adelagia: (mst3k | we like it)
It all started four years ago, when we went to Ivar's Salmon House in Seattle on a beautiful summer's day, me and [livejournal.com profile] sarea_okelani and [livejournal.com profile] slitherhither. We sat outside by the water, watching the boats whiz by, pouring oyster shooters down our gullets, a perfect way to while away a summer afternoon. We vowed then to come back every summer, maybe even multiple times a summer.

Cut to the last week of August 2018 and we still had yet to make good on that vow. The lesson here is to never trust any of us when we promise things. In our defense, we did plan to go to Ivar's on the 25th, but the weather was crappy that day and we were still in the throes of that horrible haze that had enveloped Seattle due to fires in both California and British Columbia, with the winds somehow blowing smoke towards us from both ends.

So instead we ended up at Tacos Chukis in the SLU neighborhood of Seattle, on recommendation from our friend S. Sarea got pork tacos, a cheese quesadilla, and horchata; I had pork and beef tacos; Slither got pork on cactus! She let us try a bit of cactus; it was sort of squashy like okra, which Sarea did not care for. I like okra a lot, so it was fine.

Sarea and I have become somewhat lax on bringing oppas with us, largely because, as explained before, a) we are creatures of habit and it got boring taking pictures of all the same places we always go to, and b) there was a lot of travel happening in summer, especially for Sarea, and we just kinda forgot about our regular weekend stuff. It was no different on this day, but thankfully, I had Emergency Eeyore with me, who is technically a little pouch in which I carry my headphones, but can also fill in for Minhyuk oppa since he had an Eeyore costume on in their Winter's Tale video. (I also had Emergency Donald on hand, but Eunkwang has since enlisted in the military, so he is in no condition to take us anywhere.)

Emergency Eeyore's double duty ahoy )
adelagia: (ernie banana)
It was bound to happen, [livejournal.com profile] sarea_okelani and I falling behind on our posting, and so these are all a bit of a vaguely-recalled jumble. Nonetheless, we shall soldier on.

At the end of June, we first went for haircuts with our usual stylist, and then I picked up sandwiches from Tres Sandwich and went to her house so we could watch a GOT7 concert DVD she'd picked up at KCON NY a couple weeks before. Hyunsik oppa got to hang out with all the oppas at Sarea's house and joined us for lunch. He also now has the flower he was missing before! :D

20180630 HS oppa - Jens house 20180630 HS oppa - GOT7 dvd

And then we did more stuff we barely remember anymore )
adelagia: (pixar | dug lolling)
This past Saturday, [livejournal.com profile] sarea_okelani and I began our weekend festivities at Gyu-Kaku, a Japanese BBQ restaurant we have been to several times (including with Sungjae oppa). When I say "we" and "several times" I mean Sarea and I, and approximately four times so far. Sarea with other people? Like, twenty-six times, at a minimum. So many times, in fact, that the manager greeted her by name when we walked in.

When we first started going to Gyu-Kaku, it was awesome because it was one of the few places we like that would take reservations online so we never had to worry about waiting for a table. It's really popular so if you didn't have a reservation you might have to wait upwards of an hour. However, their front-of-house management is very much lacking, and eventually they removed the option to make lunch reservations altogether.

Sarea had the foresight to make a ton of reservations in advance before this policy was implemented (we're booked every weekend through the end of the month, I think), but it's troublesome for when she wants to go with her colleagues during the work day and they can't afford to spend their entire lunch break waiting for a table.

Anyway, that is all backstory to say that once we were seated, the manager N came over and gave Sarea unofficial VIP status and her personal cell phone number to make up for the inability to take online reservations. So now whenever Sarea wants, she can just call N to reserve a table and bypass the crowds of commoners gathered in huddled masses at the front. This made Sarea's colleague C, upon being texted the news, very happy: "Lunch there every day?"

We attributed this stroke of luck to our oppa for the day, Song Joongki, represented by a wolf because a) he played a werewolf in the film Wolf Boy, and b) in Descendants of the Sun, he had a plush wolf (possibly fox?) dressed in army uniform - which would have been perfect for us to get, except the small sizes of the plush came without the uniform, in which case, why even bother??

Here's SJK oppa with his namesake. We took this picture at our dinner place, where there was a poster of real SJK shilling for some sort of beer, and now, as Sarea pointed out, I don't even have to search for a picture of SJK to juxtapose with SJK oppa. Hooray!

