Hello friends!
Well, another fun-filled weekend has come to a close here with the Fields (or as I like to say, the Olsen Fields)! After several attempts by Carl to get me to blog on Seattle Field Notes, I (meaning Christy) am making my first post! To be fair, I do blog all day long at work (visit us at blog.norway.com), so he does give me a break. :)
On Friday afternoon, Carl and I packed up our newly acquired camping gear to head to Snoqualmie River RV Park and Campground. This was our first time camping together, and we didn't know quite what to expect. But the allure of no TV, cooking over an open fire, and enjoying a peaceful night's sleep in the wilderness made it easy to go on an impromptu 24 hour adventure. Setting up the tent was mildly humorous. I had some serious doubts of cooking over an open fire (they sell camp stoves for a reason!), but Carl surprised me with his innovative grate-and-aluminum-pan method, and prepared us a delicious mixed grill of chicken and vegetables. The people watching was fantastic, with alot of locals mixed in with the campers. The campground itself was pretty okay-- we were glad it was close to town so we could buy batteries for our new AeroBed camping mattress-- but next time, we want to be further into the mountains. We wanted a night away from the continual stream of traffic right outside our window, and there's nothing like falling asleep and waking up to car noise when you're camping! We had a great time hanging out, playing travel Scrabble (thanks to the Osbornes for the travel set!), and eating delicious camping food (smores!). We can't wait to do it again soon!
We drove home to Seattle on late Saturday morning (yes, I even got up at 8:45!), and got ready for a fun day with our dear friends, Ellen and Kyle Aronson. The weather could not have been better-- bright blue sky, slight breeze, temperature in the low 80s. These are the days when people are glad to live in Washington! We started the day with lunch at the Wing Dome, located in the charming Phinney Ridge/Greenwood neighborhood. For anyone who likes Buffalo wings and creative riffs on the classic bar food, this is definitely a place to go. Rated with an alarm system (0-7 alarm), you can choose the hotness of your wings, from child's play to one so hot you have to sign a waiver (no joke). It was pretty spicy, but definitely a repeat. Afterwards, we headed to Denny Park for a game of frisbee (actually, Ellen and I just watched, which was more fun for us!), and walked down to Pike Place Market for the annual festival. There were a LOT of people there, but it was fun to celebrate the rich diversity that the Market brings to our city.
We finished our day with a seafood feast at The Crab Pot, which the Aronsons had never been to! Carl and I had dined at both the Seattle and Bellevue locations, and we were glad to introduce our fellow seafood enthusiasts to this fun restaurant. For those of you who haven't been there, this is a hands-on restaurant, complete with bibs, mallets, and big metal bowls on the floor to discard your shells. We had a huge mixed basket of steamed Dungeness crab, snow crab, mussels, clams, shrimp (with the heads still on!), chorizo sausage, red potatoes, and corn on the cob, all sprinkled with a healthy dose of their house spice mix. It's messy, but a really fun experience and good food. If you like seafood, this is definitely a restaurant to try!
But I digress... Carl's job is the monthly Restaurant Field Report, not mine! Today was a nice, relaxing day to run errands and such. We took a nice walk around upper Fremont, an up-and-coming area which is a little more grown-up than its counterpart down the hill. We bought a cool pot at urbanweeds, a hip niche garden store for city dwellers. I have a new penchant for growing things (okay, just houseplants for now), and I was inspired by my sister-in-law Jeannie (aka the Faux Gourmet) to grow our favorite herbs. We planted 4-inch starts of basil, cilantro (sorry, Jeannie!), rosemary, and oregano. Armed with a trowel and a fresh bag of potting soil, Carl and I officially have our own "garden" with our coastal redwood seedling, amaryllis, a Fire and Ice succulent, and other assorted houseplants. Fun! Upper Fremont is a great neighborhood, and somewhere we can envision ourselves living someday.
The only bad part of the weekend was a very unfortunate twist of fate: I dropped Carl's keys down the elevator shaft. Seriously. It's something all tenants here worry about, with that gaping hole staring you in the face every time you step into the elevator. We were locked out of our apartment and didn't have the number to the after-hours guy, so our options were reduced to knocking on the door of the apartment manager. She was really nice to us, and let us into our apartment. Thank goodness I had my keys here in the apartment-- we would have been charged $500 (yes, you read that right) to have them retrieved during the weekend. There are plenty of other things we would rather spend that money on, so we don't mind waiting until Tuesday!
All in all, it was a terrific weekend. This week marked our one year anniversary here in our apartment, and we are thankful to be done with graduation, moving, wedding, and starting jobs! As we approach our one year wedding anniversary in a few weeks, life here in Seattle truly feels like home. It's great to establish roots with someone you love, especially when that person is your best friend.
Hope you had a great May!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
May Restaurant Field Report
Its been two months since my last Restaurant Field Report and I have a few updates. I didn't make it to as many new restaurants as I would like, but I do get to cross one local place off my list, add a few to list, and share my all time favorites places in Seattle. Enjoy!
