This Arispe Life

We're a Texas couple living in Seattle. We hope our family and friends will tag along on our adventures in the Great Northwest.

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All is still and quiet at Pike Place Market. (at Pike Place Market)

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Art For Food Event

A few month back we stumbled on an interesting gallery space. We weren't sure what it was but we saw a bunch of chefs in sitting around a table and the door was open so naturally, we let ourselves in. Greeted by Chef Maxime Bilet who showed us around his space and introduced us to his visionary work known as Art For Food. I would describe it as part art, part molecular gastronomy, and part interactive food experience. Every few months, Max has cooking workshops and other fun events in his downtown studio.

Last Thursday, we attended the Meet the Makers event. The idea was to share the idea that food is art and open up people's perception about food. The stations set up around the studio space that carried the theme included: edible flowers, the sound + food station, still life drawings of kale, and photography of people blinding eating intensely flavored food. Among the vendors represented, some of my favorites were: Amavi Cellars, the chef from Hitchcock on Bainbridge Island who brought cured meat and homemade pickles, Miyabi restaurant featured geoduck, and Cafe Vita (doing what they do best). The others, who appeared to be student chefs, prepared food in the open kitchen and sent out bites of kale & quinoa salad, a medley of root vegetables, salmon and scallops. The event was fun, easy-going and unpretentious. A great way to spend a Thursday night!

Me and Chef Maxime Bilet

Eatable flowers

With eyes closed, the photographer handed us a spoon filled with Sriracha. As we tasted it, she snapped reactions. 

Art in a bowl! So colorful!

Taste: Chocolate covered Pop Rocks. Listen: The sound Pop Rocks make in your head as you eat them.

Geoduck!

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Valentine's Day...sort of

How did we celebrate Valentine's Week? With a trip to one of Seattle's finest hospitals, of course. What did you do? Something romantic I'm sure.

We've just past the 5 month mark in our new town, so I guess it's a fine time to kick the tires of Seattle's medical system. As Bobby so eloquently stated on his Facebook wall, "My gallbladder is being an asshole, so I evicted it." 

Bobby was admitted to Swedish First Hill Hospital on Tuesday and was home by Thursday, sans gallbladder. He spent the next 4 days resting and was back to work on Tuesday. We're thankful for the quick, uncomplicated recovery. We really liked the hospital, staff and all the doctors. We've had a lot of hospital stays in the last few years, and this by far was one of the best experiences. I would recommend this system to anyone.

Valentine's Day came and went. Since we couldn't go out, I made dinner. Bobby couldn't really eat very much and was asleep by 8pm. I would say the highlight was binge watching House of Cards Season 2. 

I'll leave you with my Valentine's Day card to Bobby:

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Super Bowl goes to the Seahawks & the 12th Man

What an exciting time to move to Seattle! The Seahawks won the Super Bowl!

It was really fun getting into the games and being a part of all the fan fair. I never really liked watching sports at all, but I also never knew what it was like to live in a city that had a football team and die hard fans.

Here's just one example of how decorated the city has been in the last few weeks. This is a luxury high-rise in the middle of construction. The lights on certain floor were tuned on to make a giant number 12!

A few fun facts for those of you who don't know much about the Seahawks 12th Man:

The fans at home games are so loud that the visiting team often have false starts because they can't communicate with one another.

The fans have generated 2 registered earthquakes from cheering. Both instances occurred when the Seahawks played against the New Orleans Saints.

Boeing, who is headquartered in Seattle, flew their customized Seahawks plane in a giant number 12 flight pattern to show support for the team in the Super Bowl.

It's been amazing to watch the entire city unite as one 12th Man!

Bobby and I decked out in our Seahawks gear watching the game!

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Blue Skies & Sunshine

We drove just 2 hours away from the grey and overcast weather in Seattle, and when we arrived at Crystal Mountain there was nothing but blue skies.

We took the Mount Rainier Gondola up the side of the mountain to eat lunch at the Summit House restaurant. We watched people ski down the slopes as we dined.

After we finished lunch, we hung out in the lounge chairs and took in the view of Mount Rainier and the Cascade range from the edge of the peak.

