I've found through my travels, I've both given and received many restaurant suggestions. Now don't get me wrong, I love Yelp (or if you're in Winnipeg - the outdated UrbanSpoon), and have used it to find places I really like, but there's something nice when the suggestion comes from a person you know and trust (especially when it's a foodie boss!).
I've been asked multiple times about Seattle/ Portland suggestions, and while I love thinking through all the places I like/go, a few always inevitably slip through the cracks. So I've decided I should start documenting the suggestions I've received/ restaurants I like in blog form!
And the place where the suggestions first started for me - Birmingham, AL! Enjoy! And I've finally added to this with Milan, Italy.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Monday, August 6, 2012
Club Awesome!
Wow, I've made it to 30. I can't believe I'm in my 4th decade. I've always preferred my odd-numbered birthdays (my surprise 25th thrown by Hillary, Vegas for my 27th, and a low key hike and dinner on my 29th), but as Cheri so aptly pointed out, at least there's an odd number at the beginning of this one!
And boy, was that the key;-), that and having the bestest friends ever come share it with me.
Before turning 30, I made 2 significant and permanent life changes. I bought a condo and got a tattoo;-). It was all ready be shown off in time for my friends' visit. Some flew straight from vacation, others piled up in cars and drove the Slog, and still others carved out time from their Seattle lives. I'd booked a party bus, and despite a minor "I never got confirmation, and can't get ahold of the company" freak-out, and a last minute change of venues. Sitting in traffic to head to Woodinville sounded no bueno, so on Friday I found FANTASTIC places to go to in Fremont/ Queen Anne.
A few sweet, knowing cards and gifts, a couple champagne toasts, checking in at "the drunken clam" (giggity, giggity), and we were ready to go. Seattle complied and provided blue skies and hot (88) weather.
Our first stop was Fremont Brewing, where they have an open garage style tasting room, with tables and space for kids and puppies. (gotta love Seattle's dog culture!). Had a summer ale and their wheat beer, plus lots of fun conversations, and mingling of old and new friends.
With our stomachs perfectly primed, we headed to our first "adult" stop - Fremont Mischief. Where this adoraballs little distillery was empty (getting ready for a 40th), so we had the cute staff, Jason, all to ourselves, as we tried a 2yr old whiskey, a 8yr old whiskey, an extremely flavorful, aphrodisiac-induced gin, and some smooth vodka. Yum! So much to look at, must return!
Back to the bus for some more champagne and snacks (sorry for throwing blueberries!;-) ). We were headed to another local distillery - Sound Spirits for tastes of vodkas, gins, and aquavits, and herbal liquors. They were empty when we got there. No worries about lines or waiting here. Plus, they had 2 adorable greyhounds just waiting to be petted. And I obliged. Their tour is $1, and should definitely be taken advantage of. They were such great hosts to an unexpected group of 12 people!
Plus, they told us just down the street was another distillery - so we marched down the street to Batch 206. It was our lucky day - and we had no lines again! I guess everyone was at Seafair or stuck in traffic:-). Alright, now that we had our fair share of drinks (4hrs later), we headed back to my place and chilled for a few minutes before walking to the Rabbit Hole in Belltown.
Again, couldn't have asked for better hosts! Thanks Jessica! And those applesauce shots were delicious! We had burgers, tacos, beers, jalapeño poppers, and some "Skew Ball". I was also joined by a few more lovely Seattle friends! Some hours later, I thought it would be worth it to give my favorite bar a try - and to my joy and delight- the downstairs library at Bathtub Gin & Co - was open! Marcus was a sweetie and made us shots and drunks (that was a typo, but I thought it was fitting).
And a Natalie Belltown night wouldn't be complete without a call to my favorite restaurant - Spur. I love Alexandra and Dillon, they even brought me an ice cream dessert and my friend's sang happy birthday.
Cher and Hill went to bed - and to make sure we could all have a place to sleep - thanks ladies! While others of us went to the late night Lucky Diner for some food! If you're there, get the Chocolate Stout Milkshake! It was amazing! (way better than the braised greens ;-))
The 10 that were staying with me walked home - and I learned that my 438 sq ft place will indeed sleep 10 people, if not comfortably, at least sufficiently. (and with the a/c unit on the fritz, it thankfully only got to 75 overnight)
As far as I know, there was no lunch losing, and no alcohol poisoning (though I gave my own self a run for the money). It was the best birthday celebration I've had to date.
I'm so excited to "learn from the lessons of my 20s", experience new places and things, and continue on this life journey down into the next 30-years!
And boy, was that the key;-), that and having the bestest friends ever come share it with me.
A few sweet, knowing cards and gifts, a couple champagne toasts, checking in at "the drunken clam" (giggity, giggity), and we were ready to go. Seattle complied and provided blue skies and hot (88) weather.
