Boston Food Finds

We had an excellent time in Boston. Our friends Hyrum and Nicole used to live in Boston and gave us some great places to try in the North End of town.


Giacomo's Italian was a hidden gem. Tiny, local mom and pop place with excellent food. We stood in line outside in excess of 45 minutes in sleeting rain and wind, just to get a few minutes at the table. It was by far one of our best meals in Boston. I was also extremely pleased that Annie Lenox's twin sister was our waitress with a thick Bostonian accent. I was waiting for her to whip out the electric guitar and start singing, "Here Comes The Rain Again!"


Holly had pumpkin tortellini with a sage butter sauce. I had some lobster ravioli with sun dried tomatoes and creamy white wine sauce. Even the basic house Cesar salad was excellent with home made croutons and the best garlic bread on rustic fresh baked baguettes.


Just down the street was Mike's Pastry. World famous in that they provided all the pastries for the Kennedy inauguration as well as the Clinton inauguration. A little sensory overload as I had not only one chocolate cupcake option, but about fourteen chocolate cupcake options all with different fillings and frosting's. Needless to say, we made it through the masses of people and ordered more than our fair share of pastries to take back to the hotel to enjoy over the next day.

(This is Holly now...)

Here are a few other photos we took of the scary Easter pastries at Mike's. At first I thought the sheep were cute, but then you got closer to them and they had weird faces.




And thanks also to my brother for his recommendation of this place also!

Another favorite was Darwin's in Cambridge. The sandwiches were divine! Mine was called The Story and had tons of prochuitto, fresh mozzerella, pesto, lettuce and an herb sauce on a baguette. So good!



Also on the list of good food was the Boston Temple cafeteria. Surprising yes. Coming from a person who eats in a temple cafeteria once a week, I know the stigma, and it's true. Temple food is usually yuck. But this was different. You could tell it was made by hand and with love. We had a great meatball sub with a salad bar. To top it off I had a homemade chocolate cookie with macadamia nuts and coconut in it. Yum! So, even though the weather was bad, the food was oh so good!

Bean Town...Here We Come

I'm SOOOO looking forward to "Getting the H$LL out of Dodge," and going to play hard on the East Coast in Boston. We both are looking forward to a break from work for a few a days. I'm very interested in our drive to Cape Cod [potentially], and visiting Plymouth, where pilgrims landed and this whole country was started. It's going to be a great time learning history, enjoying the ambiance of the east coast that we both love, and trying new food finds. I can hardly wait!

More Unfortunately...

Unfortunately Daniel has ADHD and spends more than 40 hours a week playing computer games or watching cartoons. I’ve got to get that down to at least 35.

Unfortunately, Daniel never fully recovered from that fiasco. Unfortunately, Daniel fainted before a full explanation was made a well.

Unfortunately, Daniel wouldn't even know how to SPELL Tuscaloosa much less how to get there.

Unfortunately, Daniel had to stop playing the game himself after his ACL tore for the 2nd time. Besides, he has great interest in Eastern European football.

Unfortunately, Daniel's Spanish-inspired dress failed to wow the judges and Heidi sent him packing down the runway.

Unfortunately, Daniel passed away four years ago, suffering a series of brain stem strokes. We always knew that for someone with his level of disability he’d eventually kick.

APPARENTLY, I'm an ADHD, Project Runway participating, sports freak who died four years ago...NICE! :)

Unfortunately...

I can't stop laughing at how unfortunate people named Holly are. I saw on Lucy's blog that she typed in "unfortunately, [your name]" into google (don't forget the quotes) and thought I'd try it myself. Here are my results.

Unfortunately, Holly’s birth also attracts the attention of Herrikhan, an evil warlock who freezes Holly’s heart, leaving her unable to survive

Unfortunately, Holly still can't get it through

Unfortunately, Holly is in a lot of pain. "Several of the moves became impossible for her to do," her rep tells Us. "She’s in a lot of pain ...

Unfortunately, Holly would need to find an exact tissue and blood match and also not just anyone can volunteer

Unfortunately Holly has turned out to have a few little idiosyncricities that make her less cuddly than my darling Blackie.

Unfortunately Holly is neither naughty nor nice

Unfortunately holly takes anywhere from eight to ten years to blossom

Unfortunately Holly and I had to run off right as they were moving the giant skillet over the flame and starting the "onion grillin' dance,"

Who knew google could be so much fun!

Seattle Saturdays

Holly and I always enjoy our date nights. This past Saturday we enjoyed the entire day together. It's a pinnacle Seattle Saturday, when it's slightly breezy off the sound and a light drizzle of rain. We shopped around Belltown and went to Pikes Place Market to run some errands. We are in the market for a new couch and entertainment center. We wanted to see some of the collections at DWR design studio. I love going to Sur La Table, De Laurenti Fine Foods, Market Spice and others to name a few. We hit Typhoon restaurant for dinner, and had amazing cashew chicken, garlic stir fried beans and panang green curry. I love good Thai food. It has been a while since we went to Typhoon. We went to the symphony Saturday evening as well. We were able to see piano legend André Watts. He performed a perennial favorite of the Seattle Symphony, Grieg's Piano Concerto. Classical music is so relaxing and I love seeing and hearing a full orchestra play. I love all the food finds and performing arts venues in Seattle. This is a great place to call home. I fall in love with the city, more and more, as the weeks and years go by.