Spinasse: I've been looking forward to going to Spinasse with my parents and sister because they love authentic, rustic Italian food. They came over for part of Memorial Day weekend, so I jumped on the chance to take them here and I'm glad it worked out. Christy's sister Caroline also got to join us for our Sunday night dinner. All I knew about this place is that the chef makes fresh pasta every day and that it has been one of the top new restaurants in Seattle (located in Capitol Hill near Pike Street).
Now to the goods. We were seated at a community table, which we shared with two other groups. This wasn't so bad because we got to see what others were eating. Right after we sat down, were given complimentary bruschetta (one with some sort of pate and one with a somewhat sour cheese). This reminds me of a conversation I had with my sister Jeannie about whether the unexpected free food is worth the premium you pay for the rest of the food. I think that if you are going to a restaurant with premium prices then you're prepared to pay that premium, so the sticker shock isn't a factor and the unaccepted treat is just a bonus. What do you think?
The menu follows a traditional format of Antipasti (appetizers), Primi (pastas), Secondi (meat), Contorni (sides/veggies), and Dolci (dessert). We started with the sampler antipasti, which allowed us to get a taste of all the delicious starters. These aren't the kind of appetizers you get at some place like the Olive Garden (calamari, artichoke dip, or flatbread). I could hardly interpret half of the dishes and really didn't know what to expect. My favs were veal with tuna maionesse (sounds weird, but yummy) and rich anchovy fillets. Next we ordered one of each of the homemade pastas (fine cut egg pasta with ragu, ravioli with butter/sage/pine nuts, and "random wide cuts" of pasta with braised pork). Each of them had such a rich deep flavor that complemented the light and fresh pasta. I know Jeannie wished they had gnocchi...maybe next time. We like these so much we got another round because of the rare opportunity to get this high-quality pasta (and we got to keep the leftovers!). For the Secondi, we had some sort of pork chop and a rabbit dish. I think I like the rabbit better, but really the pastas were the highlight of the night. We also got some roasted turnips and their greens and some potatoes. For dessert, we sampled the chocolate torte.
Aside from the food, the restaurant was quite small with capacity for only 45 or so, and no waiting area. The bar looks straight into the kitchen, which looks more like a Julia Childs kitchen than a typical industrial type kitchen. I would love to sit up there and watch them prepare all the delicious food. The bar is used by the chef/owner Justin Neidermeyer to make his pastas in the morning. Service was a little slow, but we got there pretty late and they kept the kitchen open for us as we were a little slow in getting our orders in, so that was nice of them. I enjoyed the food, but I don't feel compelled to return. I got the experience I was looking for as I enjoyed the meal with my family, but in the end it isn't really my style of food. I'm starting to realize my style of taste with food. While I enjoy watching all the gourmet cuisine made in shows like Iron Chef and the intrigue of techniques used, I don't enjoy eating the food as much. At first I thought it was the type of restaurants that serve that type of food (see La Cirque), I think it has more to do with the food itself. I still can't quite pinpoint what it is that I don't like, but I'm enjoying going through the process of developing my preferences, both with the food I eat and they ambiance of the restaurants I eat at. So in the end, like I said, I enjoyed the experience of exploring a new restaurant, trying new tastes and being with my family, but I don't feel like I need to go back. Another reason is that there are so many other exciting restaurants in Seattle, some on my list and some yet to be discovered, that if something isn't quite right for me, then there are plenty of other fish in the sea.
Now, don't just take my word for it. Check out these other reviews by people who actually get paid to write this stuff.
Cross off the list
Spinasse: I've been looking forward to going to Spinasse with my parents and sister because they love authentic, rustic Italian food. They came over for part of Memorial Day weekend, so I jumped on the chance to take them here and I'm glad it worked out. Christy's sister Caroline also got to join us for our Sunday night dinner. All I knew about this place is that the chef makes fresh pasta every day and that it has been one of the top new restaurants in Seattle (located in Capitol Hill near Pike Street).Now to the goods. We were seated at a community table, which we shared with two other groups. This wasn't so bad because we got to see what others were eating. Right after we sat down, were given complimentary bruschetta (one with some sort of pate and one with a somewhat sour cheese). This reminds me of a conversation I had with my sister Jeannie about whether the unexpected free food is worth the premium you pay for the rest of the food. I think that if you are going to a restaurant with premium prices then you're prepared to pay that premium, so the sticker shock isn't a factor and the unaccepted treat is just a bonus. What do you think?
