Entries Tagged as 'seattle'

Last Dispatch From the Seattle Area

April 6th, 2011 · No Comments

Just a few last tidbits from my trip out to the Seattle area for the Nintendo 3DS Summit.

Nintendo put us up in the Hyatt Regency Bellevue. The rooms were really pretty.

And about double the size of the last New York hotel room I stayed in where the desk was at the end of the bed so close they were almost touching. And the TV was practically on the ceiling, above the desk!!! These rooms in Bellevue were nice and spacious.

I had a handicap-accessible hotel room. The stand-up shower was so huge! Also, how cute that they left some toothpaste out for me. I’ve had to practically beg toothpaste off other hotels.

Even cuter than that? Look at this note housekeeping left for me!

What? I was in Seattle! And I’ve been to the San Juan Islands! This was delicious.

While I was getting ready I had the TV on the local news channel and I kept hearing my name. Turns out one of their local reporter’s name is Rachelle Murcia. I feel kind of bad about this photo. So awkward. Rachelle Murcia really is pretty lady!

On the night that everyone flew into Seattle, Nintendo hosted a reception for us at the Twisted Cork, our hotel bar.

There was ahi and kobe sliders and pulled pork and hours of passed appetizers. Open bar, although I only had 2 glasses of wine.

This DJ was kind of odd. He was playing house music all night and no one was dancing. Then he’d throw on something random like Footloose and everyone would crowd the dance floor. And then after one song he’d go back to his stupid house music and everyone would leave. He really was not reading or catering to his audience.

Later in the night? Cake pops! Along with a nice selection of other desserts.

In the Seattle airport, ridiculous Twilight series coffee by The Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie. Some of these sounded good, but I couldn’t bring myself to buy it.

Finally, one of my favorite souvenirs: Old-school Nintendo coffee mug for the office.

Disclosure: This was all part of the Nintendo 3DS Summit weekend. For this trip, Nintendo provided the airfare, accommodations, meals, a Nintendo World gift certificate, and Nintendo 3DS. I was not paid, or even asked, to write this post.

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Anthony’s Pier 66

April 5th, 2011 · 2 Comments

After our day in at Nintendo, we went back to the hotel for a little R&R (playing games all day is exhausting!) before heading out to dinner in Seattle. A few weeks ago we were given a list of restaurants to choose where we wanted to dine. I was lucky enough to get my first choice, Anthony’s Pier 66. I thought that the descriptions of this restaurant made it seem like a “Seattle experience.” Seafood, a view, etc. I wasn’t sure if it was absolutely the best food choice, but it seemed like it would be a good experience.

Anthony’s was a really nice restaurant inside. Big comfortable seats. Nice warm tones. We were presented with a limited prix fixe menu because there were a lot of people in our group. For a salad I chose the Northwest Seasonal Salad – Seasonal greens tossed with citrus shallot dressing and finished with Danish blue cheese, candied pecans, and red flame grapes. One of my favorite savory/sweet salads.

For my entree I was debating. We could choose Pacific King Salmon, Alaska Red King Crab Legs, or Double R Ranch Filet Mignon with Garlic Prawns. I didn’t think I wanted the steak.. so salmon or crab? Salmon or crab? Robyn, who was sitting across from me, made the point that salmon was more of an every day food and you could get it anywhere. So, king crab it was! She and her husband Rigo and Gretchen, who was seated next to me, and I all got the crab.

When the crab was served… wow… the legs were so big! I couldn’t even wrap my hand around one of the joints. And when I pulled the meat out? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a piece of crab meat that big. Out of curiosity, I asked our waiter how many ounces of crab meat each serving was and he said “15 ounces, just under a pound.” Holy crap!

The king crab legs were served with garlic mashed potatoes that were topped with fried onions (omg) and asparagus. This was all soooooo good. And so much crab.. I am so ashamed to say that I couldn’t eat it all. I was so stuffed! Normally you order crab and it’s so much work and not a lot of payoff. This time the payoff was so huge, I wasn’t even up to it!

For dessert I got the Dark Chocolate Victory Cake – Flourless bittersweet chocolate with homemade caramel sauce, Olympic Mountain dulce de leche ice cream, peppercorn pecans, and seat salt around the rim of the plate. Wow. Again with the savory/sweet that I love! This dessert was so delicious. Too bad I was so full of crab, I could not even manage to eat half of it!

Finally, Robyn used Gretchen‘s camera to take this photo of Gretchen and I at dinner. I thought it turned out cute and Gretchen was kind enough to let me post it here for prosperity’s sake. She was obviously rigged up with a better camera and better flash than me!

Even though it was cold and rainy outside, a few of my fellow diners and I could not resist stepping outside on a back deck to get a better view from Anthony’s. So pretty. I wished I could stay in Seattle longer. I’d only visited once before (with Kelly and Jeff in 2003. WHOA! 2003!) and it would have been nice to see it again. Oh well! There’s always a next time.

As for Anthony’s Pier 66, it really exceeded my expectations. For some reason I thought it was going to be some kind of cheesy, touristy place that rides on it’s view and location. But it really was a classy place. Our waiter was really great and the food was so delicious.

