Seattle

Pink Bee Thai Food: Foodie Friday

/ SoyBend / 8 Comments

I visited Pink Bee Thai Food restaurant on a recent trip to Seattle, Washington. We began our meal with Fresh Rolls. The rolls include red leaf lettuce, spinach, Thai basil, mint, shredded carrots, and vermicelli rice. You can include veggies, tofu, or shrimp in the rolls. This dish includes homemade peanut sauce and green Thai chili sauce. This is one of my favorite foods and they were delicious.

Pink Bee fresh rolls

I ordered the Panang Curry & Rice with chicken. This dish includes chicken, beef, or tofu in a broth of coconut milk and Panang curry. The assorted vegetables are topped with a garnish of Thai basil and a carrot floret. The spice level I ordered was medium and it didn’t overwhelm the dish. This dish tasted pretty good and was not overly rich, as some curries with coconut milk can be.

curry

We also ordered the Pad Thai. The stir-fried rice noodles were perfectly cooked with eggs, Chinese chives, preserved radish, red onions, and Tamarind sauce. You can choose to include chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, fried tofu, soft tofu, braised pork, or veggies. The dish was garnished with fresh bean sprouts, green onion, chopped peanuts, a slice of lime, and a carrot rosette. This dish was also very good. I’ve learned from experience that these noodles don’t reheat well so we ate the entire serving.

Pd Thai

Pink Bee Thai Food menu, hours, & location

You can read lots of reviews and look at star ratings when looking for places to eat, but there are other ways to find restaurants worth visiting. There was a continuous line of customers at the Pink Bee. Some were there to pick up an order while others dined there. If you see lots of customers waiting to get in, it gives a good indication of how good their food is.

This family-owned restaurant serves appetizers, salads, soups, noodles, stir-fry, curry, meats & rice, sandwiches, several side dishes, and desserts. Beverages served include Thai ice teas, juice, soda, San Pellegrino, and hot tea.

Pink Bee Thai Food is at 2010 NW 56th St, Seattle, Washington. They are open daily from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm and again from 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

Foodie Friday

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Edits of MoPOP displays: LAPC

/ SoyBend / 16 Comments

Today I’m sharing edits of MoPOP displays I saw in Seattle, Washington. The Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) was founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. The displays feature music, fantasy, horror, science fiction, and more.

My first image shows a still from a video playing on a dragonfly’s eyes. The sculpture itself is beautiful, and seeing a screen on its eyes was unexpected.

For this edit, I cropped out the people at the bottom and used a warming filter to enhance the color.

edits of MoPOP
Dragonfly sculpture

The next picture is of a Borg costume. These part humanoid, part robot beings are first introduced in Star Trek: The Next Generation. They are known for their tagline, “Resistance is futile.”

For this edit of MoPOP displays, I cropped the photo, eliminated reflections, changed it to black and white, and added a dark vignette effect. I didn’t like the dark frame over the head, so I lightened it.

borg costume
Borg

The next image is of the reluctant guard and the cowardly lion costumes from The Wizard of Oz.

The first thing I did in the edit was a perspective correction. It makes the edges you select turn into a square. I cropped the picture and eliminated most of the reflections. This one had a LOT of reflections so I used a scratch remover, cloning tool, and a paintbrush tool. I used a light vignette tool on this image.

guard and lion
edits at MoPOP

I took the next picture in the horror section of MoPOP. The Chucky doll from Child’s Play is in the upper right of the picture. I imagined him waiting patiently for the visitors nearby to get close to him.

For this edit, I cropped the picture, eliminated reflections, and added a red filter. Then I lightened Chucky’s face just a little to highlight his gruesome grin.

Chucky
Chucky doll

Edits of MoPOP iconic sculpture

The last picture is of the massive IF VI WAS IX sculpture. When I decided to feature edits of MoPOP displays, I knew I’d have to include this iconic piece. The museum first opened in 2000, and it was called the Experience Music Project. This sculpture was its centerpiece. Exhibit designer Neal Potter conceived IF VI WAS IX, and sound sculptor Trimpin brought it to life. It includes 500 musical instruments and 30 computers.

I straightened and cropped the photo. Then I eliminated some of the lights and a big sign and dulled the brightness of several spotlights. I decided to leave a couple of visitors in the finished image to show the scale.

