Monday, 4/25/2011

This morning, my parents, Katie and I had the pleasure of meeting my grandpa Norm at the airport.  He is taking a trip to see the World War II memorial, courtesy of Inland Northwest Honor Flights.  What an awesome experience to see my grandpa wearing his uniform jacket, showing photos of himself wearing it 70+ years ago.  Katie made the 6 o'clock news, waiving her flags at the airport.  I'm so glad we were able to stay in town to be a part of it.

Katie, mom and I went out to my brother Matt's house to visit for lunch.  We had tuna fish sandwiches and chips for lunch.  I just had tuna, no bread or chips.  Ben called while we were there, and we were able to Skype with him for a few minutes.  Thanks Matt for letting us use your computer!

I had a small salmon fillet and a side salad for dinner tonight.  I was really pleased with the quality and flavor of the salmon. There was only enough salmon for mom and me to have, so my dad had some ham for dinner.  Katie had a hot dog with ketchup, cheddar cheese, and tried a green bean.  She gagged on it.  Hmmm, she must have gotten that reflex from me.  Sorry Katie!

Monday, 1/17/2011

I made my standard salmon cakes tonight, but something was off.  I was a bit short on salmon, so I added some more panko bread crumbs.  When I started to shape the cakes, I realized the mixture was really wet.  I think the partial lemon I had in the fridge must have been more than a half a lemon.  The outsides of the cakes were crispy, but the insides were still a bit juicy.  The flavor was still good, but they were not as good as normal.  

I also tried to make a salad similar to the one we had at our potluck on Saturday.  I added diced yellow bell pepper, mushrooms, and crushed tortilla chips to spinach leaves and topped with a balsamic vinaigrette.  I avoided too much dressing by not putting enough on.  Ben thinks including the apple slices would have helped the flavor balance.

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, 9/25/2010

Well, I certainly retreated today:)  I drove up to Semiahmoo Resort this morning, arriving just after 11:30am.  I checked into the hotel, took a run on the indoor track, had an hour-long Swedish massage, read my book on the beach, watched a wedding from my hotel room, and then enjoyed a lovely evening with Ben, his co-workers, and their spouses.

I loved running on the track, mainly because I wasn't doing it while pushing a stroller!  I've been trying to build up to running 30 minutes while pushing Katie in the stroller.  I now know how taxing that is on my progress.  I haven't run for two weeks due to my cold; I forgot to stretch; and, I was able to pick up exactly where I left off without any more fatigue than normal.  Towards the end of the run, I even contemplated running a little longer than I needed to for this particular workout.  I guess it is nice to know that I am for sure working harder with the stroller than without it.  And the massage--ah, it was wonderful!  I haven't had a massage in several years. I was so relaxed that I fell asleep briefly a couple times.  Thankfully, there wasn't any embarrassing snoring:) 

Our dinner was served buffet style.  I really enjoyed my caesar salad with smoked salmon.  That was a nice change from the basic caesar I usually make at home.  I wasn't too thrilled with the look of the chicken and always avoid prime rib; so, I opted for the wood plank salmon for my entree.  That salmon was only ok.  It lacked flavor in my opinion.  I much preferred the smoked salmon in my salad.  The roasted potatoes and roll were pretty good.  And for dessert, we had a peach/blackberry cobbler.  We couldn't taste the peaches, but Ben did point out that he thought the texture was a bit off for a berry cobbler:)  There was disappointment at our table when we realized they weren't serving ice cream with the cobbler.   Come on...who serves cobbler without ice cream?  And, along with all this food, we enjoyed wine...lots of it. 

Thanks, Jennifer, for watching Katie so that I could retreat and enjoy an evening away with Ben:)

Saturday, 8/14/2010

Happy Wedding Day Kelsey & Jarred! 

