Gobble Gobble!

This was the first time we've hosted Thanksgiving and it was a good thing that our only guests were Way and Kevin! After much discussion about what to make, our dinner turned out to be a motley crew of food. Here was our menu:

• Salami and Cheese (brie and havarti) appetizer platter
• Duck Pate (purchased on our honeymoon last year!)
• Chinese-style Soy-Sauce marinated Turkey
• Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce
• Roasted Brussel Spouts
• Whipped Potatoes
• Stuffing
• Cornbread
• Baked Sweet Potato
• Turkey gravy and cranberry sauce
• Veuve Cliquot Yellow Label Champagne
• Troon 2006 Merlot
• Lazy Boy Dubbel
• Spatten Optimator

Way and I smacked our lips to the chinese turkey, but Kevin and Scott thought it didn't go right with the (american style) stuffing and potatoes.

Verdict for next year: make 2 turkeys! One for Way and May, and one for Kevin and Scott. And, Kevin and Scott will have to cook their own turkey.

Lazy Boy Thanksgiving Merriment

This weekend, while originally in-route to visit the Boeing factory tour with May and my brother-in-law Kevin, I decided to take a little detour to check out "Lazy Boy Brewery" in Everett, WA. Having previously sampled their beer at the Phinney Ridge winter beer fest, I was intrigued to see their local shop. While May took a (long) nap in the car, Kevin and I sampled a few of the Shawn's (brew master) latest creations. The belgian style "Dubble" Shawn made for Naked City Taphouse was an absolute treat; true to the belgian tradition the beer had a little spice to it, but very tasty all the way around. We got the grand tour, heard all about the beer industry and purchased an assortment of treats to take home (t-shirts, mug, a 'growler' of Dubble and a Mistletoe Bliss). We had an absolute blast and plan to make this an annual tradition for Thanksgiving weekend in Seattle.

Upcoming events:

• Saturday December 6th, 2008 Winter Beer Fest from 1-10pm.
• Tuesday December 16th, Brewers Night featuring Lazy Boy Brewery at Naked City Taphouse in Greenwood at 7pm.

Ocho Ole!

I like tapas a lot. I like the communal aspect of sharing plates, of having a nice wine with your food, and that the food is usually small app size portions enabling you to try lots of things on the menu! I've been dying to try Ocho, a small little tapas restaurant in Ballard, for a while now. It's a tiny place (around 10 two-tops and a small bar area)that gets great reviews and always seems packed. And, after having gone to Toro Bravos in Portland, I've been dreaming about tapas.

Last night we decided to celebrate my first week at my new job with a date night and of course my dinner choice was Ocho! We got there early, around 6pm, but it was already packed! We ended up displacing two single patrons so we can eat at the bar! The waitress asked them nicely, and I guess this happens alot becuase the restaurant is so small.

The menu is listed up on a chalkboard, and the bartender/waiter told us they update it weekly with seasonal items. We ordered:
- Chorizo with olives and fried egg
- Lomo and Manchego Cheese plate
- Gambas al Ajillo (spicy garlic shrimp, a classic tapas!)
- Sauteed wild mushrooms with purple kale
- Warm Octopus Salad

The food ranged from good to very good (Warm Octopus Salad and the Chorizo were our favs), and the service was attentive throughout. Prices are good too (everything is under $7)!

Final verdict: I loved the lively atmosphere, service and prices, which is what I want a tapas restaurant to have (because, you know, I'm an expert on tapas restaurants since I've never been to Spain! :P)! It beats out Toro Bravo in these 3 areas. However, none of the food was spectacular, although it was definitely capable and satisfying. Regardless, I'd go back and would place it on my list of favorite restaurants (so far) in Seattle!

Multnomah falls

Last weekend May and I trekked down to Portland together for a little weekend R&R with Way and Kevin.

To my delight, May suggested that we check out the Deschutes brewery in downtown Portland for dinner (for those just tuning in, Deschutes was a featured beer in last weekend's Phinney ridge beer tasting). It was a hip and happen'in place. We ordered a beer sampler and some tasty hot wings...boy were they good. I ordered the Beervlaka entry, which was quite tasty. I think everyone else hated their dishes. Oh well, can't win them all.

Saturday we drove east to the beautiful Multnomah waterfalls. There were dozens of waterfalls along the drive, but Multnomah was the largest. In fact, it's the second tallest (year round) waterfall in North America, right behind Yosemite. It was packed, everyone and their mother (and in many cases grandmother too) climbed the mountain. It's not much of a hike if parents with strollers can scale the switchbacks. Surprisingly, most of the trail is paved, making the hike pretty quick. We decided to continue beyond the waterfall to the 6 mile loop, but about a mile in we decided we might not make it back before nightfall. Good decision.

