Mee Sum Pastry, Seattle

Barely a month into the move and Seattle has given me a new favorite food: Cantonese hum-bao rolls, steamed pastries filled with anything from BBQ pork (the best) to curry chicken, vegetables, and a lot of other things. There's a lot of confusion surrounding the name, wikipedia has an article about them entitled baozi which has them credited to " the scholar and military strategist Zhuge Liang (3rd century AD)" either way they are absolutely delicious. They're on the menu at Mee Sum Pastry as hum-bao's and insanely delicious there, I've been to their shops in the university district and down by the market downtown and both serve up crazy good chinese bbq pork pastries that always leave me feeling like "I want Mee Sum More."

Blue Scholars Take The Light Rail

"In celebration of Seattle's new 14-mile light rail system, which 92,000 passengers tried out for fun on its inaugural weekend (July 18th), Sabzi of Blue Scholars, rode the environmentally friendly means of transportation to announce the recent deal in which Duck Down Records signs to Blue Scholars to market their upcoming "OOF! EP" available at all digital retail outlets on August 25th. Fans can enjoy a sample of the instrumental named "Postal" playing in the background, which will be available as part of the 5 song/5 instrumental "OOF! EP" project." - via [ the 9 elements ]

Escaping Seattle's Heatwave

i read somewhere that only 13% of seattle has air conditioning. sure seems like it - i'm writing this from the downtown seattle public library, as reviews of it on yelp.com illustrate, it is regarded by some as beautiful and others as an eyesore. to say the least, it's an interesting building and it's very pleasant once you get used to the bizarre layout.

yes, there are a fair number of homeless people but personally i think it gives the space more character and feels like a real public space. it's not the most quiet library in the world (although it's got plenty of cute old lady vigilantes that shuuusshhh at talkers). but everybody's pretty happy to be here. especially today, like i am, most of the people here are trying to get out of the heat. i think the library is a great space, unique, interesting, definitely not boring, but still well divided and extremely practical. and the air conditioning is superb.

Moving

a moving song for moving day - got hooked on this song from the sopranos, the show and this song are both far too good for words

"the voice of my grandfather said to me, the air is precious it shares its spirit with all the life it supports. the wind that gave me my first breath also received my last sigh. you must keep the land & air apart and sacred." - chief seattle

Westward

"Go West, young man, and grow up with the country."

Following in the footsteps of Kerouac & Conan, I've finally decided to move to the West Coast after all. Despite Seattle's reputation for gloomy weather, I have long wanted to wander the same streets as Dr. Frasier Crane did only a handful of years ago. On a more serious note, I visited last summer and it's a beautiful city and one of the greenest cities in the country, and I'm hoping to find opportunities in sustainable architecture while I'm continuing my studies. Although I guess it's a big move, I feel inspired by the way Jack Kerouac describes the move Westward in On The Road as a kind of spiritual migration for him.

migrations - labguest