We even made some new friends. I overhead someone say that these birds will often eat food out of people's hand. This one just stopped to say, "hello."

It was the most gorgeous day. It was a really weird feeling because we were trekking around in the snow, but the sun was so warm that we didn't even need our coats. When I closed my eyes, it felt like I was on a beach in San Diego instead of a snowy mountain top.

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Special Edition: Kyle Visits Seattle

We are so excited that Kyle decided to visit us in Seattle. Okay, to be truthful, he was here for work and we only got to spend about 16 hours with him total, but we're SO happy to see him.

We gave him a super condensed tour of our the city. Since he had already wandered around out Pike Place Market, we took him to Kerry Park for the iconic Seattle skyline shot.

From there a quick drive through of Queen Anne's beautiful homes. Then out to Ballard for pre dinner drinks at Barnacle and dinner at Ethan Stowell's Staple & Fancy. Then we stopped to visit the Fremont Troll.

We capped of the hyper-tour with a trip up to Capitol Hill for Molly Moon's ice cream. The night ended with a little bit of photo fun on the rooftop deck of our apartments. It was great to be able to catch up with our friend, even if it was for only a short while.

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4 Months in Seattle!

We've lived in Seattle for 4 months now, so to celebrate I made breakfast tacos for the first time. When I was in San Antonio for Christmas, I purchased 3 dozen uncooked homemade tortillas from La Fogata restaurant. I never realized that for me, breakfast tacos are comfort food, but they have to be made with fresh homemade flour tortillas. It's really hard to find any restaurant in Seattle that makes their own flour tortillas. And there is no such thing as a breakfast taco. You can find breakfast burritos, but that's not really the same thing.

All I had to do was cook the tortillas and fill 'em with eggs, bacon and potatoes. I made some MadCap from Local Coffee in San Antonio in the french press. It felt like I was back in San Antonio on a Saturday morning. Yummy!

I even wrapped them in foil to get the full effect!

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Port Townsend

We spent the day in Port Townsend, a quaint victorian town about 1.5 hours from Seattle. The weather was gorgeous! It was chilly, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky which means we could see mountains in all directions.

We ate lunch at Fins (the crab cakes were yummy) and popped in a few of the shops on the main street.

The Point Wilson lighthouse outside of Port Townsend with Mount Baker in the background.

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Celebrating the Holidays: Part 2—Seattle

Once we got back to Seattle we took Paisley to a snow park in Snowqualmie. The slopes aren't open yet due to lack of snow fall, but we were able to find enough for a short hike. Paisley loved smelling the snow! She had a blast bouncing around and exploring.

Bobby and Paisley climbed to the top of this steep little hill for a picture.

We instead of trying to celebrate on December 23rd, we decided to celebrate our anniversary once we got back from Texas.

We clean up pretty good!

I love the spontaneity that comes from being on a break from work. We decided on a whim one afternoon to drive to Woodinville, which boasts 90 wineries and a handful of distilleries. We stopped for tastings at Columbia Winery, Woodinville Whiskey Co. and Chateau Ste. Michelle where we took a free tour which ended with complementary tastings. Yum!

The grounds of Chateau Ste. Michelle are beautiful. We even saw a peacock couple roaming around. This is me and a wine barrel. I'll take 2 please.

This year we decided stay home on New Year's Eve. We cuddled on the couch with the doggies, watched movies and grazed on cheese and wine. At midnight, we made our way to the roof (along with about 200 other people) to view the fireworks. Apparently, the firework display in Seattle is one of the best, but a heavy fog rolled in at the last minute and no one could see any of it. Maybe next year!

The very foggy view of the Space Needle fireworks from the rooftop deck of our apartment building at the Stackhouse. Happy 2014!

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Celebrating the Holidays: Part 1—San Antonio

December seemed to fly by this year! Whoa! We took a super quick trip back to Texas to celebrate Christmas with the family, catch up with some of our besties and stuff our faces with tex-mex and barbecue. Bobby turned 32 and his nephew, Hector turned 1!

