Month: October 2009

Chrissy, the Sacred Cow, and Geraldine, the Vulcan
We had plans at Keaver’s for Halloween. At first I wasn’t going to dress up. Then earlier in the week, I threatened to go as Twilight’s Bella for Halloween (lazy route). All I’d have to do is wear black and sigh a lot, you know, like when I was 16. I couldn’t convince Mr. T to wear glitter or powdered sugar, as my vampire Edward.

Instead, this afternoon we went to a nearby costume shop where I picked out a 1930s gown to go with his 1930s gangster gear. The shop hooked us up with all kinds of accessories. Most notable: the two vintage silver fox…so that was different. I got used to it, quickly.

Before the party, we went out to dinner with Geraldine & Rand at Anchovies and Olives. It was marvelous. Oysters, bigoli, prosciutto & figs, clams, foccacia, soft-boiled eggs (try them!), strozzapretti, and a hamachi crudo. Oh, it was marvelous.

Rocky’s influence has been strong this week. A casual mention when I saw him at BOM put Oliver’s Twist back on my radar. Mr. T & I took the longer way home from work, stopping at OT in Phinney Ridge today.

Wicked awesome: Bleu cheese bacon stuffed dates with marcona almonds and warm tomato vinaigrette. I’ll be thinking about this one for a while.
Very Good: Bucheron chevre with figs, walnut bread croutons, and truffle honey. I am avoiding bread temporarily, but made an exception. Worth it.
Okay: Fingerling potatoes cooked in duck fat. Met expectations.
Not so good: I think Mr. T’s first cocktail made him a little sad. I think it was a Seelbach? We suspected the cava made it too sweet. His Sazerac perked him right back up, though.
Hrm: our tomato cappuccino with grilled cheese sandwich was forgotten. We were hoping to compare contrast with our beloved Latona Pub’s Grilled Cheese + Tomato Bisque. Ultimately, such oversight was okay. We were ready to head home and end this long week. And it started to get really busy by the time we left — it seemed like our waitress covered half the place on her own.

We’ll be back. This place has a great happy hour.

Mr. T & I made it to our first Sounders FC game tonight at Qwest Field, thanks to his season ticket-holding colleague. We rode down to SoDo with sprizee & her Dude and kicked things off right with dinner from Marination Mobile next to Safeco Field.

The final score was a draw — the high point the goal, the low point moments after, when the ref rescinded based on a foul call halfway down the field. Fiddlesticks.

Never a total loss as the people-watching was good and we came across this dude on our way back to the car:

As it happened, our man Rocky looks like he was sitting directly behind sprizee & her mayn. Evidence. I’d recognize that white hat anywhere!

I spent most of today (something like 18 hours) sleeping off the last parts of a cold, but tonight ventured out for Mary Poppins at the Re-bar. A risky endeavor to see my favorite childhood Disney movie skewered by a comedy troupe, but I left with my love of Mary Poppins intact.

Sadly, I left with less love for The Brown Derby. I chalk this up to the sound mixer failing to realize how piercing the music was or how much it drowned out the actors. It was distracting and I know it pissed off other patrons around me.

It’s been over six months since I joined in the Burger-of-the-Month outing, but tonight stars aligned & I went along to visit West Seattle’s Shadowland. The burger was excellent, cooked to order (and they listen) with option of bacon, cheddar, brie, or an egg. We approved. This place has a good grilled burger. Downside: weak bun. Also, I was freezing nearly the entire time.

From the eclectic menu and onto my plate: scotch eggs, mac & cheese, 3-cheese poutine, and fried pickles. The scotch eggs were a tidge dry but okay with the spicy mustard; the mac & cheese was delicious, respectable and the cheese never turned gummy or chalky; the poutine was decent until it seized in the frigid room; and fried pickles were as good as it gets anywhere and my favorite of the evening. There were spam sliders floating around, but I left those to Rocky et al.

Prior BOMs recorded ’round these parts:
Pig and Whistle
Latona Pub
Spur
All month I wished I’d made it to last month’s Spring Hill, but learned it’s not their strong suit anyway. Next places I plan to try in WestSea but not for their burgers: Buddha Ruksa, Spring Hill, & La Rustica.

At the dinner hour, I stepped outside to catch the last bit of sun. I was a little too late.

In related news, I hear Sunday is the end of Daylight Savings Time. BOO.

Busy Saturday – first up, the Gourmet Wake at Kim Ricketts‘s home. Everyone shared their Gourmet stories and reminisced. There were goodies from 60+ years of the magazine everywhere you turned. Pictured above is Viv’s fantastic apple pie. Jon Rowley taught us to shuck oysters. We met the regal border collie Daisy. We saw old friends, met new people — struck up a convo with a couple who used to live in Louisiana, not far from where I grew up, & who happen to know Mr. T’s parents. Small world!

More in the Gourmet Wake set here.

