local eats: u district cafes

after studying at the uw for four years, my time in the u district is soon coming to an end, but before I go I want to share my favorite places and spaces. With the ave and other nearby areas, the u district is a paved paradise of foodie heaven. there are bad restaurants and bars--oh, and when they're bad, they're really bad--but i want to highlight the food, cafes, and bars that i've made memories in. i want to talk about my personal food gems here in u district in this little local eats series on my blog before i have to say 'good-bye' for a little while.

i don't think i'll be fitting all my favorite u district cafes in this post, so they may just popping up on the blog every now and then on my blog. the best places have great ambience, and most importantly great coffee, so don't think any of the starbucks are going to make the cut. you might be thinking, 'what? how can this be? starbucks is the seattle coffee go-to.' this is just not so for me. one of the very cool things about seattle is that everyday inhabitants are coffee connoisseurs simply because of the ubiquity of cafes. and one thing the plethora of caffeine fixes do is hone the seattlite's ability to know good coffee when he or she tastes it. anyone can snobbily customize their coffee order with a bunch of minuscule modifications that do probably very little to enhance the coffee itself. if you're at a great cafe, the baristas will know what to do and if it's quality coffee then all the better to let it be the smokey or earthy or deep, dark coffee that it is. if you're masking coffee with soy this and/or pumps of flavors then it's likely the coffee can't be all that tasty on its own. that said, i want to start with a quaint favorite, the ugly mug cafe, where i'm actually blogging this post at the moment.

check out more pics from my instagram, rosink.

the ugly mug is just off the ave on 43rd. perfect for avoiding the usually busy ave cafe spots since it's not in the middle of pedestrian traffic, but it is small and cozy so 20 people make it crowded in here pretty easily. for some reason i like that. it prevents hoards of groups coming in here at one time. if you're with more than 5 people don't bother. this place is made for the quiet studying, laid back friend chatters, and cool bloggers (haha...). the ugly mug makes you feel at home on a rainy day, which, let's be honest, is most days in seattle. (the blog Seattle Coffee Scene describe the ambiance perfectly, too.) other than locale and environment, their menu is also delicious and at a decent (and predictable) city price. i haven't tried all their breakfast or lunch sandwiches, soups, or salads but the fact that they have these things and that they're home-made puts them a step above most coffee shops. also, two words: bulgogi sub.

now let's talk brew. i don't know what roast they use here but it never disappoints and with drinks like lavendar chai tea, earl grey milk tea, ovaltine latte, and white satin mochas failure to be tasty is an impossibility.

final words: if you're in the u district, skip starbucks and go to the ugly mug cafe for great local food, soul-warming coffee, and a peaceful place to relax or catch up with friends.

agua verde cafe

if you have time, walk down to the agua verde cafe to-go window on boat street by the lake. foggy lake views accompany the morning cup of mexican mocha you would get along with a massively delicious breakfast burrito. a friendly barista always greets you at the window which is generally much-needed every groggy morning that i wake up. and when i feel like switching up my basic americano order, i get the horchata latte here. warming, yummy, and authentic-- a perfect trio of adjectives, no? i recommend experiencing this fun blend of seattle-mexican coffee fusion if you have a leisurely day in the u district.

tea time

proud to say i'm a new owner of Le Creuset's demi teakettle in cherry ombre:

and in honor of this new purchase here's a post dedicated to one of humanity's oldest and dearest beverages, il te'.

favorites:

sleepytime tea | for those sleepness nights, or nights when I need sleep and I know I don't have time to lollygag I drink chamomile tea and sleepytime is my favorite at the moment.