The menu follows a traditional format of Antipasti (appetizers), Primi (pastas), Secondi (meat), Contorni (sides/veggies), and Dolci (dessert). We started with the sampler antipasti, which allowed us to get a taste of all the delicious starters. These aren't the kind of appetizers you get at some place like the Olive Garden (calamari, artichoke dip, or flatbread). I could hardly interpret half of the dishes and really didn't know what to expect. My favs were veal with tuna maionesse (sounds weird, but yummy) and rich anchovy fillets. Next we ordered one of each of the homemade pastas (fine cut egg pasta with ragu, ravioli with butter/sage/pine nuts, and "random wide cuts" of pasta with braised pork). Each of them had such a rich deep flavor that complemented the light and fresh pasta. I know Jeannie wished they had gnocchi...maybe next time. We like these so much we got another round because of the rare opportunity to get this high-quality pasta (and we got to keep the leftovers!). For the Secondi, we had some sort of pork chop and a rabbit dish. I think I like the rabbit better, but really the pastas were the highlight of the night. We also got some roasted turnips and their greens and some potatoes. For dessert, we sampled the chocolate torte.Aside from the food, the restaurant was quite small with capacity for only 45 or so, and no waiting area. The bar looks straight into the kitchen, which looks more like a Julia Childs kitchen than a typical industrial type kitchen. I would love to sit up there and watch them prepare all the delicious food. The bar is used by the chef/owner Justin Neidermeyer to make his pastas in the morning. Service was a little slow, but we got there pretty late and they kept the kitchen open for us as we were a little slow in getting our orders in, so that was nice of them. I enjoyed the food, but I don't feel compelled to return. I got the experience I was looking for as I enjoyed the meal with my family, but in the end it isn't really my style of food. I'm starting to realize my style of taste with food. While I enjoy watching all the gourmet cuisine made in shows like Iron Chef and the intrigue of techniques used, I don't enjoy eating the food as much. At first I thought it was the type of restaurants that serve that type of food (see La Cirque), I think it has more to do with the food itself. I still can't quite pinpoint what it is that I don't like, but I'm enjoying going through the process of developing my preferences, both with the food I eat and they ambiance of the restaurants I eat at. So in the end, like I said, I enjoyed the experience of exploring a new restaurant, trying new tastes and being with my family, but I don't feel like I need to go back. Another reason is that there are so many other exciting restaurants in Seattle, some on my list and some yet to be discovered, that if something isn't quite right for me, then there are plenty of other fish in the sea.Now, don't just take my word for it. Check out these other reviews by people who actually get paid to write this stuff.
Add to the list
Caribbean
Paseo: I heard about this place from a waiter in New York city who grew up in Seattle. Then I saw it in piece about Fremont in the Seattle Magazine. Apparently they have killer Caribbean sandwhiches, though I don't really know what that means. I found a picture from MyBallard.com and it looks like a taco wagon for Caribbean food. They don't even have a website. Found a Seattle Times review, which puts them in same category as Baguette Box, which just happens to be one my favorite gourmet sandwhich places in Seattle. Excited to learn more about this place. Located in Ballard and Fremont.
Gastropub
Quinns Pub: I first heard about Qunnis from the Seattle Metropolitan Magazine I was glancing through while I waited in line at Whole Foods. I had never heard of a gastroub before, but it sounded like it had gourmet food in a bar atmosphere, which sounded both delicious and fun (though the more I look into the more this it looks like this might fall into the "too fancy for Carl" category mentioned in the Spinasse review)! Quinns was also reccomeded by the waiter in NY. According to a Seattle Times review, "Will it be marrow bones, oxtail or rabbit pâté? Maybe a burger of Wagyu beef, or a wild boar Sloppy Joe? How about house-made sausage with lentils, or hangar steak with fries? Perhaps just a salad will do — but will it have smoked trout, grilled romaine, or Stilton cheese and pear?" Sounds intriguing...guess I'll have to find out for myself. Located in Capitol Hill.
French/Italian/American
Bis on Main: I heard about Bis on Main from the waiter in New York. And thats about all I know. Taking a look at the menu, I'd want to try the Gravlax with potato pancakes, Gnocchi in saffron cream, and Penn Cove Mussels in a curry sauce. The entries all look pretty expensive, so I'd probably stick with these appetizers. Check out this review from Seattle Times. Located in Bellevue.
Artisan Cured Meat
Salumi: I heard about Salumi as I was reading about the new Olive 8 Hyatt Hotel in Alaska Airlines magazine. I had just read that the hotel served meat from Salumi and then my dad mentioned something about how it was owned by Mario Batali's father, Armandino Batali. Thats about all I know about this place. It sounds like they have great sandwhiches and long lines at lunch. After a doing a little reading on their website and a Seattle Weekly article, I found out that Armandino grew up near Yakima (Mario Batali was born in Yakima...who knew!), worked for Boeing for 31 years before learning the art of meat curing and opening up Salumi. It started as a small deli but has turned into a well known and respected meat curing wholesaler with a deli (which is still tiny apparently). Can't wait to try this one! Located in Pioneer Square.
CaribbeanPaseo: I heard about this place from a waiter in New York city who grew up in Seattle. Then I saw it in piece about Fremont in the Seattle Magazine. Apparently they have killer Caribbean sandwhiches, though I don't really know what that means. I found a picture from MyBallard.com and it looks like a taco wagon for Caribbean food. They don't even have a website. Found a Seattle Times review, which puts them in same category as Baguette Box, which just happens to be one my favorite gourmet sandwhich places in Seattle. Excited to learn more about this place. Located in Ballard and Fremont.
