Rachel: Photo Diary

Day of Horse Races and Pirates. And Brunch.

Rachel — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 04:45:23 +0000

We started our day at Vanessa’s. Traffic was so atrocious that in lieu of eating first, we headed down Alki Beach to catch the pirates at their landing. Seems the buccaneers were held up heading south on I-5 too, so we retreated back to V’s to brunch and watch from her balcony. But not before snapping spectator pictures.

Next, we headed to R’s 30th birthday afternoon at the racetrack.

I got so excited as we arrived at Emerald Downs. I wore my floppy hat, there was gonna be lemonade, good friends…oh the anticipation! Would I win back my $2? Would R like his pimp pirate hat and eye patch we’d scored for him on the beach?

Oops, I meant to snap this about 2 seconds earlier.

We spent hours placing bets and enjoying the company. The pimp pirate hat from me & V, et al, was well-received. I bet every round, usually rewarding clever names. My favorite was Dixie Doodle Dude with Luke Stallwalker as runner-up. Between Mr. T & me, we earned back about 50% of the outlay…okay fine, Mr. T was the only one who won anything and he placed it on the long shot of the day. Let that be a lesson!

After a brief break, we headed over to their place for great food and chitchat. Happy Birthday, R!

Geraldine is the BEST baker. Here’s the cake she made for her mister.

Chinese Feast at Chiang’s Lake City

Rachel — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 05:06:14 +0000

The food moved fast with this gang.

Last week, a few of us missed out on a dinner at Jack’s Tapas, Mainly Chinese. Tonight, we were supposed to have a makeup session, but when we arrived realized why they hadn’t called back to confirm my reservation (they usually don’t need them). So our voracious group of 11 convened a mile north at Chiang’s on Lake City Way instead.

We had so. much. food. My favorites were the hand-shaved noodles, the short ribs (pictured above) and the Spicy Fish “on Roman Lettuce.” Traca snapped a picture of our order here which was:
Green Onion pancakes
Leek Dumplings
Sea Cucumber
Short Rib with Triple Chili
Spicy Fish on Roman Lettuce
Enoki Black Mushroom with bean curd
Shanghai Style Pan Noodles
Homemade Noodles with ground pork
Shredded Pork with squid and yellow leeks
Tea-smoked Duck

Afterward, Traca stopped by. We talked for hours.

Lunches and BBQs

Rachel — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 06:16:00 +0000

My good friend Carey visited me in Fremont today for lunch at Costas Opa. After eating, I walked her to her car where we talked some more…until a cop arrived and gave her a ticket for being 10 minutes over her parking. Grr.

Before that happened, we met one of Fremont’s shop dogs (pictured above).

For dinner, we barbecued and had our neighbor and a few friends over to play Zooloteria and Cartagena. I grade today: A+.

Science: It Works

Rachel — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:06:11 +0000

We met up with friends on top of Queen Anne Hill today for Macrina’s brunch. My friend’s shirt:
SCIENCE
It works, bitches!

For reals. So many problems avoided by adhering to such wisdom.

A surefire crowd-pleaser on a Sunday morning. While in line ordering our French toast, she was approached by a stranger confirming the formula on the back — a graph of the big bang theory. Seattle, so nerdy.

Canada Day Party

Rachel — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 04:49:07 +0000

One of my trivia night buddies Kate and her husband Steve threw their annual Canada Day party tonight. Tons of good food, Sweet Cicely Lemonade, tea-smoked goat (can neither confirm nor deny the authenticity of Canadian goat cuisine), barbecued chicken, Canadian beer, Canadian flag chocolate cake and another friend’s (Zach’s) American-flag brownies. I envied their daughter’s pool & treehouse (Fort Rubinskaya!), and Mr. Thibs then offered to build me one — I’ve waited my whole life for one! A great party.

On our walk home, Mr. T wondered if he could get citizenship from the Canadian government these days, as a form of Cajun reparation. Before we could finish that thought, we ran into another neighbor who happened to be giving a tour of the hood P-Patch to Canadian visitors. Canadians - they’re everywhere!

Take Your Dog to Work Day

Rachel — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 03:33:44 +0000

Apparently today was a national holiday - Dog Day - a la Take Your Daughter to Work Day. (Someone I know from Phoenix mentioned it, too.)

I signed us up. The Baron did okay. When we hung out in meetings or at my desk, he was chill. But, he can get wacky when meeting other dogs because he MUST meet them NOW — I get anxious which I think makes him anxious (vicious cycle!) but we all survive every time. I joke my dog’s a typical Seattle-ite — SO excited to meet other dogs but after that first intro, has no interest in furthering the relationship. Nothing aggro, but nothing friendly either.

Our most intense moment came when 3-pound puppy sprinted our way near the exec wing (I’ve recently moved floors). Just so happened my CEO was right there…and he laughed, “That’s only one bite for your guy!” True, too true. All I squeaked out was, “uhhh, yeah” as I coaxed The Baron towards the stairwell and hoped he wouldn’t lunge for a snack.

He stayed on leash all day but we took walks to break it up. I met so many people inside and out of the office, just having him along! This is a crazy dog-lovin town.

Meet Abbey Road, a P.Y.T.

Rachel — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 03:28:36 +0000

Turns out, photographing a little black dog is hard! I took a dozen shots, turned on the auto-focus assist, but this was the only one that came out.

Meet my friend Natala’s new puppy Abbey Road. She’s another morkie, like dear Cuba Libre was.
Natala had a few of us over to BBQ and to meet the little one. YAY FOR PUPPIES.

Given today’s events, Michael Jackson was in heavy rotation all evening.

Marination Mobile and the Little Flower Station

Rachel — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:21:59 +0000

Last week, I talked of heading over to Marination Mobile — this week I returned at 11 and faced a more reasonable line. Under 10 minutes, no wait! The folks who run Marination Mobile were as friendly as ever.

During the 10 minute break, though, I watched this lady from the Little Flower Station set up shop right next to the line. Next time, I’ll have to pick up a bouquet for my team’s bullpen. (I’d link to the business, but it looks like the domain is just parked for now.)

Seattle History, In One Go

Rachel — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:17:29 +0000

We went out for dinner at our local favorite neighborhood Indian restaurant. We walk past Roosevelt’s Seattle history mural often — tonight, I decided to capture a small section of it.
Edited to add: Funny! Seattle Daily Photo must be walking a similar beat lately. She blogs the larger version of this here.

Found It?

Rachel — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:07:54 +0000

Today was a great, lazy Sunday. Mid-day I went to pick up some library holds: Real Cajun, amongst others.

I spotted this on the way home. And this real-dog, which I know Mr. T would not exactly enjoy hanging out by the fireplace.