Plum Sauce two ways

Sweet Plum Sauce

I've mentioned the damson plum tree before. Well, last year it didn't do much fruiting. This year, though, it's back on form. And it's harvest time.

Plums on the tree

The trouble is, they're not eating plums; too tart. I made plum jam a few years ago. The recipe called for so much sugar to offset the acid that I could barely eat it, in the end. And it gets tiresome after a while anyway.

Lots of plums

But, being cheap as I am, I couldn't sit around and watch all of the plums fall to the ground to rot. So this weekend I collected a colander full and got down to making some sauces.

The first was a chinese style sauce. Tangy, spicy, garlicy, salty. I started with this recipe, but I didn't follow along exactly.

Chinese style plum sauce

The second was a plum version of cranberry sauce. We were having roast chicken and I thought it appropriate. It was sweeter, and chunkier, but still very plummy (photo at the top). This one I more or less made up. About 12 plums, about a third of cup of sugar, some orange juice, and a pinch of salt.

It was very tasty on that roast chicken. I'm going to make some dumplings or something for the chinese sauce.

Uptown China

Uptown China combines two extremely rare things in Seattle: decent chinese food and delivery. Though it's far from authentic, it's easily the best chinese I've found outside of the ID. And it's certainly the best non-pizza delivery in LQA.

signed, sealed*, delivered, oh yeah
*loosely

This is what it's all about. When food shows up magically at your door you know you've arrived. Because, you know, you haven't gone anywhere... er. you know what I mean. I really don't know why there's not more delivery around here. But at least there's uptown.

chang sa chicken

The food is pretty good for american style chinese food. The chicken is good quality, etc. Everything was decent tasting but kind of bland, exactly as you'd expect. Not what I'm looking for all the time, but there are days when it's perfect.

broccoli with garlic sauce

And, as with all delivery, the big question is 'how is it the next morning'? Survey says: I wish we ordered more.

[where: 200 Queen Anne Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109]

Julie's Garden

Pioneer Square is overrun with Thai, Phở and Teriyaki places. It leaves little room for Chinese (of course, that could be said for Seattle in general). But it's not to say P-square is devoid of Chinese; it does have Julie's Garden.

It's odd; it's just a couple blocks from the office, but nobody at work had heard of it. I admit, my awareness is recent too. It's just across the street from Phở & Bubble Tea Express, and next to Cafe Paloma. How did I not see it? Well, it's certainly not ostentatious.

Julie's Garden

Now, down to the food. I've only been once, obviously since I just found it. It seems pretty americanized. I had the special, which I chose in the interest of speed (a trick which worked, btw). It was General Tso's Chicken, which is about as Chinese as I am, ie. 0%. Personally, Amero-Chinese doesn't bother me, but it is important to manage expectations. It's basically it's own category. I think I'll add a label.

The Special

The Special was actually more than just the sweet, breaded chicken. The egg roll, hot and sour soup, and the rice; all for $7 and tax. You might not be surprised to hear that it's not the best food ever. But it was decent, solid fare.

I will make one complaint. I asked for 5 stars. That's 5. Five more than none. But it wasn't spicy at all. Granted, my capsicum tolerance is higher than your average bear, but I should have felt something. The cloyingly sweet sauce seemed to drown out the spice altogether.

Not very hot, kinda sour

The soup was pretty tasty. Again, not the best ever, but corn-starchily soupy (by which I mean, sort of thick with a nice mouth feel). There was definitely some sour going on. Again, the absence of spice reared it's bland head.

Conclusion: Yet another decent, cheap place for lunch in Pioneer Square. It's on the repeat-visit list.

[where:81 Yesler Way, Seattle, WA 98104]

speedi meals!

You might think it, but this is not going to become a Uwajimaya blog. I promise. But there's just so much fun stuff there. The Laws of Chance prove that two Uwajimaya finds are going to come up in a week sometimes. Maybe. I don't know. My stats professor wasn't very good.

So check it out. Fried rice noodles in a box. It's about two dollars, and it takes two minutes to nuke. I think that makes it a twofer. Does that make this twofer tuesday? [dude, it's Wednesday. -ed] Can we all agree to never use the word 'twofer' again? Ok, good.

Fried Rice Noodles in a box

What we're talking about here is some major convenience food. It comes in a pouch, in a box. You take it out, stick it in a bowl, and nuke it for 2 minutes. Then, as you can see, you cover it in hot pepper sauce to cover the flavor. The smell is reminiscent of canned dog food.

Fried Rice Noodles in a bowl

But you know me. A slight dog-food smell is not enough to dissuade me from dropping some science. And by science I mean I tried another flavor. It's not exactly science. More sort of... obstinance. Obstiscience then? But it did mean I hit on the good flavor: Cantonese Glutinous Fried Rice.

Cantonese Glutinous Fried Rice in a box

I actually liked this one. I'd get it again. It's much less dog-foody. Ricey. Gluteny. Fake meaty (also gluteny). What more could you want?

Cantonese Glutinous Fried Rice in a bowl

And there are are some mushrooms or something. I think I need to keep some of these on hand. You never know when you're going to be trapped in your apartment with no rice.

Hing Loon Seafood Restaurant

I saw Hing Loon Seafood on msg150 a while back, and thought it looked good. So I went, and it was. The shocking thing is that I did this weeks ago and am just now getting around to telling you about it.

Better late than never.

