Restaurants – Page 2 – The Adventures of a Calamari Queen

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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Daniel’s Broiler!

Hi everyone! When my sister visited us it was her birthday week, so we treated her at a steak house. She wanted to try something other than John Howie’s (our favorite), since we went there the last time she visited. So we decided to go to Daniel’s Broiler in Seattle. It has a nice ambiance (water view of Lake Union), decent steaks (a little overpriced in my opinion), live music, and great service. It’s a nice place to celebrate a birthday! Last time we had dinner here, they over cooked the Hubs steak, so I was glad that this time they got it right! After we enjoyed a scrumptious dinner, it was nice of them to give my sister a complimentary chocolate molten cake (very rich!) for her to enjoy/celebrate her birthday with. We decided to share her dessert because we were all so full already. Another lovely dinner shared with family!

2016_07_26_DSC_7626 — Space needle in the back!

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2016_07_26_DSC_7633 — Dungeness Crab and Artichoke dip with crostini!

2016_07_26_DSC_7635 — Crispy Fried Calamari

2016_07_26_DSC_7637 — Daniel’s Delmonico (Bone-in New York 20 oz) Hubbys order

2016_07_26_DSC_7638 — My order: Filet Mignon

2016_07_26_DSC_7640 — we shared 2 sides: Grilled mushrooms and sweet yellow corn (this was a big disappointment,the sweet corn were not sweet at all:(

2016_07_26_DSC_7641 — Sis order: Daniel’s cut filet mignon 12 oz

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2016_07_26_DSC_7643 — The Birthday celebrant!

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2016_07_26_DSC_7650 — complimentary dessert!

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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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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!

8 years of Married life!

Hi Friends! Happy Wednesday! Yesterday, the Hubs and I celebrated 8 years of married life. Wow! It seems like it was just yesterday that we had our simple and intimate wedding at a Chapel in New York City (less than 25 family and friends were there). I’m so blessed to be married to a guy that I don’t just love but actually really like. I like spending time with my Hubs, and planning our future together. I just can’t imagine life without him. I’m so grateful to the Lord for the gift of a Christ centered marriage ( we strive to have this) and a loving husband, I don’t take this blessing for granted because I know not all marriages are like this. Successful marriages don’t just happen, it takes works! Thank you, God!

I told my Hubs,not to get me flowers because I’d rather have food. HA! He stopped at Costco to get us pizza and sundae that we shared during lunch. The Krispy kremes were a personal request from me! We didn’t do any grand celebration (just dinner at our fave place) but we plan to have a little road trip later this month to have a fun get away and “celebrate” the special occasion.

For dinner, we went to our local fave restaurant Flat Iron Grill. We really didn’t want to go to Bellevue or Seattle just for dinner. The traffic isn’t worth it. We like Flat Iron Grill because the food is great and the service is even better. It’s always a bonus when we can support our local businesses too.

Top sirloin steak with goat cheese polenta (pretty Good!)

Happy Easter!

Hi friends! Long time no hear from me (it’s been a busy March here). Anyways, Happy Easter! As a Christian, we celebrate today as resurrection Sunday. The day that Jesus rose from the grave. He is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed! Thank You Jesus for what you’ve done for our sake, we are so unworthy yet you died for us all. The greatest love story that the whole world will ever know!

After our easter service, the Hubs and I together with our In laws had brunch at Embassy suites hotel (a Hilton affiliated hotel) we’ve been going to this brunch buffet for a couple of years now except last year (they had to renovate, so they closed the buffet section). The buffet had a decent selection but I was disappointed today because their meat (their beef, and lamb) was really dry. Their bread wasn’t very good too. Poor Hubs and Dad In law, they both love bread. The ambiance and the service was great though!

I hope that you had a lovely Easter weekend with your family and friends! I’m off to watch College basketball here. The Hubs is enjoying his Sunday nap, together with our fur baby, Riley! Have a great evening friends.

What’s for Dinner?

