BBQ Pork Chops

I never give up on a dish or particular meat that I can't get right. For some reason, Pork Chops have never been a specialty of mine. That is until I came across a very tasty recipe in Bon Appetit this week. BBQ style pork chops using a nice marinade to sit on the chops for 30 minutes outside of frig prior to cooking, which I think is what brought this meat so much flavor. It has all the ingediants I love to cook with, Garlic, Soy Sauce, Brown Sugar....you get the idea. I'll get recipe link location soon.

Spicy Shrimp Fettucine

Spicy Shrimp Fettuccine
recipe adapted from Cooking Light

Tilapia Fish Tacos with Peach Salsa

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light

Victoria Butterfly Exhibit

This was really nice, my daughter enjoyed seeing this. I'm not done posting about our trip! We did a stop in Victoria Canada at the Butterfly Exhibit. We made good use of our vacation trip and saw many things along our journey. click on pictures for better viewing.

Dale Chihuly Art Work in Portland

Another interesting stop on our trip was to see the glass art work from Dale Chihuly, he is known for the beautiful artistry work in the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.

Sauteed Tilapia with Honey Scallion Dressing

This is the simplest recipe and my favorite way to prepare Tilapia. I love that it is so healthy too.
Cooking Light

Seattle Aquarium

During our trip in Seattle we made a stop at the Aquarium where the kids had a fantastic time. I saw an Eel and Octopus for the first time. This Aquarium is way better than the one in Long Beach.

Oregon Coast

Oregon Coast....beautiful

A bit chilly but perfect weather for hiking and I love photography with an over cast sky.

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This window shot is from the cottage window where we stayed at our friends house.

Arrogant Bastard Ale

Just wanted to sneak a post in here for another great Beer find called and I'm not kidding, "Arrogant Bastard Ale." You must try this....if you love beer ;)

Multnomah Falls in Oregon

We went on this really nice and steep hike at Multnomah Falls while in Oregon.

Vancouver- The Butchart Gardens & English Tea

Another favorite stop along our journey was in Vancouver at the Butchart Gardens. The most beautiful gardens I've yet to see.




















We stopped for some English tea and lunch, I was really impressed by this place.






















I wish I had a different format for my blog just so you can see the actual size of these photos, please click on the photos to get the real picture.

Mt. Saint Helen as of Late June 2009

One of my favorite adventures on this trip was seeing Mt. Saint Helen after the volcanic eruption of 1980. It's really fascinating to see new life forming there again. There is still a stream of ash or mud that forms along where the river ran through as well as the top of the Mountain peek. All the trees which should be three times the size normally is a light green color, new and freshly grown. I read the stories in about the loggers that lost their lives that day as well as some Geologists, it's very sad but beautiful to see new life growth again.

CLICK ON PICTURES FOR BETTER VIEW

Nijo Sushi in downtown Seattle

So...lets get onto to the food part of the trip... :) One of my favorite stops in Seattle was at Nijo Sushi that got lots of rave reviews on yelp. It was the most difficult place to find because it was tucked away off the street in an opening of an alley way. We almost gave up looking for it at one point. I'll let the pictures tell you how delicious this place was........I'm still drooling over how good this place was...

Don't forget to click on the pictures to get a bigger and closer view.

lots more pictures to come...

Seattle- Space Needle, Pike's Marketplace and The Original Starbucks.

We read some rave reviews about Espresso Vivace Sidewalk Bar in Seattle that we tried the very next morning after arriving there and my latte was amazing. They added a little carmel and that made the perfect touch to this drink. When we found this coffee place we noticed this festival of sorts going on around us, after looking around and noticing some........dressed up men in women's clothing we caught on that we were in the middle of a gay pride parade. ;) Hilarious! This guy in the red wig posed as I was catching his picture.

Seattle is for those that don't know, the first place Starbucks opened it's doors. Pike Marketplace is the area known for the fish being thrown across the room, though we waited we didn't see any flying fish. There is amazing fresh produce that they are just handing out for you to try every where you turn. Seattle reminds me very much of San Francisco with the steep streets with so much going on around the area. It's busy, traffic congestion but it's because of the two lane highways that run pass the city unlike our 6 lane freeways that get us around in California. From my understanding they have no place to extend freeways or highways because it is surrounded by water. I love all the lushes green that surrounds this city, as soon as you leave the city life of buildings, cars and traffic you are driving in plush big thick green trees all around you.

Click on photos for larger view.