I'm Thankful For....

On this Thanksgiving Day, my first as a resident of the beautiful Pacific Northwest, I am thankful for:

1. Living, for the first time in more than 20 years, within a 20 mile radius of my entire immediate family.

2. Having a wonderful husband (who is a gainfully employed journalist -- a huge accomplishment in this dire economy and even more dire media industry) who allows me try the freelance life, even though it would be much more financially beneficial for our family if I worked full time.

3. My darling kids, who have made the cross-country move with pure courage and optimism.

4. The great friends I left in Florida, who have been so wonderful about keeping up with us and who we're looking forward to spending the Christmas holidays with.

5. The new friends we've made here in Bellevue and especially the Enatai school community, which has embraced our kids, invited our family to their homes, and has proven that Seattle Ice is a big myth.


6. The weather. I know you are laughing..but REALLY, we've had a ridiculously beautiful, mostly dry, fall season.. It may be a fluke, but it has made our transition to the PNW an easy one. Last year at this time, if the weather would drop to 70 degrees in Florida, I'd pull out the sweaters and talk about how chilly it is. Now I do it when it's in the 50s. Progress!!!

7. All the babies that have blessed the lives of our friends and family this year. Ozzie in North Carolina. Charlie and James in NYC. Peter in San Francisco. Maeve in Washington D.C. Maya in Cedar Rapids. Madhav in Redmond.

8. The historic election of a president who reflects the way I view the world. And I am SO proud of this country for breaking barriers and doing what so many people thought could never happen in our lifetime.

9. The view of the mountains from my kitchen window.

10. Ready-made pie crust.

Oh, and I'm thankful for having lived a pretty charmed life for the past 39 years. I turn 40 next week and what a great ride it has been. Bring on the next 40.

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm now the Seattle Editor of Red Tricycle, an e-newsletter for Seattle-area families. There are also RT newsletters in San Francisco and San Diego.

Bellevue Blogette will, of course, benefit from this new gig as I will undoubtedly be exposed to so many new (and old) Seattle and Eastside gems.

Today's newsletter is on a new CBS Reality Show called Block Party, which is casting for families in the Seattle area (and throughout the country, for that matter). The show will be a competition (Think a tame, more family-friendly version of Survivor) between neighboring families. Winning fam gets a big fat money prize.

Double Byline Day

Time for a little Bellevue Blogette self promotion...

Hot off the presses! My first story for msnbc.com is going online today. It's supposed to lead the site starting at noon PST. Read the story here!

Also, I am now the Seattle Editor for Red Tricycle, a very cool parenting newsletter for Seattleites and Eastsiders alike. (If you are a local parent, sign up for the free subscription -- it's a great resource for local, kid-friendly things to do, places to go, shops to browse.) Look for my weekly stories on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The first one is here.

Yama is Yummy

Don't you love it when you have a meal that's so delicious, you think about it for the entire next day?

Monday was like that for me, as I could not pry from my mind thoughts of the great food we had Sunday night at Yama, the Japanese fusion/sushi restaurant (550 106th Ave NE, Bellevue, 425-453-4007).

Having not had Japanese food since coming to Bellevue in July, we were craving it. We've been asking around for sushi suggestions, and this one kept coming up. Particularly attractive: the Sunday happy hour special, which is half-price bottles of wine with your meal. (Apparently they also have a daily happy hour special on select sushi and sashimi - I didn't know about this in advance so didn't ask, but I will next time. I am slightly perturbed they didn't mention it, but given the food was so good and our server was pleasant, I will forgive.)

Yama is on the third floor of Galleria Bellevue (the complex of stores on 106th Ave. NE, that includes Gene Juarez, LA Fitness and Rock Bottom Brewery.) It's a beautifully-styled modern space, with dark wood, clean lines, and lots of roomy booth seating as well as a few of the hori-gotatsu style seating (Japanese sunken tables where you sit on pillows). One key observation: the night we were there, there was a majority of Japanese customers.



We ordered a (half-price) bottle of Washington shiraz and started with miso soup, which both kids love. For an appetizer, we shared the fondue-style popcorn shrimp, which came with an amazing, warm gorgonzola and fontina cheese dip. Then we shared a few rolls (California and shrimp tempura) and various pieces of sushi -- salmon, yellowtail, etc. The fish was fresh and tasty. For dessert, we had the bread puddng with coconut ice cream.

Apparently Yama also has a stellar lunch menu, which includes bento box offerings.

This is not your run-of-the-mill sushi joint (ie, it's fairly pricey), but if I can figure out how to maximize the happy hour deals, I could see becoming Sunday regulars.