As I mentioned yesterday, we are down in Oregon for the wedding of Ben's cousin's step-daughter.  Kelsey and Jarred were married on her parent's property in Mulino, right by a river.  It was a beautiful setting for a beautiful wedding ceremony.  The only downside was that it was really hot at 4pm for the wedding.  Half of the seats at the ceremony were in direct sunlight.  Thankfully, the programs doubled as fans and sun shades. Katie was a trooper and hung out with Jennifer and Spencer for the wedding and most of the reception.  I should say that they were troopers too:) 

The reception was just up the road on Jarred's grandma's property.  The food was excellent!  They served a large fruit salad, pasta salad, watermelon, baked beans, caesar salad, grilled salmon, chicken, and ribs.  The salmon and ribs were notably the best parts of the meal.  The caterer had a hard time keeping the trays full of those two dishes.  They also had decorated heart sugar cookies and chocolate dipped strawberries on the buffet table.  It was nice to have a little sweetness before the cake was cut. 

Monday, 8/9/2010

I made salmon cakes tonight.  I must say, they were simply delicious!  They could be served in a restaurant and people would like them.  Well, at least we would:)  Anyway, I stuck with the same recipe I've used in the past.  For the salmon, I purchased 6 ounce fillets at Fred Meyer--2 plain and 1 seasoned with lemon and pepper.  The recipe only calls for 2 cups of salmon, so there was a little left over for Katie and the kitties to munch on:)

I made a green salad with raspberries, pear, and glazed walnuts to go with the salmon cakes.  It was not the best pairing, but it was what I had available.  Ben thought the salad was too sweet overall and that the lettuce was blah.  I agree that the lettuce wasn't anything special and that it was sweet, but I really liked it.  The salad was dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette. 

Saturday, 7/24/2010

Happy Wedding Day Laura and David!!!

We started taking photos of the big event at 1pm today and didn't stop until just before 10pm. It was a beautiful wedding. Laura was stunning, and David was very handsome. What an honor to record their special day in photos.

The reception was held at The Hall at Fauntleroy and was catered by Tuxedos and Tennis Shoes. Our wedding reception was held in the same place and catered by the same company, so we knew the food would be good. Thankfully, there was a good break during the reception during which we could get some food. I had a green salad with dried cranberries, goat cheese, and a raspberry vinaigrette, a watermelon, blueberry with mint salad, salmon, grilled asparagus and peppers, and bread for dinner. Ben opted for steak instead of the salmon.

Laura and David chose two different cakes to serve their guests. Ben and I both had a piece of chocolate cake. It was divine! I can't be sure, but I think the filling between cake layers was a chocolate butter cream or mousse and the frosting was cream cheese. What made it so amazing was that the cake was chilled. The reception hall was quite warm, so the chilled filling and frosting made the cake quite refreshing:) I believe Laura said the cake came from the Macrina Bakery.

Although the dinner was delicious, the best part of the catered food was the double chocolate chip cookies that were served around 9:30pm. Laura's mom told us that they were her favorite thing that they ordered. She was soo right. They were outstanding!!!

Thursday, 6/3/2010

When I planned our dinner menu for the week, I expected to have left over salmon for dinner tonight. Without a better option, we stuck to the plan. I needed to find a way to make the salmon better than it was last night. I placed pats of butter on top of the salmon before I reheated it in the microwave. Turns out the melted butter helped with the moisture issue I had last night. It didn't help with the orange flavor, but it was better overall. Ben liked it. We had a caesar salad on the side.

Wednesday, 6/2/2010

A while I ago I purchased quite a few Grill Mates marinade mixes. I decided to try the Baja Citrus flavor tonight. Although several different protiens would go with each marinade, it seems like the best choice is listed first under the ingredients on the packaging. Salmon was listed first; so, I marinated salmon.

I struggled with how long to cook the salmon. I like salmon to be moist, but done. It's a hard balance to find. It seems like I went from raw to overcooked in a minute. The salmon was just too dry in the end. And, unfortunately, I was disappointed with the flavor. I can't be sure why, but I think it is because there is too much orange flavor in this marinade. I think salmon goes well with lemon, but orange doesn't work as well in my opinion.

Ben went to a Mariner's game; so it was just me and Katie for dinner. I didn't want to go through the hassle of grilling asparagus without a second person to watch Katie. Instead, I fixed mixed berries for a side dish. Katie is still not sure about blackberries, but she loves blueberries and strawberries.

Saturday, 5/22/2010

Tonight Ben and I had dinner at a wedding! Our friends Lauren and Tim tied the knot in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA, and we were thrilled to join them for the wedding and reception.

