The wait is over... Trap Karaoke hits Seattle 8/20

After waiting for what seemed like forever, Trap Karaoke is finally coming to Seattle!! They'll be the opening act for the 2 Chainz "Pretty Girls Like Trap Music" Tour hitting Showbox Sodo on Sunday, August 20th. I've never been to Showbox Sodo before, but have heard the venue isn't the best for securing a decent view. I typically prefer Showbox (Pike Place), but couldn't pass up on the chance to experience a Trap Karaoke party.

Waiting for Trap Karaoke to hit Seattle has been YEARS in the making, so please snag your tickets so we can make this a successful event!

Doors open at 7p. Tickets start at $42.50 and include Trap Karaoke + the 2 Chainz concert.

For tickets click here.
For Trap Karaoke Performance instructions click here.

The 3 stages of #trapkaraoke // 1.20.17 // #trapkaraokela // 📽 @yakubfilms

A post shared by Official TRAP Karaoke (@trapkaraoke) on Feb 3, 2017 at 11:30am PST

425 Business Magazine Feature

Recently I had the amazing opportunity to be part of 425 Business Magazine's June 2017 spread on trendy eyewear! Although I usually rock contacts, I've been growing my eyeglass collection and was excited to have a pro guide me in a new direction.

Lorali and her adorable pup

Guiding us on our journey for "spiffy spectacles" was Lorali Downes, owner of Lorali's Optical in Bellevue. Lorali approaches eyewear as a blend of function and wearable art, so it was no surprise to find her boutique shop full of funky designs that reflected the vibrancy in her personality. Her collection is mainly curated from Europe and Asia and features a ton of trendy, bold, bright frames that will push you outside your comfort zone.

The highlight for me were the blue frames Lorali picked for me. I've never been a huge fan of the color blue, but was pleasantly surprised to see how much I liked them.

A black outfit is my usual uniform and I tend to rock a bold lip as my pop of color. Lorali showed me how I could, in essence, take my desire for a bold "pop" that I usually reserve for lip color, and have that same type of fun with my eyewear. The blue frames were basically bae, though I was afraid to ask the price.

That's the only thing I didn't do while we were there... I never asked the price! Funny to think about in hindsight because, duh... but I want to keep it 100 and let everyone know I have no idea the price range for these frames.

Lorali chose all of the below frames for me, with exception to the top right which I picked. They were this SICK pair of black frames with gold wire detail! Black is my favorite color and gold is literally everything, so this was a clear winner for me. It's kinda funny to take a look at my pick vs Lorali's picks -- definitely fun to have her push me outside my box and be open.

See the full story in the June 2017 issue of 425 Business Magazine. Click here for the online version.

Allrecipes FB Live 360: Chef Shiro Kashiba

Chef Shiro Kashiba and his son, Ed Kashiba 

A few weeks ago Allrecipes had the honor of dining with world-renowned Sushi Chef, Shiro Kashiba, for our very first Facebook Live 360 Video! The icing on the cake? Enjoying the traditional (and insanely delicious) Omakase-style meal with his son, Ed Kashiba (Director of Operations).

For those who are unfamiliar with the term "omakase", it roughly translates to "I'll leave it up to you" and is a form of dining where you allow the chef to guide your experience. Whether you're new to the world of sushi, or a seasoned pro, it was a beautiful experience giving up control and allowing veteran Chef Shiro to show off his top picks of the day.

Let me also say that this was the best sushi I've ever had in my entire life. Ever. Every single pick Chef Shiro placed in front of us was delicious, but the highlight for me was the spot prawn! He started by showing off the fresh, LIVE prawns to us... then worked his magic to take them to a crispy, crunchy level of mind-blowing culinary perfection. I'd never eaten an entire prawn, and Chef Shiro showed me all I'd been missing out on. This is a MUST try if they have them on the menu.

Chef Shiro and fresh spot prawns

Moments Later: The best prawns I've ever had

Spot Prawn Perfection

Note: We were dining during their regular business hours, so we didn't set up any lights or additional mics. This is a pretty authentic experience and gives you an accurate idea of what the Omakase experience is like with Chef Shiro. Facebook's 360 technology actually feels like you're part of the dining experience since you can rotate the video around and see everything that's going on. Use your mouse to scroll around, or move your phone, for a totally immersive experience!

If you're in Seattle, run (don't walk) to Sushi Kashiba located in Pike Place Market. They open daily at 5p and have been known to have a line start as early as 4p, since bar seating with Chef Shiro and other chefs are first come, first serve.






Check out the video below!

