Easter Sunday !

Beautiful Easter morning sunrise service with brunch and dinner potluck to follow.  Enjoy!

Vivace- morning cappuccino

Steelcut Oatmeal

Hot steel cut oatmeal. served with brown sugar,
raisins and light cream. comes with a fruit cup

 Lemon Tart time

1 Cup of Juice = whole lot of squeezing

Finished Tart

Fruit Tart #2

Vivace

227 Yale Ave N
Seattle, WA 98109  

Jak's Grill

3701 NE 45th Street

Seattle, WA 98105

 WA 91

Dinner Party!

Dinner party for the girls last night! After all the dine arounds we've been doing around Seattle, my best friend and I decided to do one in our very own kitchen for some girlfriends.

On the menu was....
Appetizer - Asian style lettuce cup (recipe courtesy of Martin Yan)
               - strips of garlic, soy sauce marinaded steak with sauteed red
                 bell pepper
Entree - Lemon pepper, herb infused tenderloin roast over apple, onion
             relish with garlic long green beans
Dessert - Dark Chocolate Souffle

Table for six please!

Cold Bottle of Chardonney from Australia
(I went to this winery while I was there)

Asian style lettuce cups

(ground turkey, shitake mushrooms, carrots, chestnuts)

Strips of Steak with grilled Peppers

(marinated in soy sauce, worcestorshire sauce, garlic, olive oil, & basil)

Lemon pepper & herb rubbed Pork Tenderloin 

over bed of apple and onion relish

Dark Chocolate Souffle

It was a night of eating, laughing and sharing.  I love going out to eat great food, but I get more pleasure from  being together with friends!

Dine around part II - Dahlia Lounge!

Dine around on the last day for lunch at Dahlia Lounge! This restaurant owned by Tom Douglas is a favorite for a few of my friends and I.  It's located right in downtown and is a wonderful restaurant with great food, ambiance, and service.

Dahlia

Selection for lunch

Cup of Tom’s Tasty Tomato Soup 

Brown Butter Croutons 

 Albacore Poke 

Sesame, Soy, Scallion 

Pan Seared Chilled Albacore Tuna 

Buckwheat Soba, Pickled Beets and Daikon, Green Garlic 

Lychee Sorbet, Ginger 

The food was delicious as usual and for $15, we got a wonderful lunch complete with appetizer, entree, and dessert!  Everything was so simple yet elegant.  I really enjoyed all 3 of my dishes.  The flavor of the poke was fantastic.  I only wished the pieces were larger and surprisingly though I never add anything to poke, a squeeze of the lime on the side brought out the flavors even more.  My entree, the seared tuna with soba was refreshing with its pickled beets and daikon and although the soba noodles were a tad dry, they complemented the tuna. With all the yumminess, today's winner was dessert! The lychee sorbet with ginger syrup was light and so perfect with its meld of sweetness from the lychee and spiciness from the ginger.  I love it!

Altogether, an enjoyable lunch with friends once again!  Dahlia Lounge never fails, everyone needs a visit!

Dahlia Lounge

2001 4th Ave.
Seattle, WA 98121

Dine around Seattle at Palisade!

I love $15 lunches at nice restaurants.  For the entire month of March, Seattle has a wonderful $15 lunch or $30 dinner deal at very nice, fancy restaurants that I normally would not go to.  A few of my friends and I had the day off and decided to enjoy time together as well as food! Without further ado, Palisades....

Delicious menu

Butter Lettuce with Rogue River Blue Cheese 

Baby Bibb Lettuce with Rogue River Blue Cheese, Smoked Hazelnuts, Crisp Julienned Pear with Guava Wood Smoked Butter Poached Colossal Prawns

 Seafood Sliders 

Maine Lobster "BLT" with Crisp Pancetta, House Smoked Salmon with Caper Cream Cheese, and Alaskan King Crab Salad with Avocado, Roasted Pepper Aioli and Crisp Watercress. All Served on Brioche Buns

 Seared Diver Scallops 

Beluga Lentils, Celery Root and Parsnip Purée, and Pancetta-Pear Vinaigrette

WagYu Sirloin 

Char-grilled WagYu Sirloin from “Snake River Farm” in Our Specialized Over-Under Broiler, Brushed with House Made Steak Butter. Served on Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Seasonal Vegetables

 Spiced Banana Ice Cream 

Palisade’s Exclusive Banana Ice Cream with Housemade 

Candied Almond Brittle and Caramelized Baby Bananas

Chocolate “Lovers” Cake 

Our Own Rich Decadent Chocolate Mousse Cake with Fresh Raspberries, Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream, and Mini Chocolate Truffles with Shaved White Chocolate.

 Random piano above the bar!

