Sunday, 3/20/2011

Our good friends Melissa and Dave invited us to join them and their daughter, Lucia, for a playground play date and dinner this afternoon.  We were pleased to have an open schedule so that we could take them up on their invitation!  Katie had her first big playground fall today.  She was swinging on a big kid swing and took her hand off the chain so that she could turn to see her daddy.  That was the exact moment I reached in to push her again.  Yes, I pushed her right off the swing.  She screamed and cried hard, but was back on the swing just a few minutes later. She seems to be just fine. She was laughing and playing in no time and ate a big dinner.  Thank God she wasn't hurt.  I think she was just startled and surprised by the fall.  We are actually really thankful for the flexible rubber mat under the swing set that absorbed much of the fall.

After the playground, we went to Angelina's Trattoria for dinner.  It was our first time there.  What good food!  We started with two orders of fried mozzarella.  YUM!  I can't remember the last time I had that dish.  For the main course, I had chicken parmesan with garlic penne noodles, Ben had chicken piccata, and Katie had a cheese pizza.  Melissa had the lasagna, Dave had chicken cannelloni, and Lucia had spaghetti with meatballs.  The girls got small scoops of ice cream with their kids meals.  It is safe to say that they are big fans of ice cream.  While slow to eat it, they both finished no problem with big smiles:)

Saturday, 3/12/2011

Our good friend David plays the Horn in the Puget Sound Symphony Orchestra.  He always lets us know when his concerts are, and tonight was the first time we decided to go.  It helped that the first half of the concert was targeted at children.  David sent us a personal invitation, encouraging us to bring Katie to the concert.  Boy, are we glad we did!  She LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it!  The concert was in Seattle Town Hall, which has pew-like seating.  We chose to sit in a place with a column directly behind us.  That allowed Katie to stand on the pew to watch the action.  She was waving her arms frantically like she was playing the violin and conducting.  What joy she exuded!  Here she is, looking cool before the concert started:)

We met up with David and his wife Laura before the concert to have dinner.  But, before I talk about dinner, I have to share a funny story about the concert.  David decided to change into his tux between dinner and the performance.  He had grabbed his tux out of the dry cleaning pile before heading out the door.  It was only after he got on stage that he realized he was wearing Laura's dress slacks, not his tux pants.  HA!  He said he was surprised at how long they were.  She always wears them with heals.  Oh, sooo funny!

Anyway, for dinner we went to the Rock Bottom Brewery.  I had chicken parmesan, which was really good!  The chicken wasn't covered in a heavy breading, but instead, seemed to be pan fried with some herbs.  Covered with melted mozzarella and marinara sauce, the chicken was great.  The linguine it was sitting on was not very interesting and didn't add much to the dish in my opinion.  I think it might have had some oil on it, which prevented the sauce from sticking to it.  Ben had the Bourbonzola burger, with Jim Beam® Bourbon glaze, Gorgonzola cheese and crispy onion straws.  He said it was good, but not as good as the similar burger at Red Robin.  

I gave Katie some chicken and pasta from my plate, and she had a few fries from Ben's plate.  Mainly, she just made a mess.  By the time we got home from the concert around 9:30pm, she was hungry again.  She ate two cups of applesauce and had some crackers before she was finally ready to go to bed.  Boy, Daylight Savings Time is going to be a rude awakening for her tomorrow!

Friday, 5/28/2010

!!!HAPPY 5th ANNIVERSARY TO US!!!

We had a lovely breakfast at the Arch Cape Inn. The first course was yogurt topped with a mango puree, homemade granola, and a fresh raspberry. The yogurt was a little blah by itself, but was delicious with the puree and granola. The second course was a veggie scramble, a slice of bacon, and rosemary roasted potatoes. Although we didn't finish it, we were both brave and tried the veggie scramble. The third course was fresh banana nut bread with apricot slices. What a good way to start our anniversary day!

Jennifer and Katie took Spencer to a bus stop this morning and he took off for Indiana, via Portland, OR. He is going to a friend's wedding tomorrow. So, the rest of the vacation is with just the four of us. Jennifer and Katie picked us up at 10am and we went to Cannon Beach to do some shopping.

For lunch we ducked out of the rain in Cannon Beach, OR at the Morris Fireside Restaurant. We were seated quite quickly, but it took a while to place our orders. They seemed to be a bit short handed. Eventually, the food came and it was pretty good. Jennifer had really good halibut fish and chips. Ben had a black bean soup which was full of great flavor. I ordered macaroni and cheese. The flavor was ok, but the texture wasn't. There were crunchy onions in it. I don't like onions to crunch in my food. Katie ate off of our plates.

We had hoped to continue shopping and play on the beach in Cannon Beach during the afternoon, but the rain forced us to head to Seaside, OR where Jennifer and Katie were staying. After an afternoon of window shopping, we decided to go to Taste of Tuscany for dinner. Online it looked like an Olive Garden kind of place. It was kind of like that in person. The atmosphere was much more calm and the clientele was mainly from an older generation. The food was good- not great, but good. I had nut-crusted halibut in a cream sauce. The halibut was delicious, but the sauce was too sweet. In retrospect, I should have added some salt. Ben had chicken parmesan with pasta in a red sauce. Again, the protein was great, but the sauce was too sweet. Jennifer's lasagna was really good. All in all, it was a pleasant meal.

We really wanted to have dinner at Newmans at 988. We ate there on our honeymoon and the food was FANTASTIC. Unfortunately, they didn't have highchairs or booster seats. That just doesn't work for Katie. Shoot...next time maybe:) If you plan on going there, be sure to call ahead and make a reservation. Looks like it is a very popular place these days.