Mariners Opening Day

We always had such a good time at St. Louis Cardinals opening day that we thought we should give the Mariners' a whirl to be good and definitely legitimate Seattleites.

I had an important choice to make in my closet. Be "that guy" spoiler with some random team jersey on or root root root for the home team?

Lydia had her pregnant Seattle fan uniform on.

Just like in St. Louis, Opening Day here in Seattle was an opportunity for local greats to make appearances to the adoring public. Ken Griffey Jr. luckily was one such appearance.

He and a pack of other Seattle legends threw the first pitches. I don't think I've seen any of these guys in real life before so this was very cool.

Gary Payton and Marshawn Lynch threw a throw as well. Ichiro made a separate appearance later on as well. I think that is officially every Seattle sports figure I've ever heard of.

We're excited about the Cardinals coming to town but it's also in the baby danger zone so we're not sure if we're going to try to attend or not.

I chose conformity and wore my Mariners uniform. Our friends Michael and Miriam were in attendance with us.

I can't get enough of the palm scanning, pick up my own beer and leave magic.

Aside from the winner and loser of today's game, we're all winners today.

Communion Round Two

We rarely go to the same upscale restaurant twice these days, as we're fairly new to town still and have a lot of restaurants out there to explore. So it's really high praise from us that we returned to Communion a month after our first visit.

Eater Seattle:

"Chef Kristi Brown — who made her name running the catering operation That Brown Girl Cooks — calls the food at her Central District restaurant “Seattle Soul.” At Communion, fusions like the Hood Sushi Bowl featuring fried catfish and seaweed salad come from Brown’s memories of shopping at Asian markets in the neighboring Chinatown-International District. But the dishes that shine brightest are her more traditional Southern ones, like a pork neck bone stew, with smoky meat simmered in umami-packed broth with lima beans. It’s hard to get a seat at this Eater Award-winner in the renovated Liberty Bank Building. Make reservations weeks ahead, or show up right when the restaurant opens on a weekday to vie for a spot."

I did a little more research, though, and uncovered the real reason behind Lydia's love of this place. "Her creations combine her food experiences from a childhood in Kansas City, Missouri, to her teenage years in Seattle's Central District." Lydia was being called to this place by her Missouri blood!

While waiting for our food I read some local event newspapers. The blurb on Seattle Rep.'s Lydia and the Troll was hilariously similar to the story of the real Lydia and her internal Troll stowaway. We are definitely going to need to see this show.

A fun thing about Communion is that the menu is always changing. We were just here a few weeks ago and the menu was unrecognizable.

Slow burn hummus and injera

Slow burn - hummus, earthy, spiced and creamy black eyed pea hummus served with local injera

Sauteed mussels

Sauteed Totten Inlet (Puget Sound) mussels & a spicy Laotian sausage & sauteed, creamy coconut sauce, shallots, and garlic.

It's strange we had to travel so far away to have the best Missouri food but I'm happy with my choices.

Vegetarian hella filthy rice

dirty rice Seattle style and vegan

Add-on: deep fried cornmeal crusted catfish

Lydia finally got the banana pudding that she was denied on our last visit.

Wine Tasting in Woodinville

Linda and Zoe were in town visiting so we took them to Woodinville, WA for some wine tastings.

I think Rocky Pond Estate Winery was my favorite. They gave healthy pours and I thought presented them really well with this alcoholic's Christmas tree. Our friends Renaud and Julie made an appearance at an earlier winery which was fun.

We did some pregnancy photo shooting in Woodinville. I understand the purpose of such things but they are very much not my style. I don't like how unnatural they look and feel in general. That being said I think the blossoms were a nice springy backdrop.

I should have drank more wine.

Karaoke Master Returns

I managed to make a couple of friends from my kickball team who like to do things other than play kickball.

We had some apps at Life on Mars. This was like a normal food 6 but a vegan food 15 on a ten point scale. I think always referring to vegan food as Martian cuisine would help prepare me for the weird textures and tastes that I'm about to endure.

We did some karaoke at Rock Box. Girls really like singing these violent country songs, I've noticed. 

We closed the place down, which I was pretty proud of. It's not that hard to out party Seattle, though. The place is essentially a retirement home for young tech professionals.

Seattle dogs, off the leash. I believe this was the time that Vik's car was in a parking garage that closed for the night, and he was freaking out about it. He called the company which I believe then sends a tow truck or something to key him in... I got very lucky by parking someplace else and this did not end up being my problem.

Feed the Troll

We got our first taste of Musang with Seago outside on the Seahawks' turf. Now we were here for the real deal. Eater:

"Since opening in early 2020, Beacon Hill’s innovative Filipino restaurant from star chef Melissa Miranda has developed a dynamic menu with items such as succulent short rib kare kare, smoked oysters, and mussels cooked with moringa. The homey space makes diners feel like they’re eating in a beloved family member’s living room, albeit one with killer cocktails, world-class food, and reservations that fill up quickly. Musang also gives back with charitable endeavors like a community kitchen and youth program Little Wildcats, which provides education about Filipino recipes and culture."

This is the food I moved to Seattle for: high quality and awesome Asian cuisine.

Lumpiang Shanghai

pork/ shrimp/ water chestnuts/ carrots

house spiced sawsawan

Totsong Talong at okra

tempura fried eggplant and okra/ guisado fermented tofu and black bean sauce

scallions/ chili threads

Short Rib kare kare

braised short rib/ eggplant/ okra

haricot verts/ fried garlic/ annatto oil

peanut butter bagoong sauce

It's been fun seeing Lydia's reactions to the different stages of pregnancy.

Top of the Golf and the Ear of an Elephant

We checked out the local Top Golf in Renton, WA with Kuoling and Jason.

Jason actually seemed to know how to play golf, even bringing his own clubs like a fancy man.

Lydia did not let her Troll on board hamper her play. She did take the occasional practice swing though.

There was an Angry Birds game that was fun.

These days making reservations for restaurants online is generally an afterthought. This time, though, I wanted to make a reservation for the four of us at Antigua Guatemala Restaurant and they didn't have any sort of reservation system. So rather than call and tall to a human on the phone (yuck) I had Google Assistant call them and make the reservation. I thought that was pretty cool.

According to the Eater list, the atrociously named Antigua Guatemala Restaurant in Kent, WA is the Seattle area's only full service Guatemalan restaurant. So I guess it must be the best. 

I don't know if I've ever had a michelada before. It's pretty much a margarita with beer instead of tequila. While this is alcoholically inferior I do enjoy the pageantry of having a giant beer bottle sticking out of my drink. I just about walked out the door when I requested my beer be a Guatemalan Gallo and they said they were out. You're out of friggin' Guatemalan beer at a Guatemalan restaurant? Go get some more. This is the sort of behavior that transpires when you realize you are the only Guatemalan restaurant in town. Sad!

Churrasco Chapin

Grilled steak marinated to perfection, served with green onions, rice, refried black beans and Freshly made in-house Guatemalan Sausage. Includes house salad, fresh avocado and Chirmol (house tomato sauce). 

When they asked which dessert we wanted I just yelled ALL OF THEM. We got the 

3 Rellenitos de Plátano de frijol

Three plantains stuffed with sweet black beans.

and the

Torreja o Mollete

Stuff it with manjar (custard); then wrap the whole thing with beaten eggs; fry it, and finally let it boil in a sweet sauce made from sugar.

Next door to the restaurant was an Afghani grocery store. I bought a couple interesting looking baked goods. One was this "Goshe Feal" which awesomely literally mean "elephant ear". It was a big crispy fried dough with some pistachio involved. Not too bad.