seattle snacking: a gluten free guide to eating in seattle! (part 2)

Because we are just visiting Seattle, I don't have access to all my gluten free kitchen items. While we have picked up a few basics to have with us on vacation, eating out is just something we can't avoid. I realized a few days into our trip, though, that this didn't have to be a stressful thing to deal with! With some research, planning, and iPhone apps like Find Me Gluten Free, we have found several safe restaurants, bakeries, and snack shops around the Seattle area!

To see the first set of Seattle restaurant reviews, check out the first Seattle Snacking blog entry!

Our week in Seattle has been extremely packed, with airport trips, college reunion, engagement parties, and catching up with people. We've got several friends here, all of them having different tastes in food (and some with allergies and preferences of their own). Friday's challenge was to find a restaurant that catered to Celiacs as well as vegetarians/vegans. A friend of ours suggested a restaurant called Plum Bistro, a completely organic and vegetarian restaurant with some gluten free options. They also had a few corn free options as well, so we didn't have to modify any of the menu items to find something safe for me to eat. Our party included a few vegetarians, several avid meat eaters, and of course, one Celiac. Plum had several options to satisfy all of us, though I did have to walk through the entire menu with the server to find something that was truly gluten free. Some of the options had no gluten ingredients but were cooked alongside other items that weren't necessarily safe. They were incredibly knowledgeable, though, and helpful in letting me know what would be safe for me as opposed to someone who might just be avoiding gluten for other reasons.

I finally settled on the tempeh vermouth, which was absolutely fabulous! The vermouth added a smooth taste to the tempeh, and the olive oil base and kalamata olives paired nicely with the pan-seared mashed potatoes and brocolli. Even the water tasted good, served in canning jars with cucumber and lemon.

Everyone else seemed pleased with their choices as well, and though the food was a bit pricey, it was well worth the visit! I highly recommend this restaurant, especially if you have friends who are vegetarian or vegan.

Saturday was a foodie feast! I spent the day with Victoria, who lives in the U District. Though she doesn't have any food allergies or vegan preferences, she does try to eat whole foods without all the chemicals when she can. She pointed out that a vacation is all about visiting and eating together, and she was adamant that she was going to give me that experience despite my limitations.

We went to lunch at a restaurant called Thrive, which was one of the first completely gluten free and vegan restaurants in the country. They are also 95% organic, 95% raw, and 100% delicious.

As we walked in, all I could think about was the smell of cilantro wafting through the door, as I wondered if I could find something on the menu that might blend that cilantro with cucumber. We walked in, and the kitchen manager (Jorge) pointed at each of us in turn and predicted our orders. We kind of smiled at him and then looked at his suggestions. Mine, the Buddha Bowl, had...you guessed it...cilantro sauce and cucumbers in addition to toasty kale chips, bella burger crumbles, quinoa, and cashew onion sauce. Knowing I had the choice of anything on the menu (ALL gluten free AND corn free!!) was such a liberating feeling, so I looked through the menu before settling on his first suggestion.

I wasn't sorry - it was a fresh blend of warm and cold deliciousness and we both felt that "just-enough-food" fullness when we finished our half bowls. We also had smoothies, of course. I had the Sweet Tart, which was a perfect blend of strawberry and lime juice, while Victoria got a mint+chocolaty paradise called the Oh My Wonka. We were also given complimentary shots of the Nourish (a green smoothie consisting of kale, banana, almond milk, dates, and celery) to finish up the meal.

What a wonderful experience! I am hoping to visit Thrive again before we leave Seattle!

After we left Thrive, we headed toward a bakery Victoria was positively adamant about visiting. Jodee's Desserts, like Thrive, is vegan, organic, and gluten free. We had a great time talking with Jodee and learning her story. She had relatives with food allergies and medical problems. She knew that food additives, overuse of refined sugar, and unhealthy eating had a huge effect on overall health, so she sought to create food that tasted great and was made of healthy ingredients. She attended Living Light Culinary School in Fort Bragg, California, where she learned to create raw, vegan foods and desserts. Eventually she moved back to Seattle (where she originally worked at Thrive!) and then opened up her own bakery.