Wine tasting in Oregon

We've done many wine tasting trips down in Southern Oregon's Applegate valley, thanks to the generosity of the Lind family allowing us to stay at their ranch each summer. We love wine tasting there (favorites are Wooldridge Creek and Troon Vineyards) becuase the wineries are mostly small, intimate and not crowded. You end up chatting with the wine makers themselves more often than not. We keep hoping that area will gain recognition, but it is constantly overshadowed by Oregon's more popular wine region: Willamette valley.

The top of the Willamette (Will-aaaaaaa-met, not willa-met) valley is only a half hour drive from Portland so Way, Jimin and I headed that direction on Veteran's Day (holiday!). We wanted to check out just how fantastic these wines are, and if they can rightly bully our fav Southern Oregon wines.

Our first stop was Argyle's tasting room to try out their champagnes. We were super impressed they serve these champagnes in the White House, and they have the menus to prove it! I don't know much about champagnes, but thought they were tasty (albeit pricey).

Next, we went to Erath winery. The server was delightful - very friendly and chatty, so thumbs up for good service! The wines were okay, but mainly due to her friendliness, we ended up buying a few bottles of white.

Lastly, we stopped at Torii Mor, mainly becuase it was open and down the road from Erath. The wine room is a cute little house with lots of Japanese influences (including a small garden). This was our most disappointing tasting though - out of the 6 pours, 4 were pinot noirs! None of us are big fans of pinot so it was a bit wasted on us. That, and the bottles were on the expensive side (~$60) and the wine pourer seemed a bit full of himself (referring to the winery as "I" when he was obviously not the owner, as evidenced by the picture behind him).

My verdict: I still love Applegate, but Willamette might edge out Woodinville (outside Seattle) for the 2nd place finish. I'm going to have to try more wineries in both areas before I can make the final call.

Powell-mania

Becca insisted we go to Powell's Books while we were in Portland. She waxed on and on about how great of a bookstore it was. We relented since the store was right next to the restaurant we were going for dinner, and truthfully, I didn't think much about it even though I love books. A bookstore is a bookstore!

How wrong was I!! And, now that I've dragged Scott there too... how wrong was Scott! Powell's is gigantic, with rooms upon rooms of books all lined up neatly on tall tall shelves. You see it from the outside and think: it's just one city block, what's the big deal? Yes, it's one block, but with several floors - it ends up being 1.6 acres! Of books! Under one roof! Normally, you can spend an hour in Borders or B&N easily, but this is ridiculous - it's like Disneyland, you need several hours to enjoy yourself. You can wander from the blue room to the purple room to the gold room and find just about any book you want under the rainbow. The best part is some of the books are (gently) used and priced very reasonably! It's simple awesome.

It is a little overwhelming actually since there is too much to choose from. We did our best though, and got a few books. Scott has recently gotten really into Jeff Shaara books, so he grabbed a bunch at Powell's. I bought several ones I've been meaning to read, and some news ones that just caught my eye.

Yay! Now we have enough reading material to keep us busy until Christmas!

Star Sighting!

Even though I grew up in Los Angeles, I still get excited if I spot a celebrity in real life. The last celeb I saw was Bob Saget - he was sitting in a side booth at Katsuya in Brentwood. Karen and I kept craning our heads, trying to be inconspicuous, to see who stopped by his table to say hi.

Turns out I don't have to be in LA or NY to spot a celeb! While lunching at Pambiche today (plato cubano and a cafe con leche), Leann, winner of last season's Project Runway, walked in. My dining mate and ex-colleague Rachel almost screamed "Oh my god! It's Leann from Project Runway!" The restaurant is not so big and Leann sat 2 tables away from us, so I'm sure she heard us giggling.

Okay, so a reality TV star is not an a-list star sighting, but it was still neat to see!

Portland Weekend

While Scott was sampling all the beers at the Phinney Winter Brew Fest, I had a beer-tastic time of my own in Portland! I drove down here for the weekend to help Becca celebrate turning the big 3-0, and we met up with Way and her roommate, Jimin, too. It rained non-stop here (I thought I could get away from the rain if I left Seattle... ha!) so many of our plans were thwarted. Instead, we did a lot of eating and shopping, and shopping and eating. Not a bad way to spend a girls weekend!

On Saturday night, we headed over to Henry's Tavern for happy hour. It's known for having 100 beers on tap, and even though their drinks aren't discounted during happy hour, we still had tons of fun trying out different beers. I tried the local brew, MacTarnahan Amber Ale, and determined it was tasty. That's about as descript I can be when it comes to beer!