We left to head to Julie’s annual pumpkin carving party. En route, we saw a very good friend standing on a street corner with some other ladies. (…that probably sounds wrong. It’s not like that, she was just getting fresh air.) She happened to be the former soccer team captain from the team where Mr. T and I met. After some quick I miss you! We’ll talk! we arrived at Julie’s. It may be beginner’s luck, but I may have also found my calling.

Pumpkins in the Flickr set here.

On 65th in Greenlake, heading towards Ravenna
I took the long way home to get some Fall pictures. Few turned out, and I’m feelin’ crabby about it, but maybe that just means I’ll try again tomorrow.

This morning, I stumbled across this house in Greenlake/Ravenna, on my way down to Boeing Field. They had a pumpkin brigade and a yard full of skeletons. I wish I knew these folks.

The lower caption reads: my husband is soooo cheap.

Planets sure aligned this week to help me getting stuff done. Resolved a long overdue issue with my MacBook — replacing the keyboard, mouse, and crumbling cover under AppleCare. I feel so much better.

Herein I salute the American ingenuity of one-stop shopping. I love a great farmer’s market as much as the next NYTimes-reading, Prius-driving*, latte-swilling, arugula-munching elitist, but convenience is a relief, even for those who have some notion on finding virtue or salvation via shopping habits. (A modern day version of purchasing indulgences, if you will?)

So very tired. A little stressed by the day thing but had some outside business to attend to. Embarrassingly long overdue visit to pick up an Rx. Watch battery’s been dead for 2 months. Needed (oh come on, wanted) to pick up the final Gourmet issue. On a 2-week, pre-holiday sugar & bread avoidance to curb my escalating sandwich & dessert habit; needed rabbit food (i.e. lettuce). Needed to take a quick snap of the awesome rays as the sun set. Resolved all my first world problems in one fell swoop — 15 minutes, tops — by stopping at the nearby Big Box. So very grateful.

P.S. I don’t drive a Prius. Or drink lattes.

Tonight I attended a small debate between the two Seattle mayoral candidates. I was handed this at the door. Haven’t read it yet, but noted the shout-out to Hope. Smart, in this city.

The days are getting so much shorter — while waiting for Mr. T to meet me to head home, I grabbed this shot of the Burke-Gilman in Fremont.

Tonight is Mer’s birthday at Oddfellow’s!

Today: tea party at Viv’s! This was my favorite – the Eden Rose. Rumor has it, it’s available at Williams Sonoma.

Like other gatherings at Viv’s, the food was amazing. Jenifer‘s quince handpies, Lorna‘s chocolate chip cookies, Alice‘s chocolate cookies, Lorraine‘s bread pudding, Jenifer’s southern grits, Valentina‘s Venezuelan cheese pastries, Kimberly‘s pear & chocolate jam, Jeanne‘s cake, an array of tea and much more I’m forgetting.

Click through to flickr to see each item labeled.

Tonight: book club discussion at Vanessa‘s. October’s selection: Flowers in the Attic. As I’ve said elsewhere, V.C. Andrews could teach Stephanie Meyer a thing or five about trashy, crack fiction.

The monsoon hit Seattle this afternoon & cleared up as we drove north for Arlington, for Mr. T’s family Oktoberfest.

Later, we attended Ms. Astruc‘s cocktail party. I may have scared her (or not) by noting it begins tonight – from here to New Year’s, the festive season’s begun.

At Ms. Astruc’s, we met her neighbor who is on a curling team with Mr. T’s parents. Small world.

Enjoy the Oktoberfest Lederhosen apron:

Came home from a going away party, followed by a separate Neiman Marcus party-reception-thingy to find that neighbors are selling their Cape Cod. They were the first we met on our street. Really, they’ve been gone for a year, renting to another couple we never really met. The renters had a Jack Russell Terrier, drove Hondas and left as quietly as they arrived.

The house is staged for the weekend’s open houses.

Today, housebound. I’ll be obsessed with this Brandywine for a while yet.

My Geek of the Week interview in the Seattle P-I was published last night to run today, but the inbox exploded this morning. And then some PMs at work passed it around so now you’re all here! Hello there. How’s it going? Hi.

Tonight, we had an Oktoberfest-themed dinner downtown, with a Schnapps tasting. Mr. T got the beer pairing with dinner. Reportedly, this was a smoky one.

Today was dull & grey. Perfect for catching up on projects.

Tonight, I finally pulled together my FoodSnap images to share. I spent so much time organizing I’m too spent to tell more stories, ha! FoodSnap took place on September 18 at the Georgetown Studios. It was an all-day conference with training in the morning, a great lunch, and an afternoon of practice. The next day, some of us had an encore at Rover’s, learning to take pictures inside restaurants. Afterward, a trio of us accompanied Lou to his working shoot at Olivar’s, where he taught us how to use the strobist equipment.

Here are my pictures from the day, in fancy pictobrowser format.

Now that the weather’s turned, more time for cooking. Today: Red Beans and Rice. Mr. T tilled down the garden and planted fava as the winter cover crop. (Joke about pairing with Chianti excised.) I made jalapeno cheddar cornbread, too.