She had several questions about our time in Japan and we had a great time chatting and talking about personal experiences. What a great company and a great lady! I had a slice of the chocolate peppermint pie, which was light and airy, with a delightful coconutty crust.

We noticed Jodee had bread displayed, and she mentioned that it's made by a local pizzeria. I've been trying to find a gluten free bread that consistently tastes good and can be shipped to us in Japan, and she said she'd look into it, so I'm excited about that possible prospect! Jodee also suggested we stop by the pizzeria to try the bread before spending the money to ship it all the way to us.

Later that afternoon, we visited Razzi's Pizzeria to inquire about the bread. What we got was a meal and a story. Amir Razzaghi was the franchise owner of Romio's Pizza on Greenwood in Seattle. A few years ago, the Romio's chain did a gluten free promotion. The response at the Greenwood location was unprecedented, with a large number of new customers consistently eating at the restaurant. Romio's eventually ended the promotion, much to the chagrin of many of their customers. Amir was unyielding in his desire to continue offering gluten free options, and eventually left the franchise and reopened the restaurant with the name Razzi's Pizzeria. Since then he has continued to expand and perfect his gluten free menu. He offers four different menus, including gluten free and vegan options.

I explained to him that we had talked to Jodee about the bread, and he told us to go sit down and he'd bring some out. Little did we know he had made us fresh breadsticks and pita bread, complete with dipping sauces! All of his gluten free breads are made from organic sorghum, and they are delicious! In fact, it was so delicious that I took Ben back there for a late dinner after our friend's engagement party.

We decided to each get a small pizza so we'd have leftovers for the next day. I got a vegan/gluten free pizza with Italian sorta-sausage and Daiya cheese - it was spectacular and it was nice knowing I could get a pizza that was not only gluten free, but lactose free as well. Ben got a gluten free pizza with Gorgonzola and we split some vegan mozzarella sticks. We were both happy with our choices! When our server asked if we wanted dessert, I remembered Jodee saying that Razzi's used her pies on their dessert menu so I made Ben get a piece so he could taste what I had been talking about all day! His consensus matched mine and it was the first time we felt a little sad that we didn't live in the states.

Overall, we miss Japan immensely already and are excited that we get to visit the states but return to Japan in August. Knowing that we can find restaurants that are healthy and won't make me sick, plus taste great with a nice variety, has already made our summer trip an amazing one!

the amazing race, wind-swept umbrellas, kebabs, and the search for wonderland

Our last day in Tokyo was a wet one. Having diligently watched the weather reports for our weekend, we were expecting this and planned as many indoor activities as we could for the afternoon. The morning was bright and beautiful, though, and we started it out Amazing Race style.

Since the night bus back to Misawa left at 9 pm, we knew we'd have a huge amount of time to hang out in Tokyo prior to leaving. We did, however, want to make sure we knew exactly where to go since the terminal was not at Shinjuku Station. We had some rudimentary directions in Japlish on how to get to the terminal, and the three of us were having quite the time trying to figure out the best way to get there (especially since we'd have all of our luggage when going to catch the bus later that night.)

We finally decided to go about it Amazing Race style and each go our own ways. Ben chose the underground and walked through a several-kilometer-long cobblestone tunnel that runs underneath Shinjuku. I took to the streets and navigated through the Shinjuku district above ground (of course, this was right around the time it decided to start raining). Devon braved the subway system and had to find her way to the platform inside Shinjuku Station.

We all arrived within 10 minutes of each other, with Ben in the lead. So with our plans set in place for that evening, we were free to spend the rest of the day exploring more of Tokyo.

 Ben's photo after arriving at the terminal.

 Devon's adventure through the subway system.

My view as I reached our destination.

We jumped back on the subway and headed back to Roppongi. We had seen it at night but wanted to go up into the Mori Building to see the amazing view of Tokyo. As we arrived in Roppongi, we realized we hadn't eaten since our Starbucks early in the morning. We stopped at a hole-in-the-wall kebab place and had the best 500 yen meal we've had since arriving in Japan. After we finished, we walked back to the spider and tried to take a few pictures. I say "tried," because the wind and rain picked up so heavily that we had to seek cover almost immediately. I did get the camera out just in time to capture Devon's umbrella finally yielding to the wind. Needless to say, she wasn't too happy that her umbrella only made it through the morning.

