I have a casual Seattle bucket list. Vancouver is on it. I wasn’t planning for a winter visit.. Oh well.

It seems like a lovely city, but more suitable for living than touring. Everywhere are interesting activities, but there are not many glorious attractions on the scale of Grand Canyon or Yellowstone. So it is a charming city to spend time with family venturing around. Perfect.

The famed superb Chinese foods was disappointing. Probably the ones in Richmond are better than those downtown ones we tried. Anyway, lives are too short to experiment average Chinese restaurants, and Vancouver’s culinary scene has a lot more to offer. A Salt Tasting Room, for example, in an intimidating place called Blood Alley, is definitely worth the venture.

Stanley Park requires good weather to enjoy. The Totem Poles area is probably the best vantage point to watch Vancouver across the water. Bring a car. It is way too big to for tourists.

Gastown reminded me of Pioneer Square, back in Seattle. Old buildings, small shops, walk-abouts, curious artifacts that build a unique character. The most famous one is the steam clock: one of the few that is powered by steam. The on-the-clock tune was the exact one that my high-school used to signal recesses. Wow, I was humming it all the way to the annoyance of the family members.

Capilano Suspension Bridge is a made-for-tourists attraction. It is pricy but still worth a couple of hours of exploration, particularly with kids with lots of energy and curiosity. An extra bonus was a bald eagle perching on a tree top, definitely earned many hundred shutter clicks.

On our adventure to Richmond, we raced to Garry Point Kite Field. The temperature plummeted quickly when we hunched against the chill sea wind watching the haunting sunset. It reminded me my college town that were on the delta of the river going into the ocean. Sunset watching was our favorite pass time. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at Granville Island, which is really not an island at all, and tried out Twisted Fork. It was a cozy and lovely French restaurant with an excellent bar tender.

Back home, I appreciated that Seattle being about 4 to 5 degrees warmer. Very nice. A friend insisted that Whistler is a destination, summer or winter. I am putting it down as a good summer weekend get-away destination.

Everyone knows that chocolate comes from cacao. That’s like saying steak comes from cattle. How exactly?

Theo (the name refers to the cacao tree) is a small chocolate factory in the Fremont neighborhood. The tour was educational and entertaining. The cocoa beans first go through a fermentation process, in their own pulp, after harvest. This critical process changes the color of the beans and makes them more chocolate in flavor. When sacks of beans arrive at the factory, they go through a pretty standard cleaning, sorting, and roasting process. Then the beans are smashed open to separate the husks and nibs (the inside of the cacao beans). Finally, there is the process of grinding down the nibs and mixing them with sugar and other ingredients to make chocolate.

The best part of the tour is after the ending. The retail store allows sampling and we duly tasted pretty much every flavor. I concluded that Orange Dark Chocolate is my favorite. With many repetitions and serious experiment, I also concluded that 80% chocolate is probably my upper limit and 70% is my most comfortable range. Milk chocolate (typically 25%) masks too much chocolate flavor and becomes plain candy.

Of course Theo makes ganache and of course we also sampled them (duh). I couldn’t resist the Single Malt Scotch Ganache and bought the box of with four different scotches. Theo also makes very unusual flavors like spicy chile (that I don’t like). There is Chipotle Spice sipping chocolate that needs to be mixed with warm milk that I do like. The flavor is quite “adult” in the sense of having a bit of spicy heat and a strong spice aroma. The drink, that Kids made according to the recipe, was thick, strongly chocolate, and flavorful.

Of course I ignored the calories count. Silly.

Casinos are extravagant by necessity. After all, the definite objective of gambling is material. Venetian is the clear biggest among all those glittering monstrosities in Macau (澳门). The 2nd floor simulates Venice: the street, the side-walk restaurants, the blue sky, and, yes, canals, three of them, teeming with Gondola . The fully air-conditioned “outdoor” is huge as a real city. Our pedometer registered more than 10,000 steps when I left the compound, tired legged and confused by the real sky that obviously darkened hours ago.