Hing Loon is a solid, down to earth, borderline $$ Chinese restaurant. They do more than just seafood, but when a restaurant puts an ingredient in it's name it's a good bet that it's their specialty. So seafood it was!

Fish hot pot with tofu and mushrooms. Everything that I love.

The fish hot pot was great. The fish came in the form of dense doughy balls. There were a couple different kinds, both tasty. Over all it was pretty mild and it glistened with corn starch.

Kung Pao Prawns. Shrimpy goodness.

The Kung Pao was pretty standard, but it had prawns! And, as a bonus, they were not overcooked and were, in fact, very tasty.

The outside

Urbanspoon says it's $$. You can probably keep it under $ if you skip the seafood and go for the cheaper ingredients, like chicken. It's probably still good.

[where: 628 S Weller St., Seattle, WA, 98104]

Pike Place Chinese Cuisine

Pike Place market is crazy busy on weekends, and I hate crowds. It's a good thing Pike Place Chinese Cuisine is there to provide a refuge for the misanthropes. And also quite passable Chinese food. And pretty fantastic views. I mean, check this out. Nice right?

That's a view that I enjoy, um, viewing

And it really is, often, much quieter than the surrounding market. Except when it's not. But when it is... Oh, when it is!

And the food's pretty good too. Seattle has very little Chinese food that even counts as decent, especially outside of the ID. I really like the hot and sour soup, so I'll show you a picture of that.

It's actually spicy!

I'm not going to tell you that PPCC is in any way authentic Chinese food. But it is authentic American-Chinese food. It's really it's own genre (but I'm not bothering with extra tags, so neagh).

Nothing says 'Chinese food' like 'curry'. err...

All the food has that great corn-starch thickness that one has come to expect from American-Chinese food. It's all a bunch of bits next to a pile of rice. But despite the surface similarities, everything really does have a distinct, tasty flavor.

Garlic and chicken make a good combo

It's really small, and right downstairs from the fish place on the right (where the flowers and bric-a-brac starts, you know the place). They also have takeout, but I don't really know why you'd go and not look out the window.

Cool window, but I'd like a table.

[where: 1533 Pike Pl, Seattle, WA 98101]

bamboo garden

I have a lot of favorites. Bamboo Garden is one of them. It's a cheap, all vegan, Chinese restaurant, and easy to get to.

the sign comes with real bamboo!

Strangely enough, pure vegetarian restaurants are rare in Seattle. So, pretty much every vegetarian in town knows about this place already. But it's not all about the tofu and TVP. A lot of omnivores are down with BG too. This may be because we're even shorter on good Chinese food than the vegetarian.

friedee balls (Mandarin Chicken)
a great bet for non-vegetarians

I don't know why this is. We can hardly walk down the street without tripping over Thai, Teriyaki, Phở and Sushi places, most of them good. Why is it so hard to take Chinese beyond overly MSGed Fried Rice? The only places that seem to be able to do it are the vegetarian ones. Bamboo Garden is on the top of my list of proofs, along with vds and teapot vegetarian house.

Crispy Fried Taro Root Patties

Not that I want to imply that BG is super fancy. It isn't. And it's not authentic either. Well, not authentic to China anyway. It is authentic American Chinese food. Fans of the genre need no further explanation.

Kun Pao Chicken

What it comes down to is good, American-style Chinese food at a fair price. The vegetarian thing is just a bonus. Just go for something fried or plain veg if you're not a fake meat fan.

vds

There's plenty of good vegetarian Chinese food in Seattle. Bamboo Garden, for instance, has been a favorite since I rolled over the I-90 bridge with my carpet bag and my cats. What sets the Vegetarian Bistro apart is the fabulous array of Dim Sum. I can't go to the International District without stopping in for some steamed hum buns.

the "grand opening" sign is gone now

I am about to sing the praises of their little morsels. I don't want to give the impression that the main courses are in any way lacking. The orange chicken is fantastic, as is the szechuan beef. And remember, this is the Vegetarian Bistro, so all meats are fake. In fact, everything is vegan. (Carnivores, stop your whining, if you take it on it's own terms you'll probably like it. The fake chicken is more approachable than the fake beef. Start there.)

tea is served, everything is green

Now, on to the dim sum. There is a lot here. They've added some items since they printed the menus, so it pays to ask for help. But be careful or they'll talk you in to ordering everything.

Every time I go I leave with a new favorite thing. This time it was the fried radish cakes. They're crispy on the outside, gooey in the middle and subtly salty. There is not a very strong radish flavor at all (which I was happy about).

fried radish cakes

The radish cakes pushed the sticky rice out of the top slot. Which had pushed out the deep fried mashed potatoes (great with just a touch of soy sauce). Which had pushed out the steamed hum buns.
...
Who am I kidding. They're all my favorites. All perfect in their own way.

deep fried mashed potato, sticky rice,
steamed hum buns (front to back)

The hum buns are barbecue pork in a fluffy steamed bun. And it's Chinese barbecue so it's salty and sweet and deep deep red. I could live on them.

The sticky rice is also subtly seasoned. It's got a little bit pork and veg mixed in and comes wrapped in bamboo leaves. It really is sticky enough to eat with chopsticks.

inside the bamboo leaves, sticky rice!

Conlusion.
VDS at VB rocks. Worth going out of your way for. It's been to long since you've been to the ID. Go now.