So far my Spring Break has been eventful. I guess. Went to Seattle, Washington to visit my friends Kaya and Grace. Kaya attends Seattle U and Grace attends UW. Rachel came with me on this spring break. It was nice to see and hang out with her... considering the fact that we never see each other... even though we live in the same city and go to the same school! ha. Odd? Yes, I know.
Ended up staying in Seattle for a week and felt like it was definitely enough time to explore the city. Wish I got to do more active and outdoors activities but because my friends did not have cars we were not able to go to hiking areas, beaches, etc. It's okay I can always come back some other time.
Some activities we did were shopping in downtown Seattle, which was terrible to be honest... SF has better shopping and the downtown Seattle is quite small with the same chain stores available in SF; went to Pikes Market and ate a lot of food. Had a New York style cheesecake from Confectional; mini donuts from Daily Dozen Donut Company, the donuts were so delicious, especially the plain ones; a salmon pate piroshky straight from the oven, piping hot! Also had a Russian Teacake Cookie from Three Girls Bakery and a delicious "Oh my God" plum from one of the fruit stands. Also went to U Village that same day and got a Nutella Chocolate Cupcake from Trophy Cupcakes. Other places we went were to a Korean Tofu House near Grace's apartment in UW district. We all got Soon Doo Bu, which is a spicy Korean soup with a lot of tofu and various veggies. So good! It came with rice and all the ban chans (little side dishes). Was great to eat on a chilling cold day. I think my trip revolved around eating and friends... then again that is all I care about in life, excluding my family.
Other places we went to eat were Cafe Flora, a vegetarian restaurant in Madison Park. Shared a mushroom sandwich with a veggie tortilla soup and a huge morning bun with icing, maple syrup and baked pecans. Everything was so delicious. After, yes there was an after... stopped by this adorable, simple bakery/cafe and got a banana walnut bread while Rachel waited for her Chai Latter, made by the most gorgeous man I have laid eyes on. I wish I remembered the name of the bakery, it had a pear on it's sign. I tried to yelp it but nothing would turn up. Ate at some Vietnamese restaurant called Lemongrass... food was mediocre. Because I was so hungry I convinced myself that the food was great, but it wasn't. I got a Vermicelli Bowl with shrimp and egg rolls. Man oh man, they were so stingy with the egg roll... I only got one, which was cut into four small pieces and some shrimp with a shit load of vermicelli noodle and some lettuce. Ugh, nothing will beat the Vermicelli Bowl from Pho Tri, back at home. Their portions are so generous and everything is so flavorful. This place was quite bland even with the sauce. Had amazing ice cream from Molly Moon's homemade ice cream, so delicious. I had the Scout Mint, which tasted like those Girl Scouts' Thin Mint Cookies. The ice cream was so creamy and milky... I think I just drooled thinking about it. The waffle cones are all handmade and so crunchy. Just the way I like it. Another day went to Hawaiian BBQ, a popular little restaurant on University Avenue in UW. I had a Chicken Katsu with Curry with Mac Salad. It was so cheap, I think it was under $7.00 and the portions were made for two or three servings. I could only eat half of it and had to take the rest to eat the next morning. I could not believe how similar the taste was to the local food served in Hawaii. From the first bite of Curry, rice, Mac Salad, and Chicken Katsu I felt like I was back under the Hawaiian sun with my friends, eating at some local take out place. The food was spot on and definitely on par with the local food served in Hawaii. Half way through the meal I found out why the food was so genuine, it is because the chef and owner said that he was actually from Hawaii and moved to Seattle ten years ago. Duhh, Nicole, that is why. Only the people from Hawaii can recapture that true, genuine, local, mixed plate lunch type of styled food. Though Rachel, Grace, and I were full, Grace took us to a Milk Tea Place. I wanted to barf at that point because I was so full, but my love for milk tea cured me and I gladly bought a milk tea, non-sweetened, so I could taste the tea a bit better. Man, this milk tea was great, it tasted like genuine tea, not the shit powder kind. It had a genuine taste, but it was still a little too sweet for my preference. The boba in the milk tea was like any other boba you can get, nothing great. But the milk tea made up for the boba's mediocracy.
Hmmm, also went to some Pho place near Grace's apartment... it was not very good. The soup was not clear like it should have been, which indicates that it could have been made from a powder stock. It was a little murkier that it is supposed to be and the taste of the soup was not clean. But then again I paid like 4.00 because I split a large with Grace, so I should not complain... even though I want to. Another day went to Cafe on Ave with the girls for a small quick breakfast. Once again I got a banana walnut bread and a drip coffee. The bread was not as good as the other bakery but it was good enough. Then for dinner had sushi from AOI. I got a Tottori Roll, which consisted of a California Roll with Spicy Tuna on top and shrimp tempura inside. There was also some sweet and salty sauce drizzled, onions, and this odd crunchy fried pieces sprinkled on top. It tasted like ume when it is at it's sweetest, it helped to offset the spicy tuna and the acidic onions, which also was a bit sweet. Overall I was very satisfied and wanted more. But of course I waited like a good girl and got dessert instead. We all shared fried green tea ice cream. I was really excited for it... but it was a disappointment. It ended up tasting like perfume. No, seriously, it did. It tasted like perfume. The tempura was not crunchy enough and it was lukewarm by the time we got to eat it so it was a bit gross because the the oil was too sunk into the tempura batter. The ice cream itself wasn't even that good either. Oh wells. Wow, I feel like a heffer, but I don't really care because overall I enjoyed almost everything.
So that was the bulk of my trip, eating. Aside from that I did get some exercise from walking almost everywhere. Saw the Space Needle or whatever it is called, watched Alice in Wonderland, went to the Fremont Troll, saw the Washington River, saw the SU and UW campuses, etc. I am glad to be back in SF to sleep in my own bed and room but I am not happy to be back in school. I just want to sleep, eat, sleep, eat, read, and be a lazy ass.
Will post more pictures tomorrow!