With our stomachs perfectly primed, we headed to our first "adult" stop - Fremont Mischief. Where this adoraballs little distillery was empty (getting ready for a 40th), so we had the cute staff, Jason, all to ourselves, as we tried a 2yr old whiskey, a 8yr old whiskey, an extremely flavorful, aphrodisiac-induced gin, and some smooth vodka. Yum! So much to look at, must return!Back to the bus for some more champagne and snacks (sorry for throwing blueberries!;-) ). We were headed to another local distillery - Sound Spirits for tastes of vodkas, gins, and aquavits, and herbal liquors. They were empty when we got there. No worries about lines or waiting here. Plus, they had 2 adorable greyhounds just waiting to be petted. And I obliged. Their tour is $1, and should definitely be taken advantage of. They were such great hosts to an unexpected group of 12 people!
Again, couldn't have asked for better hosts! Thanks Jessica! And those applesauce shots were delicious! We had burgers, tacos, beers, jalapeño poppers, and some "Skew Ball". I was also joined by a few more lovely Seattle friends! Some hours later, I thought it would be worth it to give my favorite bar a try - and to my joy and delight- the downstairs library at Bathtub Gin & Co - was open! Marcus was a sweetie and made us shots and drunks (that was a typo, but I thought it was fitting). 
And a Natalie Belltown night wouldn't be complete without a call to my favorite restaurant - Spur. I love Alexandra and Dillon, they even brought me an ice cream dessert and my friend's sang happy birthday.Cher and Hill went to bed - and to make sure we could all have a place to sleep - thanks ladies! While others of us went to the late night Lucky Diner for some food! If you're there, get the Chocolate Stout Milkshake! It was amazing! (way better than the braised greens ;-))
The 10 that were staying with me walked home - and I learned that my 438 sq ft place will indeed sleep 10 people, if not comfortably, at least sufficiently. (and with the a/c unit on the fritz, it thankfully only got to 75 overnight)
As far as I know, there was no lunch losing, and no alcohol poisoning (though I gave my own self a run for the money). It was the best birthday celebration I've had to date.
I'm so excited to "learn from the lessons of my 20s", experience new places and things, and continue on this life journey down into the next 30-years!
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Potty Ponderings
I always find that I think a lot when I'm in the bathroom, who knows, maybe I'm just bored. I've brought my cell phone in a few times to quell the boredom, but I also have a fear of things falling in the toilet - so that's not a frequent occurrence.I've actually been afraid of things falling in the toilet for a long time. In high school, I used to wear rings all the time, and I'd take them off every time I went to the bathroom to avoid them slipping off into the toilet. You know, because apparently that's a pretty vigorous activity... Nothing has fallen in to date.
But my falling in fear is just one of the many odd thoughts I have about using the bathroom. I also hate talking to people - either before, during, or after. I mean, really, I don't want you to associate me with anything that bathroom may offer. And it's just awkward conversation! When does it start, when does it end, when do you acknowledge someone... who knows! I remember we had a partner at Deloitte who loved to talk in the bathroom - and I just couldn't help but think - ummm am I going to make any CLM's???
It also reminds me of early high school, when my friend Karissa and I used to hide out and - gasp - EAT in there. Yeah the popular girls in our 30 person high school weren't so nice - so we hung out in the bathroom and ate on the baby-changing-counter. Gross, huh? I also sang to her... we were awkwardly close admitting that now... urgh. Good thing I'm not a germ-a-phob, just a bathroom-a-phob. In the same high school, we also had a teacher who wanted people to talk while she was in there. Yup - that's what happens at small private schools - you know way too much.
Totally grossed out or should I continue? I've also had interesting bathroom conversations with co-workers in Europe. That may have been the funniest conversation ever. I mean really, Western European toilets have 2 buttons. One big, one little. And there is always a toilet brush - in every stall! Yup, we talked about that - I was never sure - big for most common or big? Apparently big. And the toilet brush - I guess they are a self-service country. But the director we were with continued with his experience at Procter and Gamble's TP division. How they studied who used more toilet paper (men or women), and the fact that the US TP is pretty thin, and the doors in the stalls in the US - may as well not be there - there's no privacy! So naturally, I think about this man every time I can see through the cracks :).
I guess really, my fear comes mostly from the Santa Clause toilet seat cover that my grandma made long ago. On the front side of this felt toilet decoration, it's Santa, arms wide saying "ho ho ho", and you may think you know where I'm going - and yes, on the reverse side it's Santa with his hands over his eyes saying "oh oh oh", but the worst thing about it, Santa is PEEKING! I have never gotten over the fear that Santa is watching me... guess he does know everything...
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Flirting.FAIL.
I saw an episode of American Dad the other day, where they were watching Betwitched
and Stan wanted to have Francine make him martini's after work - well, it failed horribly for them.
But it got me jonesing for a martini real bad.
I had the gin, but no olives. So I went to Freddy's to pick up the necessities. I found the olives - soaked in vermouth - which made me realize I needed more than just gin and olives...hehehe - and went to the new, "1183 initiative" liquor section (woot woot!) to find the dry vermouth.
