The Real Forks, Washington

Last Summer, my friend Danita, came for a visit from Las Vegas.  We only had one full day to spend with each other, so I asked her what she wanted to do.  To my surprise, she said she wanted to visit Forks.  

Some of you may have heard of a book and/or movie called "Twilight."  It was made into a series of books, and then a series of movies.  I read them, I liked them okay, but I would not necessarily call myself "a fan."

My friend Danita, obviously is.  Especially since she wanted to see Forks long after the book series and movie series was over.  She said she could go with this other friend of hers, but since we had limited time to spend together, and I don't mind seeing new things, I decided to take her.

Before our trip, I did some research.  She wanted to go to Forks before all the fan related stuff was gone, which she said has been happening recently.  I found a place online that gave out maps for the "Twilight Tour."  What I didn't know was that absolutely no scene from the movie was actually filmed in Forks!  I knew that some of the scenes weren't, but all of them?  I wondered if my friend knew.  I decided to tell her, because I didn't want her to be disappointed when we got there.  She must not have minded, because we wound up going anyway.

I recently decided to watch the movie because I swore I saw the photo above in one of the movies.  It wasn't in the first movie, that is certain.  I also noticed that Edward Cullen's car had an Oregon license plate!  Couldn't they at least have a Washington license plate on the car?  Am I being too picky?

The town is small.  Which I expected.  It actually did not take long to get to each tourist attraction on the map.

This is "Bella's house."

This is Forks High School.

This is the place where Bella and Michael worked.

This is City Hall.

This is just some scenery around city hall and the "Cullen's house."

This is the "Cullen's house."  Actually, it is a bed and breakfast.  I looks pretty nice.

They even have a mailbox that says, "Cullen."

The Community Health Center, where Dr. Cullen works.

He even has a reserved parking spot!

The vampire threat seemed pretty high, despite how sunny it was outside.  This was taken at a place to eat on the "Treaty Line."  They had very good hamburgers there.  They even had a little area set up for fans to sit in.

Even though it took only a few minutes to get to each attraction around Forks, it took forever to drive out to La Push!  It was worth it, though.  It was my favorite part of the trip!  The beach was beautiful!  My photos don't do it justice.  Also, the sand was not black like most beaches I have been to in Washington, it was actually the color of sand!  I didn't know we had sand-colored beaches in Washington till then.

We came across some sand art while we were there.  Below, a volcano:

a starfish:

part of an octopus head (the whole thing was impressive, though): 

An alligator:

a crab:

and last, but not least, SpongeBob SquarePants!

It was getting late, and earlier I had suggested we should go see "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" which was playing for free at the Mural in Seattle Center.  We thought we had plenty of time to get there.  We wound up not taking the ferry (which was a mistake), and wound up on some back-roads on the way home.  If I had known my GPS was going to take me a totally different direction going home, I would have stopped to get gas first.  I was beginning to wonder if my car would even make it to a gas station as far into the woods as my GPS took us.  Eventually we did make it to a gas station, and a much needed facility.  We grabbed some snacks, and went home.

Overall, we had a great time!  It was nice to spend time with my friend, see something new, and embrace nature.

So, if you are looking for a place to take a day-trip this summer, I would definitely recommend La Push.  However, make sure you have gas before you leave the area.  You may want to ride the ferry on the way back, too.

The Bite of Seattle 2014 Brings us Back to the Future and Other Great Things

The Alley - Day 1, Friday, July 18 (clockwise from bottom):  Niman Ranch beef brisket with Washington blueberry corn mojo (Miller's Guild), Massaman curry with chicken (Racha Noodle & Thai Cuisine), Honey barbecue pork buns (O'Asian Kitchen & Lounge), Chickpea salad (Purple Café), Creamsicle cupcake (Pinkabella Cupcakes),  Spinach Lamb with ghee rice (hormone-free, grass-fed lamb), and Harissa quinoa with mint mint and cilantro.

If you read my blog during the month of July, you already know I enjoy going to The Bite of Seattle every year.  This year, there were many fun events at The Bite I enjoyed, along with my traditional stop to The Alley, which was hosted by Jason Wilson this year.  Wilson was named best chef in the Northwest in 2010 by the James Beard Foundation, a national non-profit organization based in New York City.

I wasn't sure what to expect from "The Alley" this year, since it is no longer hosted by Tom Douglas, but it seemed to make a smooth transition.  The menu changed up a little day to day, which is what has happened in the past few years, along with some classic favorites.

Friday was excellent weather.  It was really sunny out, maybe even a little too sunny?  However, it made it a nice environment to eat and watch all the other goings on outside.  There was not a very long line to The Alley, which was nice, since my dad (who came over just for this specific event), and I were running a little later than we wanted to get there.  We made it a little less than an hour before The Alley part closed, and we were able to get food.  Here is my review for the first day, for more details, see photo above:

Niman Ranch beef brisket with Washington blueberry corn mojo:  This must be a popular favorite, because I have had this at previous Bites, and enjoyed it immensely.  It is also fun to watch them cook it over a fiery grill, just before being served on your plate.  The meat is an excellent flavor, and mojo is excellent to.  It compliments the meat very well.

Massaman curry with chicken:  I often order a red curry dish when I go out for Thai food, because it is one of my favorites.  This was very similar to dishes I have ordered in the past.  It had a nice flavor.

Honey barbecue pork buns:  My dad looked at this and thought it was a dessert.  When he asked me, I told him that even though it had a pastry wrapped around it, it had pork inside.  It did have a sweet taste due to the honey barbecue sauce, so maybe, in a way, it was dessert!  Small, but very tasty.  I believe I have had this at a previous Bite.

Chickpea salad:  Even though I liked this, the flavor was subtle, even to the point of being a bit bland.  I told my dad this, and he agreed. Of course, chickpeas themselves are kind of bland.

Creamsicle cupcake:  Great flavor for summer without melting all over you!  I love creamsicles, and this little cupcake did not disappoint!

 Spinach Lamb with ghee rice:  Probably my favorite dish of the foods I hadn't tried yet.  A very nice flavor, like some Indian food I have had in the past.

Harissa quinoa with mint mint and cilantro:  Like the chickpea salad, I liked this dish.  It had a subtle flavor, but it too, was a bit bland.  It had a nice texture, however.  At first, my dad did not care for it, but the more he had of it, the better he liked it.  I would have it again.

After we ate, we were thoroughly full.  I saw things outside The Alley I would have loved to try, but there was no way I could have eaten them.  I still looked this year for the Deep Fried Pepsi Float, but did not find one booth that had that.  It must have not been very popular.  There was a place that had deep fried PB&J's (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches- in case you did not know), but that did not sound appetizing at all.

There were many other fun events at The Bite of Seattle this year:

There was a great exhibit about Texas where you could get a "passport" which is just a little pamphlet advertising some of what Texas has to offer, there was a little quiz on the state, a few games featuring some of the states music, attractions, and beaches.  A photo to be taken with a Texas backdrop of your choosing. There was even a possibility to win a free trip to the area as well.  I thought I knew nothing about Texas.  I got a few questions right, however.  I guess most people don't do as well, or so I was told.  It was fun.

The Geico Gecko made an appearance.  So, the radio said that the REAL Geico Gecko would be at The Bite this year.  I figured maybe it would be a live gecko that they used along with computer animation, or a person in a suit.  This was neither.  Did I miss something?  This is cool, too though.  He is bigger than I expected.  It even looks like he is holding the Geico Pig in his hand!  The people he acts with must be giants!

An over-sized Pokeball was inside the Seattle Canter, part of a display for a Wii tournament that was going on.  Again, Pikachu and Ash must be enormous!

They showed the movie, "Back to the Future" for free in the park by the mural.  I was hoping it would be ON the mural, perhaps covering it with a sheet first or something.  My dad said, "That would be impressive."

I said, "Maybe they should think of doing that in the future" (Pun not exactly intended).

Glow sticks were passed around to everyone watching the movie, but the guy passed my dad and I!  Hey!  Why didn't we get one?  Some people got up to get theirs, but he was too far away before I realized what was going on.

A very awesome replica of the "Back to the Future" DeLorean was there on display.  It even had the Flux Capacitor!  This was truly impressive to see.  It also had steam come out the back every once in awhile.  Apparently it can be rented for parties and events such as this.

The Alley - Day 2, Saturday, July 19 (clockwise from bottom):  Honey barbecue pork buns (O'Asian Kitchen & Lounge), Creamsicle cupcake (Pinkabella Cupcakes), Fried chicken sammy with garnish (Skillet Diner), Vegetable and pork wonton with spicy sauce (Din Tai Fung), Charred Monterey Bay squid salad with chorizo & green garbanzo beans (Crush), Niman Ranch beef brisket with Washington blueberry corn mojo (Miller's Guild), and Citrus poached white gulf prawn, Demitri's Bloody Mary Mix, pickled local vegetables (Salty's on Alki). 

The second day of The Bite was windy.  We got our food, and I had some challenges trying to photograph it well, and later I had to hold onto things to keep them from blowing over, but there it is.  Three of the seven food items I already have reviewed, so you can go to the top of this blog for reference on those.  Here is my review for the rest of the food items:

Fried chicken sammy with garnish:  I really liked this little sandwich.  It was really tasty.  The flavors seemed subtle, but not bland.  My dad thought it had a little heat to it.  I had just eaten the wonton before it, which was spicy, so I did not really notice that the sandwich was spicy.  It was served on a deliciously flaky bun (my dad did not notice the texture), but it was one of my favorites.  I would definitely like to have another one sometime.

Vegetable and pork wonton with spicy sauce:  My server told me this was the "best wonton," and I believe him.  It was very flavorful.  Quite spicy, but not too spicy.

Charred Monterey Bay squid salad with chorizo & green garbanzo beans:  Apparently this is one of Jason Wilson's dishes.  I didn't like it.  I am starting to think I just don't like squid.  I have tried to like squid, but I just don't.  The texture is very bothersome to me.  I did not really care for the other flavors of the dish, either.  My dad liked this dish, he said the squid was very tender.  It may have been his least favorite of the seven dishes served that day, but he still liked it.  I would think since it says "charred" in the title, that it would have some brown spots or something.  The salad did not seem to have that.  I really don't know much about squid cooking, however.  I don't plan to use that skill in the future.

Citrus poached white gulf prawn, Demitri's Bloody Mary Mix, pickled local vegetables:  This was so good.  Maybe my favorite.  Very nice flavors, properly cooked.  Very tasty.

Before leaving The Bite, we looked around some more, sat around the International Water Fountain, while kids soaked themselves under it's spray.

We were listening to a band from far away called "Bowievision".  I told my dad I thought they were good.  My dad at that point said they were "okay."  I am not sure all the songs they sang were by David Bowie, but after awhile, I realized they were playing several in a row.  My dad noticed, too.  He then decided the band was really good, and told me he thought the singer's voice was better than David Bowie's.  I liked the band, but I disagreed about the singer having a better voice than Bowie.

We decided to leave The Bite after their music set.  Outside the parking garage there was a sign that said that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was open free to the public.  We decided to check it out.  It was very interesting and educational, it also has some fun interactive things.  I did not know it was always free till that day, but you should check it out.  It sits kiddie-corner from the EMP, right next to the parking garage there.

  

My aunt and uncle came into town on today, and wanted to go to The Bite with my dad and I on the last day it was here.  It was sprinkling a little, and a bit colder than the past two days.  We got our food, and luckily found one last table that had an umbrella.

The Alley, Day 3, Sunday, July 20 (clockwise from bottom):  Niman Ranch beef brisket with Washington blueberry corn mojo (Miller's Guild), Chilled cucumber soup with truffle oil (on the side is a bite of marinated salmon, which was not mentioned on the menu) (Triumph Bar), Honey barbecue pork buns (O'Asian Kitchen & Lounge), Coconut chicken with cumin rice (Spice Route), Creamsicle cupcake (Pinkabella Cupcakes), Lamb and goat cheese risotto fritter with sauce tomate (The Repp), and Pork belly mac and cheese with house-made chicharrones (Manhattan).

Niman Ranch beef brisket with Washington blueberry corn mojo:  I know I already reviewed this, but I have got to say we got some nice portions this time around on this particular dish.  The server almost looked like, "Maybe I shouldn't give her this much..." I was telepathically saying, "Yes.  Yes, you should!"  So, he did.  The rest of my family got good sized portions as well.  The mojo seemed to taste more vinegary today.  I did not really notice the vinegar before, but I liked it.

Chilled cucumber soup with truffle oil:  My aunt really liked this, and I did too.  It was different, but in a good way.  She did not like the raw salmon on the side.  I thought it was okay.  I think it is a taste I could acquire.  I dipped some of it in the soup and liked it better.  Maybe that is what we were supposed to do.  I don't know.  There was no instruction to do that.

Coconut chicken with cumin rice:  I really liked this.  Even better than the  Massaman curry with chicken from Friday, which seemed similar.  Really good flavor.  

Pork belly mac and cheese with house-made chicharrones:  The title on this one is confusing.  First it says "pork belly," then it says "chicharrones."  I looked up "chicharrones," and it looks like they are pork bellies.  Am I wrong?  While my family was eating this, they mentioned bacon.  "I didn't get any bacon!"  I said.  I felt ripped-off!  How can you leave out the bacon?  The mac and cheese was a little different than I sometimes expect from mac and cheese.  The cheese was like a Parmesan sprinkled over a pasta that was not macaroni. What I had was really good, but I think it would have enhanced the flavor if it had bacon.  Because of the confusing title, my family thought maybe the bacon was actually chicharrones.  After my research, I think they had bacon that I did not have.

Overall, the Bite was really fun this year.  I liked the added events.  Especially the free movie in the park and that awesome car!  I think my guests enjoyed themselves, too.

Even seagulls love The Bite of Seattle!

A share from all proceeds of "The Alley" go directly to Food Lifeline.

My Birthday and the EMP Experience

Jason's mask and machete from "Friday the 13th"

Last Friday, October 11th, was my birthday.  I usually know exactly what I want to do every year, but this year, I was a bit stumped.  One friend took me to lunch.  I had dinner later with another friend, who asked me if I wanted to go see a horror movie thing at the EMP.  "A horror movie thing?"  I said, "I don't really like horror movies."  Then, I realized, it would not be watching horror movies, but looking at the props.  That sounded kind of cool, so I told her I would let her know.

Entrance to the horror exhibit at the EMP, I think it is a really cool design.

While I was looking online, I noticed that the EMP also had Science Fiction and Fantasy movie props!  There would be a Dalek from Doctor Who there, a cool dragon, costumes from "The Princess Bride," and many other interesting and awesome things!  We bought our tickets that night, and went on Saturday.

Above:  Costumes worn by the cast of "The Princess Bride"

Below:  The sword of Indigo Montoya, and the sword of the Six-Fingered Man 

and his glove (The Princess Bride).  I am not certain what movie the bottom sword is from.

Susan's bow and arrow's from "The Chronicles of Narnia"

We started off looking at the Nirvana exhibit.  It has been there for awhile, in fact I went with my sister and her husband before they left for Japan.  I saw a few things I don't remember seeing before.  One of the things I did not remember seeing was a MTV moon-man award given to Nirvana at one time.  That was pretty cool.  There were some also funny little hand-written letters with drawings that may have been there, but it was so crowded the time we went that I did not bother to read them.

Part of the Nirvana exhibit at EMP.

We looked at another area of the EMP and saw Eddie Van Helen's guitar!  I have always thought his guitar was really cool looking, so it was fun to see in real life.

Eddie Van Halen's electric guitar.

Next we went to the Jimmy Hendrix exhibit.  I am almost certain they changed that a little since I have been there.  I was looking at some of his clothes they had on display, and was amazed at the quality of fabric they were made out of.  I would not have guessed from photos I have seen of him how nice the fabric was, but it was quite luxurious looking.  I really like the outfit currently on display with the vertical striped jacket.  It is very nice.

