Monday, October 31, 2016

Photo-a-day 2016.10.31

Chocolate chocolate cupcakes
Chocolate chocolate cupcakes

Cakes taken from Trophy Cupcakes' book, buttercream frosting was leftovers from yesterday's chocolate filling

I now know why I like Trophy Cupcake's moist cakes so much - they literally put boiling water into the batter! The batter was super thin going into the oven and came out just the perfect amount of moist and richness. Yum!

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Photo-a-day 2016.10.30

Orange macarons with chocolate buttercream
Orange macarons with chocolate buttercream
Acquired from a 2014 Tea Time magazine, but I can't find the recipe online (the referenced page is at the end of this post)

Pictured is batch 1 of 2 batches of macaron cookies. Sadly the cookies gave me lots of problems, flavor was definitely there but the bottoms were very hard to peel off the pan. Half of the 1st batch and 1/3 of the 2nd batch of cookies were unusable and had to be composted (or lumped into a ball and into my mouth). It was quite sad.

On the bright side, these cookies were so good I almost wanted to keep these all for myself......

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Friday, October 28, 2016

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Photo-a-day 2016.10.25

Pretty plant hair
Seen in the office kitchen. Not sure if it's permanent or part of the Halloween decoration...

Monday, October 24, 2016

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Photo-a-day 2016.10.22

Natural orange awning
Taken at Kubota Garden in Seattle, WA

(little argh for not pulling that branch out of the lower left of frame)

Friday, October 21, 2016

Photo-a-day 2016.10.21

Earshot Jazz
Lucian Ban & Mat Maneri: Transylvanian Concert

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Photo-a-day 2016.10.18

Monitor base graveyard
The office has converted to new furniture and monitors are now attached to adjustable arms. Now all these poor monitor bases have no place to go...

Monday, October 17, 2016

Photo-a-day 2016.10.17

Occidental Ave tree lights
Occidental Ave in Pioneer Square neighborhood, Seattle, WA

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Friday, October 14, 2016

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Photo-a-day 2016.10.12

Danzi noodles
Called Peddler's soup at Henry's Taiwan Kitchen located in Seattle's International District

Danzi noodles (擔仔麵) is a bit of nostalgia for me. Every time my family visited Taiwan, we would go to the Sogo cafeteria and order this. Since those days, I have only found it in packaged ramen form, so I was quite happy to find it freshly made.

As for the flavor, it was nice and simple albeit a bit on the oily side. Once I got through the layer of oil, the light savory broth took over and I reached my happy nostalgic moment. Aaahhh... Served with a tasty tea egg too.

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Monday, October 10, 2016

Photo-a-day 2016.10.10

Spinach tofu soup
From Jhanjay in the Wallingford neighborhood
Simply delicious broth with simple ingredients (and an overwhelming amount of spinach)

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Photo-a-day 2016.10.09

Changing to red
I finally visited the Bellevue Botanical Garden and walked through basically all of the main trail. Ended up choosing this picture I took in the parking lot as the photo of the day

Saturday, October 8, 2016

Photo-a-day 2016.10.08

Greek pastries
Acquired during the St. Demetrios Greek Festival

Sadly I don't really know what these were made of, much less what they were called. The texture on the left pastry was crumbly with all the shredded stuff, the one on the right was pretty soaked through by the time I ate it. Interesting experiences.

Friday, October 7, 2016

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Photo-a-day 2016.10.06

Porcelain room
Porcelain room inside the Seattle Art Museum

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Photo-a-day 2016.10.05

Elegant stair rails
Inside the Fairmont Olympic Hotel of Seattle, WA

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Photo-a-day 2016.10.04

No flicking tables
Seen at Katsu Burger in Seattle, WA at the Georgetown location

Monday, October 3, 2016

Sunday, October 2, 2016

Saturday, October 1, 2016

Photo-a-day 2016.10.01

Fruit in a jar
Market fruit from Local 360 for brunch

Interesting presentation, though a little light on quantity. Still, I'm glad to see simply fresh fruit on the menu since my appetite has been terrible lately

Completely random assortment of links

I have read and seen many more interesting things along the way, however these are what I have 

To read
It's not your job to tell yourself "no" - something I should remember
Ultra-rich man's letter "To my fellow filthy rich Americans: the pitchforks are coming" - it is nice to read from the perspective of someone who gets it
Some questions for those who are cheering Gawker's demise - questions about the witch hunt that shut down Gawker, and is becoming a hauntingly familiar theme

To watch
How to read sheet music - informative and also amusing
History videos about the American Civil War and World War 1 - surprisingly informative, I wish I had these in grade school...
And related to history, the History of Japan, which I have watched a couple times because it's fun