Makeup Misinformation

So, it appears the Bellevue Blogette has been bamboozled by a not-so-true Internet hoax.

I recently posted this item about e.l.f. makeup company being bought out by Nordstrom, the result of which meant $1 makeup from the e.l.f. website. This caused me -- and several of you -- to spend a few bucks on makeup that we probably didn't need. (I think I could have done without TWO different shades of bronzer.)

After a BB reader's comment that she had bought $1 e.l.f. makeup last year, I checked on snopes.com. It turns out e.l.f. is an independently-owned company and there is no truth to the Nordstrom rumor. (Another email sent around said Bloomingdale's was buying it. Also untrue.)

Apparently, e.l.f. makeup has always been a buck. In other words, it's just cheap makeup!

A true believer in the phrase, "You get what you pay for," I admit my expectations are much lower now. When it was attached to the Nordy's rumor, you figured it had a chance of being a quality a product.

I haven't received my order yet, but will report back when I do. And, please, let me know what you think about your e.l.f. purchases.

Don't Melt The Butter

Thought this little tip may be helpful for anyone who plans on baking this approaching holiday season.

Yesterday, in celebration of Priya's last soccer practice with her rec team, she wanted to make cookies for her teammates.

It being Wednesday and thus a half day of school, we set out to make traditional Nestle Toll House cookies.

Priya did almost everything herself. The only time I helped was when she needed to add the cup of butter the recipe called for. Though we had set it out, it wasn't softened. So, I nuked it.

Little did I know....

The cookies, while moist and tasty, were unusually flat and crisp. So flat they did not form circles but rather shapeless blobs. So flat that it was hard to lift them off the tray with a spatula.

It was at soccer practice where I discovered the problem. One of the soccer moms is an expert cake baker. She took one look at the cookies and said, "Did you melt the butter in the microwave?"

I did!

It turns out that butter has a low melting point and goes from solid to liquid very quickly. As a result, when you put the cookies in the oven, the butter melts and the dough spreads out before the cookie can bake and set its shape.

Upon researching this a little further, I found a couple of suggestions:

Chill the mixed dough in the fridge for an hour or so. Then put the dough onto cold cookie sheets and bake. The unused dough goes back into the fridge between batches. The cookie sheets go into the freezer between batches for a couple of minutes.

Or, set your butter out well in advance and make sure it is only softened when you cream it with the sugar.

Makeup for a buck? Couldn't be.

But alas, it is true. Got a tip from my friend Dina in North Carolina about a fab sale the makeup line e.l.f. is having. Apparently the brand has been bought by Nordstrom and is being redesigned, so they are selling pretty much everything off the site for $1. I just ordered 11 items (among them: lipgloss, bronzing powder, eye liner, eye makeup remover pads...) for $14.45, which included shipping.

(Hint: If you order more than $15 and enter the coupon code CAROLINA, you get another $7.50 off.)

I haven't used the line, but, hey, if Nordys is buying it, must be good.

Go here to start ordering!

For Farewell to India, we ate Chinese

My Dad leaves today to join my Mom in India for the next few months, and so for a farewell dinner the family gathered on Sunday night at Ga Ga Loc (424 Maynard Ave. S., 206-521-8933), a cheap-but-authentic Cantonese restaurant in Seattle's International District.

After some difficulty getting there from Bellevue (don't you hate it when Map Quest gives you completely wrong directions?!), we finally found the small corner spot on Maynard Avenue S.

The interior is spare with pinkish walls and a few red paper lanterns as decor; a TV tuned to a Chinese news station is on mute. Round tables have chairs with plastic covering the upholstery. The early dinner crowd was decidedly native. One large table seemed to be celebrating a birthday of a grandma.

Uncle V (my bro)and Aunt Laura (my sister-in-law) were waiting for us with a plate of fried pork dumplings, which the kids devoured. (The kids were most fascinated by the lazy susan on the table.. when one would reach for some food, the other one would try to spin it away.)



We ordered a round of Tsing Taos and several dishes for the whole table to share, and everyone seemed to have their faves. Brian enjoyed the Mongolian beef, the shrimp lo-mein and the chicken fried-rice. Laura and I liked the sauteed Eggplant, which was surprisingly not-too-greasy. My Dad and Uncle V enjoyed the salt and pepper shrimp, giant fried prawn that come fully shelled (complete with eyes and veins and tail, oh my!). According to Uncle V, you are supposed to eat the whole thing, and he seemed pretty happy crunching away. (I just couldn't go there on this visit.. maybe next time.) Apparently another big attraction to Ga Ga Loc are the pea-vines, a sort of chinese broccoli/spinach which are seasonal. They were bitter but lightly salted and paired well with white rice.

