Two friends recently welcomed their baby girl into the world. They travelled back to Seattle yesterday to introduce her to the gang up North.

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, and it got me thinking about 2012 gardening plans. There have been some interesting ideas in the past…let me just say this now: I’m still not up to raze part of the front yard to make way for an asparagus patch, despite it having the best conditions. (By the by, this requires a minimum three years to the first harvest.)

Sorry, honey, I know you love spargelzeit.

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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Those are some clever artists at the Atlantic Crossing. (We were en route to Pies and Pints, the long way.) There’s always a different sign out there.

Smith Tower, just before sunset, Fall 2011.

(Also, I finally published my post on our day in The Connemara.)

We planted this fella, to add more color to the local world amongst the evergreens. Glad it’s working out.

One of Mr. T’s old colleagues turns 40 next week. His girlfriend threw a combination 40th birthday + housewarming tonight.

I like to peruse people’s bookshelves, and found this gem — a 1904 book of Toasts. I tried to find one suitable for the man of the hour, but many were like this:

Hrm.

If you ever get an invite to eat pasta made by the Gastrognome and her DHBiker, you should jump all over that.

(I loved her fall flowers, too!)

…how I’ll look back on this time.

(Mid-Autumn 2011, overlooking Pioneer Square.)

I love what my friend, Brook, did here with the lighting and color in her main room. She hosted our Foodcentric discussion tonight of The Feast Nearby, by Robin Mather.

After a harrowing morning with street people, I came across this on my walk into work.

I’ll be away soon, and when I return I suspect my precious basil won’t have made it through the Fall rains. I’ve had the good fella since June, and it’s kept me in Caprese salads at least 3 times a week ever since.

I have some international driving on the horizon, so it was the annual mad rush to the Bartells to get some passport style photos before a trip to AAA. (They are only good for one year.)

THESE INTERNATIONAL DRIVING PERMITS ARE A TOTAL RACKET.