Disclosure: This meal was part of the Nintendo 3DS Summit weekend. For this trip, Nintendo provided the airfare, accommodations, meals, a Nintendo World gift certificate, and Nintendo 3DS. I was not paid, or even asked, to write this post.

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Pikes Place Market Art

December 15th, 2006 · 2 Comments

A couple months ago I got this email:

- – - – -

From: Andy Fletcher
To: “rachelle@rachelleb.com”
Date: Aug 16, 2006 2:50 PM
Subject: Pikes Place Market

Rachelle,

My name is Andy Fletcher. I am a water color Artist in Davis, CA. Your
“Public Market Center” sign at the Pikes Place Market inspired me to do a
10×12 watercolor for an upcoming show.

Thanks,

Andy

- – - – -

Cool. This is the photo I took. I thought it was a little odd because that sign has to have been photographed 1,000 times, but inspiration is inspiration and I’ll take it!

Here’s another time a photo I took inspired some derivative art.

And here’s Andy’s watercolor:

2006_11_public_market_center.jpg

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Modest Mouse

August 25th, 2003 · 18 Comments

Modest MouseIt’s all coming together. Finally.

Last week I asked Eric, who is usually pretty hip to the music scene, if he liked the band Modest Mouse and he said he’d never heard of them. I thought it was odd because I’ve heard their music and the buzz around the band a fair amount and I’m usually a few steps behind him and a couple other friends I know who are way into indie rock. I went to Michelle’s that night and was hanging out with Doug & Jenny and watching TV and this Nissan ad comes on. And in the background a Modest Mouse song is playing. AHA! Satisfied that I’d solved the mystery, I purchased the song Gravity Rides Everything from the iTunes Music Store and compulsively listened to it over and over (only about 40 times in 1 day).

Today, I was researching the band online and noticed they’re from the Seattle area. Now I’m thinking that I probably heard them a lot when I was out in Seattle and then came back here and heard them on the Nissan commercial and that’s how it all came about.

I never listen to the radio in New York. NEVER. Ok, except if there’s a blackout. While I was in Seattle I became interested in KEXP and started listening to it online here in New York. KEXP plays all kinds of bands and songs that should be, but never are, played on the radio. Bands like The Dandy Warhols, Interpol, Fountains of Wayne, Idlewild, The Chemicals, The Pixies, The Replacements, Travis, Moby, Radiohead, Beck, Bjork, Dashboard Confessional, and.. and.. Modest Mouse. So, you see.. it’s all coming together. And it all makes sense now.

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Seattle Center & Pikes Place Market

August 19th, 2003 · 5 Comments


Space Needle


Experience Music Project


Experience Music Project


Kelly shows me the remote controlled audio selector at the Experience Music Project


Jeff models the “pack” that the remote is attached to.


Guitars at the Experience Music Project


Kelly & Jeff at the Experience Music Project


Experience Music Project


Experience Music Project


Experience Music Project


The Space Needle & Monorail


Sand Castle Sculpting.. we passed by walking from Seattle Center to Pike Place Market


Down by the waterfront



All of the buses run on electric lines


Pikes Place Market


Peppers


Fresh Herbs


Street Musician


The restaurant where Jeff got a hotdog. This lady’s sunglasses were cracking me up.


Street musicians


Kelly bought their CD


Fresh Vegetables


Fresh Flowers


Fresh Seafood



The cutest fish guy in the market




Here’s the seafood market where they throw the fish


The guy in the front throws the fish to one of the guys in the back who catches it, wraps it in newspaper and packages it up for the customer.


Leaving Pike Place Market


View of Seattle Skyline from Kerry Park


One day we spent entirely at Seattle Center and Space Needle and the Experience Music Project (EMP) are.

We didn’t actually go in the Space Needle but we did go to EMP, which I thought was one of the highlights of the trip. Imagine an entire museum dedicated to modern music. And the way that they do it is so technically innovative. Each person gets an electronic “pack” that they sling over their shoulder. Attached to it is a remote control and headphones that allow you to select what you want to hear when going to each exibit. Want to listen to Kiss songs while viewing the Kiss exhibit? Ok. Done. Want to listen to interviews of members of bands from the grunge movement while browsing artifacts? Ok. Done.

I loved the exhibit on music-related poster art entitled “Rock, Paper, Scissors”. Being that the museum is located in the Northwest, they had an excellent exhibit on grunge rock.. how it came about and how it changed things. I remember a quote from an interview with Krist Novoselic .. he said, after admitting that Nirvana was the first band he was ever in, that the rise of Nirvana was like the explosion of the spaceshuttle Columbia. Except he and Dave Grohl made it back down to earth.. and Kurt didn’t. Everything at EMP is just so interactive.. I think that because the subject of the museum is modern music that they were able to break a lot of rules of traditional museums, but traditional museums around the world could also learn a few things from EMP. Oh, and the Gehry designed building is amazing.

Pike Place Market was cool.. but you’ll only want to go for a few hours. After that the crowds of tourists will start to get to you. But you can purchase locally produced products from vendors.. anything from honey to seafood to vegetables to jewelry. And you, of course, get to see the fish being thrown.

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