18
Aug

In Bruges

Well That Was Dark, Alright
When I got up this AM, it was suddenly October out there and was completely demotivated to bike to work.

Tonight, Mr. T cooked up some of his awesome veggies for dinner (with bacon!) and we watched In Bruges. I’ve wanted to see it since we were there in March, so I enjoyed recognizing places we’d been recently — one of my favorite paintings was featured, but the movie didn’t relate its pertinence to the storyline. I liked the movie okay. Billed as a dark comedy. Way more dark than comedy.

(The Telegraph’s review is here.)

17
Aug

North Ballard

Crown Hill
We book-clubbed at Misty’s this month: The Valley of the Dolls. I think we were split down the middle on whether we enjoyed it. I was a definite yes and now I’m curious to check out the movie adaptation.

I don’t ever recall having driven down 24th, so far north. Lots of Scandinavian references and lots of churches.

16
Aug

Bachelorette Shenanigans

in Black Bottle
Friends of ours are getting married next month, in Ashland, OR. I predict the wedding will be a blast. We had the bachelorette party this weekend, starting at Geraldine’s.

We headed to a great dinner at Belltown’s Black Bottle. We considered heading to Teddy’s in Roosevelt afterward but opted in favor of celebrating at Geraldine’s and Rand’s place since Rand procured an A-C for the party. We are in the middle of a heat wave, hallelujah.

(I ran 15 miles today. So. Hot. I’m not really complaining as I’m always cold here. I love the heat.)

15
Aug

Down in the Frontier Room

Frontier Room
Tonight, we headed down to Belltown to celebrate a friend’s birthday at The Frontier Room. I loved it the last time we went; this time, I needed extra BBQ sauce on everything. The macaroni was a bit bland but the brisket was great.

14
Aug

Monte Cristo’s Apple Tree

Monte Cristo's Apple Tree
After a kickball game a few week’s ago, I’d mentioned to my friend Monte Cristo (nickname) that our dryer was on the fritz and it was a real pain and I hate appliance shopping, yada yada yada. He mentioned an extra set he just happens to have and offered to sell them. Before we go through the process of moving them, we went to check to make sure they still worked.

It’s the first time I’d been to his house that he bought two years ago. He’s in West Seattle and luckily in an area that hasn’t been overrun with new development.

12
Aug

Oh, The Places You’ll Go

Oh, The Places You'll Go
In my ongoing quest to be more of a bike-commuter, I stopped off at Gregg’s tonight to get a rack so I can use panniers.

11
Aug

Georgetown Picnic

Wish I Coulda Gone
The Seattle Foodies are all over The Corson Building lately. I haven’t been there and I hear it’s difficult. But, I haven’t really tried. I was back in Georgetown this evening and noticed that the night before there’d been a picnic. Wish I would’ve known…next time.

10
Aug

Lazy Sunday

End of Lazy Sunday
Upon waking, Mr. T made eggs and ham for the croissants from yesterday’s stop at L’Artisan. It was good fuel for my weekly long run–10.2 miles, a step down from last week’s 13. This is part of training ramp-up; every third week is slightly shorter than the week before. Next week will be 15.

Before running, I lazed about, reading Valley of the Dolls for next week’s book discussion. I started getting into it, but it has lulls. I am nearly done after several hundred pages today. It’s Sex and the City: the Prequel, with more drugs.

Last week, I mentioned to motomotoyama that it’d been months since I patronized Target and it was time to head back. This is a sideshot from the parking garage in its final moments. The sunset was spectacular.

09
Aug

Lemons outta Lemonade

Dinner in Mill Creek
We had every fine intention of spending the afternoon with Mr. T’s very large extended family on Camano Island. Turned out a semi was our nemesis, blocking four lanes of I-5 North near the Everett Mall. We retreated at the nearest exit, once we heard the radio report, taking side roads south, near where Mr. T spent his last two years of high school. Since that time–well, even since I lived in Snohomish County until aught-four–Mill Creek’s expanded and we found this new Indian place, The Clay Pit, right near a new Central Market (jealous!).

He got the Tandoori Chicken Tikedar; I got the Nawabi Korma with Chicken: 4/5 stars. I prefer the tandoori sauce from our favorite–India Bistro of Roosevelt–but this was good. The Nawabi Korma was great.

Before dinner, I finally visited L’Artisan of Silver Lake. I first heard about this bakery from a cooking-school classmate last year who nannies for a family in SnohoCo. She raved about the bread, but I’m pretty spoiled by the fabulous options in Seattle proper. We grabbed a Truffle Tart in addition to the baguette. The tart was an amazing treat at home, right before we watched Babel.

08
Aug

Attention: Chien Bizarre

Attention

I bought this about a month ago, but it finally arrived. I figure folks need fair warning.

Like most Seattle Summer weekends, we have a full one ahead, with tomorrow featuring Camano Island in the afternoon, a breakfast in the AM with a friend who’s known me since Junior High–no small thing for a Louisiana transplant–and a potential friend’s band playing in Ballard in the late PM.

We’d originally considered going to Emerald Downs tonight to celebrate a birthday in Mr. T’s extended family, but opted for the night in. He made pizza, I went running.

07
Aug

One man’s salad is another’s…

Make Your Meals Healthful and Gay

I didn’t actually cook today. Mr. T did, bless his heart.

After I got all my homework done (*cough*errands, running*cough*), motomotoyama planned to stop by. I recently got into this vintage recipe cookbook group and the month’s theme was vegetables, so…I was perusing the 1956 edition of the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook before she came over. I probably found it at the Seattle Public Library’s AWESOME semi-annual sale, full of 1950s and 1960s newspaper clippings and cut-outs. It features a number of step-by-step photo layouts for subjects like measuring methods, entertaining hacks, along with 50 ways to make roast, soup, cake or pie, whichever’s your thing.

06
Aug

Dodger Ringleader

BIYF Ringleader
Today, we had a dodgeball tournament. I knew from the start I’d be there for pictures. Note to self: use a different lens for those Action Shots.

Anyhow, on the right here is the ultimate victor of the day right before the final showdown. Shortly thereafter, we all retired to the Fremont Ballroom for refreshing bev’rages and conversation.

The crew involved in the tournament was internationally diverse; lots of folks not from around here. Before heading to the field, my friend K from eastern Africa asked, “So, I signed up for a team…what’s dodgeball?” G fielded with a quick overview, and K replied, “would this be like a draft dodging?”

05
Aug

Drowning Sorrows

The Sloop
I had this volunteer thing, so I missed the playoff game with my kickball folks. Afterward, I met up with them at The Sloop in Ballard. Turns out, they were blown out of the water by some damn Unicorns. Better luck, next season.

04
Aug

Higher

Higher
Sorry if you’re not into our gardening successes…but I’m actually not that sorry. Hey, look! We have another crop. Beans!

It’s another Monday. Successes? I rode into work today. Otherwise, it was sort of a bureaucratic day, just gettin’ stuff done.

For dinner, we had our lettuce and cucumbers and zucchini from el jardin.

03
Aug

Broccoli

First Broccoli
Ah, broccoli. Mr. T has been makin’ noise about needin’ to harvest. It went well with the leftover steak from yesterday’s outing to visit Carey on Bainbridge.

Today was a really laid-back day. Uh, I ran 13 miles. Other than that, I was lazy and we ended the night with Charlie Wilson’s War. Highly recommended movie.