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!

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......

Photo-a-day 2016.10.29

Autumn canopy

Photo-a-day 2016.10.28

Morning commute

Photo-a-day 2016.10.27

Looking south Seattle

Photo-a-day 2016.10.26

7 Wonders

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...

Photo-a-day 2016.10.24

Funko Groot

Photo-a-day 2016.10.23

Pollinating bee

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)

Photo-a-day 2016.10.21

Earshot Jazz

Lucian Ban & Mat Maneri: Transylvanian Concert

Part of Earshot Jazz Festival

Photo-a-day 2016.10.20

Golden row of trees

Photo-a-day 2016.10.19

Back of the bus

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...

Photo-a-day 2016.10.17

Occidental Ave tree lights

Occidental Ave in Pioneer Square neighborhood, Seattle, WA

Photo-a-day 2016.10.16

Green Lake in autumn

Photo-a-day 2016.10.15

Star Trek Catan

Photo-a-day 2016.10.14

Rain-fallen leaves

Photo-a-day 2016.10.13

Bright red tree

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.

Photo-a-day 2016.10.11

Falling leaves

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)

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

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.

Photo-a-day 2016.10.07

Fall colors

Photo-a-day 2016.10.06

Porcelain room

Porcelain room inside the Seattle Art Museum

Photo-a-day 2016.10.05

Elegant stair rails

Inside the Fairmont Olympic Hotel of Seattle, WA

Photo-a-day 2016.10.04

No flicking tables

Seen at Katsu Burger in Seattle, WA at the Georgetown location

Photo-a-day 2016.10.03

Ghibli origami paper

Photo-a-day 2016.10.02

Discovery Park lighthouse

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

What it's like to have 'high-functioning' anxiety - all I can really say is, yes

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