GastropubQuinns Pub: I first heard about Qunnis from the Seattle Metropolitan Magazine I was glancing through while I waited in line at Whole Foods. I had never heard of a gastroub before, but it sounded like it had gourmet food in a bar atmosphere, which sounded both delicious and fun (though the more I look into the more this it looks like this might fall into the "too fancy for Carl" category mentioned in the Spinasse review)! Quinns was also reccomeded by the waiter in NY. According to a Seattle Times review, "Will it be marrow bones, oxtail or rabbit pâté? Maybe a burger of Wagyu beef, or a wild boar Sloppy Joe? How about house-made sausage with lentils, or hangar steak with fries? Perhaps just a salad will do — but will it have smoked trout, grilled romaine, or Stilton cheese and pear?" Sounds intriguing...guess I'll have to find out for myself. Located in Capitol Hill.
French/Italian/AmericanBis on Main: I heard about Bis on Main from the waiter in New York. And thats about all I know. Taking a look at the menu, I'd want to try the Gravlax with potato pancakes, Gnocchi in saffron cream, and Penn Cove Mussels in a curry sauce. The entries all look pretty expensive, so I'd probably stick with these appetizers. Check out this review from Seattle Times. Located in Bellevue.
Artisan Cured MeatSalumi: I heard about Salumi as I was reading about the new Olive 8 Hyatt Hotel in Alaska Airlines magazine. I had just read that the hotel served meat from Salumi and then my dad mentioned something about how it was owned by Mario Batali's father, Armandino Batali. Thats about all I know about this place. It sounds like they have great sandwhiches and long lines at lunch. After a doing a little reading on their website and a Seattle Weekly article, I found out that Armandino grew up near Yakima (Mario Batali was born in Yakima...who knew!), worked for Boeing for 31 years before learning the art of meat curing and opening up Salumi. It started as a small deli but has turned into a well known and respected meat curing wholesaler with a deli (which is still tiny apparently). Can't wait to try this one! Located in Pioneer Square.
Top Restaurants in Seattle
I decided to put together a list of restaurants in Seattle I would recommend hands down, without reservations.
- Portage Bay Cafe: Best breakfast/brunch in town and its within walking distance.
- Buenos Aires Grill: Argentine steakhouse in Belltown where Christy and I had our first date and we got engaged.
- Red Mill Burgers: Best burgers anywhere...located in Phinney Ridge and Interbay
- Zeeks Pizza: Excellent pizza place a few blocks from our apartment. Christy's office gets it for work some days.
- Whole Foods: Great selection of fresh, delicious ready to eat food: sandwichs, soups, sushi, teriyaki, pizza, salad bar, and hot bar. Sooo good.
- Purple Cafe: So many good things here, like tapas, cheeses, salads, and mini-desserts. Attractive wine tower, though no corking fee if they don't have the wine you bring.
- Pita Xpress: My favorite lunch place downtown. Great food and nice people.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Twitter and my other blog
Well I'm finally getting around to testing/using my Twitter account (carlman03) I created last year. I was inspired after I saw that the City of Prosser (cityofprosserwa) and my sister's food blog (TheFauxGourmet) both have Twitters. I need to start catching up on the social networking curve as I've fallen a little behind. For those of you who don't know what Twitter is or don't get it (I don't really even get it), allow me to attempt to enlighten you. According to their website, "Twitter asks one question, "What are you doing?" Answers must be under 140 characters in length and can be sent via mobile texting, instant message, or the web." Some people like to stay connected and share what they are doing or keep tracking of what others are doing, and some people could care less. My suggestion: Create a free account, search for some of your friends to see if they have a Twitter account or search for your favorites things (restaurants (searestaurants), stores (Starbucks), media outlets (SeattleTimes), celebreites (THE_REAL_SHAQ)...you'd be surprised). Check out this list of top Twitters, based on the number of followers for each account. Feel free to follow my twitter as I start tweeting more often (tweeting is the act of writing an update for your Twitter account). One can tweet through the internet at Twiter.com or they can use their phone and text their tweet to their account and it is posted immediatly. How cool is that! I'm curious what you all think about Twitterting, so send me your feedback by adding a comment.
Update: I just found this great article about Twitter and sports, specifically Seattle sports.
My other announcement is that I have another blog I occaisonaly write for called TheSouthlake.com. It is a blog for the neighborhood I live in and I've been following it since I moved here a year ago. Rick, the founder of the blog, invited poeple to start posting their own stories on the blog, so occasionaly when I found a piece of news about SLU (South Lake Union) that I think is interesting, then I'll post it. Today I posted a story about a new Tesla (luxury electric car) showroom is opening up in SLU later this summer. Wonder if they require a $10,000 deposit to let you test drive it. Anyway, just wanted to share with you all that I am polyblogamorus...I read many blogs and write for many blogs.
In case you are curious, here are some other blogs that I follow:
Update: I just found this great article about Twitter and sports, specifically Seattle sports.