SJK oppa with avatar 060218

What a fun, successful day )




PREVIOUS OPPA OUTINGS: 1-2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
adelagia: (pixar | dory)
Two oppas joined us on part one of a weekend in Federal Way. It's a bit of a drive, but [livejournal.com profile] sarea_okelani and I like going down there because they have excellent Korean food (although so many places only open for dinner so it's a Sophie's choice of what to eat every time now, ugh) and our regular noraebang. [livejournal.com profile] slitherhither would also join us later!

The primary oppa chosen to accompany us this time was Ilhoon. He is represented by Tigger because BTOB once dressed up as Disney characters for their Winter's Tale music video, which was adorable to the max. Hoonie oppa also has little angel wings (a doggy harness, teehee) because Ilhoon's birthday is on Oct 4, and in Korean, the word for 1004 is a homonym for the word 'angel'. (He rarely lives up to his nickname.)

IH and avatar

But who is the mystery second oppa? )
adelagia: (pixar | dug lolling)
Vancouver/Richmond road trip! That's right, we did it again. Though the Canadian dollar is recovering, the exchange rate still works out quite nicely in our favor. [livejournal.com profile] sarea_okelani and I went up first, and then we were joined by [livejournal.com profile] slitherhither a couple of days later. Whooo!

DAY 1: YOLOing is overrated

We left around 8:45 in the AM to make it in time for lunch in Richmond with a 6-hour road trip playlist Sarea had put together the night before (mostly K-pop) that would last us both there and back.

Sarea: Since each song will probably play only once we'll really have to appreciate it when each one plays.
Adelagia: So this trip will be made in total silence!


Action! Adventure! Other stuff! )
adelagia: (AD | question)
Local adventuring ahoy! (Or, How We Grudgingly Escaped a Room and Ruined Other People's Dinners)

FEDERAL WAY EDITION )

LYNNWOOD EDITION )

adelagia: (mst3k | whimsy overdose)
Somewhat on a whim, if three weeks in advance counts as a whim, [livejournal.com profile] sarea_okelani and I decided on a whirlwind weekend trip the first weekend of June to Vancouver for – what else – eating.

All the things )

adelagia: (mst3k | we like it)
Some months ago, [livejournal.com profile] sarea_okelani and I decided that we were going to start a series of YOLO dinners (within reason). Last month we did Tom Douglas's Dumpling Fest (various stations of dumpling samples from all sorts of local chefs/restaurants) and this past weekend, we went to Staple & Fancy for their tasting menu at $55/person -- 4 courses of appetizers, pasta, protein, and dessert.

It was a lot like Toro Bravo all over again (that time we went to Portland and broke our stomachs); clearly we are not good at remembering lessons we learned -- but at least this time we could take our leftovers home instead of being forced to stuff ourselves up to our eyeballs.

Here are the things we shoved in our pieholes )

In other recollections, as I have obviously not been good about keeping a record of things I've been up to, [livejournal.com profile] accordingtomel came to visit a few weeks ago, during the first weekend of March. We attended the Emerald City Comic-con on the Friday and Saturday, though this year I wasn't feeling too enthused about the overall offering of guests/panels. The ones we did attend were a panel with the cast of Animaniacs, Twisted Toonz: Return of the Jedi (voice actors read out scenes from the movie in different voices), and Millie Bobby Brown from Stranger Things.

The absolute best one was Twisted Toonz, which hadn't even been on our radar prior to Friday because on the online schedule it didn't list who was even going to be there, but it turned out to be four of the Animaniacs cast (Tress Macneille, Jess Harnell, Rob Paulsen, and Maurice Lamarche), Jim Cummings, and Troy Baker. It was hysterical hearing lines from Star Wars read out in the voices of characters from cartoons and pop culture, like Animaniacs, Mom and Hedonism Bot from Futurama, Carl from Jimmy Neutron, Aaron Neville, Tigger, Darkwing Duck, the crazy cat lady from The Simpsons, Alan Rickman, Richard Pryor, Jeff Goldblum... Oh man, there were so many and they were all awesome. But the one that stuck with me the most was Winnie the Pooh (Jim Cummings) -- oh my god, there is something downright magical about hearing that fussy little voice in real life. It was so sweet, I nearly cried. "Oh, bother." Gah. *clutches heart*

We also did the Prison escape room at Flee Escape with Sarea and [livejournal.com profile] slitherhither, which was excellent fun. We were initially divided into two separate jail cells and had to work together to free ourselves from our respective cells. I think we all really enjoyed this one; the puzzles were all pretty logical and it was one of those where, for the most part, you could do things in tandem so it wasn't like if one person was solving something, everybody else had to just stand there and wait around. It was Mel's first time doing an escape room, and after it was over she immediately wanted to do another one. I knew there was a reason we're friends!
adelagia: (mst3k | strawberries)
Have I ever told you guys about my superpower? It is the greatest, and by "the greatest" I mean the most disgusting affliction known to mankind. Let me elaborate.

