Rave - Another great toy store

Today husband, baby girl and I visited another great Seattle Toy Store, Izilla Toys. We found these great vehicle toys from a line called Viking Toys. They are plastic with rubber wheels, if you have hardwood floors this is a MUST toy. It rolls like a dream. I don't remember where they were made exactly, Sweden maybe, but I know it was not China. Google them and buy them up!
Baby girl was having fun crawling around and looking at everything. I know future birthday and Christmas presents will be found there.

Dinner was at our favorite sushi restaurant Hana on Capitol Hill. Their California Rolls are the BEST!!! I ate 3 all by myself.

And we stopped at Top Ten so Hubby could see. Baby girl was again excited to see Rody Pony, she seems to love him. We picked up some wood blocks, made in USA and a toy boat made in Austria.

Rant - Should bicycles really be on the road??

So today Hubby, baby and I were driving back from dinner at Zaks in Ballard and there was quite a lot of traffic on 15th/Holman Road. As we came upon a bicyclist we had to slow way down because we could not go around him without getting into the lane next to us, which was packed. So we along with other cars had to slow down and wait to pass him.
This got us talking about how there is not enough room to pass a bicyclist on the roads safely. But if we were to come to a stop light or sign the bicyclist usually always pass the cars and go right beside the car first at the stop light/sign. Which makes it hard to pass them, and I'm sorry but the car will be faster than the bicycle. They should have to stop where ever the last car is.

I'm sure you have all seen the signs on mountain roads that say slow vehicles with so many cars behind them must use the turnout to let them pass. Could we not apply this to our city roads also???

Continuing on our way our light was red as we came to the intersection of Holman & Greenwood Ave. In front of us was another bicyclist, who decided not to obey the light and proceeded to go through it. This is something that is very common among bicyclist I see while driving around town. Seriously I wonder why there aren't MORE accidents between cars and bicycles. I myself have almost hit 2. Neither one would have been my fault but that is small consolation knowing how much damage the bicyclist would have received.

So I ask the question:
So how safe really is it to have bicycles on our roadways which were designed for motor vehicles?

This is a two-fer Rant.
As we were making are way east through the light on Holman across Greenwood a Police Car with it's lights on was traveling west. Due to the cars and lights he decided to drive west on the outside east bound lane. Which is fine for them to do. But as he passed us we noticed he was holding the steering wheel with his left hand while his right arm was across the back of the seat. Is this really the safe driving position especially when you are driving in the oncoming lane at a high speed????

Rave - Zaks a burger joint

Hubby took the day off so we could get ready for our daughter's first birthday next weekend. While we were out and about we decided to have lunch out. Since we were in Ballard we strolled around till something caught our eye. And then we came upon Zaks. There was a little area where we could eat outside in the shade of an umbrella so we sat down.
Hubby ordered a Cheeseburger, fries and an Arnold Palmer. I ordered a Hamburger, onion rings and an Arnold Palmer. An Arnold Palmer is half lemonade and half ice tea. When our order arrived the meals looked great, but would they taste good too? I have to say it was the best burger I think I have EVER had anywhere!! Hubby ranks Fat Burger a 10 and Zaks a 9, but I would rank it a 10.
I've had many burgers in Seattle, Dicks, Burger Master, Kidd Valley, Red Mill (also listed in the order of best to worst) but his is one place I plan on going back to again and again.

Rave - Smartypants, Biryani & Cupcakes

So today started out with the whole family going out to look for lighting. Our first stop was Seattle Design Center. This place is HUGE. Many showrooms with some open to the public, very nice things but spendy.

We wound up buying our 5 can lights at Alexander Lighting.

Next on the agenda was lunch/dinner at Chutney's Bistro in Wallingford at Wallingford Center.. But by the time we arrived it was 3:30 and they were closed. We were VERY hungry but I talked hubby into waiting till 4:30 when the reopened. So we killed some time at Harolds Lighting. Found a great table top fan. and something we didn't expect to see in a lighting store, niches. Now I want to add one to each bedroom!

So back to Wallingford Center we go but Chutney's was not open yet, so we looked around. First thing we saw was Cupcakes. We bought some for dessert. Two Red Velvet, one Hummingbird, one Vanilla Chocolate and a mini Green Tea. I can tell you the Hummingbird and Green Tea cupcakes are delicious. Hubby ate the Vanilla Chocolate and the Red Velvets are for tomorrow's dessert.

I also found Smartypants! I mentioned them in the previous post, they just crack me up.

Lunch/dinner at Chutney's was fantastic as usual. I always get the Lamb Biryani. I must learn how to make this!!