Wide rice noodles wrap around a filling of corn, peas, mushrooms, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and tofu. Served with a spicy sweet & sour sauce.

City Centre, 5th Avenue & Pike Street:

Banana Republic store (foreground; former Coliseum Theatre), 5th Avenue & Pike Street:

Rainier Square, 5th Avenue & University Street:

Cobb Building (foreground; once comprising medical, dental, and other offices, converted several years ago to upscale apartments), 4th Avenue & University Street:

Smith Tower (white building), 2nd Avenue & Yesler Way:

Union Station (middle foreground), 4th Avenue & Jackson Street:

In the bottom photo, I love how the cat’s posture reflects the swirls in the rug and the shape of the spiral staircase.

(5407/5409 22nd Ave. NW)

(Souvenir, 5325 Ballard Ave. NW)

You can read more about the project here, here, and here.

and took some test shots around Ballard this afternoon. As you’ll see, I need to spend some more quality time with this camera. Some of the shots are a bit blurry. That might be because I was juggling an umbrella as well as the camera, or because I was more focused on being damp and cold than on taking pictures, or because I need to increase the image stabilization option.

From the Ballard Farmers Market:

I took these pictures from the same spot, using the zoom feature for the second one (obviously).

As a follow up to this post, here’s an exterior shot of the new Jhanjay Vegetarian Thai restaurant:

And here’s a shot of the beautiful cherry blossom light fixture in Moshi Moshi Sushi (taken from outside of the restaurant):

And, just for the heck of it, a cabbage in a bicycle basket:

Here’s the brand new QFC grocery store on 24th Ave. NW, just north of NW Market St.:

I love the functional art — the rain gutters drain into a glass bowl supported by two metal hands, then the water zig-zags onto two big glass leaves, then into a huge spoon, and finally into a ceramic pot.

Check out My Ballard for an interesting article about the artists who designed the art for this store.

Farther south and east in Ballard, here’s what the Kolstrand Building looks like at the moment (see also this post):

And finally, a reminder that spring is on its way and will be here … eventually:

From KOMO News: Technology is being worked on to do away with “controversial” — not to mention horrific and fatal — testing of cosmetic-related chemicals on animals. A “working prototype” is expected to be available in 2011, and European laws require this type of testing to be eliminated by 2013.