This Hong Kong’s little brother is now the choice destination for conferences and gambling recreation in Asia, siphoning revenue and visitors away from Las Vegas. Inside the familiar named compounds: Wynn, Sands, MGM, Venetian, the floor designs reflect drastically clientele and gambling pattern. Unlike Vegas casinos that assault visitors upfront with loud forest of slot machines, the gaming areas are buffered by stores, barriers, or short corridors. There are variety of games such as Keno, sport gambling, nor big buffet restaurants. Instead, there are seas of Baccarat tables of various table limits and rule variations. Macau is a Baccarat town.

Baccarat is a curiously simple game that requires no judgment. It is completely a game of chance. The minimum bet for a typical table is 300 MOP (Macau money, about one eighth of a dollar). The “high limit” tables are 2,000 MOP or higher. For several hours’ fun at the minimal table, a gamer needs a thousand dollar’s bankroll. My wallet informed me that it failed to meet this requirement (I only gamble with cash). I watched the crowd in awe: larger sum of money changes hands here than Vegas, per capita!

China ceded Macau to Portugal in 1887. When Britain returned Hong Kong to China by the term of the lease, in 1997, Portugal government also agreed the same two years later. Under the “one Country, two systems” policy, The only things China changed was defense and foreign affairs. For all practical purposes, Macau’s change of sovereignty had no effect on people’s lives.

A friend highly recommended a French restaurant, Robuchon a Galera (法國餐廳), in Lisboa Hotel, so I just showed up without a reservation. Lucky me that someone cancelled and I took a table on the spot. It was an amazing meal: near perfection in almost all regards: foods, wine pairings, plating, timing, service, and ambience. (Of course the company was simply perfect!) I later found that this restaurant has 3 Michelin stars. Lady Luck was with me, just not for the gaming table. For dinner, I tried the Portugese restaurant Gosto (葡軒) at Galaxy casino. The roast suckling was literally finger sucking good and the seafood rice was rich and tasty. By comparison, the Portuguese chicken, a curry dish, became too mild. Bacalhau (Cod fish in Portuguese, 馬介休) is really made of salted dried cod mixed with potato and deep fried. Every household has its own recipe and the one from this restaurant is not bad.

I strolled through the busy alley and visited the famous church ruin (大三巴排坊). The stores and crowd were more interesting than the destination. Then I went to the Taipa old town (官也街) and tried the famous pork-chop sandwich from a glorified street vendor (大利来) near a temple (天后宫). This place makes only 400 French-style buns for pork-chop sandwich everyday (800 during weekends) starting at 2:30pm sharp. They usually sell out within 20 minutes. We got one with a different bun (which they sell all day with unlimited quantity). It was a good sandwich, great if you consider the price of 22MOP (same price for the special bun). I honestly failed to see what can possibly be the big deal about the special bun. Guess I will need to find out next time.

幾年前就聽人說這是台北最棒的豆漿.

小時住永和,有事沒事就去吃中正橋豆漿,24小時營業,豆漿,燒餅油條,飯糰,都是便宜東西. 吃吃走路,從來不覺得有什麼大不了. 長大了搬去台北,常想起中正橋豆漿,但嫌路遠,不常去. 後來到處都是”永和豆漿大王”,心裏常納悶,一樣嗎? 我們吃的是”四海豆漿”啊.可是沒幾年,中正橋的豆漿也都沒了. 想豆漿變成了個遺憾事.

來美國後,找燒餅油條成了個嗜好. 聽說哪裡有,就得長途去試試. 驚聞Mountain View有家推出了油條,一早開車去,等上一小時,這是什麼油條啊,簡直是炸麵棍.難怪英文叫Chinese Donut. 過了好些年,慢慢有幾家做的像些了.但是總是差上那一點,最常的就是冷了.燒餅油條,冷了就只是油味,吃不下去了.

所以每次回台北,必找家燒餅油條店解解鄉愁.街角的都行,每一家都地道. 久了朋友就開始推薦了.這家如何,那家怎樣,我們變成了品燒餅. 吃來吃去,就是這家阜杭沒吃了. 這次來,反正有時差,一早起來,直奔華山市場(善導寺對面),跟著人潮(六點半!)到了這間燒餅油條店.

