Seattle: The Confectional in Pike Place Market

You never believe how hilly Seattle is sometimes. I’ll always be reminded that it’s a long way up from the Waterfront to The Pike Place Market in our previous trips. That was when we did not realize that there were actually lifts that we could use.

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No trip is complete without making a trip to the world famous Pike Place Market. Pike Place Market was originally a farmers market but had over the century (oh yeah, it’s over 100 years old) turned into a potpourri of unique shops and restaurants. Perhaps the most famous of all these shops was the fish market. That is where they throw big fishes across to the counter but nothing happened on the day we visited.

Anyway, having been here so many times already, we skipped most of the public market. What we wanted to really do is to check out the food outlets.

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We came across this place called The Confectional. Nice name I thought. We would not have given it a second glance if not for their tagline “Confess Your Love for Cheesecake”. Oh, when you see the word cheesecake, Suanne gets all excited. That woman can live on cheesecake alone, I tell you.

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The choices were bewildering. All of them looked so pretty. Suanne had a great time just reading the names and checking each one out at a time. (more…)

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Seattle: The Crab Pot

After a nice nap on board the Argosy Cruise, I was all ready for our first real meal. Top on our list for a meal at the Seattle Waterfront is the Crab Pot. This is quite unlike any Seafood restaurant that we had ever been before … and certainly a meal that is unforgettable.

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The Crab Pot is located on Pier 57 … just a stone throw away from the Argosy Cruise and the Seattle Aquarium. Anyway, Pier whatever, if it’s on the waterfront, you will be able to find it. The Waterfront is not a long stretch … almost all the main attractions are located on a 1/2 mile stretch or so.

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It was almost 2PM by the time we got to Crab Pot. I thought that it will be a great time to go for lunch expecting to avoid the lunch time crowd. Bad idea. Even at 2PM we had to wait 20 minutes for a table.

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It was a really cold day, freezing cold as a matter of fact. We asked to be seated inside but they told us it will be quite a wait. Being hungry and not wanting to waste any more time waiting we took the tables outside. It was quite OK. It was not that it’s outdoors but it certainly is not as warm as inside. [I thought Suanne certainly looked very hungry and cold in this picture! LOL!]

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The Crab Pot has a very extensive menu which includes steak, burgers, chicken and of course seafood. But the Crab Pot is known as the home of the famous Seafest. There are four choices of the Seafest. They are charged by the person. The cheapest is $15 per person and ranges up to $33 per person. My advice is to get the most expensive meal you can afford — it is worth every cent.

After doing a few calculation, we decided that we can afford “The Westport” which costs $22.

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First came one of the best bread we ever had … and no, it’s not because we are hungry and cold. They are really nice … warm and crusty sourdough bread. It was so nice, we asked for more.

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Herein is the fun and best part of eating in the Crab Pot. First they lay a large piece of paper over the table. Then they gave each of us a wooden block, wooden mallet and a bib with a large red crab. Oh yeah … no plates, no forks and knives … we all eat with our hands.

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Seattle: Argosy Cruise Around Seattle Harbor

We went next for the cruise. It’s called the Argosy Cruise.

We used the CityPass for this cruise. Let me tell you, again, that when you are visiting Seattle you simply must get the citypass. You get quite a bit of savings. For instance, the 1 hr Seattle Harbor Cruise costs $21.75 but with the CityPass which costs only $44, you get entrances to four other premier tourist spots too. The CityPass covers the basic 1-hour harbour cruise but you have the option to upgrade to other Argosy’s cruises.

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We boarded the cruise from Pier 55 on Seattle’s Waterfront. For some reason, I felt all tired that when we got onto the ship. I guess I was just all tired from the hecticness of the day before. The seats were so comfortable, guess what, I fell asleep for the entire duration of the cruise! But Suanne and the boys had a great time and took a lot of pictures.

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You get to see the colorful Seattle waterfront from the cruise. It was a fun and quick way to learn about Seattle with the narration throughout the cruise. We passed by the newly opened Olympic Sculpture Park, which is really a huge outdoor sculpture park and opened to the public for free. We did not get the chance to visit it this time but we will some day. (more…)

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Seattle: The Seattle Aquarium

The best place to start exploring Seattle is no where but the Seattle Waterfront. This is where a number of attractions were located within walking distance. The bad thing about this place is that parking is so exorbitantly expensive. We paid something like $15 for parking for the a good part of the day.

