Gastro Monkey // 美食家

For my birthday this year, I knew exactly how I wanted to celebrate. I'm not into having big parties; I'm into eating good food. Knowing that I wanted to go to Seattle for my birthday (as I have done every other year or so), there was just one place that I really felt like I needed to go to--Sushi Kashiba. If you have talked to me at all about food in the past few years, you would know that I attempted to eat at Shiro's so that I could see him in action. This didn't work out the way I originally planned, as he didn't seem to be there that night. Luckily, Nakazawa-san was there, and after a 45 minute wait, I had one of the best food experiences of my life. I have a separate blog entry dedicated to that night here  or here   (same post, but from both of my blogs) .  Fast forward a few years (almost 3 years, to be exact) to Shiro opening up a new restaurant - Sushi Kashiba. My boyfriend, brother, and I waited eagerly for the opening knowing that it was going to ha...

[Reposted from my photography blog for convenience. Originally posted Thursday, March 14, 2013. Hope you enjoy! Please note that Nakazawa-san and Shiro-san both do not work at this location anymore. Nakazawa has opened up his own very snazzy restaurant in NYC ( http://www.sushinakazawa.com ) and Shiro has his newer restaurant Sushi Kashiba.] For those of you who know me, I am all about food. Good food. Food that takes me home. Sometimes it's expensive and sometimes it's not. Recently I went back to Seattle to visit my family. While there, I decided to go to Shiro's. I can't say I'm a huge fan of Belltown because I dislike driving around for blocks searching for parking, but this time, I made an exception.  You can check out more information about his background here:  http://www.shiros.com/html/about.htm . Shiro's is a pretty small intimate place. There are no reservations for the sushi bar (we didn't even think about reservations, we just decided to pop...

This may seem weird, but I actually like getting to the airport early when SeaTac is involved. Even if I'm not flying from an airline close to the food court (that's right, I said food court), I still go by for my customary I'm-leaving-Seattle meal. Sometimes I've already eaten so I just stop by for a Bloody Mary and some steamers. Anthony's is the type of restaurant I would go to anyway, so having it in the airport makes it that much more convenient for me.  The Caesar was a pretty good size and a healthy dollop of bay shrimp on top. I am sure I could just have this for dinner and call it a day, but I love steamed clams too much. They're steamed with garlic, water, salami, olive oil, basil, diced tomatoes, and some chopped pistachios. When I'm finished with the clams, I like using the bread to dip it in there. They serve full sized entrees of salmon and other Northwest specialties, but I prefer just having orders of these not quite appetizers. Check it ...

Over the past weekend, I watched Twin Peaks . I was too young when it came out to watch, enjoy, or understand anything in it, so it was about time. My dad told me at some point that there was a show filmed in North Bend. We were sitting at a booth in Twede's Cafe  when he mentioned it. Drinking coffee ("you know, this is--excuse me--a damn fine cup of coffee") and eating pie ("mmm, this must be where pies go when they die"). It was the only time we stopped there on our way to Snoqualmie, but the memory stayed with me.  We used to go to Snoqualmie every time we had guests. It was part of THE TOUR. THE TOUR consisted of all of the things to see and do in the greater Seattle area. And because it was THE TOUR and not WHAT THE KIDS WANT TO DO, we (my brother and I) would dutifully follow along and see what there was to see, and eat what everyone else wanted to eat. That said, we only heard about how fantastic the food was at The Salish Lodge. Our consolation was...