Seattle, pizza, cupcakes, and more

We took the opportunity for the short(er) drive from Portland to Seattle last weekend to visit friends and family.  First up, Misty brought a bunch of goodies she'd made in class that day.  We also brought the baking stone and pizza peel to make our own pizza!  Misty had graciously made the dough at school, so we were already halfway there.  Aroon and I took to the store to find ingredients for the pizzas while Aarthi and Misty had a sort of mini-spa day.

The pizza's turned out fantastically.  First up was a more regular red sauced one with mozzarella, pepperoni and salami that Aroon and I devoured in short order.  The other two pizzas we made were made with a garlic sauce, olive oil, three kinds of cheeses (mozzaralla, parmessan and a blue cheese), roasted garlic and basil.  They all turned out very well.  What a treat!

On Sunday, we met up with Lisa and Nick and checked out West Seattle.  Misty found some yarn at Seattle Yarn Gallery, and we headed to a place called "Coffee to a Tea" for some cupcakes.  We took the cupcakes to Alki Beach and watch the birds and other animals while the sun danced on the buildings of downtown Seattle.  What a nice weekend!

Portland Chocolate Fest

This past weekend we went to the Portland Chocolate Fest fundraiser at the World Forestry Center in Portland.  We met up with a few of Misty's classmates from school, had lunch at the Leaky Roof and then took the Max to the cool underground station below Washington Park.  This cool station has core samples running alongside the waiting area and an elevator that takes you up some 250 feet or so to the surface where you exit right at the World Forestry Center.

We had left our tickets in Eugene, but they had our names on their list, so we were ok.  The chocolates were plentiful and tasty.  Lots of vendors turned out for the event, showing their chocolaty creations.

Welcome to 2010

Hi all, we celebrated the start of 2010 (last weekend) by taking a tour of the mid-Willamette valley with our good friend Jen. We started with a delicious breakfast/brunch at O'Briens, a cute restaurant/antique store. I had a grilled cheese with fries, Misty had a half-egg salad sandwich and salad, and Jenn had chili and corn bread. The food there was and is always pretty tasty!

After lunch we drove to Ankeny Hill Vineyards, which is a nice location, supposedly with a good view, but we couldn't see much due to the fog.

From Ankeny Hill, we tried to hit Vitae Springs, but they were closed for the day, so we went back to one of our favorites, Willamette Valley Vineyards, where a private function (a wedding) was taking place. They are a big enough place that they don't shut down for private functions. The tasting room was still open, and they even let us go upstairs to sit at a table and eat our picnic snacks. We had olives, bread and triple cream brie, hummus, goat cheese, and smoked cheddar.

The bride came upstairs to throw her bouquet from high above the crowd and we felt a bit like we were intruding.

Jenn was in Eugene just this past weekend and she stayed over. We cooked up a nice meal with some marinated, grilled steaks, crash hot potatoes, and asparagus. Then we broke out the Wii Fit while Misty did her homework. Jenn brought her dogs along and gave Ubi and Ro a bit of a scare. Good times.

Today, we managed to find enough time to head out to the coast for an afternoon. The trademark Oregon Coast winds were nowhere to be found, and I found flying my kite near impossible. I managed to fly it for a couple of minutes at a time, but then it died down completely. The light wasn't too great for photos either, so neither Misty or I found much use for the equipment we brought. So we just headed down the beach looking for treasures. Much to our surprise, we found 3 whole sand dollars!!! Yay!!!

And don't forget to check out Misty's latest creations while at culinary school over on her blog. We will have some wedding plans up there too!

Safe Travels

To all those who are traveling to be with family, traveling with family, or even traveling because they have to provide for their family, be safe and happy holidays.

More travels coming from the two of us... Jen and more Oregon wineries, the coast because we love it, and even the big trip down the aisle, THE AISLE!

Cheers!

cupcakes and turkey

Happy Turkey Day folks! We have a lot to be thankful for, family of course, good health, and plenty of food being the big ones. We are having a great time here in southern Utah. We hope you are all happy and healthy too!

Wednesday, we decided to go to 25 Main for breakfast and cupcakes. The breakfast was good and inexpensive. They have a small menu but it is a good variety, frittatas, pancakes, french toast, and various sides. The decor is clean and funky. There are even finches in a bird cake in the window... one has even figured out how to escape. :)

The cupcakes are tasty and worth getting. We had four flavors, vanilla with raspberry, pumpkin chip, chai, and orange. The size of the cupcakes was pretty normal, not a dot and not a giant. The ratio of frosting and cake was perfect.

After breakfast, we started on the big Thanksgiving day meal and waited for the tots to arrive. We haven't seen the nieces and nephew for about 4 months so they are a bit bigger. They have so much energy and so many more words in the vocabulary!

The full list of dishes we made:

1. Turkey (brined overnight and super moist, woot!)
   
2. Mashed potatoes (recipe ala The Pioneer Woman, cream cheese is really the secret ingredient)
   
3. Gravy (from scratch!!! It worked!)
4. Stuffing (a slightly modified version provided by Paula's Aunt)
   
5. Whipped sweet potatoes (no crazy marshmallows but always a winner)
   
6. Green bean casserole (classic)
   
7. Rolls (cheater rolls from the dough man)
   
8. Corn (something simple)
   
9. Cranberry sauce (cranberries, pears, mandarin oranges, and fresh ginger)
   
10. Pumpkin cheesecake (with a ginger thin crust)
    
11. Pumpkin maple pie (yep, maple)

And of course, sparkling cider. We started preparing food Wednesday afternoon and finished right on time Thursday. The timing worked out well.

Shirley, having just taken a floral arranging class, whipped up a cheery centerpiece. The table was really lovely.

I am just glad that when we picked up the turkey, the girl was nice enough to give us a smaller turkey. I cannot imagine that a 17 pound turkey would have thawed in time and wow, that is a lot of turkey!

Anyway, bring on Christmas. Cheers to you!!!

Zion National Park

We're here in St. George for Thanksgiving this week. Today we visited Zion National Park. We had a great time looking at the animals (mostly mule deer, but also big horn sheep, and lots of birds), the plants (it's amazing that those pine trees can grow of out almost nothing), and the magnificent rock formations in the canyon.

We stopped for lunch at the Red Rock Grill in the lodge inside the park. The Zion burger's were very good and their achiote chicken soup was amazing. Misty asked the waitress if there was a chance we could get the recipe for it. The waitress returned later with a printout of the recipe for 5 gallons! Sweet! We'll try out skills at recipe reduction and see if we can make a smaller batch at home.

After lunch, we took the road towards the the Mt. Carmel Junction through the tunnel built in the 1920's. On the way we came across the bridge that my great grandfather helped build.

Seattle weekend

We visited friends and family in Seattle the first weekend in November. We managed to hit some of our favorite spots from last trip, including Pike Place of course, and Trophy Cupcakes. We were lucky enough to stay at Aroon and Aarthi's swanky new place overlooking Lake Union.

The conservatory at volunteer park housed an amazing collection of flowers and cactii. We all enjoyed walking around and taking photos. After the conservatory, we went to the Pacific Science Center down by the Space Needle to see the butterfly exhibit. Afterward, we took some night shots from Gas Works Park. And on the way back from there, we spotted the troll under the bridge.