Since the Seattle Aquarium opens early (at 9:30AM), we decided to start off with this place.

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The Seattle Aquarium is located at Pier 59 on Seattle’s Waterfront. It had recently underwent some expansion but despite the expansion one could complete the tour within 1-2 hours max.

Entrance is $15 for an adult and $10 for children. We went in using CityPasses.

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I would say that the Seattle Aquarium is designed with the elementary school children or younger in mind.

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Other than the colorful fishes, there are quite a bit of corals. The only thing that came to my mind is that while corals are beautiful, they are also very fragile and extremely sensitive to environmental changes. (more…)

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Seattle: Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits in Burlington

Oh shoot!

I felt so pressured to keep up blogging on this Seattle series. My memory on this trip is somewhat fading. I had been looking at the screen for the past 5 minutes just thinking of what to share. Sigh … and some of you just gotta say you look forward to this series. Pressure, pressure, pressure! LOL!

We left Richmond kind of late … in the late morning. By the time we got over the border, it was already noon. We drove on and decided to make a stop at Burlington for a quick lunch in a fast food joint. We did not care about what it is except that it should be something we do not have in Canada.

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As we drove along the shopping row on S Burlington Blvd looking for a fast food joint we chanced upon the distinctive yellow and red Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits restaurant. Popeyes was one of the places we had on our shortlist of restaurants.

One would have thought that in a place called Popeyes, you would have expected that there will be Popeye (the Sailorman) images all over the restaurant. Nope, there was none at all. Strange.

Anyway, Popeyes is one of the biggest chicken fast food outlets in the US. There is none in Vancouver.

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We ordered the 8 pieces Spicy Chicken. It seems like their flagship product just like the Big Mac is to McD’s. It came with some “biscuits”. I still thinks that biscuits means cookies. At least where I grew up, biscuits IS cookies. These US-style “biscuits” should just be simply called bread, or scones.

Anyway, the biscuits were flaky but too dry for my liking. If only I have hot chocolate, I’ll dunk it in. I took a bite and decided I had enough.

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Despite being called Spicy Chicken, it is quite mild. We like the crispy skin a lot and the fact that it was not all too greasy (more…)

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Seattle: A Short Spring Break

Alrighty … here I go again with another travel series.

This is the long promised series on Seattle. During the school spring break last month, we decided that we make a short 5-day trip with the primary purpose of checking out a little bit of the food scene in Seattle.

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Seattle is sometimes known as the emerald city in reference to the lush green evergreen trees around the area. In many ways, Seattle reminds me of Vancouver. The healthy people and especially the rainy climate are so similar. The big difference is that it the city is much bigger economically than Vancouver. It is after all the home to Microsoft, Boeing, Starbucks, Amazon.com, and Costco to name a few.

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There were almost no pre-planning done for this trip. I had been so busy at work these days, I had no real time for myself, let alone plan for vacation. So, this time, I depended almost entirely on the recommendations of the readers of chowtimes. (more…)

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12-Egg Omelettes in Beth’s Cafe in Seattle, WA

Call us crazy or what … a few years back, heavens knows how many years back, we actually drove all the way from Richmond to Burlington just to try the Krispy Kreme that had just been opened. Back then, I knew it was crazy as not many people do that. I recall the amused look of the US Border Officer when I told him I am going to the US for donuts.

A few weeks back, a reader by the name of xsweetonex commented on our blog of Beth’s Cafe in Seattle and of their 12-egg omelettes … that sure got my attention. So, I googled Beth’s Cafe and to my surprise there were tons and tons of reviews of this place. I told Suanne I simply got to go and check out this place. Since, Red Mango had just opened too in Bellevue, we took a Saturday driving across the border … yeah, again … just for food.

They have a website which you should check out (http://www.bethscafe.com/). For a worn-down looking restaurant like this, it’s amazing that they’re world famous for their omelettes. Apparently, Beth’s had been operating here for more then 50 years.

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In a nice way of describing it, Beth’s Cafe is described as informal. Maybe it is early in the morning when we got there but the customers were most like truck drivers type. Not that it’s a problem but contrasting this with, say IHOP or Denny’s, the customer here does not seem to have at least have their hair combed. Know what I mean?

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This is an old place and it shows. They had ingeniously peppered by crayon drawings from their customers. When we got seated, they asked us if we wanted crayons and paper. It was entertaining reading the crayon drawings from people all over the world.

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The Coffee and Hot Chocolate are $1.95 each.

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