We found the entrance to the Mori Building and rode the elevator up 51 floors to the observation deck. From there, we had a panoramic view of the entire city. Being the most populated city in the world, you can imagine there was quite a bit to see. The city looked beautiful in the rain and we spent quite a bit of time just watching. We eventually left the observation deck and took a tour through the most current exhibit in the Mori Art Museum.

The evening was supposed to be the best part - the thing I wanted to do the most in Japan was to eat at one of Tokyo's three Alice in Wonderland themed restaurants. We had read about them pretty soon after moving here, and I couldn't wait to dine among the huge daffodils and card shaped tables. It took a bit of navigating to find the restaurant, which ended up being below the basement of a huge building not too far from one of Shinjuku Station's 200 exits. Though I had called ahead and was told they didn't take reservations, we were turned away because we didn't have one. They did, however, let me walk through and take some photos before we left. I was incredibly upset until Ben found directions to its sister restaurant, which was also Alice themed. That restaurant, too, was packed and was only available with reservations.

At the end of our ropes, we finally settled for a small restaurant that served shabu shabu. This is a Korean meal that consists of boiled vegetables and meat cooked at your table. It was similar to yakiniku, except everything was soft and moist instead of grilled. The meal turned out to be a great experience despite our earlier disappointment. We'll just have to try Alice again next time we're in Tokyo!

After dinner we headed back to Shinjuku, picked up our baggage, and navigated our way to the bus terminal using Ben's underground route from the morning. We caught the bus and did our best to sleep on the way back up to Misawa. When we arrived, we immediately realized we were home because of the snow on the ground.

Though we had an amazing trip, it was good to be home! We can't wait to plan out our next trip to the biggest city in the world!

of mythical anime creatures, food-serving ninjas, and giant metal spiders

Day 2 of our trip to Tokyo was just as productive as the first day. We left the hotel in the morning for Shinjuku Station. We navigated through several stations to head to the Studio Ghibli Museum. We were excited to visit the museum, as we had all watched and enjoyed several of the Ghibli movies. The museum held amazing movie memorabilia, including original artwork from the movies. There was a giant Totoro at the ticket office, a Laputa robot from "Castle in the Sky" on the roof, and a Ghibli short film only viewable at the museum. Their gift shop was great, and we bought a puzzle and frame of a scene from "Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind," Ben's favorite Ghibli movie.

After a few hours at the museum, we walked through the nearby park to see more sakura blossoms. It was beautiful, though windy.

We trekked back to the stations, dropped our goodies off at the hotel, and then headed back to the station to head to Ninja Akasaka. This was one of the things I was most looking forward to about our trip to Tokyo. The restaurant was dark and unassuming from the outside, as if it didn't want to be seen. Very ninja!

We went in, and the hostess explained that we'd have to trek to the ninja village to go through our "ninja training." She yelled something in Japanese and out of a secret door came our ninja leader. She led us through a dark labyrinth that included pits of lava and being chased by other ninjas. We finally made it to the ninja camp and were led into our dining area. This was an enclosed tatami room where we were introduced to our ninja server. We then experienced some of the most amazing food we'd ever seen and a ninja magic show that blew our minds.

After Ninja Akasaka, we wandered around the area of the restaurant. We found an awesome car dealership that sold Bugatti Veyrons! I'd never seen one in person and was ecstatic. Then we saw one of Tokyo's car rotators in action! A woman drove her car into the little garage area, got out of the car, turned the rotator on, drove it into the car elevator, and then pushed in the number for her spot. The garage did everything else! She found it amusing that all three of us had our phones out to video tape it!

Our last adventure of the night was visiting Roppongi Hills. I wanted to visit the area at night to photograph the huge spider sculpture and the Mori Building. It was a nice night for walking, and we had all the pent-up energy after sitting at the Ninja restaurant for several hours!

