OIP Week 8 - Shop Till You Drop

What better way to end off a rough week than with some shopping therapy? Jieqi and I took off with the Portland gang on Saturday morning to Seattle Premium Outlet, which boasts over a hundred different shops and brands, and impressive sales which would drive the most avid window shoppers insane with temptation.

Can you feel your wallet shrinking yet?

Our first order of business was food. We stopped by the foodcourt for some Ranch Chicken. Unfortunately, the chicken tenders weren’t all that tender, and the meal was overpriced for its quality. Not that we were expecting better—after all, it was a tourist trap. Still, we took what we got and ate enough to energise ourselves for the shopping journey ahead.

I take crappy photos.

The gang broke up into smaller groups for functionality’s sake. Our group, consisting of five handsome young men, met its first ordeal at the Disney Outlet Store. I walked away with a couple of plushies and a box of Marvel’s Avengers figurines, and USD30+ poorer.

Oh there you are, Perry!

Next came a volley of brands and factory outlets: Puma, Adidas, Nike, A&F, Hollister, GAP, Under Armour, Guess, Levi’s etc. You name it, they had it. The group took several hits to their wallets, but found a soothing balm at The Fudgery, a dessert place that specialised in fudge, ice-cream and shakes. Kok bought a large double-scoop cone, with caramel and cheesecake-flavoured ice-cream. I got a cookies-n-cream Fudge Chiller, which was basically a milkshake with fudge. My professional advice? Share the damn thing. It was delicious, but there was too much of it and after a while it became a chore to finish.

That's one monster of a cone.

One of our last stops was a chance encounter. We stumbled upon a place called Hot Topic, which sold novelty goods designed around cartoons, anime and pop culture. Everything from shirts to bags to earrings to hairclips, slapped on with all sorts of motifs. Possibly most of our time was spent there, and while I didn’t get anything (unfortunately), the others eventually walked out with bags full of loot.

Feels like a Stitch endorsement.

Tired and hungry, our group decided to head down to Chinatown in Seattle for dinner and grocery-shopping. Uwajimaya is an Asian supermarket specialising in Chinese, Japanese, Korean and other Asian goods. Its premises also house a Kinokuniya and a foodcourt with Vietnamese, Korean, Hawaiian and Thai specialty vendors.

I know what you're thinking. Where's the damn food porn?

We had our dinner first at the foodcourt. I patronised the Korean BBQ stall, which sold a fusion blend of Korean and Japanese food. They had good kimchi and beef bulgogi. We ate (and I neglected to take a picture) and went about our grocery shopping, stocking on banana milk, Thai milk tea, mini cream puffs, sushi rice, enoki mushrooms and *gasp* Kobe beef.

The drive home was pleasantly filled with anecdotes of our various travel experiences and recommendations. We arrived at our apartment with our groceries at about 9pm, having spent a full 12 hours or so in the city.  

The next day, Samantha brought the Catholic Trio to Boiling Point, a Chinese hotpot restaurant near Bella Bottega. I ordered the lamb hotpot, which came with a delicious mess of kiam cai (pickled vegetables), enoki mushrooms, vermicelli, egg, fishcakes and lamb, amongst other ingredients.

Not the same as MTV's Boiling Points.

Finally, after a solid hour of soaking in the pool, Gang B207 retired for a hearty dinner with stir-fried Kobe beef and sushi rice cooked with salt and brown sugar. A fitting end to a beautiful weekend. Cheers~

E/N: I nearly forgot. My good friend Farris Chua AKA Drift Daren is one amazing handsome dude. Any girl would be lucky to have this humorous, warm-hearted and considerate guy to call her own. If I had a picture of him I'd post it up, but the blog will probably crash at the sheer weight of his awesomeness. (Y)