dessert!

hmm... the fruity dish on the left is a "trifle" with cream, grand marnier, nutmeg poured over chunks of poundcake, fresh cranberries, and garnished with orange shavings! then there's a REAL pecan pie (none of that pecan flavored goo with a coating of pecans). it's nuts! through and through. the pie in back is made from real butternut squash, pureed and topped with toasted nuts.

also, check out my cousins' blog:
chrisandcallie.blogspot.com

can't wait for dessert

The best homecooked Thanksgiving food EVER was cooked and served today by the Brown-Clampitts, to me and another grateful guest. Check out that plate. Yukon Gold mashed potatoes with shredded carrots and garlic, fresh sauteed green beans in hazlenut-lemon butter, sweet potatoes & yams glazed with maple syrup and nutmeg, sausage-apricot-sage stuffing (to die for), and whole organic cranberries turned into a luscious cranberry sauce over turkey that marinated for 10 hours in an apple cider/allspice/ginger brine while stuffed with orange slices...before being cooked to perfection!

Oh yeah and that's me and my mom up there. She looks like she's stoned (it's just tryptophan).

pre thanksgiving

the stranger came out today. there were some great articles. everyone else probably knows about some of this stuff, but i guess i get most of my news from the stranger! yikes.

check out thestranger.com

i'll add links later, but the best stuff was about

eric keroack
o.j. simpson
PS3
pot butter recipes
orkestar zirkonium (they wrote about the park performance we happened upon last weekend)

Fall Treats

Special things about today:

Sleeping in

Morning coffee with Fran's caramel sauce

Long talk with Polly on the phone

Walking all over downtown & Capital Hill

Getting caught in Schmancy when the power went out

Tenderloin sandwiches and Pilsner Urquell at Can Can with friends

Seeing a wiener dog in a coat and hat, on his leash, crossing a street downtown

Chocolate Raspberry Torte at B&O Cafe

TONS of free zines/publications found at Everyday Music on Broadway

Finding a band playing, Romanian style, in the park by our apt at about 10pm. Following the band, with a few dozen others until we broke off and strolled back home.

borat and foot traffic

I read today that Sasha Baron Cohen is Jewish! I wonder if any Jews were offended over his movie?

Oh and can I rant about Seattle pedestrians? The pedestrian right-of-way law is out of control here! I think more people are dying in the streets because they assume that all cars are going to stop for them. I'm hardly going to put my life in the hands of someone eating a cheeseburger and talking on the phone while fiddling with their iPod, speeding towards a sidewalk at 45 miles per hour just because the law says they have to stop. I think some degree of common sense should come into play, if you are walking, and not in any rush, and your ambling across a sidewalk is holding up 7 or 8 cars either waiting to turn or waiting behind the cars waiting to turn... just HURRY UP! Around here, motioning for the cars to go is fruitless - they're afraid of getting a ticket for not yielding to you. Sometimes if I'm standing at a corner I turn away from the street so cars don't stop and wave me on. I guess the road rage that stems from waiting endlessly for pedestrians to stumble around on their phones, talking to their friends, etc, might promote more people to just take the bus and vote for mass transit?

Jarad's 25th

Last weekend was dedicated to Jarad, who just turned 25 yesterday. On Saturday we hit the happy hour at "Can Can", a new burlesque club under Pike Place Market. Jarad likes whiskey so I ordered him a shot of The Balvenie along with a few Pilsner Urquells and some great food. We were pretty tipsy and warm enough to brave the wind and rain during our walk to Open Circle Theater to see "The Colour out of Space", an HP Lovecraft adaptation. Jarad schooled me on many things Lovecraft. It was an interesting night.

Sunday we visited the worlds best film rental spot, Scarecrow Video, for a DVD sale, and then went to Jarad's (and mine) favorite coffee roaster - Lighthouse Coffee - to buy a pound and have a few lattes. After that it was off to Cupcake Royale for apple spice and pumpkin cupcakes, and hot caramel apple cider. Cupcake Royale was crowded as hell, probably due to all this CRAZY RAIN. Jeez, even today it was windy and stormy - still! Umbrellas turning inside out, branches and leaves littering the sidewalks, and I guess the power was out all day in a few neighborhoods. After braving more downpour and leaping over streams that crisscrossed all roads, we ran to the Metro to see Borat! Everyone should see Borat.

Yesterday morning we went out to breakfast with some friends of mine, and then last night we hit a late night sushi happy hour by our apartment and one of Jarad's friends from work came too. The sushi was awesome and strangely went along great with PBR. I tried Jarad out on some Lagavulin. He prefers The Balvenie. (oh yeah this is scotch i'm talking about. landon and jesika have taught me about good scotch!)

Halloween

Not much has been happening lately... Halloween has come and gone, somewhat uneventfully. Last saturday Nanette and Thadeus came over. She prepared a leg of lamb with this yummy pear & pine nut sauce, plus potatoes and salad. I made bread and then afterwards we walked around Capitol Hill, checking out all the people in their costumes. Saw a couple dressed as Meg & Jack White, which was my idea that Jarad wasn't really going for... probably because neither of us looks anything like the White Stripes. But neither did that couple we saw on the street! There were a lot of pirates and devils. I think our favorites were Pink Panther and Tigger in full-on mascot style costumes, in character, bouncing around down the sidewalks and waving to everyone. I also got a kick out of the gang of bicyclists dressed up as cows. They were cruising all over the hill, moo-ing a lot. Once we saw them stop for hotdogs at the hotdog stand by the clubs on Pike St. The four of us had dessert and coffee on Broadway while watching more costumed folk walk by outside, and this is where we saw the creepiest costume, a petite asian girl dressed like THIS: