On to Something New... and Something Old

 

 
If you have not heard yet, I was let go from my job a little over a week ago. It was the last day before I was scheduled to go on vacation, and just a few days before my birthday. Not the best timing ever, but I suppose not the worse, either. Despite my not-so-great news, I have tried to enjoy this time (while making work contacts as well).

For my birthday, I went out and bought just a few new clothes. Not many, since I have no idea what I will be doing yet, but I miss having my style, which kind of disappeared while working at my last job. When you work with chemicals and contaminates, you tend not to want to wear nice things. Not at work, anyway. At least that's me.

I saw "The Lion King in 3D" (A longtime favorite Disney movie of mine). It kind of helped get my mind off things. For my birthday, that was something I just needed to do.

I made one of my favorite dinners, Fondue. I prepared a small steak, some red potatoes (good for not falling apart), mushrooms, and some Walla-Walla sweet onions (a nice choice for oil fondue, as I discovered!). Along with that, I made a red sauce (a sauce with ketchup and several other goodies), and a white sauce (with sour cream, dill and whatnot) for dipping the cooked items in. It turned out delicious!

For dessert, I made Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Brownies, topped with Ben & Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk Ice Cream, and some Hershey's Syrup. Exquisitely rich in taste! My dad would say, "Too much chocolate." I would say back, "Never."

I had originally planned for part of my vacation to go to Portland. It has been years since I have seen a certain family member, and even longer seeing the Portland Saturday Market, which is a nice place to see hand-made crafts, browse through artwork and taste great food.

We rode the train into the City Center. It was kind of difficult to figure out. Luckily, I was with someone who knew a little more about what she was doing. I would have gone the opposite direction.

The market was only about a couple of blocks away from where we boarded off. It used to be right under the bridge, but now it is right along the water, by a park. It seems much bigger than it used to be.

One of my favorite art pieces at this week's Market was Schroedinger's Cat, by Sienna Morris, which is done in a technique the artist describes as "Numberism," using only the numbers 1-12 to create her piece. From a distance, the numbers cannot be seen. Up close, it is pretty cool.

Photography by Jenni was another booth I was impressed with, had some very eye-catching architecture photo shots, mostly in black in white, and others, with just one more significant color added. Some of the smaller prints had a good "2 for" sale, but I decided to save my money. I really like the "Portland Sign 1" photo, "Pike Place Market-Horizontal" photo, the "Golden Gate Bridge," and "Girl with Red Umbrella."

Because of my love of cooking, an Olive Oil Cruet, by Peter Neff, stood out. He had many different designs, in beautiful, and vibrant colors; I believe a red one stood out for me. Go figure. He has many other pretty things as well - like hummingbird feeders, and hanging ornaments.

After browsing the whole market, we decided to eat lunch. There were so many good-smelling foods there, it was hard to decide, but we heard that the Kielbasa place (Taste of Poland) was good. The menu was pretty confusing, but eventually we ordered what we thought was a Kielbasa sandwich. It ended up not being a sandwich, but it was so delicious, we had no complaints! On our plate, we had Kielbasa, Pierogies, some potato dish, and tomato and cucumber salad. More than enough! Very tasty. I am kind of craving it now.

The Bellevue Arts Festival 2011!

This year, the Bellevue Arts Festival was at it's best yet!  I have traditionally been going for several years now, and find it amazing how creative some people really are.

There are so many good pieces this year.  A great number of them have humour in them, which I appreciate.  Especially on a very hot day, with over 200 artists to see!  I came home exhausted, with pained feet, today, but it was totally worth it.

Several of the artist's booths are set up on the bottom floor of the parking garage at the back of the mall, so that is where I often choose to start.  The festival is clear around the Bellevue Square area, and about a block beyond.  It has definitely grown over the years.  I noticed that the jewelery was more creative this year.  It actually sparked my interest a little.  Here is just one sample of the many.  This one is by Alex Horst:

 Alex Horst Jewelry

Website

Facebook Page

Christina Goodman also has a jewelry series, as done in the style below.  The artwork is painted on with a very tiny-tipped brush.  The booth has display of one of one of Christina's pieces, under a magnifying glass.  The detail in the work is incredible.  This, I believe is a picture of one of her miniatures, or possibly a decorative pin:

Christina Goodman, hand painted miniatures &  jewelry

Website

Etsy Site

Besides jewelry, there are all other sorts of artwork, in various mediums.  Eileen F. Song is one of the artists that has a touch of humour in her paintings, mostly with birds as the subject:

Eileen F. Song

Website

Email

One of my favorite artists, Justin Hillgrove, is at the festival again, with his IMPS and MONSTERS collection. I have a couple of pieces of his work. One of a cat, called "Familiar," and one from his Alice In Wonderland series, called "Down the Rabbit Hole."  I would like to eventually get "Mad Tea Party" from that series, and maybe some of his new Harry Potter series.  They look really fun. This is the image that he has on his business card this year:

Justin Hillgrove

Website

There are some pretty awesome sculptures at the festival this year.  Carol Braden's work really caught my eye, as well as several other patrons.  Most of her display is a variety of sculpted guitars, made from various license plates, as shown on the right on this image:

Carol Braden

Website

Obviously, sculptures are much more impressive in person, because you can see the 3-dimensionality of them, but this gives you an idea.  Her website shows a few more of her guitar sculptures.  I would have liked to have seen the pizza slice too!  It looks cool!