Listen, I will eat a lot of things. Among the people you know, I am very likely at least in the top three of the most adventurous eaters. Fish eyes, pig's ears, every innard available -- they all go happily down my gullet. However, I do draw the line at insects. I mean, all the power in the world to you if you have no problem with them, but I do. I find them repulsive in every way. Which is probably why they manage to worm their way into my food with amazing frequency. ([livejournal.com profile] sarea_okelani will tell you the look on my face when I found, on separate occasions, a caterpillar in my ramen and a beetle in my spinach salad.)

A few days ago, I was out buying cleaning supplies for washing my walls (for repainting; omg, the walls look so good now - pictures forthcoming, once I properly unpack all my worldly crap) and for my troubles, I thought I'd treat myself to a taro milk tea. A lovely plan, and foiled incontrovertibly by the fact that IT CAME WITH A COCKROACH IN IT.

Let's let that sink in. A COCKROACH.

Sarea and I are heading down to LA for a little bit (to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, YESSSS) and meet up with [livejournal.com profile] jade_okelani, who is now reconsidering eating meals with us (me). Lol. It is, sadly, my curse and my cross to bear.
adelagia: (mst3k | whimsy overdose)
I've been watching the Great British Bake-Off recently on PBS. They're two seasons behind -- it's the one with custardgate, which I only know of because of the Big Fat Quiz of the Year -- but it's new to me, so shhh on spoilers. :) GBBO is great; it's one of the only reality competition type shows I like (the other being Face Off). There's no manufactured drama or backstabbery or sniping, and all the contestants are super sweet and seem to genuinely like and respect each other. Best of all, they're crazy talented, and there is such delight in watching talented, passionate people do what they do.

Of course, watching it makes my mouth hungry as hell for everything they make, and it's also tickling the dormant baking monster in me.

bakeymonster
Please can we bake? Oh please, oh please, oh please?


Back when I was living in Chicago I used to bake all the time; I'd bring in stuff to work just about every Monday (to the point where people got upset and demandy if I didn't). There's something about baking that's so therapeutic and satisfying -- when it comes out right. But then I moved, out of the country, so I had to shed a lot of belongings, and much of the bakeware didn't make the cut.

[moment of silence]

After yesterday's episodes of sweet doughs, featuring lots of brioches and buns and tea loaves, I decided I had to -- had to -- make my own tea loaf. So today I ventured out after work for a loaf pan, thinking Goodwill would be an excellent place to get a decent pan for little to no money. How wrong I was! The cheapest and, incidentally, crappiest one was six dollars. Six dollars? At Goodwill? NO THANK YOU. I popped into Fred Meyer next, where they were having a 25% off sale on their bakeware, so I got a brand new loaf pan for $5.50. Take that and an emphatic tsk as well, Goodwill. You used to be cool.

Anyway, my raisins and cranberries are now soaking, and if all goes to plan, tomorrow I shall be cramming a fat lot of tea loaf into my face.
adelagia: (mst3k | whimsy overdose)
I just bought the Thug Kitchen Official Cookbook! [livejournal.com profile] sarea_okelani brought it to my attention a few months ago, and reading it is a delight. It yells at you in a completely supportive way and makes you want to take control of your crappy, tiny kitchen. For example, this caption on their whole wheat biscuits recipe: Make your own biscuits because that store-bought shit is shady as hell. Food shouldn't be packaged like a stick of explosives. That shit is unnatural. Heh. I haven't made anything from it yet; it just arrived yesterday. But I'm excited to! Maybe I'll even post the results! But let's not get our hopes up about that!