Hello friends! It’s Tuesday evening ( almost midnight) but I can’t sleep because it’s so windy and it’s freaking me out! I decided to just post our meals for the last couple of weeks in the month of February. Can you believe it’s already March? Where did the time go?! Anyways, back to our meals. I didn’t go to the grocery store in the last week of February but I got some Smith brothers delivered. I’m under budget this month (not by much though), so this made me happy. A little savings is always good!

We’ve already consumed the clam chowder and chocolate milk!

Crispy pata (deep fried pork hocks) a Filipino recipe

we did a couple nights of take out these last two weeks (especially Friday and Saturday nights). Chilling out with good food and watching some good T.V. / Netflix is one of our fave weekend things to do. We got a generous gift card from my In laws to one of our fave local sushi places so we used that. We also had Italian for dinner, courtesy of the In-laws. Thank you God for such a generous family!

Vitos in Seattle! My In laws treated us!

Valentine’s 2016!

Hi Friends! Happy Hearts day to you and I hope it’s one lovely day with the special people in your life. On Valentines evening, we had dinner with my In laws at SEASTAR restaurant and raw bar (Bellevue location). Originally we wanted to do the Canlis restaurant but it was fully booked (I guess you have to book months in advance for this kind of place). Seastar was also a good recommendation from my In law’s friends so we didn’t mind (especially since it is also owned by Chef John Howie). I was looking forward to this dinner because based from what I’ve read it’s one of the BEST restaurants in Bellevue. It was our first time, so I kinda had high expectations when it comes to a Chef John Howie restaurant. Anyways, the place was spacious, ambiance was great, our server was very knowledgeable she answered every question my DIL had. We enjoyed our appetizers, they were all amazing especially the deviled eggs. Our entrees were good (nice presentation too) but to be honest VERY pricey for the portion we got. I guess you have to bring LOTS of money dining here. We’ll be back again for sure.

Some pictorials while waiting for the In Laws!

OOTD action going on: Loft dress, F21 coat, kate spade bag, target booties

Deviled eggs:salmon gravlax,wasabi tobiko,tangerine,dill. We also got the ahi tartare,bacon, roasted onion,truffle oil.

Maytag blue cheese pear salad (this was good)

I ordered: Sesame-Peppercorn Crusted Ahi (jasmine rice cake,snow peas,ginger soy reduction,wasabi creme)

My DILs order: Cedar Plank roasted wild King Salmon (Chef Howie’s famous salmon rub,smoked broccoli,citrus rice with wheat berries

my MIL and SIL ordered the same thing: seared scallops with beet risotto

For Valentines day we had a casual and lazy time, watched Kdrama (thank you Netflix!), did some errands and had dinner at our fave local Italian place.

Normally we don’t give Vday gifts to each other but this year Hubs and I gave each other gifts. He got me a Henri Bendel bag (my fave bag brand!) and I gave him massage “coupons” worth 4 hours, which he already availed 1 hour of it (way before VDAY!!)..HA!!

Riley thought it was one busy VDAY weekend, and he needs his beauty sleep!

What’s for Dinner?!

Hello Friends! Happy Sunday:) This is what we ate lately for dinners this last week. I hope you get to eat and cook dishes that you’ve been wanting to eat! Have a wonderful Sunday evening, I’m about to watch a Korean drama with the hubs (we are watching Beating Again). It’s been a while since we’ve watched a KDrama here! HA!

Spaghetti and meatballs (we also had a salad that I forgot to take a picture of)

meatballs in the crockpot! easy peasy dinner!

Chicken curry (I sort of followed Pioneer Woman’s recipe)

Left over kare-kare (cook once, eat twice, kind of dish!)

Taco Night! we also had sweet potato fries with garlic aioli (homemade! it was delish)

We also ate out a few times over the weekends!

Red Robin last night for a casual saturdate with Hubs! used a giftcard for this dinner!

Dinner at RAM (this place is just 4 minutes drive from our house!)

Friday Lunch date at chick fil-a! I LOVE their spicy chicken sandwich and iced coffee. The hubs likes their chicken nuggets and milkshakes! We’ve been there twice this last week!