My other announcement is that I have another blog I occaisonaly write for called TheSouthlake.com. It is a blog for the neighborhood I live in and I've been following it since I moved here a year ago. Rick, the founder of the blog, invited poeple to start posting their own stories on the blog, so occasionaly when I found a piece of news about SLU (South Lake Union) that I think is interesting, then I'll post it. Today I posted a story about a new Tesla (luxury electric car) showroom is opening up in SLU later this summer. Wonder if they require a $10,000 deposit to let you test drive it. Anyway, just wanted to share with you all that I am polyblogamorus...I read many blogs and write for many blogs.
In case you are curious, here are some other blogs that I follow:
- Norway.com: Managed by my wife Christy
- What's in the Pot?: Run by my sister Jeannie Rose
- I became a wife of August 11th, 2007: Run by our friend Ellen in Puyallup
- Life, From This Day Forward: Run by our friend Emily in Boise
- The Southlake: Community blog for my neighborhood
- Sounders Blog: News about the MLS team Seattle Sounders, hosted by Seattle Times
- Seattle Sketcher: Sketch artist in Seattle, hosted by Seattle Times
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Seattle Sketcher
So there's this guy named Gabriel Campanario, or Gabi, that does some incredible sketches around Seattle and in his homeland of Spain. He used to posted his sketches on his personal blog, until the Seattle Times gave him an blog called Seattle Sketcher.
Check out all his sketches in this Google Map and tell me which one you like the best. My favs are the ones that are very close to my apartment, like the Pink Elephant one and the La Qunita mural. I even saw him painting this one just a block away from my office while I was getting lunch a few weeks ago! The building on the left of the top drawing is my building. Each one has a story that goes along with it, whether it is a homeless guy or a fellow blogger.
Check out all his sketches in this Google Map and tell me which one you like the best. My favs are the ones that are very close to my apartment, like the Pink Elephant one and the La Qunita mural. I even saw him painting this one just a block away from my office while I was getting lunch a few weeks ago! The building on the left of the top drawing is my building. Each one has a story that goes along with it, whether it is a homeless guy or a fellow blogger.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Spring Update!
I don't even know when my last blog post was, but I'm back at it, as I watch the replay of the Sounders game today. It was a bittersweet game, because we were playing at home and scored first but we only got a tie out of the game, which isn't bad considering we played the last 30 minutes after man down after a red card. The Sounders had a great start winning their first 3 games without giving up a goal, but have gone 1-2-2 (which means 1 win, 2 losses, and 2 ties) since including today. They just announced that the Sounders are playing Barcelona later this summer, which is exciting because they are playing for the European Championship in a few weeks and because they are one of the most storied teams in the world. Whenever I wear my Sounders gear or talk to people about it they always ask me if I've been to a game yet. Well, the answer is no, both because I haven't made the effort to buy tickets and because the game are sold out really fast. The next 3 home games are sold out already. They play at Qwest Field, but don't open up the upper sections so seating is maxed out at about 29,o00. I've heard rumors that they may open up more seats for the rest of the season or for next year. I'm planning on going to a game with my family this summer and it looks we we all will be able to go the August 29th game against Toronto. Go Sounders!
Well, what else have we been up to besides watching Sounders games each week? Um...multiple trips to Tacoma/Puyallup, a few visits from Christy's dad Rich (with even more visits from the Olsens expected the rest of the year...more on that later), walks around Seattle, an impromptu weekend adventure to Port Townsend, a trip of the mountains to visit mom and dad for Easter, a few business trips to Portland, lots of home-work for Christy on the 17th of May Norwegian Celebration in Ballard, culinary adventures in our kitchen, and fun planning for the summer.
So lets start with all the trips to the South Sound. We went to the annual PLU Spring Donor banquet last weekend, where we got to see a lot of alumni friends and enjoy the music and stories of alum and EMAL Michael Peterson. We got to spend the rest of the night with our dear friend's Ellen and Kyle. We all watched the Sounders game that was on during the donor banquet, which they tied. We had a great breakfast with them on Sunday morning and played some Trivial Pursuit on their Wii. On the Friday night before, we went with Rich to the PLU Relay for Life to hang out with Caroline and Taylor. That is always a special event. We went to Ellen and Kyle's a few weeks before that for a PLU GOLD alumni group. Afterwards, we went to visit our dear friend Molly Olmstead. She graduated with us last year from PLU and has been doing student teaching and working on getting her Masters in Education. She just moved into a new condo in Puyallup and we had a wonderful time catching up with her!
We've been trying to enjoy living in Seattle by going on walks around the city. We walked down to the Olympic Sculpture Park and then north along with waterfront by some huge gain elevator silos. We came back through Interbay and then through Queen Anne. I probably wasn't super far and it wasn't the prettiest part of Seattle, but it was nice to get out enjoy the nice weather. We went on another walk yesterday, this time exploring Woodland Park (thats right, next to the zoo). We parked by some soccer/baseball fields south of Green Lake, walked west towards the zoo, then wound up in Phinny Ridge. We checked out a new townhouse, which was way out of our price range, but had an incredible view over Ballard and the Olympic Mountains. Then we stopped at our favorite burger joint in Seattle called Red Mill, where we shared a burger with caramelized onions, fries, and a yummy chocolate peanut butter shake. We finished the loop by walking down the hill towards Green Lake, where we found some grass to throw the frisbee around before heading home. Good times.
