Saturday, 1/1/2011

Welcome to 2011!

We planned to meet Kate and Spencer at Buddha Ruksa for dinner tonight.  It was closed.  Our backup, Cactus, was also closed.  We ended up meeting at Hi-Life in Ballard and had a good meal.  Hi-Life is managed by Chow Foods, which also manages Endolyne Joe's in West Seattle. 

Kate had a butternut squash pizza, which both she and Spencer liked a lot.  Spencer ordered the hickory smoked spareribs, but they were out of them.  His ravioli backup wasn't as good as he hoped it would be.  Ben and I both ordered cast-iron bronzed rockfish-- spiced & seared Pacific rockfish over smoked polenta & adouille hash with sauteed kale.  We both loved it.  It was our first time trying kale.  Ben really liked it.  I liked it okay, but mainly because it was tossed in some yummy dressing.  The texture was a little difficult for me.  We ordered Katie a plate of grilled chicken and carrots.  She ate a few carrots, but wouldn't take a bite of the chicken.  She mainly wanted to drink water and color:)

Sunday, 6/6/2010

What a great day today was! It began with Music Sunday, the conclusion of the choir season at our church. The church musicians lead the service by performing their favorite songs from the previous year. The service went really long, but our pastor said it was one of the most moving services he had ever been a part of. I'll take that as a BIG compliment:)

We put Katie down for her nap after lunch. I took advantage of her late nap schedule to get some much needed weeding done in the yard. I love the look of freshly weeded dirt! Our lavender, transplanted a couple years ago from my parent's yard, looks wonderful. Can't wait to see it in full bloom!

This evening we had two birthday parties to go to. Ruthie, our wedding coordinator, was celebrating her 80th birthday. And, our friend Greg was celebrating the big 50 with his twin brother. Our plan was to go out to dinner in between the parties. Unfortunately, the restaurant we wanted to go to closed at 4pm on Sunday. We put Katie into her stroller and went around the shopping center to a teriyaki restaurant. Closed! I guess people in West Seattle don't go to Westwood Village to have dinner on Sundays. After a quick stop at Barnes and Noble, we got in the car, headed for Endolyne Joe's. Argh...soo busy! Tons of people waiting to be seated already and no hostess in sight. What to do, what to do.

Although we were worried it would be crowded or closed too, we lucked out and found Abbondanza pizzeria on California, at Morgan Junction open and with tables available. Thank goodness! We were getting very hungry and frustrated. We shared a chicken caesar salad and an order of their sausage ravioli. OMG...sooo glad we had that. The ravioli was in a rich alfredo sauce and the filling had a very fine texture. I don't think either one of us would have offered to share more than a bite of the ravioli if we hadn't pre-arranged to split the plate:) Katie ate some of the chicken from the salad and munched on bread dipped in minestrone soup.

Next stop, Greg's 50th birthday party. What a fun party! I want to do the same thing for my 50th (hint, hint Ben). He rented out a local hall and hired a super talented musician to be at the piano. Greg and his brother started everything off with some jokes and a blues song about getting old. It was kind of an open mic night. I sang a solo and then as part of a couple groups. Everyone had a great time!