green tea | green has so many abundant health benefits I honestly don't think I could begin to tell you, just trust me (but for starters these 5 reasons!). Other than that, it's so light, fresh, and tasty. Sometimes I like jasmine green tea, but at other times it's just too floral for me. I usually opt for the more ricey, earthy flavors of Japanese Sencha or Genmaicha. My mom has been drinking this brand for as long as I can remember, so if it's good enough for her damn straight I'm drinking it, too! Genmaicha

fruity tea | I don't usually drink fruity teas, but when I do... it's Republic of Tea. Hands down best fruit flavored tea I've ever had, it might have something to do with the herb paired with it, I'm not sure. All I do know is that I go crazy for this: Blackberry Sage.

black tea | I have so many black tea favorites so I'll list a couple brands whose up there... I'm a huge earl grey drinker (love that bergamot! Pictured below.). Bigelow is a dependable brand that's affordable, easy to find, and all around good choice. I don't think I've found the one yet, but in the meantime I'm also enjoying Twinnings earl grey as well as it's English breakfast tea black tea. What can I say? The British know black tea...

That's really it for me on the tea front. I know I'm from Seattle and I'm supposed to love coffee. Well, I do. A lot. As well as tea. I get my caffeine fix anywhere, and that's how you know I'm a Seattlite!

salivating | cheesy quinoa cake recipe

look at the this picture from spoon fork bacon. does it make you salivate like it does to me? does it make you feel like it's going to make you a nice picnic in the park, then surprise you with a fuzzy puppy in the basket, and after all is said and done it takes you out to a fancy cocktail bar and makes you feel pretty? no? just me? well, your loss because i want to get intimate with these cheesy quinoa cakes accompanied by a tangy lemon roasted garlic aioli sauce! i have a get together this friday, so perhaps i will test out this recipe's party food-ability.

mario schifano | satsuma from campo dei fiori | graffiti in venezia | one of the many cool street signs found in italy, this one's from roma

just a few of my favorite shots from my italy trip. next month marks the one year anniversary. let the reminiscing begin...

out of all the many museums we visited, i loved the MACRO in rome. it has over 2,000 mario schifano photographs. love his stuff; the photo above is one of his more tame and endearing shots.

there will be blood oranges

although this is actually just a sweet picture of clementines, it's still the blood orange's citrus cousin. one of the things my friends and i complain about/yearn for since leaving italy is the lack of blood oranges in our lives. in italy you could order a tall glass of fresh blood orange juice with your cappuccino in the morning no problem. its definitely the most delicious juice you could have in the morning. i wish that we could even buy the juice from concentrate let alone the actual oranges themselves. sadly, they are rare in these parts. but i will find them; QFC, Whole Foods i'm lookin' at you... and once i do i will bust out my jack la lanne, invite friends over, and there will be blood orange juice.

picture: oncewed.com 

tomatoes and bikinis

just another blog post about italy... not quite. i just love this shot of tomatoes, so roasted, so olive oiled and delicious. but then suddenly i realized that since my 'travel blog' miei viaggi failed i decided i post some pics, and if you're lucky they'll be accompanied by some anecdotal moments.

lido beach, rome.
the water was freezing and it wasn't a particularly hot day, even by a washingtonian's standards. but we wanted to get this shot regardless, ha ha. modeling in water on beaches isn't so nice it turns out. in the end, the triple train/metro 45 min chaotic ride to get there was worth being near open water again!

picture: oncewed.com

my life lately according to instagram photos

valentine's day: a holiday for lovers of deliciousness

Ahh, l'amour...  the pinkest of times are ahead of us. No, not breast cancer awareness month (I won't even get started on Susan G. Komen right now...) I'm talking about the day of luuuuuve. at times I get giddy about Cupid's holiday; the excuse to watch gushy movies ("Sleepless in Seattle, I'm lookin' at you, Tom Hanks) and get weird novelty gifts. One year, early in our relationship, Nick gifted me a CD titled, Turn Up the Sexy which featured various "sexy" tunes. And that's how my heart was stolen somehow. Yes, fond Valentine's day memories... Other times though I don't really feel the commercialized pressure to do anything other than share some quality time with loved ones (okay, for the past 5 years mostly just Nick). But whatever Valentine's Day brings me -- flowers, a romantic dinner, a lazy movie-at-home date -- this year at least I know my mouth will be making, oh, sweetsweet love with some red velvet cake sandwiches:

Courtesy of Mintdesignblog.com

Drink it in, let your eyes do the eating... that's it.