Back in Seattle, we celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary in culinary style at Canlis restaurant. We hung out, relaxed and recharged.

Bobby and Baby Hector on their way to the mustache competition.

My sister made a giant spread for Christmas dinner, including desserts like these individual cherry pies.

Brunch at The Guenther House. I love the gingerbread version of the Guenther house that they create during the holidays every year.

No stop in Texas is complete without barbecue and friends! We lunched at The Granary. I've missed ribs!

 I've missed Chuy's New Mexican Margarita and Chicken Quesadillas with Creamy Jalapeño!

So happy to be able to enjoy dinner at Chuy's with friends.

Last meal before heading back to the airport. La Fogata for margaritas and guacamole.

  Margaritas make everyone happy!

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Target Bullseye Cake Balls

The Target Team at POP gathered to recapped the great work from 2013 and eat, drink and be merry. To spread the holiday cheer, I decided to make cake balls for my new agency friends. And since my work-life revolves around Target, I loved the idea of adorning these tasty treats with the iconic Target Bullseye.

You can make your own Target Bullseye Cake Balls, too. Start by making your favorite flavor of cake balls from Bakerella. I chose traditional red velvet for obvious reasons and because red velvet is SO yummy!

Once the cake is baked and cooled, add the cream cheese icing and hand-form balls. Place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and place in the freezer.

To make the Target Bullseye logo, start with store bought pink fondant. (You can start from scratch, but it will take you about a gallon of coloring to get a bright red color.) Knead the fondant in mixer with the dough hook and add red coloring until you achieve the perfect Target red (Pantone 186).

Place the fondant between two sheets of parchment paper and use a rolling pin until 1/8 thick. I didn't have a rolling pin, so I used a bottle of wine (specifically Cline Zinfandel from California—yummy). It makes the perfect drinkable rolling pin—Life Hack!

To punch out the Bullseye shapes, use the large opening of a decorating tip for the outermost ring. Use the large opening of a smaller version for the inside of the outer ring, and use the decorating tip as the inside dot of the Bullseye.

Melt Ghirardelli Melting Wafers or Wilton Candy Mets in a bowl and dip the  firm cake balls into the coating. Place them directly on a sheet of parchment or on a wire rack. (For cake pops, simply place a candy stick in the cake ball and dip in the melts, then stick into a block of styrofoam to allow the candy shell to harden.)

While the candy coating is still soft, place the Target Bullseye on top.

The adorable Target Bullseye Cake Balls where a hit at the Target Team party!

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Snow Day!

Saturday brought our first mountain adventure. In the morning we headed to Leavenworth, a fun little Bavarian town in the Cascade Mountain Range, just 2.5 hours outside of Seattle. The drive took us through Stevens Pass. This mountain pass was an absolutely gorgeous drive. The snow began to build as we got further from Seattle, but the sun was out and the views were breath-taking. At the height of the pass the temperature got down to -2 on the car's readout. We saw skiers on the Steven's Pass Ski runs. 

As we entered Leavenworth we realized everyone else had the same idea this weekend. The little city was packed with tourists. We decided to head a few minutes outside of town to a sleigh ride spot. The sleigh ride was fun, besides the screaming baby sitting behind us. The ride took us through snow covered fields, through pine trees and along an icy stream. Afterwards we warmed up from the 10ªF ride in an old canvas tent with a wood burning stove and hot chocolate.

From there we headed to Front Street to checkout all the shops and grab a bite to eat. The town was totally packed. We grabbed lunch at a little place called Cafe Mozart, were I had a very German plate of brats, sauerkraut and potato salad. We made our way through shops and snapped pics.

The sun went down and the Christmas lights in the city went on. It was so magical and so very cold. We got a few pictures together and then Kim quickly headed to a wine tasting room while I took pictures of the lights. After I had my fill of pictures (and my fingers were going numb) we headed for a Pub that had spiked hot chocolate.

It was a great day trip and we can't wait to get back to more fluffy powdery snow!