Tower of instruments
edits at MoPOP

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – #154/410 – One Photo Edited

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Tropical pitcher plant: FOTD

/ SoyBend / 4 Comments

Tropical pitcher plants are well-named plants. They’re also not quite what they appear to be.

You may think the pitcher is a flower, but it’s actually a leaf. The small flowers grow above the pitcher and look like an upside down umbrella. They appear briefly in the spring.

tropical pitcher plant

There are around 100 plants in the Nepenthes genus, and they have one thing in common: they eat insects. If you grow a tropical pitcher plant, you can feed it diluted fertilizer or live and dried insects.

one cup

These tropical plants are native to parts of Southeast Asia, Australia, Madagascar, and India. Many pitcher plants grow on other plants instead of in the soil. They are known as ‘epiphytes.’

pitcher plant

Tropical pitcher plants can be propagated outside in warm climates, but also do well as houseplants. This plant was thriving at the Volunteer Park Conservatory in Seattle, Washington.

Flower of the Day (FOTD)

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Giant Pacific octopus up close: Macro Monday

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Giant Pacific octopus

Giant Pacific octopus up close vignette

Macro Monday

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Seattle waterfront mural: MM & WWE

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Here are two photos of a Seattle waterfront mural that I took last May. The mural Three Animals was painted in 2024 by Victor Ash. It adorns a wall right next to light rail line.

The murals were painted in celebration of World Environment Day in a partnership with UNEP, United Nations.

Seattle waterfront mural

In the first image, you can see iconic landmarks in the background. Close to the mural, you can spot the Seattle Great Wheel Ferris wheel. In the background, you’ll see Lumen Field and T-Mobile Park sports stadiums.

Seattle waterfront mural

In the second photo, you get a great view of the Norwegian Bliss, a cruise ship that is part of Norwegian Cruise Lines.

I like the close up perspective of the animal’s heads in this Seattle waterfront mural. They must look amazing from the light rail!

Monday Mural (MM)

Water Water Everywhere (WWE)

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Pike Place Fish Co: One-to-Three Processing Challenge

/ SoyBend / 12 Comments

On a recent trip to Seattle, I visited Pike Place Fish Co. at the Pike Place Market. There are lots of opportunities for photography at the Market. On the day I visited, it was packed with people.

I used Corel PaintShopPro 2021 for different photo processing effects on this picture of the Pike Place Fish Co. booth. In the original image I slightly increased the contrast and fill light and cropped the edges. Use the slider to view each effect compared to the original.

The first one shows the original photograph and the same picture with a Cross Process effect. For this image I went to Effects>Photo Effects>Time Machine>Cross Process. I liked how this effect intensified the colors. The original had a lot of color to begin with.

Pike Place Fish CoCross processing

The next one shows the original photograph and the same picture with a Film & Filters effect. For this image I went to Effects>Photo Effects>Film & Filters>Enhanced Reds>Cooling filter. I liked how this effect enhanced the red color on the crab, salmon, and spice jars.

Pike Place Fish CoPike Place Fish Co

The last picture of the Pike Place Fish Co. shows an Artistic Effect. For this image processing I went to Effects>Artistic Effects>Colored Edges>Default setting. I used the Fill Flash adjustment to lighten it slightly. I liked the strong outlines and muted colors of this image. It looks like an old-time illustration.

Pike Place Fish CoColored edges

One-to-Three Processing Challenge – May 2025

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Princess Angeline – Pacific Northwest Royalty

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Princess Angeline by Edward S. Curtis. 1899.
Princess Angeline by Edward S. Curtis. 1899.

Did you know that a princess is buried at Lake View Cemetery in Seattle?  I bet many people don’t even know who she was. The woman known as “Princess Angeline” was the daughter of Chief Sealth, aka Chief Seattle or Chief Si’ahl. Born in the early 1800’s, she passed away on May 31, 1896.

I posted a nine-part essay on photographer Edward S. Curtis last year and in Part 3, recalled the importance of Princess Angeline to Curtis’ future career. She was the first Native American that he photographed. He entered several pictures of tribal members in a National Photographic Society contest. Consequently, one photograph won the grand prize and a gold medal.

Princess Angeline's gravestone with Yesler memorial in the background 8July2016
Princess Angeline’s gravestone with Yesler memorial in the background
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