Bellevue Arts Fair 2013

Every year, I walk past a booth at the Bellevue Arts Fair, admiring the umbrellas that have newspaper comics printed on them.  They are displayed to entice people into signing for a subscription to the newspaper.  I used to subscribe to that paper for quite awhile, years ago, until the store I was working at closed down.  Back then, I would have not been able to get an umbrella, since I was already subscribed to that particular paper.  This year, I decided I wanted the umbrella enough to subscribe to the paper again.  I like that paper, and I really like the comics they print as well.  So it will be nice to have at my door again, and now I can have one of those fun umbrellas as well! 

There was an overabundance of talent at the festival this year.  So many fun and creative designs!. Here are a list of some of my favorites for 2013:

Patrick D. Clark Watercolor Artist - One particular piece that caught my eye had what looked like hand painted Calvin & Hobbes newspaper print in the background, along with the Peanuts comic strip, with a 3D quality a hand-painted M&Ms wrapper on top.  I believe it was called "Calvin & Candy."  See it on his website, by clicking "Nostalgia" and then "Cartoons & Candy," followed by "Calvin & Candy."

Another painting, that was exceptionally good, was a watercolor of some items you might find in a cafe, the 3D quality was superb on that one.  It looks much like "Diner Coffee Cup" from his website, but it may have been called something different, because the one on the website in only in 2D.  It is under "Still Lives" and "Table & Teakettle," followed by "Diner Coffee Cup."

Leslee Burtt  Very interesting basket design I like the "Reindeer antler with sea-grass, reed and dyed cedar bark."  Very abstract and unusual.  Visually interesting.  The one mentioned is the first image you see after clicking on her name.

Jenny Fillius  Bright colored artwork, using recycled tin products.  I understand, that if the found item is vintage and still working, the artist will not use it, as to preserve the item's value.  Her designs are really fun and retro-like.  One piece I really enjoyed had a guy falling down, and something written about falling in love can hurt.  I don't remember the name of that particular piece, but you can see some of her other pieces by clicking on her name and then click on "tin work."

Thomas Hughes Mechanical Theaters  These pieces are almost magical to me!  Very interesting design, with little cabinets to store a few items in.  A cord or two is pulled to get into the cabinet.  Go to this site, and you will see what I am talking about.

Ray Shaw  The fish sculptures were impressive enough before I even knew they could be changed!  The fish are made out of wood, with a cloth covering, and have a little magnetic stick, that makes the artwork not only three-dimensional, but changeable to the viewers needs as well!

Joline El-Hai   Bella Luz Studio.  My aunt bought a nightlight years ago that I always loved.  I tried years after to find the booth at festivals since, and just found them again this year!  However, with my new subscription to the Times, I felt like I could not afford a beautiful nightlight as well.  The "Black Cat" nightlight is on my wish list, though.  In case you were wondering.

Noelle Dass Very whimsical, colorful pieces that made me smile at first sight.  I really like "Must...Get...Ball..."

Richard Hall  Fine Art.  These too, are whimsical, but a little more grown up.  Some are very humorous, especially after looking at the name.  I figured out the name of one, after just looking at it for awhile.  It is a painting of four, small one-serving size cereal boxes, with a knife going through them.  The artist named it "Cereal Killer!"  Another one, I probably would have never guessed, had someone not read it out loud. It is a painting of a fan, with seven individual (Hershey's) Kisses, wrapped in either silver or red foil, flying away from it.  A small pile of (Hershey's) Kisses lay to the left of the painting.  The artist titled it as "Blowing Kisses."  Very cute.  The painting is beautiful, too.

Gabrielle Abbott  This Saturday's "Chalk It Up!" chalk painting was one of Frida Kahlo.  I think this is the first time I was late enough to see one actually finished.  As you can see, it turned out very beautiful, indeed.  Maybe the best chalk illustration I have seen at the Bellevue Arts Festival so far.

  

Looking up, wrapped and woven between lamp-posts in front of the mall, and down the walk-way, appeared to be a lovely, delicate blue web of yarn.  It made me think of if Spider-man ever found his feminine side, or if his wife wanted to give the place feminine touch.  The artwork is called "Fiber River" and was done by Mandy Greer.

