Valentine's day

Did everyone have a good Valentine's day? Or are you planning on celebrating this weekend when there are more time and leisure? I use to think very little of Valentine's day.  What is up with roses cost $100 for a dozen that dies in a week, right? However when you are older in life, everything became routine and comfortable, it is one of the day that remind you to put some extra thought to it.  You can do that everyday, but one day is a good start. Sometimes when you say everyday, it became no day because there is always other things distract you and prioritize over.

I want to wore something pink for the occasion, but I still have to go to work.   I don't want to look completely business like with the pencil skirt, so I tried out the idea of adding the foolproff slip with a pencil skirt that LC has come up with in her blog Bella Seattle.  You can check out more of her idea with the foolproof slip here, also how I wear it with my jersey dress here.

(Top: Anthropologie Vanilla Bean Blouse, Cardigan: JCREW femme cardigan in deep coral
 Bottom: JCREW double-serge  pencil skirt, Slip: Anthropologie foolproof slip, Shoes: Stuart Weitzman Tipband )

I really want to add the valentine's day gift I received to my outfit, but then it is a bit too shiny.  So What did I received?

Yes, the Katespade necklace that I was drooling over. No, he did not guess it.  Basically I was browsing the Nordstrom catalog and said "This is so pretty.  It is exactly what I want for Valentine's day".  I guess sometime you just have to say what you want :-)  After a long marriage, you learn that men are generous towards the women they love, but don't take hints very well.  At least mine doesn't.

As I mentioned before, hubby and I went to the Ocean Blue Sushi Club for lunch.  It is hard to believe how nice the restaurant from the outside.  It is in a rundown strip mall.  If it hasn't been the high review at yelp, I would have never went in. The interior is very modern and chic with low lighting. There are many walls showcases Kimonos with complicated embroideries.

The presentations of the dishes are beautiful. I came here three times already but this is the first time I remember to take a picture of it :-)

My favorite dish is the grill squid.  This version adds a little bit of Basamic vinegar to the sauce comparing to the traditional way they made it in the Japanese restaurant and I love it.

The sashimi and the rolls are very fresh and portion is generous.

In the evening, after dinner, my daughter offered to play "To love somebody", which was in the practice song list this week.   She kept making mistakes even though during practice she played much better.  She got a little frustrated so I told her that music is something she should enjoy rather than stressed out about.  I asked her to take a break from it and just play anything as if she is some famous pianist.   She started playing something randomly on the piano and insist my husband and I should dance to it.  We slow danced to the soft tune she played.

It was my favorite moment of the day.

Seattle - restaurant review

Before I went, I got a big list from Cindi on the restaurant recommendations.  However I am bounded by the amount of walking kids can do and the location.  So here are the restaurant I tried in downtown Seattle area:

Long Provincial Vietnamese Restaurant:
The decoration of the restarant is pretty hip.  The grill squid,  the beef short rib and the grill shrimp rice plate are all far too sweet.    We want to get a soup that are mainly broth because that is what my son likes.  We end up getting rice noodle soup and it was not very flavorful.  It has soy sauce in it which is a bit strange.  Worth mentioning is that the plain white rice in this restaurant is superb. The last dish came up was the pink snapper and it was perfect. While I didn't like the rest of the dish, this one wins my heart.  The meat is tender and the spicy is just right!


Red Fin Sushi:
Love the Chief Sashimi.  Fish is fresh and sweet, varieties are good,  and the price is fair. So I went back twice for it.  The white fishs are very buttery.

My son had the Steak and the marinate is not very thorough.  Second time he had the pork yakitori and the pork is much more tender and he liked the bacon part of the bacon wrapped tomato so I end up having the grill tomato. >_<

Hubby had the pad thai first time I felt it was too sweet. (by now you can probably tell, I don't like my dish too sweet) but he felt it is all right.  Second time he had the seafood undo and it was great.  Noodle is very Q and the snow crab is very sweet and fresh.  My daughter had the california row and she like it.

Steel Head Diner
Took a long time (> 45 min) before the food came and the kids are falling asleep >_<  Didn't get to order dessert because I was afraid it might take another 45 minutes. Hubby had the Halibut and I had the COD,  I personally like the COD better because it is so fatty and melts in your mouth, but both fishes are grill to perfection.  Portion is not particularly large for the price.  I had trouble with the sides under my fish.  They are way too salty.  They could do better.

Cafe Yarmarka
Russian eatery in the post Alley.  Had lunch there.  The cabbage roll didn't look appealing so I had the dumpling.  The beef and pork one taste really like a Chinese dumpling :-) while the vegetarian one has potato and cheese filling.  Cheap and quick and the waitress is very pretty and nice.  No AC in the area so I was a bit overwhelmed by the 90 degrees heat and after lunch I felt a bit fainted. I imagine the no AC part will not be a problem for most of the time in Seattle.

Umi Sake house
Got there at the happy hour.  Price is good during happy hour.  Love the Pear Sake but food again is on the sweeter side.  Grill Squid is a bit burned and I had better.  Mirugai sashimi is fresh, but  expensive and not many pieces so I felt a bit ripped off there.

Le Pichet
We were going to walk to the Umi Sake house but the kids were too tired and we stop by here.  We are ready to have dinner but they are still in happy hour. Didn't know any better so we ordered the cheese platter and the cure meat platter and both are good.  The cheese platter are exceptional.  Price is very reasonable too.  The place is very small and no AC.

LoLa
Went there for breakfast since Cindi said I should at least try one Tom Dougalas restaurant as he is a city icon.  Donut is very very good!  I had the Tom's breakfast, it is weird with the octopus in it but it is very good.  Hubby had the Lola's breakfast and I like the potato in that one.

Uli's famous sausage

tried 4 different kind of sausage including a German Sausage, a Italian Sausage, a French Sausage and a lamb sausage and the best is the French Sausage. Very flavorful. I think if the owner is real german, he might not like to have customer to think French Sausage is superior :-) The worst is the lamb one, very dry and salty.

Wish I had tried:
Pike Place Chowder – I just want to grab a quick bowl but the line is long.  My autistic son was overwhelmed by the heat and the walk so I couldn't really wait.  He also couldn't eat here because of food allergies...oh, well

Le Panier – This is supposed to be at the Pike Place market, but how come I couldn't find it?

Crab pot -- Sounded really cool to throw a bucket of seafood on the table, but with two kids who doesn't know how to handle seafood, it might be too much work. The wait according to the review is long too so we skipped.