厚燒餅是用老式泥爐一張張貼上烤出來的,皮脆裏軟,蔥香有咬勁. 其實不該夾油條,空口吃最過癮. 鹹豆漿花結的剛好,料剛夠沒太多,清的部分有鮮味,結的部分像豆花. 蟹殼黃(焦糖燒餅)皮脆糖甜芝麻香. 我覺得飯團太鬆,蘿蔔絲絣味道太重. 聽說薄燒餅也好吃,但我們實在吃不下了.

七點多吃完,看隊排了十來人.據聞九點時能排到樓下去. 台北人真瘋. 想當年信步走到橋頭,坐下就吃的閒興. 回憶嘍.

Before spring of 2013, make this fall into a small detour of a full agenda, instead of a destination. All the trails are under construction and closed. You can only view the fall from the top. I imagined it would have been a wonderful light hike down to the river and the fall would have been even prettier. But I would have to wait for at least a year and half to find out.

The Salish Lodge is right on the rim. It seems like a lovely hotel with a decent restaurant. I bet the view from the dining hall and rooms would be spectacular. This can be a very nice weekend escape for Seattleites, but too light a site for out-of-towners.

Mount Si and Snoqualmie Pass, a ski resort, are only several miles away on the same highway I-90. Both are interesting hiking/skiing destinations. North Bend will be the best rest stop. There are more choice restaurants and a factory outlet nearby. There is really no need to stop by the city of Snoqualmie, even for its Railroad Museum.

Two years in a row since I arrived, Myrtle Beach hosted Seattle Hempfest: a celebration for Marijuana or “the world’s largest marijuana decriminalization gathering.” This year, the envelope was, again, pushed a bit further. Jonathan Martin of Seattle Times reported:

Squeezed between a Ben & Jerry’s cart and a booth selling rolling papers, two naturopathic doctors worked briskly through a line of patients. … The ads offered authorization to use medical marijuana for one year for $150 if the patient had medical records; $200 with no medical records.

The state law (RCW 69.51A.005) that legalize medical marijuana said,

Qualifying patients with terminal or debilitating illnesses shall not be found guilty of a crime under state law for their possession and limited use of marijuana;
Persons who act as designated providers to such patients shall also not be found guilty of a crime under state law for assisting with the medical use of marijuana

Further, the law explains that “pain unrelieved by standard medical treatments and medications” qualifies: headache, stress, muscle pain, arthritics, back pain, mood swing, menopause, or just about anything. The challenge is to find a willing provider. That problem, the market sure has solved.

Since this substance is illegal federally, doctors cannot prescribe it, they can only recommend. That means medical professional are not regulated with any laws at all. The state laws protect them and no federal laws were broken either. The laws actually prevent medical professional to actually apply Marijuana medicinally, since that will be illegal under federal laws. So, medical Marijuana’s real serious purpose is recreational. Of those 100,000 or so who attended Hempfest. The majority probably agreed.

This is just silly.

The Denny Party, the original settlers of Seattle, chose Alki first. After one winter, they decided to go inland to avoid the fierce pounding of winter storms. Where they settled later became Seattle. On clear days, Seattleites flock to this beach, really the only one nearby. They would soak up the sun, laze around, watch ferries and cruise ships, and enjoy the grandeur view of the snow-capped Olympic Range. That’s why there won’t be any parking spaces left on the streets.

Jogging or walking dogs are excellent activities. When you are bored at the beach, there are so many restaurants and bars to spend hours with friends. If it is just a quick bite, the Sunfish fish and chips is a wonderful Greek-run establishment. For fancier eating, Salty’s requires reservation and is the only restaurant with a view to Seattle downtown across the water.

I have been a loyal fan for Grey’s Anatomy since they aired 8 (?) years ago. This medical drama is set in Seattle. Like the boat house in Sleepless in Seattle, I wondered if the famed Seattle Grace Hospital, where the doctors and interns practiced, really exist. It turns out the boat house exists on the shore of Lake Union. I never found it and really wasn’t that interested.

