Foodie Blogger Meet-Up: Cascade Pizza, Bellingham, WA, 11/23/07

I was able to meet up with Ben and Suanne from Chowtimes, as I had mentioned before on Friday, November 23rd, at Cascade Pizza in Bellingham. We had a great time talking about how we came into the great big blogosphere, about our lives and more about where we were from. They both came down from Canada that day on Black Friday to do some shopping. I am hoping next time I will be able to get up north to Canada to visit them!

I have been to Cascade Pizza many times before and absolutely love this place. It was the first restaurant we ate at when we first moved to Washington State, it has always been a favorite of my husband's from when he was a kid. I ordered the Baked Rigatoni, Suanne ordered a specialty pizza, and Ben ordered the Lasagna and Ribs plate. Overall we were very pleased with our experience there and I know Ben enjoyed it a lot! I have had the Baked Rigatoni in the past, and I absolutely love that they throw a hint of nutmeg or cinnamon in there. It gives it a nice little kick.


I know there will be a blog about it on Chowtimes in the near future, so check it out! Ben & Suanne, it was great meeting you both and I hope we can get together again!

In the meantime, check out Cascade Pizza in Bellingham, WA at:

2431 Meridian St
Bellingham, WA 98225
(360) 671-0999

Tis the Season

Somehow, it's just inconceivable to me that it's nearly Christmas. My honest-to-god opinion is that this year has just literally flown by. I'm stuck about 2 months behind in September. As this year comes to a close I have to wonder where the heck this year went.

In other news, today I am enjoying an early day off from work as it was very slow (very very odd for our busy season), but I am also enjoying the clear and crisp weather. We are in the midst of expecting snow that still hasn't come (not that I'm complaining- I hate the snow). People are out and about, trying to get everything ready for the holidays, traffic is a nightmare in Bellingham at times, and I'm wondering if we'll ever be ready for the holidays and winter. My husband is just about done with his truck, and I finally have my snow tires on my truck. Next weekend I am hoping to finish my Christmas shopping and get my husband's gift. This weekend I am hoping to get some decorating started and some cleaning done. As for our plans for Christmas, we do not have any yet, but are still trying to figure out what we're going to do. I don't know if I am working or not.

I will post another post in the new few days about my meet with Ben & Suanne from Chowtimes last Friday! We had a great time meeting!

Giving thanks

Lately I have been stressed out at work and with things going on there. I've been dealing with anger, resentment, and stress all in one. Then I watched the news last night and they had a report about a man they found dead in a sleeping bag off of a freeway. I don't know if he was a transient or a homeless man, but they doubted it. Anyhow, it made me realize how lucky I was. Right now the temperatures are dipping into the high 20's at night, and I cannot begin to even imagine trying to find warmth while living outside. When I'm outside in the early morning before work, I am cold. I rush to my truck to defrost and heat it up. It's easy for me- I have shelter. So many people do not, and it's so easy to take little things like that for granted. I don't think shelter is a little thing, but it's something we don't normally think about.

I've never been homeless. Even when times were at their toughest, we were able to scrape up the money we needed for rent. As a general rule, rent is our first and top priority. It's always been that way. I think it's because my husband spent some time living in his car as a teenager and he knew what it was like to be homeless. He thought he was one of the lucky ones though- at least he had a car to sleep in. But I have never experienced what it is like to be homeless, and for that, I am truly thankful.

It's so easy to be stressed and angry at circumstances at life, but sometimes we get a little wake up call that raises our awareness of how lucky we truly are.

Foodie blogger meet-up

I get to meet the writers behind Chowtimes on Friday. We will be going out to dinner at a local restaurant and I'm sure we'll be sharing stories! Now let's hope that I do not forget my camera this time!

I am looking forward to the meet! More to come, later!

Restaurant review- Luis' Mexican Restaurant, Bellingham, WA

I decided to take my daughter out for dinner a couple of weekends ago after we went to the Big Lots to do some Christmas shopping. We sat in the truck for about 5 minutes between her, my husband (on the phone) and myself trying to figure out which restaurant we were going to go to. I did not want Chinese food, I was in the mood for something different, so I said, "what about Mexican food?" to my daughter, who just poopooed the idea. Then she saw a restaurant by Big Lots and said, "let's go there" and we decided on Luis' Mexican Restaurant.

It's quite festive inside, but the neighborhood that it is in is one that has somewhat of a bad reputation, which is one reason why I am not around that area very often. However, the colors were fun, and we decided to have dinner and ordered take out for my husband. My daughter, Miss Picky U.S.A., decided on nachos (arghhh), and I decided on a combo plate with a chalupa and enchilada. It came with beans and rice. Honestly, it was very bland. I felt like it was missing something, but the service was good despite that. Still, I would have liked more spices. Next time we'll try the restaurant that used to be El Cazador (THAT was good food).