My 1st Allrecipes FB Live: "Friends with Benedicts"

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and I absolutely LIVE for a weekend brunch, so I was thrilled I had the opportunity to represent my company, Allrecipes, and host our brunch-themed Facebook Live! I was joined in the Seattle AR Kitchen by the lovely food blogger Holly Haines, creator of "From My Impossibly Tiny Kitchen" and we slayed the perfect DIY Benedict Brunch Bar.

Between the poached eggs and hollandaise sauce, a lot of people have felt overwhelmed and shied away from making benedicts at home. As someone who has worked in the Allrecipes office for 3+ years, I've grown to enjoy cooking and trying recipes outside of my comfort zone -- and the idea of poaching eggs definitely fell under the "feels too intimidating to try on my own" category. Using Holly's recipes totally demystified the process and made the poached eggs and sauce attainable to recreate at home, on my own. I swear these were all SUPER easy! Don't believe me? Just watch the video!

On a personal note, it felt amazing to be given the opportunity to be the "face" of the AR brand for that video -- just standing there as a Black woman, with my big ass natural hair... in the kitchen with another dope Black woman... sharing my love of brunch, on-camera hosting and connecting with an audience. It was peak #BlackGirlMagic.

On top of that, black women are still underrepresented in media, so I applaud AR for seeing the beauty in diversifying our on-camera talent. Representation matters, so I'm hoping this is the beginning of something new for Allrecipes.

All of the recipes we made are now available on the site. Be sure to tag @Allrecipes and use the hashtags #Brunchworthy and #FriendswithBenedicts so we can see all of your lovely brunch creations.

Seattle feels like home...

Somewhere in-between the sunshine, venti vanilla latte from Starbucks, and walking my pup around Cap Hill this weekend, something happened -- I looked around and realized that Seattle finally felt like home.

From the comfort of my over-priced studio nestled in the heart of Cap Hill, I finally feel like Seattle is my home. I'm surrounded by hipsters and coffee and vape pens... flannel and Dr. Martens... intentional graffiti that walks a fine line between art and anarchy, a million concert flyers,  restaurants touting the latest local, organic "food of the moment", millennials walking the streets with more yoga mats than I can count, a city that has more dogs than kids, BRUNCH...

Oyster Shooters from Coastal Kitchen

I actually get to call the fastest growing city in the country my home. I commiserate about the constant overcast and rain October through April, finally understand the importance of Vitamin D, that S.A.D. is a real thing, and that it can actually be cloudy, sunny and raining all at the same time.

Next month marks 4 years in Seattle and I feel so very blessed to have been able to experience so much in my time here. It's like I'm in my Senior year about to graduate from the city, ready to step into the "real world" and grow into my understanding of who I am and what I want to do with my time here.

This city isn't for everyone. The seemingly never-ending overcast days might get to you before the "Seattle Freeze", but if you can hang in there, this city is ripe for the taking and has so much to offer! I have met some of the most brilliant women in my life here and feel honored to call so many of these women my friends. I've learned to love myself and what self-care actually looks and feels like.

Seattle Graffiti 

I've healed my heart and received the blessing of love being open to something new. I'm growing in my career and also gaining confidence in being my authentic self -- someone who loves the stability of a 9 to 5, but also working on their passion projects. I dream of being able to marry the two and living in Seattle is allowing me to lay the foundation for achieving that.

To Seattle -- the city I couldn't find on the map, the city I had never seen before moving here, the city that nearly ate me up in those first 6 months -- this is my little emo love letter to you. It's taken a while, but we finally fit.

Recipe: Tuna Cakes #627Eats

A post shared by Ishea (@sixtwentyseven) on May 4, 2017 at 1:03pm PDT

If you follow me on Instagram or Snapchat, I'm sure you've seen me cooking up something either at home or work. While I can do a little something something in the kitchen, the real star is my boyfriend. He cooks for us about 90% of the time and has inspired me to step outside of my culinary comfort zone.

A huge perk of living in the Pacific Northwest is the close proximity to fresh seafood. Not too long ago bae flexed his hunter gatherer skills on a fishing trip to the coast and snagged us a bunch of fresh tuna. That's right -- he caught the Tuna himself! That's taking the local, organic, farm-to-table life to a new level.

Since bae is a "real cook" (read: the type who doesn't really use measurements), we filmed this video showing how he cooks up our favorite Tuna Cakes! The video is a bit long, but lays out all the steps so you can easily follow along.

This is the first video in what we'd like to turn into a cooking series, so any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. Enjoy!




Ingredients
Tuna
Bread Crumbs
Eggs
Onion
Parmesan
Lemon
Parsley
Salt & Pepper
Olive Oil or Vegetable Oil