RunSenoRun

Quick Hits: Etta's and Mike's Noodle House

On Saturday, I met a couple of friends visiting from New York for brunch at Etta's, located down near Pike Place Market. Etta's is a Tom Douglas joint, so of course, it's really good. I'm not much of a breakfast guy, but having just come off of a run, I was actually hungry.

I started with a wonderful, spicy Bloody Mary. It was one of the better Bloody Mary's I've had in quite some time. For my breakfast, I had a really good corned beef hash. It was more corned beed than "hash," but it was delicious. It was topped with two poached eggs and served with home fries. I was pleased with my meal.

Sunday, I met a friend at noon at Mike's Noodle House for some Chinese noodles. Now, let me say this, I'm a big fan of Japanese noodles... I visit Samurai Noodle for ramen at least once every two weeks. And I'm a big fan of Vietnamese noodles... I eat Pho at least once a week (for some reason it seems healthier, I have no idea if it is). But, Chinese noodles, I wasn't so sure of.

Guess what? I can add more noodles to my mix. At Mike's I had the noodles served with Won Tons and Beef Brisket. Excellent. I would rank it below ramen and pho, but the soup was quite satisfying. 

After lunch, we went to the Panama Hotel for coffee. Or, rather, Tim had coffee, I had water. But, it was great catching up, talking running, baseball and food. Pretty much my three favorite topics. Tim said he'd do a post about his dinner at Alinea... it was a five hour dinner! Crazy stuff. Can't wait to read about it. I'll share the post once it's up.

Just Made: Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

As some of you know, I've been working on making really good peanut butter cookies. It took three tries, but I'm pretty comfortable with that, using this recipe from David Lebovitz. So, today I tried something new: Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies.

These are my favorite kind of cookies to purchase, but they're not always that easy to find. So, I decided I should just make them myself. Using a recipe found on Food Network's site, I was able to whip out two batches pretty quickly this morning between a run and meeting a friend for lunch in the ID.

The cookies turned out quite good, though, because I couldn't find unsweetened cocoa, they're a little sweet, They should definitely be eaten with milk. Besides the sweetened cocoa, the only other modification I made to the recipe was to use both semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips.

I like the crisp edges and and the soft middle. Actually, I like everything about the cookies. I couldn't be happier. Unlike the peanut butter cookies, I don't need to practice this one. I have a feeling I'll be returning this recipe quite often.

Just Ate: Mediterranean Kitchen

I've been working in Bellevue for about a year. Mediterranean Kitchen is a restaurant near a bus stop I use if I wander after work. 

While waiting for the bus, I'd often read the reviews they have posted on their window. All of them, including a bit from the New York Times, rave about their "Farmer's Plate," barbecued chicken wings with garlic sauce. The wings are marinated overnight, then charbroiled and covered in a thick garlic sauce. The wings are served over a huge portion of saffron rice. Honestly, there's too much food. I left most of the rice and should've left a wing... but of course, I ate all of them.

My friend Adam, who runs the Blue State Barbecue blog, needs to give these wings a shot. He's the real authority on barbecue. But in my opinion, they're the best barbecued wings I've ever eaten. The caveat being, I haven't eaten many barbecued wings. So, a better recommendation would be: I loved Mediterranean Kitchen, and I will definitely return.

Pondering: The Blue Stuff in My Toilet

Bartell's Drugs was out of the hockey puck toilet cleaner detergent thing I normally drop into the back tank to keep my toilet clean. But, I really wanted to get something because my toilet gets a "ring" in less than a week, and I'm not a big fan of scrubbing it. 

So, I tried a different brand. Unfortunately, it turns the water blue. I could live with that.

What I can't live with is that over time, like about five hours, the blue water turns yellow. Do you know what yellow water looks like in a toilet? Yeah, it looks like someone forgot to flush the toilet. Nasty. Why would they create a chemical that turns yellow?

My next course of action is to find the hockey pucks I normally use, fish out the blue puck from the back of the toilet... and flush it away.

Don't you feel better about your life knowing mine is so boring I'm writing about my toilet?

Delta Airlines Sucks

Want to know why Delta Airlines sucks? I'll tell you.

I missed Delta Gold status by 86 miles. I flew 49,914 miles last year. Delta would not credit the missing 86 miles. When I went back, I found two Alaska Airlines trips for which I did not receive Delta miles. When I pointed those out to Delta, I was told I needed to send them copies of my boarding passes to prove I actually got on the plane. Who the Hell keeps their boarding passes?!?! Delta would not budge on this.

Oh well. I thought being Delta Silver Medallion would be fine. However, Delta added a new higher level of status, Platinum, so with that, Delta Diamond, Platinum and Gold get all the goodies like pre-boarding, hustling through security, and their own check in counters. With Delta Silver, you can get upgrades, but that seems to be about it. 

So, from now on, I'm not paying for any more Delta flights, I have 230,000 miles, and I'm going to use them all. Alaska Airlines, I'm coming back, baby.

Lost.

12 hours from now, the final episode of Lost will air. For me, this is the single most anticipated series finale of my lifetime.

I have no idea what's going happen. Frankly, I have no idea what IS happening. But, after season 2, I decided I was just going to go with it and enjoy the series. I stopped reading all the blogs and show theories. I just take it for it is, a highly entertaining show with great characters.

So, here's to hoping tonight's show is as great as the rest of series.

Oh, read a Tweet suggesting a Miles and Sawyer cop show spin-off. I'm in!

Lamebook

OK, how funny is this?

Just Ate: Ezell's Famous Chicken

If you're going to blow a diet, do it right. I ate like a saint, well, relatively speaking, this week. 

After a decent post-run... oh wait, forgot to mention, due to a back injury, I did my first run in a month this morning... meal of some fruit and leftover Thai red curry, I decided to let loose for an early dinner. Ezell's Famous Chicken!

The spicy chicken is simply the best fried chicken I've had in the northwest, if not anywhere. I have to admit, there have been times when it's been a little dry. But, not today. It was moist, hot and good.

Hurrah for Ezell's!

This Still Makes Me Laugh

 My mom was a good sport posing for this picture. This was taken on the "road to Hana". Lovely spot, no?

Maui vs. New York

I imagine that one day I will be living in one of these two cities. Well, technically, it's Kihei vs. Manhattan.

The experience of the two towns could not be more different. One is so laid back, a tough day is tough because it rains. The other is wound so tight, it's easy to lose site there's a world outside of the city.

My heart says Maui. My head says New York.

My heart says I'd be happy working 20 hours a week and surfing and running. My head says I would get bored and need the stimulus an interesting job provides.

 My heart says my nieces are growing up and I need to experience their childhoods. My head says if I go to New York, I can continue on my career path, meet a woman and make my own children.

Finally, just to complicate things further, the company I'm currently working for is a great one. I don't necessarily want to leave it,

Fate? Destiny? Do we control our own destinies? Do we make our own fate? This is my Locke vs. Jack conundrum.