-BA

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Decorating for Christmas

When we downsized our living space a few years ago, we gave our ornaments away since there was no longer room for a christmas tree. This means we had to start from scratch this year. It's hard to chose a theme or color scheme (Should I do a blue/green peacock colors? All felted animals and knitted balls? Traditional red and green? So many decisions!) So we decided to start with some basics in a neutral palette that we can add color to later. We founds a bunch of beautiful mercury glass ornaments and added a few white matte pieces to mix it up. 

I really wanted to make a paper garland chain, like the ones I made when I was young. I traded the construction paper for vintage inspired prints and the rounded kid scissors for an exacto knife.

I chose a old map print and handwritten cards. I really liked the subdued colors in these prints. You can find them at paper-source.

The whole process brought back a lot of really great memories of sitting around a table at Memaw's house with my sister and cousins. We'd make it a competition to see who could make the longest garland, and then we hung the brightly colored strands all around the house.

Our tree unintentionally ended up having a vintage-ecclectic theme. Check it out!

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Starting a New Tradition

This year we decided to participate in an new, old tradition—the advent calendar. We decided to forgo the usual Christmas gifts on the 25th, and instead we take turns receiving a small, thoughtful gift every other day. I chose the gifts (around $10) to give Bobby on the odd numbered days, and he chose the gifts for me on the even numbered days. I found these printable cards on Pinterest with a Bible verse for each day.

We wanted to go with a natural theme, so we packaged everything up in burlap pouches and craft paper and Bobby hand-lettered the numbers for each day. Then, we tied the packages to the driftwood that I found at the beach in Discovery Park on Thanksgiving Day.

Every evening we read the Bible verse and then open up the gift. It's a really fun, new tradition!

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Our First Thanksgiving in Seattle

We hope you all had a very wonderful Thanksgiving filled with happiness and pie!

We went a little non-traditional this year and it was a nice, stress-free day. We celebrated Thanksgiving as orphans by dining out at a restaurant on the Pier 70, called Aqua. Unfortunately the beautiful view of the Sound was obstructed by dense fog.

Bobby had the traditional turkey day plate, but I decided on seared scallops. We finished with a yummy creme brûlée.

A smokey Scotch cocktail to finish the meal.

We drove out to beach at Discovery Park to get some driftwood for an advent calendar we're making (stay-tuned for the post). The fog was moody and the tide was out. We saw a seal and a Gray Heron.

Searching for driftwood.

Sunset at Discovery Park as the fog rolls in.

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A Taste of Texas

A big thanks to Scott and Shannon Austin for the Goode Company Pecan  Pie! It the best Pecan Pie anywhere. Period. And, it's nice to have a little taste of Texas as we celebrate our first Thanksgiving in Seattle.

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A Quick Wrap Up of the Past Month

It's been almost a month since our last post. Sorry. We got a little busy for a while. Work is picking up for both of us, we've been trying new restaurants (there's so many!), finding new grocery stores (nothing we like as much as H-E-B Central Market), visiting new parks and hanging out with friends.

We are assembling our ski-wear, which is a whole new style of wardrobe with many rules and layers. We went to the Ski-Dazzle convention where we snagged deeply-discounted ski jacket and pants plus a ton of information from ski resorts from Idaho all the way up to Canada. I can't say that we are going to ski, but we're super excited about snow tubing (can you say Schlitterbaun in the snow?), snowshoeing and maybe some snow angels are in the near future.

We visited Discovery Park. It was a really cold wintery day on the beach.

All the dogs were sick one weekend, so we stayed home and cuddled on the couch (after we finished cleaning up after them).

We took a very quick trip to Widbey Island. After a short ferry ride from Mukilteo to Clinton, we headed up a scenic drive. We drove past a frozen pond and saw patches of snow on the ground! We stopped in a cute little town called Coupeville. We had brunch, checked out the shops and walked along the shoreline. From there we headed to an area was called Ebey's Landing, which is a National Historic Reserve. We hiked across a prairie and up to a bluff overlooking the Puget Sound.

We took family photos at Kerry Park. It's the place to go for the iconic Seattle photo (we mentioned it in our last post). Take a look at one of the outtakes.