CONGRATS TO MR. & MRS. FLOOD!!!!

After the outdoor ceremony, there was a cocktail and appetizer hour. The crab cakes were YUMMY! They were sitting on little round pieces of bread, SOAKED in butter. Ben joked that the crab cakes were sitting on bread soaked butter;) The chicken skewers were tasty too. For dinner we each selected the chicken and salmon option. Our friend Mckenzie was kind enough to give Ben a bite of her steak. He said the sauce on it was good. I wish I could remember more about the dinner, but honestly, I had too much to drink.

I do remember that Lauren and Tim had a couple different cake flavor options. We sampled them both...white and chocolate...and they were delicious.

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, 4/23/2010

Ben's been working late this week, so we haven't eaten together many times. I am thankful that he got home by 6:30 tonight so that we could share our meal. We had left over salmon cakes with a sweet fruit salad. The salad consisted of bananas, mango, pear, and mandarin orange segments. Delicious!

Katie had to eat around 5:30. She had cheese...and 1/2 a salmon cake and a quarter of a pear:)

Wednesday, 4/21/2010

ZESTY SALMON CAKES

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes (per batch)
Makes 6 large or 18 appetizer size cakes








Ingredients:
14 oz can of wild red or pink salmon (2 cups fresh cooked salmon can also be used
2 eggs, beaten
12 saltine crackers, crushed fine (I like to use 6 crackers and 1/4 cup panko break crumbs)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp chopped capers
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
fresh lemon wedges (optional)

Preparation:

1. Add the salmon to a mixing bowl. (Due to the way it's processed, any bones found in canned salmon are very soft and edible, and should be mixed right in. If you want to take the time you can pick through the meet fairly quickly and remove them.) Add the rest of the ingredients, except the oil and butter, and mix with a fork until well combined.

2. Shape into 6 patties about an inch thick (or 18 for appetizers). Heat the oil and butter in a saute pan on medium heat until the butter melts. Saute the salmon cakes for 5 minutes per side until golden brown. Serve hot with fresh lemon if you would like.

I have made this recipe several times, each time using fresh salmon that I pre-baked. This week I bought pre-seasoned salmon, lemon pepper, from the meat counter thinking it would add even more flavor. I won't do it again. The salmon was salted and I didn't think to compensate for that in the recipe. So, the cakes were a bit salty for my tastes. Better to stick with plain salmon. The ingredients in the recipe give it plenty of flavor.

Tonight I baked the salmon just before I mixed it into the other ingredients. I think I should have waited a bit so that some of the moisture could evaporate. The cakes were a bit moist and didn't stay together as well as I would have liked. I also didn't make them as thick as the recipe calls for, so that could have compromised how well they held up against handling and turning. Even though they didn't turn well and were a bit salty, they were still enjoyable. I mixed up my standard fish dip (ketchup, mayo, and worchestershire sauce) and had a small mixed green salad on the side.

Katie had grapes and strawberries along with her fish cake. She likes the dip too:)

Sunday, 4/18/2010

We left Spokane at 2:09pm. Katie had not napped yet and was asleep within 3 minutes of leaving the driveway. She slept until Moses Lake when I needed to stop to take a nap. Ben kept her occupied with cheese so that I could sleep. After a 20 minute nap, a bathroom break, a cookie and milk shakes, we were back on the road. Katie got really whiny around Ellensburg, but finally fell asleep and let us get to North Bend before waking up for dinner.

We ate at the North Bend Bar & Grill. There are lots of fast food options right off of the freeway, but if you go just a mile or so into town you will find this great restaurant. Ben had the Black & Bleu Caesar Salad- a caesar salad with blackened tender loin steak and bleu cheese crumbles. I had a Northwest Blackened Salmon Sandwich with a side caesar. The sandwich had a delicious dill sauce on it. Katie had a little bit of my salmon, a few bites of honeydew melon, and...cheese:) Oh, and she really enjoyed drinking water from to-go cup with a straw. The straw was definitely the highlight for her. If you need to stop for a meal in North Bend, take the time to sit down and enjoy it at the North Bend Bar & Grill.