Jimmy Hendrix's cool style.

The Sci-Fi exhibit was our next stop.  We walked through some fluorescent lights that looked as if we were traveling through space!  The first things we saw there were from the classic T.V. version of "Star Trek."  There was red dress uniform, as well as a yellow pants uniform, Captain Kirk's chair, with a bunch of furry little round things (called "Tribbles") surrounded below it.  I had no idea what they were supposed to be, but after some research it sounds like they are some sort of furry and purry alien thing, so I would probably like them.

Ex-ter-min-nate!!!  Beware - it's a Dalek from "Doctor Who!"

Yoda's cane and necklace, it is!

So many other things were on display, Neo's coat, from The Matrix (which had a really cool texture to it), the cane that Yoda hobbled with (which was maybe a foot-and-a-half tall?), and the necklace he wore in "Star Wars," Superman's outfit that was worn by Christopher Reeve in the first movie, and my personal favorite thing - a Dalek from a classic "Doctor Who" show!  There were many other items there from various movies and T.V. shows, it was all very spectacular.

Is it a bird?  Is it a plane?  No... it's Superman's outfit!

Exiting the Sci-Fi exhibit, a little down the hallway, was a very large, wooden door to open into the Fantasy Exhibit.  Inside was dimly lit, had what appeared to be some sort of straw on the ground, there was an odor of a fairy-woodsy-smell, and music to set the mood.

The first room had a "Xena, Warrior Princess" costume, also a costume from "Snow White and the Huntsman," (that Kristin Stewart wore in the prison scenes), looking around the room there were several illustrations of from various movies, shows and books.  The second room had the most amazing dragon.  It appeared to be sleeping, but when you moved it's tail a little, he sort of opened his eyes wider, to wake up a little.  He was one of my favorite things.  There were also some costumes and props from the Princess Bride, Narnia, Labyrinth, as well as many other exciting items.

The prison dress from "Snow White and the Huntsman."

David Bowie wore this in "Labyrinth."

This is a very cool dragon (though the photo is lousy, sorry), while it tries to "sleep," it's eyes are more 

shut and red,then you go pet his tail, and he starts to wake up!

The last exhibit we walked into was the section that my friend wanted to see most.  The Horror Exhibit.  When we first walked in we saw a white shirt with blood stains on it with a red tie.  We were both kind of hoping for some reason it was a shirt from the popular TV series, "Dexter," but it was not.  We saw the ax from "The Shining," Jason's mask and machete from "Friday the 13th," one of the actual masks from "Scream," and a bunch of other things that I did not exactly know the movies, but I think some I recognized from previews from TV.  My favorite thing at that exhibit was a costume worn by a dancing zombie in Micheal Jackson's "Thriller" music video!  Since it was not the costume that Micheal wore himself, I had to re-watch the video to see which zombie it was from the video.  I forgot how awesome that music video was!

Worn by a dancing zombie in Micheal Jackson's "Thriller" music video.

After seeing the amazing exhibits at the EMP, we went to this place called "Pie" in the Seattle Center Food Court and had, well, pie.  I first had the Chicken Pot Pie, which was delicious.  I had trouble deciding on a dessert pie.  I originally was going to order the Strawberry-Rhubarb pie, but I had a strawberry-rhubarb thing recently, so I ordered the Almond Cream pie.  I was expecting the filling to be fluffy and light from the looks of it, but it was thick and rich.  It was not exactly what I was expecting in taste or texture.  My friend let me try some of hers (she did order the Strawberry-Rhubarb pie), it was very tasty.  I kind of wish I had that, instead.

(Pie was eaten too fast for photo to be taken.  Photo person was very hungry.)

We left Seattle, then I hung out with my friend at her apartment and played video games and watched "Frankenweenie" which I saw last year, and really enjoyed.  It was a perfect ending to our awesome day.

A cool poster to a movie I have never heard of.

For more information about the exhibits and the EMP, visit http://www.empmuseum.org.  

"Can't Look Away, the Lure of Horror Film" only runs till the end of the month, October 31st, so if you want to go, go now!