We made it back to the hotel around midnight and sunk into bed, exhausted.

let's get ready for some baseball!

A few months ago, I wrote a blog post about our harrowing (ok, it wasn't really harrowing, but it was pretty entertaining) journey to purchase baseball tickets in Tokyo for the opening series of the MLB 2012 season. (It's here if you want to read that part to catch up.)

After the baseball tickets were purchased, we navigated Japanese websites to book seats on the overnight bus, called hotels in Tokyo to make reservations, and made another trip to that special machine at the Lawson's to get the Studio Ghibli tickets. When that was done, there was really nothing to do but...wait.

School was a distraction, as we had Terra Nova testing and Read Across America week. The few days before our trip seemed to sneak up on us!

And then finally, we were on the bus, headed for Tokyo.

The bus was just another testimony to the amazingness that is Japan. It was incredibly efficient and just about as comfortable as a bus with upright seats could be. We all slept at least a few hours, and around 6 am, we were dropped off at Shinjuku Station.

                           

I could write a whole blog post (or several) about the station itself. If we saw nothing in Tokyo but this station, it still would have been worth it. The busiest train station in the world, it's estimated that more than 3 million people pass through at least one of its terminals daily. It's at least a square kilometer in length and has more than 200 entrances and exits. It's got 29 platforms and railway tracks spanning 5 different levels (there is a level several floors underground that has walkways leading to city blocks that are several kilometers away), an entire mall, and at least three different Starbuck's coffee shops. Knowing this now, I wouldn't have felt bad that we seemed to wander around the station for about 45 minutes before figuring out where we needed to go.

We finally found our way, put our luggage into lockers near the terminal we'd need to use to get to our hotel later in the day, and headed out the south exit to find what we hoped would be a Starbuck's. After the long night and the crazy morning, we all needed to take a breather, charge our phones/gps's, and relax for a while. Between our broken Japanese and the locals' broken English, we were able to find it. We sat for nearly an hour, enjoying our mochas and Japanese pastries, charging our phones, and people watching. It was a great hour of relaxation.

After our time at the Starbucks, we meandered through Shinjuku as we found our way to Shinjuku Gyoen, the Imperial Gardens. On our way, we passed a Krispy Kreme (which none of us had seen since leaving the states), the tracks entering the station, and several great Japanese neighborhoods.

The garden was about a mile away from the station. We arrived, paid the admission, and entered. As we wandered around, we noticed that a few of the sakura trees had blossomed! We had been hoping to see the blossoms while in Tokyo, and we were on the front end of the two week span. Several others had crowded around the few trees, but we were able to get in and get some pictures while we were there! I can't imagine how beautiful the park would have been in the height of the sakura season!

One of the things we had planned to do if there was time was to visit Yokota Air Base. Yokota has a Chili 's and we had been craving some good American food for a few months. After we finished at Shinjuku Gyoen, we walked to the nearest train station and rode to Fussa. We then took a taxi to the Yokota gate and walked to Chili's. It was about an hour one-way, and completely worth the detour! We feasted on ribs and enchilada soup and reminisced about our favorite restaurants in the states.

After traveling back to Shinjuku from Yokota, we stopped at the lockers to retrieve our luggage and then caught another train toward our hotel. The directions weren't perfect, but we found the hotel and checked in. We were exhausted and napped for a half hour before heading toward Tokyo Dome City for the baseball game.

The stadium holds 47,000 people and there were no empty seats. I kept hoping throughout the game that we wouldn't experience an earthquake while there! The Mariners played the A's and we had a great time showing the locals the American way to cheer for your team. They got a kick out of us and we soon had our neighbors clapping along with the cheers and songs. We lost the game, but everyone was a good sport about it. Then, it was time to leave. The 47,000 members of the crowd stood up and left simultaneously, and yet it was the most organized departure from a stadium I've ever encountered. No pushing or shoving, and we were out within a few minutes. After leaving the stadium, we found a British pub for after-game snacks. We finally made it back to the hotel for some much-needed sleep around 11 pm, not believing how much we accomplished in one day!