Later, we headed over to Jake's Crawfish for Becca's birthday dinner. Jake's is an institution here in Portland - it's the original McCormick and Schmick's, and has been around for over 100 years. It was packed when we got there, but lucky for us, Way made reservations. She had told them we were celebrating a birthday, so the staff was awesome and showed us to a nice booth table and even printed out custom menus that had "Happy Birthday!" at the top of the page. Cool, eh?

Since we were feeling slightly drunk and very decadent, we ordered oysters to start. And boy, these were YUM. I usually like the smaller oysters better, but the Netart Bay Oysters that came out were big, fat and oh-so-good. I think I may have to say they are the best oysters I've ever had! We tried a few other varieties, but none were as good as that one. Becca liked them so much that she decided to forego an entree and just go with more oysters (and a soup and salad)!

Southern hospitality

Today I'm in Atlanta, Georgia for a few meetings. Overall it's pretty city, with surprisingly little graphiti for a major city. The landscape is surprisingly similar to Dallas, fairly flat with a few tall buildings and spread-out. Lots of dense green trees in the distance crowded up next to the buildings.

As urban myth has it, Southern hospitality is quite friendly. People talk to you when getting on and off the elevator. Kind of odd, but I'm getting use to the "Ya'll" greeting. It's catchy.

We ventured over to South City Kitchen for dinner tonight. It was a more up-scale "traditional" southern food restaurant. I had the Slow Smoked Pork BBQ & Prawns for an appetizer. Washed down with some delicious corn bread (fantastic) and local 240 pale ale. For the main dish I had the Cider and Chile Braised Pork Shank. It fell off the bone it was so tasty.

Overall, I give it two thumbs up.

http://www.southcitykitchen.com/midtown/index.htm

Phinney Winter Beer Taste

On Saturday night I walked over to the Phinney Neighborhood Association Winter Beer Taste event. As luck would have it, I was the last person they accepted into the event. Phew! The Phinney ridge association building is actually an old school house built in 1917. Each room had about 6 local breweries show-off their latest brews, most of which were Winter beers, ready for tasting and feedback.

All in all, it was a great event. Wall to wall packed with beer conosiours, good blue grass music and a good layout.

I was able to take a sip or two of most of the beers on draught. Some of my favorites were Lazy Boy, Deschutes, Issaquah, Scuttlebutt and Alaskan winter beers.

28 Miles of Pain

On Saturday I decided I would ride from my house to the Burke Gilman trail and see how far it would take me. As I found, it goes really far. 28 miles to be exact on my route along lake Washington, through UW and up into Lake Forest Park.

It was a beautiful ride. All the leaves turning, sun out and temperature moderate.

The ride would have been more fun if (a) I were in shape (b) I hadn't fallen when still attached to my cleats at the stop sign (c) the way back wasn't up hill.

Blue is the new black!

I'm supposed to be taking a break from posting, but I know Scott isn't going to comment on the elections last night so here I am!

We both sent in our absentee ballot (did you know that more than half of all Washington-onians vote by absentee?) and therefore did not have to line up at the polls like other people, which is good becuase it HAILED here yesterday. I am glad we did not have to wait in that!

We headed over to Greg and Lauren's for an election night party, and sadly, Scott was the only one wearing red in the room. He took it all in stride though while the rest of us whooped and hollered it up when the news stations called the election a few minutes after 8pm. Yes We Can and Yes We Did!!

To be fair, McCain's speech was very nice AND that both women on that team sure dressed better than Michelle last night!

The robe - newly discovered "indoor jacket"

While on a recent Cost-co expedition, May and I stumbled into the clothing section and May pointed out a particularly soft and fluffy bath robe. At first I laughed, then I felt it and said, "you know, that might be comfy".

Today marks the day that I'm officially an old man. I like to read while lounging in my bath robe with a good cup of tea or scotch.

Next on my list of winter must-haves is a pair of calf-skin slippers lined with alpaca fur.

Spider mania

Back in Los Angeles, I remember the first rain storms usually brought droves of ants inside to seek shelter and find new treasures. Not surprisingly, Seattle is in a constant state rain and there aren't many ants. What we lack in ants we more than make up for in SPIDERS. At any given point in time there are a dozen or so spider webs on our trees, windows and front doors. I know, pretty creepy. So far though, we have managed to live in harmony with them.

In honor of our six-legged friends, May decided to make a spider Halloween costume for a friend's party last night. As you can see, it turned out awesome!

I was a "Land Rover mechanic" in my usually overalls, gloves, head-lamp and wrench. Unfortunately, everyone thought I was just a cole miner.