July 5, 2011- Pasta at Pallino's

We left Redmond, OR, at 11am today.  After stops for coffee and gas, and then lunch in Madras at Sonic Burger, we were really on the road at noon.  It wasn't not a quick trip, but we did get home by 8pm with a stop at Pallino's pasta restaurant in Issaquah.  I had pesto genovese with penne and chicken.  The pesto was really good-- not too garlicky or sweet.  Ben had Mama's Meat Sauce with Rigatoni and added sausage.  Katie had a few nibbles on her cheese pizza.  Boy, it was a long day. I'm glad to be home!

Saturday, 2/5/2011

We spent today at Stevens Pass.  Ben, his brother Spencer, and our friends, Karen and Michel, skied most of the day.  Katie and I hung out in the snow-- walking around, throwing snowballs, and watching all the people come and go.  Spencer spent some time with us in the later afternoon since he had a headache and his feet were hurting.  We finished up around 4:30 and drove to Karen and Michel's house to change our clothes.  We tried to eat dinner at the Red Hook Brewery, but ended up at Red Robin when the wait at the brewery was 1.5 hours. 

I had the grilled chicken pesto pasta, which was really tasty.  Ben had three steak sliders.  Katie did a fair job eating her ketchup only burger with fries.  Red Robin is always pretty darn good.

Sunday, 9/19/2010

I am super pleased to announce that Katie made it through church today in the nursery without a parent at her side and without puking!  Way to go kiddo:)  She's been having anxiety when being dropped off at the nursery  for several weeks now.  It is the same nursery, same kids, same everything that she's been familiar with for the last year.  Anyway, we pulled out all the stops today and managed to get to stay without us.  I hope she continues to be fine with it.  

We ate grilled Italian chicken sausages and spaghetti in pesto sauce for dinner.  It was a simple dinner. I cut up some sausage for Katie, but she wouldn't eat any of it.  I also gave her some plain spaghetti with butter on it in her favorite bowl.  She played nicely with the pasta, but wouldn't eat any of it. 

Sunday, 5/16/2010

Happy Birthday to my husband Ben!

We celebrated Ben's birthday tonight with our friends Ryan and Vanessa. I wanted to meet somewhere near Tacoma, half-way between our homes, so that none of us had to drive too far. I did lots of internet searching and finally found the Adriatic Grill. The restaurant's website was really nice, easy to navigate and full of great information. I don't know about you, but I have a hard time getting excited about an unfamiliar restaurant if it's website is poorly designed. Anyway, the menu had a lot of variety, the entree prices looked reasonable, and they advertised 1/2 priced bottles of wine on Sundays. Also, I was thrilled when Google Maps showed me a photo of the restaurant and it had a parking lot. Sweet! No street parking!

I made my reservation online and was pleased to receive a call a couple days ago to confirm. They had our table prepared for us when we arrived, complete with our requested high chair for Katie. They gave her some crayons and she actually used them to scribble with! Ok, she did try to eat them later on, but the nice waitress let us know they were soy based. We took advantage of the 1/2 price wine and shared a bottle of chianti. We toasted Ben for his birthday. Katie took notice and insisted on clinking (or clunking) her sippy cup into our glasses too. SO CUTE!!!

Ben ordered Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo. I had Steelhead Salmon with Fresh Pesto off of their Fresh Sheet menu. Vanessa enjoyed the Pesto Shrimp pizza. Ryan tested the lasanga, and Katie had a cheese pizza. For dessert, Ben got a complimentary cup of ice cream with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. He shared that with Katie, who showed, once again, that she loved ice cream! Vanessa and I each had a chocolate amaretto cake with amaretto ice cream. Whoa, sooo rich and delicious. Neither one of us could finish our dessert even though we wanted to. Ben had Affogato Al Cafe- a white chocolate ice cream drizzled with espresso and topped with whipped sweet cream and chocolate covered espresso beans. Ryan enjoyed a dish of spumoni.

Bottom line: I would HIGHLY recommend visiting this restaurant if you live anywhere near Tacoma.

Friday, 3/26/2010

Tonight each of us ate a completely different meal. This rarely happens. The founder of Ben's company passed away this month at the age of 92. The company hosted a gathering at the Maritime Event Center on the Seattle waterfront to honor him. Ben came home and told me he had the best chicken skewers with peanut sauce that he's had in his life. He also enjoyed kobe beef sliders with a horseradish/mustard sauce and a gin and tonic.

Katie ate like a champion for dinner. She finished off the jar of peas and brown rice puree, downed a jar of tender chicken and stars, and wrapped up the meal with monteray jack cheese. She had a few green beans too, but as soon as she realized she could squish them in her fingers, they stopped being food and became a toy. I am pleased to say she continued to show off her milk drinking skills at her meals today. Way to stick with it Katie!

I procrastinated about what to eat for dinner myself. After considering peanut butter and apple slices or a grilled cheese sandwich, I decided to cook up some penne and mix it with store bought pesto. When I buy pasta, I most commonly get Dreamfields. It is marketed as a low-carb pasta. My diet isn't low carb these days, but the pasta tastes good and can't hurt:) The pesto was not very good on it's own, a little sweeter than I prefer. Thankfully the parmesan and romano cheese I added corrected the sweetness. Quite a tasty pasta dish in the end with a slice of garlic bread on the side.

Oh, and I am drinking my first glass of wine in over a week. I had a stomach bug 9 days ago and the last thing I put into my stomach was red wine. It's taken me this long to want to drink it again. I chose a 2007 Bogle Vineyards Petite Sirah from California. A wonderful way to end the day.