I got to take two business trips to Portland to work on a new website with our department management. It was a great opportunity to interact with our director, assistant director, and managers! I've been working on this for a few months and it is more than just a new site for our department. It is a new intranet for the entire company which allows departments to create their own pages, which is new, and have it all on one platform and one common template instead of the many different sites currently across the company. All that hard work paid off as our new site launched this week and I spent a lot of time getting the site ready. I'm proud of my work and am grateful for this opportunity to be valuable and visible to the rest of our department (I got that valuable and visible bit from my high school coach...applies to football and life. Also, check out this new website called Healthy Heights that Regence built to teach people about how healthcare costs can be managed in a community. Let me know what you think! Its like a sims city simulation thing.
Well, as I type this I am sitting next to my parents on a flight to New York to attend my sister's graduation from NYU law school. I'll take this as opportunity to give a shout out to my fellow blogger/sister and her delicious food blog called What's in the Pot?, as well as her gig writing recipes for Airfield Estates website called Chef's Corner! Check out her blog, which features her favorites restaurants around New York and the world as well as new recipes that she puts together. She is a brilliant cook and soon to be lawyer (don't worry, she'll be the good kind of lawyer defending human rights and saving the world). I got three days off of work for this trip and had to leave Christy behind because she had to put all the finishing touches together for the 17th of May Norwegian Constitution Day on Sunday. Luckily, I fly back on Sunday morning and get to attend all of the festivities! So what am I going to be doing with my parents and two sisters in the Big Apple? We're going to see Guys and Dolls on Thursday, Jeannie's graduation on Friday, a Yankees game at their immaculate new stadium, and a whole slew of fancy/fun restaurants. I even bought some sweet new shoes (Echo brown leather European style classy looking loafers on clearance at Macys!) and brought my sporty gray jacket. Watch out New York City!
Well about a month ago Christy came home from work on a Friday and said "Lets go on a road trip tonight and stay in a bed and breakfast somewhere!" It took me about 10 minutes to warm up to the idea, but before I knew it we were sitting in our car in line at the ferry terminal about to head to Bainbridge Island with our GPS and Best Places to Kiss in the Northwest book. We looked up a few B&B's to stay at in Port Townsend, which seemed like a fun place that neither of us had been to and was just the right distance away. We found one called Ravenscroft Inn which is run by a sweet old couple and we just happened to be the only guests that night. We got there around 9 PM and walked to a restaurant downtown where we had free entertainment watching a bachlorette party as we wined and dined. The breakfast served up at the B&B was so delicious. We had broiled grapefruit and pumpkin waffles with diced granny smith apples drizzled with caramel sauce...yummo! Amid walking along the beach and through downtown, we enjoyed lunch at a 50's style diner and checked out the local museum (where we had to listen to the clerk talk for like an hour, as he had to stop and say hi to every person that walked through the door and ignore us for 5 minutes...he was a sweet old guy though). We checked out an old fort nearby where they filmed "An Officer and a Gentleman" which I hadn't seen, but we watched a week after. We decided to go for a bit of a joy ride and head over towards Dungeness (which doesn't have a downtown apparently) and Sequim. We say a bunch of deer everywhere, like just chilling in people's yards and they were fearless. It was weird. Since we were in Dungeness, we had to get a crab, so we went to the local "Whole Foods"-esque organic grocery store and got a previously frozen crab and a halibut steak (halibut season just started!). On the way home, we stooped by my coworkers house right by the Hood Canal Bridge and hung out with her and her two granddaughters for a few hours, which was really fun! Her granddaughters are so energetic and exhausted us for the short time we spent with them...made us glad we are waiting a few years before we have kids. It'll be fun, but we like having lazy evenings and just enjoying each other. Anyway, we finally made it home and were so glad we took this impromptu road trip. Can't wait to do it again this summer! Oh, and the crab was the best crab I've ever had...wow. I thought because it was previously frozen, it wouldn't be good, but the flavor and texture was prefect. Yummo!
Another weekend trip was to Prosser for Easter. We hadn't been home to visit my folks in a few months and they had just returned from their exciting Europe trip to visit my sister in Austria with my two other sisters. They went to Austria, Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, France, and Italy in their 3 week adventure. We had fun hearing all about their trip, doing a little wine tasting, gave our dog Charlie a bath, and enjoyed some incredible cuisine from the kitchen of Burrfield Manor. We especially enjoyed visiting a new winery/pizzeria in Prosser called Wine O'Clock, owned by Ron and Susan Brunnell. First off, their wine is first class and we got to sit at the bar and have Ron pour wine to our heart's content. Our favorite was the intriguing Mouvedre, a spicy Sryah-like red wine. Just as good as the wine is the gourmet, wood oven stove pizza that Susan creates. Last time we were there, she did all the food prep herself and they didn't have much hired help, so things were a little slow. This time, they had some excellent staff and man were they cooking (double meaning)! I definitely recommend a stop at Wine-O-Clock if you are planning a trip near Prosser. In fact, there are at least 10 excellent wineries within walking distance and just off the freeway and more are on the way! It was good to see mom and dad (and Charlie) and its good to be with them now! I think they are going to come to Seattle for Memorial Day weekend next week because Jeannie will be in Prosser and needs to get to Seattle to fly back out to NY. We're planning all the restaurants we want to go to (Spinasse, Taberno de Alabadero, Portage Bay Cafe, Seastar Seattle, Purple Cafe Seattle...and so many more).
