016_05_23_DSC_7552 — Ina Garten recipe!

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2016_05_23_DSC_7536 — Auntie Puss and Riley Puss

2016_05_23_DSC_7540 — Mom In law Kathy and her havanese dog Lexi lulu!

2016_05_23_DSC_7548 — with our fur babies!

Vancouver Eats!

Hello friends! This post is a continuation of our Vancouver trip. We had a quick getaway so we weren’t able to dine at some of the restaurants we wanted to try (poor planning on our part too).

Our first night we had dinner at Lupo Restaurant (it’s an Italian resto) and just walking distance from our hotel (so convenient for us). According to our research it’s one of the top 5 places to dine in Vancouver. So off we went! We ordered Burrata and it was amazing! So creamy and out of this world goodness. We loved it so much that we asked our waitress where they get it (so we can go to that store and hoard burrata for ourselves), she said they get it from a supplier which gets it directly from Italy! It crushed our burrata dreams! We ordered ravioli and gnocchi (for the hubs) it was good food but pricey!

2016_05_01_DSC_7394 — Burrata with fresh tomatoes and balsamic glaze.

2016_05_01_DSC_7396 — Ricotta Gnocchi with pork cheeks (this sauce was pretty acidic)

2016_05_01_DSC_7398 — Mascarpone Polenta

2016_05_01_DSC_7399 — This was their special that night, ravioli with short ribs!

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2016_05_01_DSC_7405 — ambiance was cozy, feels like you’re having dinner at a friends house!

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Nero Belgian Waffle Bar

We had brunch in this small waffle place located at Robson Street. We kinda get lucky because the line wasn’t crazy when we got there, once we were seated the line got really crazy! If you’re in to waffles this place is a must! Just be ready to wait and be patient because this place is amazing and people line up.

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2016_05_01_DSC_7454 — I had the Banella waffle

2016_05_01_DSC_7458 — Brie Cheese waffle with walnuts and honey!

Cafe Crepes

The Hubs and I also wanted to eat some crepes before checking out Gastown. The crepes are tasty here, but the service took forever. I don’t understand why, it’s not like they’re serving steaks or complicated dishes. Good thing the crepes were really good!

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We also visited a Japanese restaurant that I honestly forgot the name of:

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Had Ramen one late night!

Tried Vancouver’s best cheesecake:

2016_05_01_DSC_7439 — the famous Soft Peaks at Gastown!

2016_05_01_DSC_7443 — I kinda agree that this is one of the best cheesecake I’ve had!

Footo Croissant and Tim Hortons before coming home!

Till Next time Vancouver!

Vancouver, Canada!

Hi friends! It’s been a while since my last post, got a little busy here and did a little get away with the Hubs to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Two weeks ago, we spent 4 days in Vancouver, Canada. It’s just 3 hours drive from our place (plus more depending on the traffic). We’ve been to Vancouver a couple of times before. We really like the city. It reminds us of Seattle, but a lot bigger. We mostly relaxed and did a few “touristy” things like visited Gas town, Stanley Park and window shopping at Robson St. We stayed at Rosedale on Robson. We really liked the location because it’s so accessible to downtown Vancouver. Till Next time Vancouver!

2016_05_01_DSC_7391 — we had a mini kitchen!

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2016_05_01_DSC_7431 — The famous Steam Clock at Gas town!

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2016_05_01_DSC_7512 — Forgot the name of the place, but this is where their soccer games are held!

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Gotta have Tim Hortons when you’re in Canada!