Beautiful day for a lunch with friends

Gray weather is normal in Seattle, but it turned into a beautiful day as we had lunch overlooking Elliot Bay. I really enjoyed having lunch at Palisades.   From the starter salad to the main entree to dessert, everything was well done.  The steak was the winner of the day.  It was cooked medium rare and was so tender and flavorful with perfect unburnt charred edges! Dessert was rich, but satisfied my chocolate craving.  Although the service was a bit slow, it gave us time to chat and enjoy each others company.  We strolled out along the water after lunch, what a wonderful day!

Palisade Restaurant
Elliott Bay Marina
2601 West Marina Place
Seattle, WA 98199

Here and there...

Just some pictures I haven't had a chance to blog on, enjoy!

Trophy cupcakes

Yummy birthday cake

Homemade Dessert Night!

(Bottom to top: Coconut biscotti, blueberry muffin, sponge cake, 

lemon crepes, cookies, fruit tart, red bean manju, brownies)

Ramen

Beautiful evening

Fruit Tart

My first attempt at a fruit tart with my brand new tart pan! I'm also trying out a new recipe that I found off of allrecipes.  It had fantastic ratings and I'm hoping those ratings ring true when the taste test comes tonight.

White Chocolate Fruit Tart
Crust
- 3/4 c butter softened
-1/2 c powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 c of flour
Filling
- 1 10 oz pack of white chocolate chips melted
- 1/4 c whipping cream
- 1 8 oz pack of cream cheese
- fresh berries (raspberries,  blackberries)
- 1 sliced kiwi
- canned mandarin oranges with juice
Glaze
- 3 tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice 

In a small mixing bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually add flour; mix well. Press into an ungreased 11-in. tart pan with removable bottom or 12-in. pizza pan with sides. Bake at 300 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack

For filling, in a small mixing bowl, beat melted chips and cream. Add cream cheese and beat until smooth. Spread over crust. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Drain mandarin oranges, reserving 1/2 cup juice; set juice aside. Arrange the berries, oranges, and kiwi over filling.

For glaze, in a small saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch. Stir in lemon juice and reserved mandarin juice until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Cool; brush over fruit. Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.  

Ingredients for the filling 

Glaze in progress

Glazed fruit tart!

The entire tart making process was not difficult, just time consuming.  The crust came out beautifully with a minor crack that I fixed by putting a thin layer of melted white chocolate.  As for the filling, it was the first time I've ever heard of using white chocolate as part of a base.  I melted the chips in my own makeshift double boiler which I then transferred into a bowl with my cream cheese and whipping cream.  I would suggest definitely using a mixer to get the creamy consistency.  The rest of the process was the fun fruit arranging and glazing of the tart.  I didn't have a brush for my glazing, so it was hard to get a consistent layer across the entire top, but regardless glazing got done.  

Tart making is not as hard as I thought it would be.  I definitely want to try more with different fillings and fruits as they start coming into season.  I think to prevent cracks from happening, I will fill a pie pan with dried beans or rice and place over the crust as it is cooking and I will be picking up a brush for glazing.  Perfection will come, but for now I am content with my first ever fruit tart! 

Buca di Beppo

TGIF! The day's seem to be flying by.  To celebrate the end of the work week, some friends and I decided to gather together for a family style dinner at Buca di Beppo.  Since I hadn't been there in a very long time, I was ready for some good Italian food.  I arrived to a very crowded restaurant and walked into the lively decorated restaurant.

Dinner time!

Crazy decorations

The menu was extensive and orders came in small which fed up to 3 people and large feeding up to 6.  Needless to say we ordered larges of everything.  We started off the evening with appetizers of mozzarella garlic bread, mussels, and chopped antipasto salad.  The bread was crispy and cheesy while the mussels were soaked in a sweet tomato based sauce which we soaked our bread in for a delicious finish.

Mussels 

Margherita

Fresh mozzarella cheese, aromatic basil and our authentic pizza sauce top this simple, yet classic favorite.

We had several selections for dinner: a large margherita pizza, spaghetti with meatball, and linguine fruitti di mare. The large portions were enough for our table and the flavors of the pasta and pizza were pretty good.  I really enjoyed the linguine as it had tons of seafood and the tomato sauce was delicious! The meatballs were gigantic in the simple spaghetti and meatball dish and tasty as well! 

Linguine fruitti di Mare

Shrimp, baby clams, mussels and calamari tossed with our spicy red clam sauce and imported Italian linguine

 Spaghetti with Meatballs

Famous half-pound, mouth-watering meatballs smothered in homemade marinara sauce on a bed of imported Italian spaghetti.

Although dinner came out to be much more than I thought it would even with a split bill, the time spent with my friends was priceless.  We had a great waitress at our table who took good care of us and the food was fine  for our large group setting.  Everyone in the restaurant also seemed to be having a great time as there was a table next to us celebrating a birthday and several other tables with groups of friends and families having dinner.  I enjoyed my evening, but now its time to burn off those carbs!

Bucca di Beppo

4301 Alderwood Mall Blvd

Lynnwood, WA 98036