According to local reviews, Ga Ga Loc is hopping in the late night hours, where partiers come to diminish their boozy excess. Come after 1 a.m. and it's tough to get a table, says Uncle V, who in a former life spent many a late night there, I gather.

For an unpretentious ambiance and cheap-but-flavorful dishes, Ga Ga Loc is definitely worth the visit for decent Chinese. We'll be going back.

When in Seattle, Do as Seattleites Do (Take the Bus)

I have a contract writing gig in Seattle this week so today I did what any respectable Seattle-area-ite does when trying to avoid (a.) the congested highways on a gloomy rainy day and (b.)the lack of free parking in downtown -- I took the bus!

Got the 550 Sound Transit express bus from the Bellevue Park & Ride (on Bellevue Way, near I-90) at around 9:30 and after two stops and a mere 15 minutes, I was in the International District of downtown Seattle, a short two blocks from my destination. For the schedule from Bellevue, check here.

I should probably be embarrassed to say that I can't recall the last time I took a city bus (was it 1996, when I briefly worked in Washington D.C.??) ... but then, that's because the last two cities I lived in (Fort Lauderdale and Wilmington, Del.) had less-than-stellar bus systems.

I love the fact that so many people here who commute to Seattle take advantage of mass transit. The Bellevue Park & Ride on most days is packed with cars. Both bus rides today were standing room only with people, most of whom were checking email and texting on cellphones. (When Brian was here for several months before we joined him, he rode the same 550 bus to numerous Mariners games and loved how you get dropped off right near Safeco field.)

It cost $2.50 each way and everything went smoothly except for the mean driver on the return trip who snapped at me because I tried to pay upon entering the bus. (Apparently when you are coming FROM Seattle TO Bellevue, you pay when you exit the bus. It's the opposite on the way in.) Anyway, she thumped the sign (which must have said "Pay when you exit" -- but I didn't notice it)and said loudly, "CAN YOU READ THE SIGN?!"

Despite her display of aggravation, I am taking it again tomorrow.

An Enjoyable Election Night

Top Moments of watching yesterday's historic election:

This was the first election where my kids, ages 9 and 6, were really interested and involved. It was nice that, since we are now West Coasters, they could watch most of the night's events. They set up their own little election watch center, by putting together a huge puzzle which was a map of the USA. Every time a state went to Obama, they'd place an "O" sticker on it; a state that went to McCain got an "M". I thoroughly enjoyed hearing them shout, "Mom, Obama got Ohio!!"

Speaking of Ohio, I went to Oberlin College, which is in Oberlin, Ohio, about 20 miles west of Cleveland. It was the FIRST COLLEGE in the U.S. to admit African Americans (1835) and women (1837). Having been a part of that history, I especially appreciated watching this country break similar barriers by electing our new President.

The technological aspect of following this election was truly astounding. Last night, I interacted with friends and family around the globe via email, Facebook, instant messaging, texting and cell phone. When my mother called from India, saying excitedly that she had just watched Obama's speech with my 91 year old great-aunt, I literally burst into tears.

Another satisfaction came in watching Obama take Washington, the blue state I have lived in for just 4 months, and take FLORIDA, the formerly-red state where I watched the past three presidential elections.

The other day Priya asked me how many times I've voted for the presidential winner.

I am so happy to report that after last night, I am 3 for 6, batting a not-too-shabby .500.

Home of the Brave and the Land of the Free(bie)

We asked friends of Bellevue Blogette to share their E-Day freebies and feelings.. here's what they sent/said:




My son Jayan posed with me after I got my free coffee, which was quite enjoyable on this chilly fall day in Bellevue.



Maureen Stapleton is an expat who lives in London. She actually didn't get her coffee free, as the free joe was only a US Starbucks thing. But in the spirit of the election, she bought a cup. Check out her blog, marathonmum, to see about her overseas election experience.




John Tanasychuk enjoyed a coffee break between stories -- he's a reporter at the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

David Stevenson, who lives in Mass. and teaches at Harvard, says he is, "Hopeful but incredibly anxious!"