There was one more item I did buy before leaving the fair.  I had decided before going that I was going to at least buy a print of Justin Hillgrove's "What's Up Doc?"  It is a parody of David Tennant as "The Doctor" (from "Doctor Who"), sitting on top of the TARDIS, contemplating...something.  It is truly awesome!  The original was there, too, at a very reasonable price, and I would have loved to have purchased that one instead, but I decided to stay more practical.  The artist was kind enough to sign the print for me once I decided to purchase it.

It was certainly a productive day, I purchased mostly what I wanted, the friend who came with me, found some things she wanted.  The weather was perfect, perhaps because we went later in the day -- not too hot, not too cool.  I had a delicious gyro from a street vendor, and then we drove home.

The Bite of Seattle 2013

Pictured above, clockwise, starting from bottom left:  Fresh Oregon Bay Shrimp Cocktail with Marinated Local Vegetable Slaw, finished with a House-Made Cocktail (Salty's on Alki), Roasted Spiced Eggplant, Squash & Tomatoes with Crispy Wheat Flat-bread (Shanik), Root Beer Float Cupcake (Pinkabella Cupcakes), Root Beer Glazed Pork Belly (Local 360), Slow Cooked Brisket,Sweet Corn Pudding & Blueberry Pickles (Palace Kitchen), Barbecue Pork Pastry (O'Asian), and Vegetable/Pork Wanton (Din Tai Fung).

I went to The Bite of Seattle with two goals in mind this year.  The Alley (which I have done numerous years, since I was a kid), and to try the Deep Fried Pepsi Float (which caught my eye last year, but was discouraging, because I needed to particularly save my pennies then, and the line was terribly long).

My dad came over this year, as he looks forward to this event as well.  We got up early on the grey, slightly cool, overcast day, which surprisingly had no chance of rain.

"Good," I thought, "the crowds should not be too bad, until it clears up later in the day."

I was right about that.  We just walked right up to The Alley, paid for our tickets, and got our food.  That was nice.  No long line.

I felt all the food passed out this year was equally good.  It was hard for me to pick a stand-out dish this year, but if I had to choose one, it would be the Slow Cooked Brisket,Sweet Corn Pudding & Blueberry Pickles dish from Palace Kitchen.  It had a variety of textures and flavors, had nice flavor, and was presented beautifully.

I was most concerned about the Roasted Spiced Eggplant, Squash & Tomatoes with Crispy Wheat Flat-bread sample from Shanik.  I have never liked eggplant any time I have ever had it, so I was thinking I would like this food item the least, but it stood up just as well as the others.  I bravely tried it first.  It was surprisingly  spicy, which is good, since I like spicy.  It had great flavor.  I did not really notice that it was eggplant, and for me, that was good, too.

Next thing I tried was the Fresh Oregon Bay Shrimp Cocktail with Marinated Local Vegetable Slaw, finished with a House-Made Cocktail from Salty's on Alki.  It too, was pretty spicy, but very tasty.

I believe I moved on to the Root Beer Glazed Pork Belly from Local 360 next.  Now I am not bothered by meat fat, but I know some of my friends would totally loose their appetite by just a little of it.  My slider was pretty much all fat and no meat  I am not even certain I had any meat on mine at all.  It was flavorful, yet I am not sure if it was flavor from the meat, or flavor from the glaze.  I asked my dad if there was any meat on the slider he was given.  He said that his was 2/3 meat, 1/3 fat.  So, I felt a little slighted on that, even if I did like the taste of mine.

Another spicy sample, was the Vegetable/Pork Wanton from Din Tai Fung.  I recognized them as being featured in The Alley before.  I have enjoyed other samples in past years from them, but I think this may have been their best.  I really liked it.

One of the smaller samples, the Barbecue Pork Pastry from O'Asian was noted by me as small, flaky goodness!  I could eat a ton of these, such a delicious little bite!

For dessert, a cupcake place I have raved about before, Pinkabella Cupcakes.  In the flyer, it advertised Tiger Tail Coconut Cupcake, with Fresh Raspberry Drizzle, which does sound good, but I guess they changed it last minute to Root Beer Float Cupcake which sounds even better!  It was presented cutely, with a little straw, and the icing as the "foam."  The icing was very good, not too sweet, on top of some kind of white cake.  The icing had a great root beer flavor to it.  Just perfect.