Well I saved the biggest news for last. We found out that Christy's family is officially moving back to Washington this summer! Her dad, Rich, works for Lockheed Martin and they won a contract at Hanford to provide all of the business services (IT, finance...which is his specialty, HR, security and more). We're very excited that the Olsen's will be a 4 hour drive away instead of a 4 hour flight away! This means more reasons for us to drive over the mountains and more guests in our spare bedroom! Plus, we'll get to see both families for holidays now since they're probably going to live only 25 minutes away from my parents! Woot woot! Rich has been flying out every few works to get things setup at Hanford and often stays the night with us and takes us out to breakfast at Portage Bay Cafe or dinner at Purple Cafe.
Well I think that about covers it for now. We're about to land, my battery is almost dead, and if you've made it all they way to the end of this blog then you're a true fan! Don't forget to write a comment and spread the word about my blog!
Well, what else have we been up to besides watching Sounders games each week? Um...multiple trips to Tacoma/Puyallup, a few visits from Christy's dad Rich (with even more visits from the Olsens expected the rest of the year...more on that later), walks around Seattle, an impromptu weekend adventure to Port Townsend, a trip of the mountains to visit mom and dad for Easter, a few business trips to Portland, lots of home-work for Christy on the 17th of May Norwegian Celebration in Ballard, culinary adventures in our kitchen, and fun planning for the summer.
So lets start with all the trips to the South Sound. We went to the annual PLU Spring Donor banquet last weekend, where we got to see a lot of alumni friends and enjoy the music and stories of alum and EMAL Michael Peterson. We got to spend the rest of the night with our dear friend's Ellen and Kyle. We all watched the Sounders game that was on during the donor banquet, which they tied. We had a great breakfast with them on Sunday morning and played some Trivial Pursuit on their Wii. On the Friday night before, we went with Rich to the PLU Relay for Life to hang out with Caroline and Taylor. That is always a special event. We went to Ellen and Kyle's a few weeks before that for a PLU GOLD alumni group. Afterwards, we went to visit our dear friend Molly Olmstead. She graduated with us last year from PLU and has been doing student teaching and working on getting her Masters in Education. She just moved into a new condo in Puyallup and we had a wonderful time catching up with her!
We've been trying to enjoy living in Seattle by going on walks around the city. We walked down to the Olympic Sculpture Park and then north along with waterfront by some huge gain elevator silos. We came back through Interbay and then through Queen Anne. I probably wasn't super far and it wasn't the prettiest part of Seattle, but it was nice to get out enjoy the nice weather. We went on another walk yesterday, this time exploring Woodland Park (thats right, next to the zoo). We parked by some soccer/baseball fields south of Green Lake, walked west towards the zoo, then wound up in Phinny Ridge. We checked out a new townhouse, which was way out of our price range, but had an incredible view over Ballard and the Olympic Mountains. Then we stopped at our favorite burger joint in Seattle called Red Mill, where we shared a burger with caramelized onions, fries, and a yummy chocolate peanut butter shake. We finished the loop by walking down the hill towards Green Lake, where we found some grass to throw the frisbee around before heading home. Good times.
I got to take two business trips to Portland to work on a new website with our department management. It was a great opportunity to interact with our director, assistant director, and managers! I've been working on this for a few months and it is more than just a new site for our department. It is a new intranet for the entire company which allows departments to create their own pages, which is new, and have it all on one platform and one common template instead of the many different sites currently across the company. All that hard work paid off as our new site launched this week and I spent a lot of time getting the site ready. I'm proud of my work and am grateful for this opportunity to be valuable and visible to the rest of our department (I got that valuable and visible bit from my high school coach...applies to football and life. Also, check out this new website called Healthy Heights that Regence built to teach people about how healthcare costs can be managed in a community. Let me know what you think! Its like a sims city simulation thing.
Well, as I type this I am sitting next to my parents on a flight to New York to attend my sister's graduation from NYU law school. I'll take this as opportunity to give a shout out to my fellow blogger/sister and her delicious food blog called What's in the Pot?, as well as her gig writing recipes for Airfield Estates website called Chef's Corner! Check out her blog, which features her favorites restaurants around New York and the world as well as new recipes that she puts together. She is a brilliant cook and soon to be lawyer (don't worry, she'll be the good kind of lawyer defending human rights and saving the world). I got three days off of work for this trip and had to leave Christy behind because she had to put all the finishing touches together for the 17th of May Norwegian Constitution Day on Sunday. Luckily, I fly back on Sunday morning and get to attend all of the festivities! So what am I going to be doing with my parents and two sisters in the Big Apple? We're going to see Guys and Dolls on Thursday, Jeannie's graduation on Friday, a Yankees game at their immaculate new stadium, and a whole slew of fancy/fun restaurants. I even bought some sweet new shoes (Echo brown leather European style classy looking loafers on clearance at Macys!) and brought my sporty gray jacket. Watch out New York City!