I also like those really metal recipes on tumblr, like this one for a waffle ice-cream sandwich: ONCE YOU HAVE THOSE TWO LITTLE SHITS IN YOUR HAND THROW THEM ACROSS THE ROOM SO THAT THEY LAND PERFECTLY IN YOUR TOASTER. IF YOUR AIM SUCKS ASS JUST PUT THEM IN GENTLY WHILE TRASH TALKING YOUR TOASTER BECAUSE YOU’RE STILL HARDCORE. Hell yeah. I guess what this tells us is that being yelled at about cooking really gets my ass in gear.

Also purchased a handheld milk frother, which is SUPER COOL :D I'm going to froth EVERYTHING.

adelagia: (mst3k | plot thinnens)
PART I | PART II




DAY 5: I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE WORD STRATEGY MEANS, BRYANT GUMBEL

We weren't able to get Saturday tickets, and although we were missing several things we would have loved to see, like Dylan O'Brien's face at the Scorch Trials panel, having a day's reprieve from the nonstop madness of Comic Con was quite nice. Instead, [livejournal.com profile] jade_okelani and [livejournal.com profile] ropo drove down from LA to pick us up and ferry us all to more spa goodness. Sarea went back to Cascade, and the rest of us carried on to Karma. We all met up afterward at Oscar's, because those octopus tacos deserve to be eaten more than once. A girl in line behind me asked for a recommendation; obviously the immediate answer was the octopus taco, but she was not about that business, so I recced the surf and turf instead. Her grave loss.

Not for the first time, we lamented the lack of such good stuff in Seattle. We're a seafood town, too; why can't we accomplish the same standards?

I mean, really )

adelagia: (mst3k | plot thinnens)
PART I




DAY 3: THE LINE FOR ___ BEGINS HERE

Our first day of Comic Con! Our hotel was on the Pink shuttle route, the stop just off the corner curbside. Based on my long-ingrained penchant for turning up to things much earlier than I need to, we aimed for the 7:30am shuttle to get to our 10am panel, and got in line behind a few other con-goers.

It's a tad early...
Adelagia: "Hooray!"
Sarea: "... I guess."

Long days ahead )

adelagia: (mst3k | plot thinnens)
DAY 1: EVERYTHING GOES WEIRDLY WELL

We started the day at the crack of dawn, [livejournal.com profile] sarea_okelani having stayed over the night before so as to not have to get up at ungodly hours to drive over. Plan A, which was to hire an Uber to get us to the airport, thankfully went off without a hitch. As did getting through security -- we were directed to the pre-approved line, so no requirements to remove shoes, toiletries, laptops, jackets, etc. (though I got through the metal detector just fine with both a hoodie and a denim jacket, Sarea set off the machine with her hoodie and was made to go through again without it). With plenty of time to waste, we strolled across the concourse in both directions and settled for breakfast at the food court. Breakfast was fish tacos, chowder, and coffee because at the airport, there are no rules.

The flight itself was uneventful, except for the defective latch for my tray table, which allowed the table to fall every time the person in front of me so much as breathed. Upon arrival, we hoofed it over to the courtesy van pick-up area for our hotel shuttle; it showed up right as we did, and when we alit, the driver gave Sarea her bag first, so we were able to check in without any wait. All these incredibly smooth and non-tedious travel experiences made us very suspicious; we waited the whole day for several snafu-laced shoes to drop.

The suspense! )

adelagia: (pixar | dory)
Our intrepid Portland adventures continue! Here's PART I in case you missed the massive amounts of food we crammed down our gullets the first two days.




So. Much. Food. )

adelagia: (Default)
Get ready for food porn, friends; [profile] sarea_okelani, [personal profile] slitherhither, and I just got back last weekend from eating all the things in Portland. On this trip, we discovered that, contrary to popular belief, our stomachs are not limitless chasms. Portland totally broke us, and we still have yet to fully recover. As Sarea noted, it feels like my stomach has a bandage on and is just limping along with a little crutch. But let's start at the beginning, which, as you may recall, is a very good place to start.


With thanks to Sarea for coding all the pictures for me... )


adelagia: (pixar | little chef)
This is probably a long shot, but by any chance does anyone know what kind of cheese they use in Chinese bakery-style cheese buns? Some of them do it with a strip on top, some inside the bun, but I can't find proper details anywhere for either on the almighty internet. Help me, f-list, you're my only hope.

February 2019

S M T W T F S
     12
3456789
10111213141516
17 181920212223
2425262728  

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated May. 28th, 2025 09:36 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios