Fall Recap

UPDATE 1: Fall. The autumn leaves are so pretty in the PNW (for those unfamiliar with the acronym, it stands for Pacific Northwest)--Nature mesmerizes the Seattlites to lube us up for the harsh winter.

Fall foliage colors are soo HD.  Like you know those HD dvds you can play to view how sharp your HDTV can display colors?  EXCEPT you are actually THERE, in REAL LIFE.  No technology can ever replace beauty that the mother Earth will offer.  None. 

That said, my camera sucks.  I need a new one!!! Can someone recommend me a decent, affordable point and shoot digital camera?  preferably Canon?  DSLR is too expensive, but I dunno I seem to be buying a new camera every year, maybe its time I invest in a nice camera?

Drive around Greenlake

Coloring leaves in the International District

red maple leaves over I-5.  I was in moving car, so really blurry pic. 

UPDATE 2: Couple of weeks ago, my work hosted this appreciation Happy Hour with free booze and hors d'oeuvres.  My manager, who has worked there for 10+ years, said this never happened before.  *~I'm feelin' lucky~* We all got pretty tipsy and it was very difficult to work the next day.  But who can say no to free beer?  Not I.  

The event was held at a former fine dining Italian restaurant downstairs of our building.  

pimpness. 

and there were cupcakes.  I don't know why but this was the only picture of food I took that night. 

UPDATE 3:  I was invited to join the "Yelp Elite squad."  Almost exactly a year ago, I decided to create an account with Yelp to write reviews.  I've frequently visited the site over the last few years and have often felt frustrated how inaccurate some of the reviews are, so I decided to contribute instead of complaining.  I couldn't really dedicate a whole lot of time into it.  To be honest I think I've been writing pretty sloppy reviews.  But I gained decent ratings on my reviews over time and a couple of weeks ago the Yelp community manager in Seattle contacted me extending an invitation to join the Elite crew.  Score!! 

Apparently once you join, Elites are invited to parties at popular restaurants/bars around town and are provided free food and booze.  Again, who can say no to free booze? Not I.  

My first elite event was at Japonessa, an uber popular fusion sushi restaurant in town.  I was surprised by such a huge turn out, the restaurant was packed full of people.  I took Wesley with me and we met some interesting people and had some great appetizers and great drinks.  It was great opportunity to network and socialize with new crowd of people.  

The theme was "P" party so we picked up some old cameras from Goodwill and did "Paparazzi"

UPDATE 4: I got myself a crockpot.  Its getting cold here and I'm just ALWAYS craving hot foods.  Especially, PHO.  My pho obsession has risen to such severity that I was beginning to eat pho TWICE A DAY, beef pho by day, veggie pho by night.  So I figured, what if I make my own pho so I don't have to spend as much money!!?!?!?!  

I saw a recipe online that uses crockpot to make pho broth.  I thought cooking pho in crockpot was brilliant because I just don't have time to sit around the house all day babysit the simmering broth.  so I REALLY wanted to give it a try.  3 Youtube videos, 5 different pho recipes, and 2 trips to the Asian market later,  I acquired all the knowledge and power to conquer my pho quest.  All that was left was to dump the ingredients into the crockpot and I was done.  I put everything together and simmered the broth in crockpot for like 12+ hours.  I came home from work that day and I could smell something funky in the hallway of our floor.  I opened the door to my house, and this pungent rotten carcass smell just filled up the whole place.  I panicked and went to the crockpot, I opened the lid to taste the broth.  I almost puked because there was a 2 inch layer of fat and oil that accumulated to the top.  UGH.  

But I didn't want to give up my hard work.  I proceeded to strain all the extra bones and fat/oil out of the broth and poured it into garbage.  Then open all the windows and doors to the house, febreeze the crap out my place.  After that was done, I tasted the broth and it tasted more like regular broth, except it was really bland.  so I added some salt/fish sauce.  taste, still bland.  more salt... still bland.... ok more salt/fish sauce??? STILL BLAND.  OK IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH MY TONGUE? THIS SHIT NEEDS MORE SALT.  

In the end I added what seemed like a bucket of salt,  and finally I felt it was complete.  

I served the below to my boy, he said it was delicious.  But I...could not eat any more than half a bowl.   

In the end, I think this experience ruined my obsession with pho, just knowing what the fuck goes into making this damn soup.   Its as if I witnessed a man making the soup out of sweat of his arm pit.  I'm traumatized how gross the beef bones become when they simmer for long time, how much salt need to be added, and the fack load of fat I had to remove before using the broth.  Why didn't any of the recipe tell me that?? 

Anyway, I want to believe however, that my crockpot is racist and can't make Asian food right.  I did make pot roast the other day which turned out fantastic, and required less than half the effort I put into making pho.  The meat was super tender and all the veggies soaked up the flavor so well.  Mmmm...

I'll just stick with American recipes from now on and hopefully I'll be able to recover from my trauma soon because pho on a cold winter day is so perfect!  

ok all the updates for now.