Our friend G suggested we head out for trivia last week. We won 4th (pretty good, out of 16 teams), then tried again this week. The rounds were up and down, but in the end: FIRST PLACE!

The Baron and I found this picket fence wrapped with roots during our afternoon stroll. I approve of this kind of long-term project.

I don’t know if the snow ever let up today! Still not sick of it, but a snowy hike seemed like a good preventative measure.

Late afternoon, I caught cross-country skiers headed down the street.

We’ve had a bit of snow in the Pacific Northwest this week. (It rarely snows.) This may be my first event where I haven’t had anywhere to be — I’ve taken full advantage of it by reading, watching 30 Rock, and so on. It’s very quiet in the city right now, and that may be my favorite part.

I’ve lived here nearly 12 years and have never seen a sunset like tonight’s. I was in the very back of the kitchen when I realized the front curtains were glowing.

My burger of the month gang visited Marjorie. I found $17 to be a bit pricey for a burger with cheese and bacon. However, this was one of my favorites of the last few years we’ve been ISO Seattle’s best burger. Worth it. Special note: they only make 10 burgers per day. When they’re done, that’s all.

We also sampled a number of other dishes — the plantain chips with guacamole/salsa, duck liver mousse, and a prawn/shrimp dish with grits. If you’re into that sort of thing, you definitely should get the mousse (it doesn’t often do much for me but I loved it). I enjoyed pretty much everything we tried which is unusual for BOM. I also left inspired to recreate their harissa ketchup at home. The chef is doing fantastic work at Marjorie.

I love it when fortunes confirm the rightness of your plans.

Happy New Year!

I decided today I was being unfairly hard on 2011 over the last week, and wanted to compile the highlights of the year in Flickr photos and blog entries. It was a great, albeit lengthy exercise today and certainly gave me better perspective for a momentous year.

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