Seattle Grace Hospital is really the Fisher Plaza, so I heard. Since this office building is within walking distance, I decided to find the famed entrance where actors making their dramatic exits at the end of many episodes.

I stood there, supposed to be THE place. Squint my eyes, tilted my head, tried very hard to imagine the modern cinematic technologies.

Nope. Meredith or Christina did not come out.

This really make me wonder about TV and movie technologies. How much do we see is computer graphics? Would Roman Holiday be filmed in, gosh, New York City, if done today?

Oh well, found it, picture taken, check.

John McGraw stands at the busy intersection of 5th, Steward, and Westlake. He always faces the trolley station, officially Seattle Street Car. No doubt riders and tourist would walk up and study the inscription on the pedestal on which he stands. They would learns that this is the statue of the second governor of Washington State in late 1890s. In addition to side with Chinese against vigilantes who tried to deport them, he also advocated for the construction of Ballard Locks that connects Lake Washington to the Pacific Ocean.

Officially Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, this complex engineering project started operating in 1917. For 94 years, it allows ships to go out to the ocean for business and come back for clam protection. It has a fish ladder on the side to allow salmon to swim up back to spawn. The time to watch salmon will be from July to October, September at the peak. The lock engineers designed the attraction water &dmash; swift flow mixed with seawater against the fish — so that salmon will find the ladder. The fish gradually turn red when they are in the freshwater. Once up the streams, they lay thousands of eggs and died soon after. Seals and other predators learned to feast here; there are so many fish that it seems you can walk across the water.

Watching the boats going in and out the locks are fun too. Once in the locks, water rises or falls so quickly. Then the gates open and everything is fine. It is the elevators for boats.

Lockspot Cafe is an old fish and chips place right outside the entrance. Not bad if you are in the mood for Locks memories. Otherwise, venture into Ballard for more refined restaurants.

Lake Vouliagmeni (vol-jia-MEN-i) is “sunken” like a gem that local would hide from tourists. Swimming in it was magical. One side is shallow and bright, you see rays of sunshine piercing toward the deep end, following your every motion, and make you feel as if you are stationary. The other side, close to the cliff, is deep and dark. I felt a giant sea monster was lurking in that black abyss. There is a mysterious warm current that teased me into a small cove protected by fallen rocks that cut sharply into the water and were covered with slippery green moss. Someone hung a piece of rope on the cliff to give swimmers a break. I grabbed it and found myself facing a pigeon. “You are in my space,” the bird gave me an accusing look before flying away.

Local believe the water is therapeutic and work to keep the lake clean. The water is salty and at constant temperature of 75°F. No one knew the source of the warm spring and adventurous divers died looking. No soaps or shampoo allowed here; bring your own towels too.

This city of Vouliagmeni is a favorite local hang-out. Clubs and restaurants line the street. Expensive ones monopolize the beach, but not the view. Foods are delicious, particularly when the menu shows no English.

Greek have seawater in their blood. Anywhere you turn, there is an expanse of blue water ahead of you. It is magical to look out to the horizon and watch the play among waves, sun, and sky. It is transfixing and soothingly relaxing. It makes every problems fixable. It also makes you wear sandals, and seek friends to enjoy some foods and wines together. The debaters will find solutions to worldly problems. The less philosophical simply go play in the sea. Islands provides variations and some physical excursions, both are invigorating. The athletic will never go home again. There are water-ski, jet-ski, wind-surfing, para-sailing, sail boating, motor boating, yachting, kayaking, fishing, snorkeling, scuba-diving, and, of course, just plain swimming.

Among those ruins, one cannot escape a sense of sadness. The golden era of Greece lasted less than 100 years about 3 millennia ago. Its influence on western civilization was profound, yet discontinued. After Alexander the Great, Greece lost its independence for thousands of years and fought it back from Ottoman empire only about 200 years ago.

Four to five days will be perfect for an Athens vacation: a day in the city for Acropolis and museums; a day for an out-of-city destination, we picked Delphi; a day or two for sea faring; and a day just to hang out on a beach. Hiring a tour guide, or join a group, would worth your money; there are too many stories and legends to study up.