Sunday, 4/3/2011

Happy 3rd Birthday to my niece Braelyn!

Braelyn celebrated her birthday in Spokane, surrounded by friends and family.  We will celebrate with her over the Easter weekend.  

When I started to think about tonight's dinner, I couldn't remember what was on my menu for the week.  After a quick glance at my grocery list from this week, I could see that I didn't make a plan for tonight's meal.  Oops!  With very little to eat in the house, we headed to Duke's Chowder House on Alki Beach.  We were seated right away and had a nice meal.  Ben sampled all five chowders available.  He said the best was the Cajun Chicken Corn Chowder.  That's the one I chose to have a bowl of for my meal.  Katie had fish and chips, but didn't eat much.  I think she drank too much milk to have room for her food.  The best part of the meal was that our friends Laura and David, and Laura's parents, walked into the restaurant while we were waiting for Katie to finish eating.  We got to chat with them for a couple minutes before they went to their table.  How nice to see friends while dining:) 

Wednesday, 1/12/2011

Katie and I met Ben downtown tonight for dinner at Ivar's.  We had a great meal there last week and decided some chowder would hit the spot tonight.  Ben and I shared a caesar salad and then each had a bowl of smoked salmon chowder.  Katie did a pretty good job eating her chicken strips and fruit.  She gobbled down the grapes, slurped on the pineapple chunk, and turned her nose up at the melon offering. 

The kids menu is printed on the back of a paper diver's mask with the eyes and nose cut out.  There are rubber bands on the sides that can be slipped over your ears to hold it in place.  Katie enjoyed wearing it, but really liked to make "momma wear" it. 

Tuesday, 1/4/2011

At 3:30pm I got a call from my Aunt Mary.  She and my Uncle Greg were in town to see the Picasso exhibit at the SAM.  They wanted to know if we were free for dinner.  YES!!!  What a treat to get to see them:)  Katie and I stopped getting the ingredients together for the cookies we were about to make and got ready to go.  Thankfully, we had only measured out flour when we got Mary's call.  They wanted to meet at Ivar's on the waterfront.  What an easy place to meet them!  It is just a couple blocks away from Ben's office and the company parking spot was open for us to use:)  Our PEPS gathering was tonight too, so we only got an hour with them before we had to head back to West Seattle.  

For dinner, Ben had fried plump tiger prawns and a salad.  Katie ate french fries, oyster crackers, and a bite of cod.  She really only wanted to color on her menu.  I had a bowl of wild Alaskan smoked salmon chowder, which was fantastic, and some of Katie's uneaten fish.  Greg had a bowl of clam chowder and helped Mary finish off her fish and chips.  

At PEPS Ben and I limited ourselves to just a couple bits of baked macaroni and cheese each.  Oh...it was SOOO good.  Naomi said it was from a gourmet cook book which doesn't cut corners on getting the recipe right.  

It was a really great night!!!

Saturday, 4/3/2010

We ran a couple errands in Tukwilla this afternoon and stopped at Duke's Chowder House Southcenter for dinner. We've been to that location twice and so far we have not had to wait to be seated. That is a really good thing when dining with a 15 month old. All four of us, Ben's mom and brother joined us, had a fish & chips & chowder combo. Ben and his mom had halibut and his brother and I had the cod. His mom had a cup of the Dungeness Crab & Bourbon Chowder while the rest of us had the Cajun Chicken Corn Chowder. Those chowders are delicious. We only wish we had the time to figure out how to make them. YUM!

We ordered chicken fingers for Katie with a side of ranch dressing. She seems to really like dipping her food into sauces and purees, so I thought it would be fun to let her dip her chicken in it. NOT a good idea in a restaurant setting. First the hand holding the chicken was dipped in so far that her fingers were coated with it. And when that wasn't good enough, the empty hand was plunged in. Thankfully we brought a washcloth and were able to get her cleaned up and the ranch removed before she made a real mess of the place.

If you live near Seattle and like chowder, I highly recommend you check out Duke's. The chowder truly is the best I've ever had.