Month: May 2010

So on our way home from work, we made a stop at Tutta Bella Wallingford. As delicious as Naples, and the same price after euro –> USD conversion.

My dear friend Maya‘s in town. She’s been living in Geneva since last year, after heading there for a 6-week contract, but she’s really one of us in Seattle.

Her birthday was last week, so we celebrated tonight at The Garage — a bowling alley/pool hall. She’s headed back for one more year, so we sent her off with a sign with our signatures. This was my favorite:

As seen in the workplace kitchen.

But it wasn’t Mike the Tiger.

We celebrated at the Latona Pub, Mr. T’s favorite place. We followed that up by visiting die Bierstube with motomotoyama & Natalie.

This month, ten of us met to discuss our month’s selection: The Happiness Project. I’d seen the author speak in January & several others had already read her book. After several months in a row of dealing with apocalyptic or Holocaust fiction, we went with a cheerier tome.

We talked for 3 hours on the book alone. I’d say it struck a chord.

Captain Amy was our host. I always love this picture of hers:
Effort
Hard Work Never Killed Anybody-
But It Is Illegal In Some Places

It was recently announced this local institution will shutter forever. I’ll miss the clever marquee.

My friend Stacey came to Fremont for lunch and brought her 6 week old baby boy! He was an angel, waking up only after we left.

New discovery: Lucky Pho in Fremont now sells Kogi Tacos. They were delicious. I might have to go back for dinner. And very soon, they’ll have vermicelli bowls.

Today marks two years since I started this little daily project. At the time, I was recovering from a surgery so I used the downtime to set up a site. It fed a desire I had for years to gather my ongoing & frequently-photographed adventures in diary format, published more timely. I’ve mostly done what I set out to do.

As things have transitioned lately in several areas of my life, I’m unsure how much longer this will continue and if in a public format. But on anniversaries, I like to indulge the nostalgia and also take stock. I haven’t yet made any decisions but I certainly don’t regret having this record. I am glad I have it.

For my daily diligence of the last few months, I didn’t take a picture til the sun set tonight. I’ll spare you the poorly lit record of my dark dining room.

Instead, I’ll share a photo I saw a few years ago by flickr user EdgarDiazRocks. The title & the image still strike me now, and I suspect will forever. It’s titled “i’m afraid to forget.”

Yeah, that’s about right. I’m afraid to forget.

I took a fantastic class this evening at Lara Ferroni’s Spare Room: Low Light Photography. We worked with speedlights and continuous light. I saw friends there, made some new ones, and left class completely inspired.

After I finish post-processing on the rest of the workshop photos, I’ll come back and update this entry.

This month’s Cookbook Club covered Falling Cloudberries. I brought the Kourapiedes pictured above. No big surprise in my selection as these are very similar to Mexican Wedding Cookies or Russian Cakes that I am known to love. These are a Greek variation. But I got so frustrated during the 2nd batch I finished off the brandy I’d bought as an ingredient. The recipes were in narrative style — for an unpracticed cook like me, this led to many rereads and I still missed steps. These turned out fine.

I’d tried the book’s Prawn in Peri Peri & Feta sauce and it needed so many adjustments I bagged plans to bring it to the gathering. This was completely okay since there was so much food there: ribs, couscous, gravlax, sweet pickles, carrot salad, garbanzo salad with feta & cilantro, youvetzi, carrot cake, semolina cake with rosewater syrup, creme caramel and two kinds of ice cream — caramel and vanilla. Everything was SO good.

I think that the general consensus was that most recipes needed slight changes here and there. Could it be that the conversion from British to US measurement caused this issue? That’s the pet theory I’m pushing.

We were honored to attend the wedding of two good friends today.

Between my boss’ 2 small teams at my day-thing, everyone comes from somewhere different. We have members from Japan, China, Vietnam, India, Washington State, Pennsylvania, Texas, and of course, Louisiana. I love the variety. Spice of life, and all that. Now if the linguists/translators joined us in a supergroup we could have 5 continents covered…

Today, we had a party and invited the rest of the floor. We sorted plans out on the whiteboard.

Mr. B, blinded, in the lunchtime sunshine.

Man, it is gorgeeeeous today! My coworker, my boss, and my good friend Ms. N each had birthdays this week but Ms. N lucked out with the best sunshine.

After another good friend Vanessa’s* book launch party, we went to Ms. N’s birthday dinner at Yanni’s. The BEST Greek in Greenwood, maybe in Seattle.

*Vanessa Fox’s book is Marketing in the Age of Google. It’s so good, you should buy two copies. They also make excellent birthday and bat mitzvah gifts.

Tonight was Mr. T’s team pub night. I took this on our way home from his teammate’s new digs.

Mr. T’s grandpa is 88 years old. When he visits Washington, we love to see him. He was in town for the weekend’s wedding we also attended, and we wanted to have dinner with him before he and his lady traveled onto California for her granddaughter’s wedding. We all went to Pies and Pints with Mr. T’s parents and another uncle.

After a hiatus from visiting Pies, I feel like we’re rediscovering it all over again. Zehr gut!

Two months ago, motomotoyama & I planned to go to Spring Hill for fried chicken but due to our schedules, it couldn’t happen until today. I’d say it’s worth the wait, but as I don’t usually believe in character-building for its own sake, I’ll refrain. Instead, I’d say you should go as soon as you can make reservations, and as often as possible. They only do their fried chicken for 4 on Monday nights.

I hope they have the spaetzle on their regular sides menu. I must have it again.

Since Mr. T’s parents were helping with the wedding in the north, our Mother’s Day plans for today shifted & we got to have lunch with mopie & Ian! They are visiting from the Great State O’ California. We went with them to Lunchbox Lab, a place my friend M loves with all his heart.

I loved this butterfinger shake with all my heart. The onion fries were tasty too.

Mr. T’s cousin got married today, in Arlington. The bride and groom had a little contest to see who could get the cork farthest after slicing it off with a sword. I couldn’t tell ya what the winner got, other than satisfaction. Judging from the toasts, satisfaction was enough reward.

The drive north was BEAUTIFUL. Thanks, Washington, for making me glad to be back.

Today’s theme: visitors!

1. My good friend Irene came to the waterfront with me for lunch. We shared sandwiches from Homegrown. Tip: the grilled cheese was crazy delicious, don’t let the fennel fool you.
2. After work, I met up with mopie & Ian for happy hour at Brouwer’s, the Belgian pub. Unfortunately, I had to cut this shorter than ideal because I had another engagement with
3. Marcela! I met Marcela two and a half years ago in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She was so kind to take me around her hometown to all the sights & to take me shopping. A mutual friend of ours held a gathering downtown in her honor. I spent hours catching up with her and other friends who showed up. I hope the next time I see Marcela, we’re visiting Argentina!

A great code to live by.