While walking around, I saw this attractive silver-haired man, and "luck" have it, he was headed straight for the liquor as well - my kind of man. I quickly performed my vermouth-search, and was walking past him, when he started talking to me about the liquor selection and the increase in the tax on the alcohol. I said, oh, that sucks, but it's nice getting it here (paraphrased). We exchanged what we were searching for (him bitters, me vermouth).
He momentarily looked for me, I said thanks for the help. And asked the Freddy's fish man where it might be.
As I turn to head to "aisle 4 or 5", silver-man went on to point out the Dry Fly.
Me: "No, I haven't had, it but, I know it's local and have heard it's good." (I continue to walk away)
He says, "those are really nice boots, my GIRLFRIEND would like them". Ahhh really, you just pulled the girlfriend card on me? Fine, whatever, you were starting to creep me out anyway. But silver-fish continues...
As he bends down to look at said boots, reaching out to touch me (Clovis don't like to be touched...) :"What are these leather?"
Me: "No, they were only $20"
Silver-fish: "Really, they feel like leather"
Me: "Nope"
Silver-fish (standing up-ish): "Huh, they are really nice, she'd really like them" (starts to bend down again) "Are the toes suede?"
Me (pulls away): "No, it's all the same material"
Silver-fish: "Where did you get them? Those are exactly her style"
Me (thinking, what are you gonna take them from me???): "gojane.com"
Silver-fish: "go jean?"
Me: "GOJANE, like 'see jane run'"... and I walk away at this point, as he says "so aisle 4 or 5"...
Not sure what his point was in this whole "flirtation" attempt. I thought he was cute, then thought he was gay, and it turns out he has 'a girlfriend'. Would you REALLY mention that in a store-drive-by? Either way, made me shake me my head and laugh. What's your worst/best pick-up story?
and Stan wanted to have Francine make him martini's after work - well, it failed horribly for them.
But it got me jonesing for a martini real bad.
I had the gin, but no olives. So I went to Freddy's to pick up the necessities. I found the olives - soaked in vermouth - which made me realize I needed more than just gin and olives...hehehe - and went to the new, "1183 initiative" liquor section (woot woot!) to find the dry vermouth.
While walking around, I saw this attractive silver-haired man, and "luck" have it, he was headed straight for the liquor as well - my kind of man. I quickly performed my vermouth-search, and was walking past him, when he started talking to me about the liquor selection and the increase in the tax on the alcohol. I said, oh, that sucks, but it's nice getting it here (paraphrased). We exchanged what we were searching for (him bitters, me vermouth).
He momentarily looked for me, I said thanks for the help. And asked the Freddy's fish man where it might be.
As I turn to head to "aisle 4 or 5", silver-man went on to point out the Dry Fly.
Me: "No, I haven't had, it but, I know it's local and have heard it's good." (I continue to walk away)
He says, "those are really nice boots, my GIRLFRIEND would like them". Ahhh really, you just pulled the girlfriend card on me? Fine, whatever, you were starting to creep me out anyway. But silver-fish continues...
As he bends down to look at said boots, reaching out to touch me (Clovis don't like to be touched...) :"What are these leather?"
Me: "No, they were only $20"
Silver-fish: "Really, they feel like leather"
Me: "Nope"
Silver-fish (standing up-ish): "Huh, they are really nice, she'd really like them" (starts to bend down again) "Are the toes suede?"
Me (pulls away): "No, it's all the same material"
Silver-fish: "Where did you get them? Those are exactly her style"
Me (thinking, what are you gonna take them from me???): "gojane.com"
Silver-fish: "go jean?"
Me: "GOJANE, like 'see jane run'"... and I walk away at this point, as he says "so aisle 4 or 5"...
Not sure what his point was in this whole "flirtation" attempt. I thought he was cute, then thought he was gay, and it turns out he has 'a girlfriend'. Would you REALLY mention that in a store-drive-by? Either way, made me shake me my head and laugh. What's your worst/best pick-up story?
Monday, March 12, 2012
Dinner...Success?
I recently got a few sprigs of fresh rosemary from my friend's backyard...and have been looking forward to roasting some red potatoes with them. Today, I came across this recipe for "Moroccan Mint Roasted Vegetables" from a great food blog - 101cookbooks.com. Well, there was no rosemary, but after a quick "rosemary roasted vegetables" search, I came up with a suitable idea from Epicurious. A few potatoes, a couple of carrots, and some asparagus in olive oil and sea salt for 20 min at 400. Then I added some smashed garlic, pepper, and rosemary for another 20, and I came up with a delightful dinner.
I also opted for the 101 Cookbooks idea to add some plain yogurt. I used greek, with a little more sea salt and a spray of lemon juice. Sometimes, the unexpected is exceptional! And I'm looking forward to trying the roasted vegetables in the Moroccan style.
I also opted for the 101 Cookbooks idea to add some plain yogurt. I used greek, with a little more sea salt and a spray of lemon juice. Sometimes, the unexpected is exceptional! And I'm looking forward to trying the roasted vegetables in the Moroccan style.
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| Photo credit: 101cookbooks.com |
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