While I'm baking and cream-cheesing this scrumptious dessert on the 14th, Nick vowed to tackle the dinner portion of our date. I'm sure whatever he dreams up will be yummy, but if I were planning the menu I'd definitely be considering some of these mouth-watering meals...

Beet Ravioli with Pine Nut Goat Cheese, Rosemary Cream Sauce and Aged Balsamic Vinegar

Yes, it's a bit daring and probably something you've never tried before. But isn't that what romance is all about? Sharing moments that you never have had with anyone, making it all the more special... Aww.
Plus you can cut into heart shapes (this goes for pasta ravioli, too!). I don't know why I'm obsessed with hearts in a Valentine's meal.

Herb-Crusted Rack of Lamb

Ever since a Valentine's Day date Nick took me on years ago at the now-closed Todai, I now associate lamb as a romantic dinner meal. I'm drooling just thinking about it.

Wild Salmon with Pearl Couscous and Slow-roasted Tomatoes

I believe fish is always a great option for a light, yet filling meal. Being a Pacific Northwesterner I prefer salmon. (And always refer to a fish guide for what's ecological and safe!!)

eat your hearts out.

and if all else fails, eat a bag full of candy.

What are you doing this weekend?

I know it's already Sunday, and therefore a little late to be asking, but what are you all doing this weekend (or did)? There's a lot of day left plus it was daylight savings this morning in the Pacific Northwest! For me, this weekend consisted of some typical college bar hopping on The Ave, IKEA treasure hunting in Renton with lady peeps, urban farming, flexing my chef skillz, and UW football. It was a helluva weekend to say the least. 

Since my weekend was fairly packed, one thing I wanted to do but didn't was swing by my neighborhood farmer's market. Luckily I scored some free, green tomatoes at the farm (more on that later), but I wanted to peruse the booths on 52nd. I love visiting farmer's markets wherever I am. There's this exciting energy that comes with shopping outdoors (rain or shine!) and the people there are so, so knowledgeable. Who you buy from deals directly with the product they're selling. There's no middle-man, it's something wholesome from them straight to you. I feel like that's pretty rare here.

So, find your local farmer's market here if you don't know yet where yours is!

As fantastic as farmer's markets are, there's something even more intimate about farming your own food. I've recently started volunteering/working at the farm on UW's campus and I couldn't be happier. Every Saturday or so, I meet with a group of great people and we harvest and dig and weed and build, and more than anything else we learn. I learn about organic matter, I learn how to double-dig beds, sheet mulch beds...and much more! One of my favorite aspects about this is that we're farming in the city. In the biggest city in Washington, we're farming food to help feed students on campus! I happen to think urban farming is, and should be, a growing project everywhere. Cities are pretty resource-sucking, let's be real, but if we can cut carbon emissions from food traveling to us from farms by having food already in the city, then it would be a big step towards a more ecological system. Besides, it's much more personal and we get to understand more about food production instead of just blindly accepting anything that's given to us. Ignorance isn't bliss, folks. It's stupidity. 

Anyway, here are some pics of my farming experience so far:

We're planting garlic varieties for the winter!

A decent shot of a part of the newly acquired farming plot.

Katherine delicately planting a garlic clove.

Our meeting place, the gazebo by the farm.

More beds bursting with greens!

Learn more about the UW farm their website and blog!

Sausage, Potato, & Kale Soup

Just typing the title of this post makes me feel all warm and fuzzy all over again. This soup was exactly what I needed this evening. The fall days are simply becoming colder and colder-er in Seattle and thanks to this recipe by The Pioneer Woman (see: Blog Roll) I staved off hardened nipples for a tad bit longer.

