Category: about Seattle

Most folks were out of town, so my monthly cookbook group gathering was postponed. Instead, we invited over folks for grilling and sundaes. See also: previous post about buying ice cream. I bought more.

My old roommate motomotoyama came over, moto’s nephew, her sister and her sister’s boyfriend, who happens to be another dear former roommate of mine (my big brother here in Seattle). A good ol’ Sunday family dinner.

Mr. T grilled up burgers, asparagus, and another rekindled love: corn on the cob. A+++. We finished off with Uno and sundaes.

Earlier, we’d planned to go to a daytime Summer party at Remlinger Farms. We canceled on those plans and I spent most of the day reading before a 5.5 mile afternoon run featuring Greenlake. I wish carrying the camera wasn’t such an impediment on long runs, but carrying *anything* kills me over a mile or so.

We joined friends at 10 Mercer for dinner, a party of 8. I eschewed the fancier entrees and rochambeau’d with Celeste over whether to get the famed Stilton burger (Celeste = paper) or the crab cake sandwich (I threw down rock). Stilton burger it was.

They brought this out pre-entree and Celeste exclaimed, “Oh, look! They brought you ketchup on a doily!” (Giggling ensued. Maybe you had to be there.)

I’m actually going to take a real picture tomorrow, I swear. This week = photographic bust.

Today mostly wore me out. In a good way.

I finished up a second day of training (certifiable!) and headed over to the Fremont Ballroom for a summer gathering related to my day thing. I attempted to leave twice, but was lured back in for a challenge…which would put me in the right frame of mind for kickball. Kickball was up next in the 6 o’clock hour — we won 3-2. YES.

Then, I flew down to the International District, where my friend Traca had invited me to join an off-menu dinner for ~15 people at a Cambodian restaurant: Phnom Penh Noodle House. From one forum, I’ve learned we had: “…herbed duck with ginger sauce, tamarind seafood soup with pineapple, fried fish with sweet/sour sauce, some addictive carmelized chicken wings and the Lok Luk steak cubes with a lemon, salt and pepper sauce, and the mussels in curry sauce…” After the group dispersed, Traca and I and one other new person–an English professor–headed next door to Kau Kau to chat. I finally got to try their renowned BBQ pork (thumbs up!). The professor didn’t stay long then Kau Kau closed up shop so we moved outside. We side-stepped the hustlas and the ladies, as necessary. The area was dicier than I recalled, but it didn’t cross the line.

We kept gabbing until midnight. I love that.

A month or two ago, I had this side project idea…which has since been shelved. Before I shelved it, though, I’d RSVP’d yes to a gathering tonight at Velocity, which featured the Canadian authors of The Boss of You, a guide for women entrepreneurs. I noticed the reminder yesterday and thought I should still go anyway. None of my pictures of the authors or attendees turned out particularly flattering, so this is what I’ve got to share. Better luck tomorrow, eh?

Mr. T turned 30 around 60 days ago. The surprise his mom sent him is still afloat at his office.

Tonight, I took this shortly before an eclectic dinner of beef tenderloin, vegan jambalaya, roasted spring vegetables and a divine chocolate cupcake. DIVINE, I tell you. I love light chocolate cake. Then I came home to letter-writing, gardening, working on my Summer Reading List, and no running as it’s my day after my weekly long run. I do enjoy the off-nights. Balance, my friends, I’m working on the balance.

The top two are book club fodder — Valley of the Dolls next month, Twilight for October. I have not yet procured September’s Catch 22.

For the weighty foreign policy ones — it’s been nearly 10 years since we went on a break. Time to rekindle.

Like everyone else, we saw The Dark Knight this weekend. This is on the walk back to the car with Mr. T and Mr. R, after having dinner with sprizee & co at The Spitfire Grill, post-movie. We enjoyed the movie and dinner was really, really good.

Meet Sammy, the service dog. He hails from Tampa/St. Pete in Florida and is summering here in Seattle. Officially he belongs to my friend Debi’s Mom, but I believe she belongs to Sammy. He’s very quiet and sweet and has that strong chihuahua love of cuddling and wrapping themselves in blankets. Yet, he has a strong aversion to the lens. This is two seconds from growling.

We met him at Debi’s July Party, where we lounged on the deck and had…more BBQ. Afterwards, we expected to wind down for the night but that all changed when motomotoyama rang to report the rollergirl post-bout crawl was happening in our hood. As a rule, and ignoring recent homebody-like behaviors, I am not one to turn down a social call.