Here is a post-election wrap from Josh Chicoine, who lives in Chicago and went to the Obama speech last night in Grant Park.

i was part of the throng last night. i was downtown at the W hotel with a bunch of friends and got a text from my friend, k, telling me to get down there and with a little hemmin i did, kind of.


if you didn't have tickets to the event, which i didn't, you were in the way, way back and were lucky if the cops let you in by the time President Obama (gives me tingles just sayin it) spoke. they shut the gates for a time until the crowd began to get a little restless and rather than sick their horses on us, they opened the gates again.

there was a giant tent in the middle of the field so that any actual sighting of our new president elect was impossible. all that didn't really matter though. the energy from the everyone in the park was palpable and as i looked around, all of the people seemed to stand a little taller and their faces looked bright, eyes wide and excited. it was as though all the cynicism had melted away and strangers weren't really strangers anymore. we were all in this together and we always new it, we just needed someone, something to remind us again.

i tried to be swept up in this moment and not let the reality of the challenges that face us get in the way of this feeling, but it was hard. i wanted to share this strong belief that everyone seemed to have. that we would face the problems that confront us and overcome them together. that the politics of the past would finally give way to a new consensus and we would get back to fulfilling a promise that seemed to be on hold for so long. hope, yes we can, o-ba-ma. i tried to feel that and i admit it, i failed.

i stood looking all around knowing that this was a truly great thing, but it would not be the end of our politics. we would continue to clank our way forward because forward is the only direction. progress, yes, but clank, definitely.

i just learned that there are particulates in the atmosphere that are masking the potential warming effect, and that we have about 10 years to solve the problem before we reach a 'point of no return'. past all the wars and the economy, this is potentially cataclysmic. can we change fast enough? will people put themselves on the sidelines in order to try and find new, less harmful behavior? drive less? drive differently? change their eating and shopping habits? be okay with paying more taxes so that we can at least face these problems with the necessary resources? can we? will we?

i hope so. and if anyone was right for the time, if anytime was right for a leader, it's him and it's now. so i tucked these concerns of mine away as President Obama took the stage to take the mantle and i listened and i was swept up in the movement and moment that we all have created and hoped that we would take up the charge and get to work.

Live Election Results!

Courtesy of msnbc.com, watch here as the votes come in.

Voting = Free Stuff

Since we ARE the home of the free, just thought I'd remind you of these Election Day freebies:


Forget Joe the Plumber. Try the original cup o joe, on the house at all Starbucks' US locations. (I specify US because my friend, Mo Stapes, who is an expat living in London, wondered if she could get a free cup at her local 'Bucks in Greenwich. My Starbucks sources, who are very highly placed, say no, it's only a stateside offer.)Find the closest locations, and their great ad, here.

Put your dough away at Krispy Kreme, where they are giving away a free star shaped doughnut. Find the closest locations here.

Get your election day scoop at Ben & Jerry's, where they are giving free 'scream from 5 to 8 p.m. Find your closest location here. (Oh, and don't forget your other scoop, as in, all the day's news coverage, from msnbc.com. It's free too!)

And finally, get out the vote -- in peace and quiet -- by getting free (or discounted) babysitting while you go to the polls. Check out this story from hipmamasplace.com for more info.

If you participate in any of these patriotic promotions, please send me a photo of you enjoying your freebie. I would love to post a collection of "Home of the Freebies" pics on this site.

Happy Voting!

Halloween Hangover

We had a great night of trick-or-treating with our friends, The Hennings. The day's rainy weather cleared for a beautiful fall evening. Lots of families out in the Enatai neighborhood. The pictures here show Priya (a Gangster girl); Cate (french fries); Jayan (a Bengals football player); and Nick (a WSU lacrosse player).

Two houses stood out:

The one with a couple and a 5-week old baby. They were serving jumbo-sized candy bars from a silver platter!

The other was one that people were calling the Pop House. That's because instead of candy, you get your choice of soda pop! At the door, there's a sign posted of the types of drinks available (Coke, Diet Coke, Rootbeer, Orange, Gingerale, etc..) Then Pop-Guy takes your order and Pop-Gal gets it for you. Pop-Guy says he started doing this one year when there were worries about tainted candy. I'm wondering how much soda he keeps on hand.. there were easily more than 150 trick or treaters walking around. (Pop Guy also said he thought about having wine and beer for the parents but decided not to... )

Meanwhile, today we are overflowing with a ridiculous amount of candy.

The final tally (and, of course, they did count their loot -- isn't that half the fun, to see if you got more than your sibling?)

Priya: 130
Jayan: 110

We cut a deal this morning. They get to keep 20 pieces each. And then they can sell me the rest. I'll pay $5 per pound.

Priya's weighed 3.6 lbs. -- $17.50
Jayan's weighed 2 lbs. -- $10

Now I have to figure out what to do with all the candy I "bought." (And for obvious self control reasons, it can NOT stay in my house.) Ideas?