My partner Loren and I went down to the second (ever?) night market in Seattle’s International District. As you might expect from a second night market, it wasn’t as vibrant as you might find in Vancouver, BC, or any of the more famous night markets. But it was fun. There was some REALLY bad karaoke–and some good singing as well, people chopping the tops off of coconuts for an authentic tropical drink (just add a straw!), games of weiqi and majiang going fast and furious, and so on.
While we were down there, we went across the street to New Century Tea House (416 Maynard Ave S. / 206-622-3599) and sat down with Grace at their ENORMOUS new tree-root tea table and shared a little shop talk, restaurant recommendations, and Longjing (Dragonwell). I wish I had brought a camera so I could show you the size of the table and the King-Of-All-Tea root throne that went with it. 
Speaking of pictures, though, the last time I was in, Dafe Chen gave me a picture of the tree one of his new puer bingchas was picked from. Since I mentioned a New Century puer in the last newsletter, this is as good a time as any to share the picture, right? Isn’t it lovely, in a I’ve-provided-tea-for-generations kind of way?
I’ve edited down the photo a bit, and linked it to a larger one–click to see it closer up. Thanks, Dafe, for the cool picture!
