5 posts tagged “seattle”
Terribly disappointed by the film of The Golden Compass. The whole thing was cut like a highlight reel -- all action, zero contemplation -- with scenes (such as in Mrs. Coulter's lodgings), presented as actual montages, chirpy music and all! How one is supposed to be able to form an emotional reaction to this material in spite of all this is a mystery! The terrible dialogue didn't help much, either. Was somewhat hoping for a make-up kiss of sorts when Daniel Craig would do his "thing" at the end, but then the movie just ended. Pffft!
Interesting that the US version credits "Northern Lights" as the original source material, as I'm not aware of its having been printed here under that name. Am pleased by that, of course -- you're looking at the woman, after all, who special ordered the first Harry Potter movie from Canada in order to get her philosopher's stone fix.
Am working my way through all six hundred-odd pages of Absolute Sandman #1, and have come to the realization that I'd really like to draw a comic myself. Just one page would be enough. Maybe one of these days...
It's May, and Seattle is sunny at last, & plastered with pink:
Here's to our first snow-free month of 2008. Please?
As of last night's posts, Paris Hilton has now been banished from my front page. I suppose some would say my work here is done, and I certainly feel a sense of accomplishment.
But! I haven't told you yet. I'm having a photo published in a real live photo magazine (Popular Photography & Imaging), which I guess has happened before, but they're paying me for it, which hasn't. Whomever it was found me on flickr, which means that after nearly twenty years, I've finally figured out how to make money on the internet.
This is the one, an oldie:
I might even have some money left over after paying for the magazine!
I have over eight thousand unread posts in bloglines right now -- kidding you not, love. I hesitate to overuse the word wagon, but... have you seen it anywhere?
I'd meant to write about this at the beginning of 2007, when my period of being incommunicado qualified as Claire-Danes-goes-to-college instead of the J. D. Salinger it's become, and when it might have actually done some good, but somehow Seattle finally got a decent ramen place: Samurai Noodle, in Uwajimaya Village (though last week's Weekly claims that two more quality ramen joints have opened up in the city since). I love ramen -- real ramen, not the stuff you buy at the supermarket -- and this is the good stuff: soft but substantial noodles, maitake mushrooms, spring onions, bamboo shoots and a soy sauce-steeped hard-boiled egg. Thick slices of fall-apart-in-your-mouth tender roast pork. The tonkotsu broth is -- oh god -- so umami that it might make you nauseous if you're not up for the experience. Pure liquid pig. If you're faint of heart, the shoyu-tonkotsu broth is a measure lighter and may give you some breathing room.
Anyway, I digress. The reason I wanted to write, and the sadly time-limited aspect of it, was that somewhere in the wintry months early in 2007 there was a yuzu-shoyu ramen on the menu, and it was glorious. Citrus in soup is a good thing (cf. avgolemono or pho, and I always like to squeeze a lime or two into the pot when I make posole), and this hit all the right notes -- the tartness of juice, sweet-bitterness of zest and salt-umami of the base broth. Perfect for a winter morning and sorely missed. I'd hoped that with a year having passed it would slip onto the menu again and I'd have a reason to share this with you, but alas, all you get is a sad tale of lost love. Sorry!
p.s. -- tips for dining at Samurai:
- You don't get some of the extra goodies unless you order the "Samurai Armor Bowl" version of a particular ramen flavor. Especially egg: egg is key.
- Tonkotsu broth comes with thin noodles. This may be because the soup stands up pretty strongly for itself (and probably would literally do so if allowed to chill). If you like doughy noodles in your ramen, you can ask for these al dente, and they'll feel a little more substantial. On the other hand, all other flavors come with a significantly thicker noodle, one that's a bit much at full firmness, so you might stick with the default doneness there.
- The tsukemen fish broth, along with its spicier variants, the evocatively named "Tetsu Hell Fire" and "Tetsu Hell Fire Max," are dipping broths. You get your noodles to the side, "dry," and dip them into a small bowl of sauce. Not my thing, really. If I want something like ten zaru soba, I'll order ten zaru soba, thank you very much.
- Apparently they have takoyaki, but I keep forgetting this when I'm there.
- YMMV, despite my best intentions!
apparently, fork restaurant in capitol hill will be closing this friday, due to scott simpson's health problems. which is a real shame, because fork is one of the best restaurants i've ever been to in seattle, and still largely unknown barely five months after opening. enjoyed a wonderful prix fixe dinner there on valentine's day amidst the shkurkin murals of russian fairytales*, and having heard from friends of some of the "new american" a la carte fare, such as lobster corn dogs and risotto poppers, i've really been looking forward to going back. unfortunately, it looks like it's this week or bust; alas, sic transit gloria.
* fork is in the old bacchus space but retained its beautiful, historic decor.
driving around seattle can be a scary proposition when you've got only one working windshield wiper, and it's not the one on the driver's side. on the other hand, i've learned a lot about the miracle product called rain-x, which has made my rainy-day commutes significantly more survivable. oh! to live and work in a city with mass transit again.
i've got one week left before leaving for china for a few weeks. does anyone who's been following siff have any recommendations for a last-minute bonbon?