Well about a month ago Christy came home from work on a Friday and said "Lets go on a road trip tonight and stay in a bed and breakfast somewhere!" It took me about 10 minutes to warm up to the idea, but before I knew it we were sitting in our car in line at the ferry terminal about to head to Bainbridge Island with our GPS and Best Places to Kiss in the Northwest book. We looked up a few B&B's to stay at in Port Townsend, which seemed like a fun place that neither of us had been to and was just the right distance away. We found one called Ravenscroft Inn which is run by a sweet old couple and we just happened to be the only guests that night. We got there around 9 PM and walked to a restaurant downtown where we had free entertainment watching a bachlorette party as we wined and dined. The breakfast served up at the B&B was so delicious. We had broiled grapefruit and pumpkin waffles with diced granny smith apples drizzled with caramel sauce...yummo! Amid walking along the beach and through downtown, we enjoyed lunch at a 50's style diner and checked out the local museum (where we had to listen to the clerk talk for like an hour, as he had to stop and say hi to every person that walked through the door and ignore us for 5 minutes...he was a sweet old guy though). We checked out an old fort nearby where they filmed "An Officer and a Gentleman" which I hadn't seen, but we watched a week after. We decided to go for a bit of a joy ride and head over towards Dungeness (which doesn't have a downtown apparently) and Sequim. We say a bunch of deer everywhere, like just chilling in people's yards and they were fearless. It was weird. Since we were in Dungeness, we had to get a crab, so we went to the local "Whole Foods"-esque organic grocery store and got a previously frozen crab and a halibut steak (halibut season just started!). On the way home, we stooped by my coworkers house right by the Hood Canal Bridge and hung out with her and her two granddaughters for a few hours, which was really fun! Her granddaughters are so energetic and exhausted us for the short time we spent with them...made us glad we are waiting a few years before we have kids. It'll be fun, but we like having lazy evenings and just enjoying each other. Anyway, we finally made it home and were so glad we took this impromptu road trip. Can't wait to do it again this summer! Oh, and the crab was the best crab I've ever had...wow. I thought because it was previously frozen, it wouldn't be good, but the flavor and texture was prefect. Yummo!
Another weekend trip was to Prosser for Easter. We hadn't been home to visit my folks in a few months and they had just returned from their exciting Europe trip to visit my sister in Austria with my two other sisters. They went to Austria, Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, France, and Italy in their 3 week adventure. We had fun hearing all about their trip, doing a little wine tasting, gave our dog Charlie a bath, and enjoyed some incredible cuisine from the kitchen of Burrfield Manor. We especially enjoyed visiting a new winery/pizzeria in Prosser called Wine O'Clock, owned by Ron and Susan Brunnell. First off, their wine is first class and we got to sit at the bar and have Ron pour wine to our heart's content. Our favorite was the intriguing Mouvedre, a spicy Sryah-like red wine. Just as good as the wine is the gourmet, wood oven stove pizza that Susan creates. Last time we were there, she did all the food prep herself and they didn't have much hired help, so things were a little slow. This time, they had some excellent staff and man were they cooking (double meaning)! I definitely recommend a stop at Wine-O-Clock if you are planning a trip near Prosser. In fact, there are at least 10 excellent wineries within walking distance and just off the freeway and more are on the way! It was good to see mom and dad (and Charlie) and its good to be with them now! I think they are going to come to Seattle for Memorial Day weekend next week because Jeannie will be in Prosser and needs to get to Seattle to fly back out to NY. We're planning all the restaurants we want to go to (Spinasse, Taberno de Alabadero, Portage Bay Cafe, Seastar Seattle, Purple Cafe Seattle...and so many more).
Well I saved the biggest news for last. We found out that Christy's family is officially moving back to Washington this summer! Her dad, Rich, works for Lockheed Martin and they won a contract at Hanford to provide all of the business services (IT, finance...which is his specialty, HR, security and more). We're very excited that the Olsen's will be a 4 hour drive away instead of a 4 hour flight away! This means more reasons for us to drive over the mountains and more guests in our spare bedroom! Plus, we'll get to see both families for holidays now since they're probably going to live only 25 minutes away from my parents! Woot woot! Rich has been flying out every few works to get things setup at Hanford and often stays the night with us and takes us out to breakfast at Portage Bay Cafe or dinner at Purple Cafe.
Well I think that about covers it for now. We're about to land, my battery is almost dead, and if you've made it all they way to the end of this blog then you're a true fan! Don't forget to write a comment and spread the word about my blog!
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