Oh? What's that you say? I swore off meat for an indefinite amount of time?? But HA! I actually used this great local and organic Italian sausage. I never said I didn't want to eat meat, I simply am against the horrific things we do to meat, to our health, and to animals. Every now and again I am going to get lucky and find ecologically and ethically produced meat stuffs, woo!

Also, I love the fact that kale was a star in this soup. It's so hearty, healthy, and sadly underused in a lot of cooking. So, if you're new to using kale I think this recipe is a fantastic introduction.

Happy eating,
Rosin

#foodrevolution

Please sign Jamie Oliver's petition for healthy children. You can't be against healthy children, can you? So, sign this Food Revolution petition because "[k]ids need better food at school and better health prospects." It also takes only about 2 seconds. Check out his website to get educated and/or watch this inspirational lecture he gave when he won the TED Prize in 2010. As every TED Prize winner gets a wish here's his, “I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.” Jamie Oliver




I think his message is so important, so I'm leaving it with you for the weekend. Go to your local farmer's market this weekend! Or just plain do something good for your body.

Happy Weekend.

Chipotle's new (anti-industrial ag) campaign ad

I'm actually digging this Coldplay cover by Willie Nelson.

Favorite Things: summer loves

1. KORRES Guava body cream: 93% ALL natural, and let's face it that's pretty damn good these days. After Italy my sad skin is becoming happier againe.

2. Water: I like to stay moist, ya know; and by moist I mean hydrated during the summer "heat" (that's a big fat joke because it's awful in the Pacific Northwest this "summer", but still). Anyway, regardless of the temperature one should always drink the river juice, as they say, however bottled water is just not worth it. I'm drinking filtered tap water, because it's cheaper and the same as bottled water minus the bullshit (: In Italy wherever we went we had to ask for water at restaurants and then pay for the bottled water we'd receive and I just felt awful. So, appreciate you're free iced water here, people and know that people go without water everyday - tap or otherwise.

3. Cee Lo's well done (it's not meat) remix of No One's Gonna Love You by The Band of Horses: this is my road trip to San Fran daydreaming music.

4. Bumbershoot: Seattle's Music & Arts Festival - one of the best (other than Sasquatch, which is a less accessible, more expensive, financially and time-wise, roughin' it type of music fest) music festivals around here. It's in the city, so people from all over the state easily flock here once every summer to enjoy good food, great art, and superb musical performances among other things.

5. Fekkai Coiff Spray: Do my hair? Are you joking? Besides, messy sex on the beach hair is my all-year-rounb, baby.

6. Italia: I don't really need to expand on this one, but I will. A tad. Ok, so I was in Italy in the springtime however any season is the perfect season to be in Italy in my personal opinion.

Food Matters

First of all, this is linguistically funny because the title of thus eco-documentary could mean food is important or it could mean it's going to talk about matters pertaining to food. It's funny in a dorky way, and in this case it means both.

It's true: you are what you eat and this documentary is 80 minutes of telling you that. Go see it, absorb it, it will nourish you unlike the food you've proabably eaten today. Don't get me wrong, I like eating steak. Steak is yum. But it's not the best protein out there for you. For example, people think protein and eat beef, but food and nutrition is not as linear as that; there's cashews and fish ("oh, wahh I don't like seafood..." Well, then you're missing out on something rich in beneficial nutrients!) and beans and superfoods (look them up, just kidding I'll talk about those later). There are better, by better I don't just mean morally better although a lot (and by a lot I mean a grand majority in America) of our food consumed is manufactered industrially and therefore in a less healthy manner, but nutritionally better AKA "healthy". Today, even the word "healthy" is obscured because it's so ambiguous, what's more alarming is that it's still so widely accepted. A frozen "lean" dinner meal says "I'm healthy! There's vegetables see!". Is anyone stopping and saying, How healthy can a cube of frozen veggies with meat (yeah, mystery meat maybe) really be?! Do we not explore the truth of our foods, healthy or otherwise, because we are too trustworthy?