Dim Sum in Seattle

Motivated by a recent episode from The Cooking Channel's new Easy Chinese:San Francisco we decided to head up to Seattle last Sunday for some Dim Sum.

Our last dim sum experience was in San Francisco at the Empress of China in August.

So we checked out Yelp and found Harbor City was the #2 pick for Dim Sum in Seattle. The #1 pick Jade Garden was directly across the street but we just happened to be on this side of the street and went with Harbor City.

It was around 2:30-3:00 when we arrived so we immediately got a seat. And pretty much immediately after the dim sum cart lady came over to offer up some choices. We weren't fully familiar with most of the choices and just kind of randomly took what she offered. Although when we she brought up the chicken feet we definitely declined that offer. 

We decided to just go with it. We ended up with some fried shrimp won ton with a walnut honey sauce, two different pork filled dumplings,

some sticky sweet rice and this sticky scallion type roll. It was fine, not outstanding. We experienced the stereotypical overstuffed feeling after about eating 1/4 of what we ordered. Pretty sure that will be our one & only trip to Harbor City. But glad we gave it a try.

While down in Chinatown we decided to walk over to Uwajimaya, the large Asian grocery, to see if there was anything that caught our eye. We love their seafood and produce departments such interesting choices. We found some things we'll be coming back for when we host our December Supper Club that we've decided to do a homemade sushi theme.

G also came across some spicy pepper beef at the meat counter that he wanted to give a try. After some hesitation on my part (have always heard spiced or breaded meat for sale at the markets are usually meats on the verge of expiring freshness) G ordered a pound. I came across some great looking baby bok choy to add to it for a stir fry.

We had some fresh chantrelles and shitakes to make a stir fry with the beef the next night. We threw some Jasmine rice in the rice cooker and our stir fry came together pretty quickly with the pre-seasoned meat.

We opened a bottle of Oregon Argyle Chardonnay. Steamed a few Trader Joe's chicken potstickers and

And dinner was served.



Curried Mussels on a Beautiful Fall Day

We had a perfect Fall day last weekend.

It really was beautiful and inspired a late afternoon walk

to take in the vibrancy of color and majesty of the season.

The trees are shedding their leaves. Folks are working hard to keep up with nature.

It was a time enjoy all that Fall had to offer.

All this beauty and admiring was just the cherry on top of our more purposeful stroll on the way to Metropolitan Market to pick up mussels and cod for Curried Cod and Mussels. A recipe we came across in October's Food & Wine.(Recipe Linked)

We were actually debating between this recipe and the Marseille-Style Shrimp stew from the same issue. We decided we would let the fish monger help us with our choice. Which became rather easy at the fish counter because although the shrimp looked fresh and plump they really weren't as large as we'd hoped for this recipe.So the cod & mussels it was.

We  got a bit distracted while at the fish counter and also had to pick up some oysters just begging to be grilled on this beautiful evening.

The better, but true story, would be what came first the oysters or the sparkling wine (our favorite sparkling wine actually) downstairs in our fridge just waiting for the perfect opportunity to be consumed?

Not sure what sparked what idea first but indeed oysters and "bubbles" kicked off our meal. G made my new favorite oyster sauce. And threw the oysters on the grill. I would of preferred another minute or two on the grill actually but they were still good. We tried two different varieties on this evening; the hamma hamma and the shellcove oyster. His sauce was amazing.

Next we cleaned the mussels. Yes, this yucky hairy thing on the mussels has to be removed.The beard.

Once the mussels are debearded and scrubbed and they have filter several bowls of fresh cold water they are set to go.

This recipe was interesting using granny smith apples in the base along with shallot, garlic and reconstituted dried porcini mushrooms.

The veggies are cooked with some olive oil and the best part of the dish; curry powder. Not just curry powder but madras curry powder that has bit of heat to it.

Next the mussels and white wine went in the pot along with the cod and some cream.

There is no better aroma in the kitchen than curry in my mind and this smelled wonderful. You just knew it was going to be good.

We opened a bottle of Oregon white blend called Evolution from Sokol Blosser winery. We love Sokol Blosser wines and it's such a beautiful property too.

The Curried Cod & Mussels were amazing. The broth was scrumptious and perfectly soaked up with some fresh crusty bread. We love to make mussels and clams and usually go with more a Thai Ginger & Lemongrass flavored sauce but this preparation may become our new go to broth. It was excellent and enjoyed on Saturday night while watching Bad Teacher. Pretty much the perfect lay low kind of Saturday night.