Both my dad and I liked everything we had from the Alley on Saturday.  My mom was thinking of coming too, but I honestly don't think she would have enjoyed this year's Alley as much, because of the number of spicy dishes, which were at least three.  We both agreed that the Slow Cooked Brisked dish was our favorite, but it did not surpass the others by that much.

I was so full after eating my entire plate.  I knew I still wanted to try and find the Deep Fried Pepsi Float, so we got up to walk off our meal, and see what else there was to see.

The most popular food item for vendors this year appeared to be sliders of all sorts.  There were beef sliders, chicken sliders, lamb sliders, steel-head sliders, and even oyster sliders!  Oyster sliders?  No thanks!

There were tons of odd deep-fried food items this year.  The deep-fried mac & cheese booth was still there, and I remember that was good when I have had it before.  There was deep-fried lasagna, which did not sound appetizing at all to me.  Deep fried pickles, which maybe someday I will try, but really not feeling up to it this year.  It seemed like we could find everything but the Deep Fried Pepsi Float I was looking for!  I was so disappointed, I wanted to try it!  I understand they take the Pepsi and turn it into a dough, deep fry it, and cover it with ice-cream.  I am not entirely sure if this is the process, but I was eager to find out and taste it.  Now, I may never know.

Walking around, it seemed like there was quite a bit less to see than in previous years.  My dad seemed to agree.  There were more food trucks than normal.  Some decorated quite fun and interesting: 

I love this Godzilla-like hot dog image on the Tokyo Dog food truck!  Very fun!

 I almost had a Tokyo Dog, but at $8 on a full belly, I decided against it.

The image of the My Chef Lynn food truck instantly caught my eye!  

This food truck was clever, as well as funny.  

Unfortunately, I don't remember who it was for!

Nothing else was really drawing us in to stay though.  In previous years, it seemed like there was always something entertaining enough to make us want to stick around for awhile.  Both my dad and I felt this way.  We decided to grab a cup of crab and shrimp chowder once our tummies settled, then we were on our way home.

A cup of Crab-and-Shrimp Chowder from 

Pat's Philly Steak Sandwiches booth, really hit the spot!

Of course, we did stay a few minutes to watch the Dock Dogs practice.  It is always fun to see them, but we have watched them several years before, so after the practice, we were on our way.

The background of the EMP shows nicely as this dog did a practice jump for Dock Dogs last Saturday.

The Alley has been hosted by Tom Douglas for the past 8 years.  The Alley began in 1987, and was known as John Hinterberger's Alley, until Kathy Casey took over, after which Tom Douglas came in.  A share of all proceeds go to Food Lifeline.  Their goal is to end hunger in Western Washington, providing nutritious meals to hungry people.  This is Tom Douglas's last year for the Alley, but it will be back, next year, hosted by Jason Wilson.

A Visit to the Seattle Public Library

I recently visited the Seattle Public Library for the first time.  The building has always intrigued me from the outside, and I wanted to get a chance to look around the inside.  I took a few photos with just my iPod, so the quality is not great, but it gives the general idea.

The Seattle Library has 10 public levels.  The ground level has a large selection of children's books.

One of the levels has a little cafe and gift shop.  There are several viewing areas in the library.

This (above) is the Red Level.  It reminds me of  an old classic movie, "The Andromeda Strain" which was based on a book by Michael Crichton. 

There are elevators, but there are some really steep escalators that will also take you to the next level.  It is not obvious how steep it is here, but my fear of heights kicked in a bit while riding this particular one in the library.

Overall, the library has a real industrial look, which looks quite interesting, visually.  However, it tends to lack the warmth and charm that many other libraries have, making them inviting to hang out, to read, or study.

I would have to say I really do enjoy the diamond-shaped windows that makes up most of the building, giving various views to the downtown area.  As for a nice, home-like hangout to read or concentrate in, I would probably chose another library.

Suddenly, Out of the Blue, an Underground Giant Plays Paddle-ball!

I was driving through Seattle, not long ago, in a place I drive by regularly, when something new caught my eye.  I saw the large, red ball at first.  It was attached to something, that turned out to be a string for a ginormous paddle-ball sculpture.  Under it was a giant-like hand!  

At first, I thought it was part of the Olympic Sculpture Park, since it is very close to it, and goes along with the interesting and over-sized items theme.  Instead, it is stuck in front of a building called "Big Fish," which appears to be a gaming company.  So, I guess the overly large paddle-ball is appropriate, and a very fun addition to the area.