My husband wanted a big burrito, so I got him it, and he too thought it was a bit bland. It's good service, but the food lacked the spices I was hoping for!

You can find Luis' Mexican Restaurant at:

1538 Birchwood Ave # B
Bellingham, WA 98225
(360) 756-8973

Goodies from home

I love my mom. She knows how much I miss California and the ease of buying the little things, such as Mochiko rice flour, without spending an arm and a leg on it (seriously- $3/box at Haggen's? Are you for real?). So in the beginning of the week last week she told me she was sending me a box of goodies for my daughter and myself, and I had a hunch it was Mochiko! It came to me and it was not only boxes of Mochiko, but Yan Yan (the little cylinder with chocolate dipping sauce and those sweet little sticks), Happy Panda (panda cookies with chocolate), Shrimp Chips (which I really don't care for, but I thought it was sweet of her!), and Jack & Jill Chocolate Covered Pretzels, the stuff you find in Asian stores. It totally brought me back home and I called my mom to thank her.

As I have mentioned before, my Nana used to take me with her to her favorite Filipino store, which no longer exists (Fajilan's), in Seaside, California, and I used to get Pocky (the strawberry covered sticks) or Botan (rice paper covered candy which was nasty but we loved it because the rice paper melted in your mouth), or some Kangkanin if they made it (it was my favorite too and I'm still dying to try to find that recipe!). Good memories. Nana will be 87 next year and she is still doing well, has a few health concerns, but she is still strong and I finally called her last week after a cute little lady I spoke with on the phone at work told me to never forget to call my grandmas! I tried my other Grandma too but I missed her! I'll try next week...

I am fortunate to have a loving family. I miss them but at least there is the phone!

NFB: Bad, bad week

Did you just ever have a week that made it so unbearable you did not want to face work? That's how I felt this week. Just a sorry week is all. Right now is our busy season where I work and I can kiss my holidays goodbye. That honestly has me in a bit of a funk, but what can you do?

I am glad it is the weekend, but right now I am feeling extremely down and bummed. Between work and home, I feel like I cannot keep up. I'm just exhausted.

All of that, and I STILL need snow tires for my truck!

Thanks for reading/listening to my whine.

Restaurant review- Oriento, Bellingham, WA

My husband took us out for dinner and knowing how badly I have been craving Chinese food, took us out to a restaurant we were recommended by someone I met a while back. We went to Oriento, which is down on the Guide Meridian in Bellingham, WA and is across the street from one of our favorite pizzerias in Whatcom County- Cascade Pizza.

Again, I did not take pictures. We ordered a kid's plate for my daughter, which was a big plate, it consisted of a deep fried won ton with cream cheese (yikes!), fried rice, sweet n sour pork, and french fries. I think there was something else but all of that grease did not sit too well with her later...she wasn't feeling too well later on. My husband and I decided on a dinner combo that was about $11.95/per person and it came with pork fried rice, beef broccoli, sweet n sour pork, egg rolls and I believe Egg Flour soup. My husband ordered a side of Teriyaki Beef, as well. Overall, I liked what I ate, but I was not too impressed with the Teriyaki Beef, however, the vegetables in it were very crisp and fresh. Next time I would like to try their "Singing Rice Soup" which is known as "Sizzling Rice Soup" where I'm from!

We spent a little over $50 including tip, it was not too bad for all of the food we ate, and we had leftovers for the next night's dinner.

Oriento is located at:

2500 Meridian St
Bellingham, WA 98225
(360) 733-3322

I realize I am so far behind

and I want to apologize to my readers. I am extremely busy right now with work, PTO stuff and trying to get the student directory done for our school. It's no excuse, I should at least put some time aside, but I have not.

I do realize I still need to review Oriento in Bellingham, and now I also need to add Luis' Mexican Restaurant to that as well (another Bellingham restaurant). I recently decided that every other week I will take my daughter out for a Mommy-Daughter type of day where we go to the park, museum or something and then we go to a restaurant we have not been to- specifically ethnic cuisines we have not tried. I think it will a good experience for the both of us, considering we are both very picky eaters.

I will be back though, I promise! I am so behind on baking and my crockpot meals it's not even funny. I haven't baked in well over a month and I barely got the stew meat to make my crockpot meals. I need some more energy and time! Time is my worst enemy.

Thanks for still reading me despite my sabbatical!