Finally, a piece I could not resist, even though I tried.  This piece was done by an artist named Lynne Farren from Tacoma.  Her artwork is made from cut paper and mixed media on stretched canvas.  Because of that, I believe each piece may be one of a kind.  I was told there are 7 coats of varnish on the artwork I purchased, (which is not obvious at all - in a good way), so I could wipe it if needed.  I absolutely love this piece:

Lynne Farren

Lynne does not appear to have a website, but here is her card:

Pretty impressive card, too.  Isn't it?  This booth itself  looks very impressive, the floor has some artsy mats to cover the ugliness of the parking lot - and a desk sits at the front edge of the booth with her business cards and whatnot.  It also appears to be done with her cut-paper/mixed media style of work.  The whole display is really quite incredible.

So many artists I have not mentioned - but so many more with great pieces of work.  The event still runs tomorrow, July 31st, at the Bellevue Square Mall in Bellevue, WA from 9:30am-6pm.  There is no entrance or parking fee.  There are food vendors there for a price if you get hungry.  Have a good time!

Brian Major, chalk artist, replicates Andy Warhol's "Marilyn Monro" on the sidewalk outside of the BAM.

Click here to see other chalk pieces by Brian.

Day Two: Saturday's Bite 2011

Pictured:  Spicy Calamari Topped with Saffron Aioli on Bruschetta (Andaluca), Summer-Time Spaetzle (Belltown Pub), Triple Chocolate Cupcake (PinkaBella Cupcakes), Endive Spicy Pecans and Romaine with Gorgonzola Tossed in a Walnut Oil Vinaigrette Dressing (Daily Grill), "Rub with Love" Plate Steak w/ Jackie's Prosser Farm Tomatoes and a Blueberry Vinaigrette (Dahlia Lounge), Fresh Oregon Bay Shrimp Louie w/ Belgian Endive, Farmer's Egg, Asparagus and Heirloom Tomatoes (Salty's), and Grilled Italian Sausage w/ House-Made Pepper Onion Relish (Seattle's Little Italy).

Saturday started off a bit drizzly.  That is okay, it does not stop most Seattlites.  Especially not me, when it comes to The Bite.  As you can see, some of the items above are the same as Friday's Bite (in "The Alley" section), but I have to say -- I was right about liking the calamari dish a little more (due too the unusual flavors), and the sausage definitely had more flavor this time, which was a major improvement!

As the chef handed me the calamari dish, he asked me if I watched "Iron Chef America."  After I told him I did, he told me he was going to be on it, battling against Michael Symon!  So, tune into The Food Network on Sunday, July 31st to see if localist, Wayne Johnson can win over the judges on "Iron Chef America" that day!  I wonder if he will make the same dish?  If so, I am curious what the judges will think?  I am excited to see!

As I was handed the Summer-Time Spaetzle, I was told it was the best dish I would taste that day!  Ha ha!  Funny to hear after a previous chef told me he was going to be on "Iron Chef America."  Well, I have to say, he was quite right.  It was very good, and it had tough competition.  Especially against the steak dish.  It seemed to be some sort of pasta, with mushrooms.  Very light, very tasty.  My dad liked it too.  Might have been his favorite.  Might have been mine, too.  Everything on the plate was so good.

The chocolate cake was just as delicious as the day before.

The salad was yummy.  Reminds me of some kind of salad one of my cousin's make.  Very nice.

The Shrimp Louie was incredible.  Lots of good flavors, and a nice presentation.

The steak was very tasty.  I absolutely loved the tomato vinaigrette topping!  They also handed out recipes for it!

Lastly, as stated above, the sausage had some good flavor too it!  Yay!  I am not sure what happened with Friday's batch, but this one was delicious!  Good job!

I finished my meal off with some Pomegranate Berry naturally flavored water with juice from Cascade Ice.  It was very refreshing.  After we walked around a bit, the sun decided to come out.  Turned out to be a nice day!

Some of my other tastes of The Bite of Seattle outside "The Alley," were:  Fried Mac and Cheese (strangely delicious and portable!), Avocado Ice Cream with Chocolate Syrup (was all right, but the actual ice cream itself was a little grainy, would have tasted better with a smoother texture), and a Slinky Potato (I had the salt and vinegar one.  Very eye-catching! A little pricey, though).  Mmmmm......