Gift exchange!

Since neither of us was ready to present each other a gift, we went out to the city to exchange our gifts! We explored Bell Town for romantic restaurants, but to no avail. We went straight to Purple at University St. and 4th.


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Photographer Christine

I've always wanted to go to Purple, and my wish was granted that day! As soon as we enter the gigantic double doors, we were greeted by friendly staffs. The hostess kindly told us that we had to wait around 30 minutes.

Purple with matching designs.

The wait turned out to be only about 15 minutes and we were then seated by the floor-to-ceiling windows. Everything matched in this restaurant, from silverware holder to chairs to patterns of the ceiling.

Menu and silverware

Spiral wine staircase

Did I mention that this is a wine cafe? There is a whole pillar of wines with stairs going through it. Too bad, I'm not into wine just yet. Of course, I had to have a good beer (as a beer connoisseur), so I went ahead and ordered the German Franziskaner Hefe-Weiss beer.

One of the best beers I've tasted!

For starters, we ordered from the specials: Bacon wrapped rabbit tenderloin w/ house made lamb sausage.

Rabbits are good!

For entrées, Christine ordered Gorgonzola and Pancetta. Pennini, walnuts, roasted red peppers, scallions and gorgonzola cream sauce.

Gorgonzola and Pancetta

For mine, to go with beers, I ordered a Lamb Burger. Red onion, parsley, kalamata olive tapenade, roasted garlic sherry aioli and sweet potato fries. Oh man... the sweet potato fries!

Done medium-rare for that tenderness

Canon EOS 30D / EF 50mm f/1.4

You could never get tired of these.

The food was phenomenal and so was the beer. Speaking of which, I ran out of my hefe-weiss, so I went ahead and ordered De Koninck from Begium. It was an amber ale; slightly bitter, but not too much so.

De Koninck

And of course, this was our gift-exchange dinner, so we exchanged our gifts!

Wrapped in Urban Outfitters catalog.

Canon EOS 30D / EF 70-200mm f/4L

Christine being happy!

She gave me an American Apparel hoodie, and I gave her a Dior Chérie perfume. After our extraordinary dinner, we went for dessert: the most-famed local ice cream parlor, Molly Moon's in Capitol Hill. This post is getting way too long now, so I'll write a post on Molly Moon later. Ciào.

Excessive heat!

I've lived in Seattle for just over a ten years now and never had I experienced weather as this hot. For several days, the temperature is hitting record highs. Rainy days are long gone now.

Today (July 29, 2009) officially marks the hottest day of summer, 2009.

It's 10:30 in the morning, and it's in the 90's.

Look's like Washington state's is being fried.

Photo courtesy of weather.com

Guess who's hittin' the pool today?

Update: it's 3:30pm and it's 102 degrees!

Photo courtesy of weather.com

As you can see below, the heat wave doesn't want to leave at night either.

Photo courtesy of weather.com

71 degrees is the low, at five in the morning...

Toy city!

Canon A-1 / nFD 28mm f/2 / Kodak Portra 160NC

Interstate-5, with SODO district on right of the photo. The orange building on the hill in the far back is the Amazon.com headquarters.

Shot at the Columbia Center (formerly Bank of America building) in Seattle. The observation deck is on the top floor of this building (which houses the King county Metro control center) and has a 360-degree view of the Seattle downtown. Tilt and shift effect done, not with hardware but with post-processing.

Mt. Rainier

Canon EOS 30D / EF 70-200 f/4L

The photo was taken in Browns Point neighborhood at the cliff. Mount rainier is an active volcano just 54 miles south of Seattle, and stands 14,411 ft tall.

Disco!

I couldn't stop laughing!

Gas Works!

Located just west of University of Washington and in an artsy town of Fremont is Gas Works park, well-known for the abandoned, rusty gas processing plant situated in the middle of the park. On every fourth of July, Washington Mutual (now under Chase) hosts a spectacular fireworks display.

The famous gas-processing plant

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The news reported that there were 25,000 people and there's no doubt about it.

Seattle skyline as seen from Gas Works park.

The show itself starts at around ten o' clock, so that's when all the people sit down and get ready for the show.

Aurora bridge to right, Queen Anne neighborhood to left.

View of Queen Anne neighborhood.

Space Needle shooting a laser up into the sky.

I wasn't much interested in the fireworks, because I've seen it way too many times. People at the park, however, were very interesting; there were people of all race, gender, orientation, and age.

Happy people with grins on their faces. (and creepy head of Statue of Liberty)

I'm sure the news said 250,000 not 25,000.

boom boom pow!

Fireworks from the barge.

If you ever plan to go to Gas Works park for the fourth of July, park at the underground garage located under the Henry Art Gallery at University of Washington and walk just about two miles down the road. It's much better than waiting 1-2 hours to get out of Fremont.

July 2, 2009 marks...

Our second year together! The weather was perfect for a date, so I had to change my plan of going to the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) to SAM's Olympic Sculpture park.


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Canon EOS 30D / EF 17-40L

The Olympic Sculpture park is an amazing addition to the city's waterfront district. It is perfect for a stroll, cycling, jogging, or for a walk-about while enjoying flattering art-pieces erected by the local artists.

Beautiful dress for a beautiful girl.

There were several red chairs set everywhere in the steps of lawn. I am in love of contemporary/modern art, so I couldn't resist this photo op.

Isn't she beautiful?

If you're a photographer yourself and would like to know how to achieve this vintage effect, e-mail me or leave a comment here.

I love Seattle.

For dinner, we went to a restaurant situated by Pike Place Maket called Il Bistro, which turned out pretty nice! (Don't expect too much for the interior). The service was exceptional and well informative. The food was less than excellent, but well served.

After our dinner, we went to Alki beach, where we wnet for our very first date. I am blessed to have her, who has been my mentor, my guidance, and my inspiration for many things in life.

Max!

Canon EOS 30D / EF 50mm f/1.4

This is Christine's ultra-friendly Labrador Max. I think he's mixed, but I'm not sure with which breed. This was taken right after Christine and I washed him. He loves me!

Thought I'd share this too.

I wanted to film him yawn (the most adorable thing on this planet), but I didn't get a chance to. Until I upload that one, enjoy these other ones.

Tutta Bella!

Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria is my favorite pizza place in Seattle. There are only four locations in the Seattle area. The specific one that I went is located in downtown, Seattle.


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Tutta Bella's contemporary interior with rustic Italian accents is what first captivated my heart. This was my third time coming to Tutta Bella, not a single time had I been disappointed. The place is spectacular, food is delicious, and service is superb... What bad things could I ever say about this place?

Pizza de Fillippo

Insalata de Napoli

For the price that you pay, the quality of the food is not compromised and neither is quantity (enough for two). The ingredients are gourmet and genuine, baked in a wood fired oven right in front of your eyes. Even my New Yorker sister approved of this place. She especially liked the Belgium import coffee and the tiramisu!

Look how deep that tiramisu is!

Bar seating and an actual bar in the far back corner.

The interior actually shines at night; reminds me of a luxury lounge, I would definitely come here for drinks.

Canon EOS 30D / EF 50mm f/1.4

Pizza de Giovanni

Another plus about this restaurant is the extraordinary staffs. One of the guys actually put on a show for us, pizza twirling is what I'd call it.

Our friend Devon putting on a show for us!

Although there are dozens of romantic restaurants, I would definitely recommend this place for first dates!

Christine with the leftover box lol.

There went our Sunday afternoon...