We’ve discovered the best charcoal ever from Whole Foods, which has turned our backyard Weber into our primary stove.

Today featured a good-bye lunch and good-bye happy hour to a beloved colleague. Tonight after bbq-ing, I ran 3.5 miles to pick up my bike, biked back, and watched Lars and the Real Girl. Lars = Recommended. Don’t get too scared off by the synopsis…

Tonight, we hung out with Mr. T’s colleagues. We started at the Ballroom for pizza (which would later be bad luck for me) and ended at the 5 Point, a fine institution in Belltown. Lovely company.

After work today, biking home, I noticed all these signs along the Burke Gilman. I wonder about the story behind them, google’s got nothin.

Tonight’s book club took us to visit our hosts Todd and Cynthia up in SnohoCo. This month’s book was Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret, by Judy Blume. Bonus points received for reading Then Again, Maybe I Won’t. I’m resolving now to read more YA fiction.

And also, I do enjoy the nostalgic discussions.

Mel shocked us all during discussion by revealing that Captain Amy got her a cell phone! She was the last holdout.

At the end of our Urban Race, motomotoyama and I took the infamous S.L.U.T., oops, I mean the renamed Seattle Streetcar, back to Westlake to catch another bus to the finish line. We came in 14th. Not bad for not breaking much beyond a mosey. Captain Amy and Kristi came in 2nd.

Our race route: we started in Pioneer Square, hiked uphill to the Kobe Park in the International District, bussed to Nordstrom for the Seattle Walk of Fame, bussed to Capitol Hill to the trekpoint at Salon Dewi, walked all over the friggin Seattle U campus looking for the damn peace sign, then walked back down Broadway to find the Tango Steps. Next, we walked to Olive and then down the hill to South Lake Union for another trekpoint at Mad Pizza and some other random stop to make our final checkpoint. We sauntered back to Pioneer Square via the Streetcar and one more bus. Bikes, cabs, and wheels were verboten. Our official time was 2:53.

Today was too much running around. Tomorrow, motomotoyama and I will be in the Urban Race, a scavenger hunt all over Seattle. We are Team Sparkle Motion. Therefore, we needed matching shirts and hit up Northgate. Of course I saw these in the next store after we bought our pair of shirts and moto’d left. Well, we came up with a better team name for our next urban race based on what we got, so all’s well.

The Baron’s begging doesn’t get him much, yet he still carries on with the hope.

Mr. T and I are huge fans of the backyard BBQ; we’re getting some momentum now. I’m still working on leftovers from Monday’s BBQ during lunches. Tonight, we had Salmon Jalapeno Burgers.

I’m finishing the night by watching Paris Je T’aime.

Tonight, I walked to the Maple Leaf Grill to meet a friend for Dinner. The dinner, the company — tres bien. I took a detour heading home and came upon this house not far from the genesis of Lake City Way.

We weren’t nearly as victorious as two weeks ago. We lost 6-1. But I got a single! Which turned into a double. I didn’t make it to 3rd.

Outside of the kickball field, there’s this huge painted map of the US–and not the only one I’ve seen in Seattle. Every time I come across one, I’ve witnessed this tendency of grown adults to hop straight to their birth state. This city draws people from all over. Tonight, I saw Maine, Georgia, NC, Illinois, Arizona, and California represented.

I passed on the post-Kickball outing to King’s Hardware. Next time. Instead, I chatted with a longtime local friend standing near my home state. When I got home, I talked for two hours with an old, old friend from Louisiana who now lives in Los Angeles. Two hours! Crazy, but good.

Friends of ours just bought a house in Ballard, so after a Mexican dinner in Crown Hill, we went to check it out. One of their neighbors had this setup.

Mr. T’s mother’s birthday is coming up, so we went down to Pike Place Market to celebrate at the Steelhead Diner. We started with the crab cakes and finished with the poundcake for his parents and the Theo chocolate pecan pie for us. For our mains, Mr. T and I stuck with poboys, along with his Dad, but his Mom got this trout that reminded me of the Trout Meuniere Amandine at Galatoire’s of New Orleans.

The rich boy’s poboy was decent and all, but Mr. T’s catfish ‘poor boy’ was ethereal.

Today was mostly too busy for snapshots. I remembered on my way home from dinner. I was gonna hold back on posting at all, but this was pretty much my mood at 9:30 PM on this Tuesday night.