Baby Emma

Not only did Holly and I have a fantastic day yesterday with the official approvals and lock dates from China for our daughter's adoption, we are also an Aunt and Uncle...again! My sister Gretchen and her husband Mike had their baby yesterday. A baby that is nothing short of a miracle for their life. After being told "you'll never have a child," from numerous doctors, fertility specialists and other medical providers, they wouldn't take "no" for an answer. After almost ten years of trying to expand their family and welcome a child into their life, the beat the odds and were able to conceive. Congratulations to both of them on the arrival of Emma Sharolyn. Mom and baby are doing great!

3.18.09

This is our official lock-in-date from the Chinese government. Consider this probably the last update for quite a while as we are now in the official waiting game. It feels so good to have this date, now we just get to wait 36 plus months!

The Beauty Of Church Attendance

I'm constantly asked by coworkers why Holly and I go to church. Why do we take the time to go to church, when we could use that day for ourselves? I feel strongly that since our country was founded on religious freedoms, and also I believe strongly that God is the source of everything we have in this life. Because of this strong conviction, the least I can do is give of my time and talents to try and make the world a better place. We participate in a study group, and have so for almost eight years and we meet on a regular basis. This past weekend we studied an article from Eugene England, a retired professor from Brigham Young University and a former Dean of Academic Affairs at St. Olaf Liberal Arts College in Minnesota. In his eight page article we just studied, his following comment stuck the most out in my mind.

In his words, "Church involvement teaches us compassion and patience as well as courage and discipline. It makes us responsible for the personal and marital, the physical and spiritual welfare of people we may not already love, and may even heartily dislike, and thus we learn to love them. It stretches and challenges us, even when we are disappointed and exasperated, in ways we would not other wise choose to be stretched and challenged. Thus it gives us a chance to be made better than we may have chosen to be—but need and ultimately want to be."

I go to church to be less selfish, to offer up my time and talents, to learn from others, and to be challenged by humanity. I also try to go beyond church and actively help in the community to give better awareness for my faith. All of this is the refiners fire that makes us better human beings in the long run. Helping others, not just friends, but even strangers, I feel truly brings the highest level of happiness.

A New Junk Food Find

I'm a sucker for Wheat Thins brand crackers. I really like the crunch and flavor of these crackers. I'm also a sucker for good bread and cheese. While grocery shopping this weekend I tried one of these Artisan Vermont Cheddar Wheat Thins, and really liked them. I succumbed today and went to the grocery store to purchase a box, after going online for a coupon, so I could have something in my office to snack on from time to time. 15 crackers are only 140 calories. Can't beat that. A handful of these made a nice snack with my organic plum. Yum!

Seattle Sounders Grid Lock

The debut of the new Seattle Sounders FC professional Soccer team yesterday brought the city to a halt. Let's just say that I was NOT a happy camper dealing with traffic congestion in downtown Seattle. It took me over an hour to go the two miles from my office to Holly's office to pick her up to head home. This is another reason why sports ruins EVERYTHING!

Corned Beef & Cabbage Twist

The older I get and the more experienced I get in the kitchen, the more particular I’m becoming about the types of food I like to prepare at home, and taking on more advanced types of food preparation. Holly and I had an amazing St. Patrick’s Day meal at home. I toyed for a few days if I wanted to do the preparation of making corned beef at home, the traditional way, with brining for five to ten days prior. We ultimately opted for a chuck roast since we both have been overly busy with work these past few weeks.

I make my own fennel salt which consists of crushed fennel, celery seed, dried orange rind, dried garlic, finest quality sea salt, dried parsley and a little bit of crushed red pepper. I also add some bread crumbs to mellow some of the intense flavors, but still allowing them to come through without being overbearing. I generously seasoned the meat with my homemade mixture than let it roast in the crock pot all day. We came home to a very intense and aromatic smell in the house reminiscent of all those Sunday dinners of my childhood.

We accompanied the roast with roasted baby red potatoes and Brussels sprouts. When we traveled to France last autumn, I picked up a ton of custom olive oils when we visited Nice and other towns down on the French Mediterranean. I broke open the orange and lemon infused olive oil, and used this with the organic seasoning blend we use on all our roasted vegetables.

I received a comprehensive Cooks Illustrated / American’s Test Kitchen cook book for my Birthday from my mother-in-law. I’ve been making items out of this cook book weekly. For our holiday meal, I also decided to make an extremely flavorful traditional soda bread recipe to go with the roast and veggies. I enjoy making simple and flavorful meals with best quality ingredients.

I’m looking forward to finding a few more recipes to try this upcoming weekend.

Feeling a Little Crafty

For the past few years I've been making these cute onesies with embroidered flowers for the expectant moms in my life. I have fun putting them on the front or on the butt, adding the stem and little french knots for leaves. This set is for my sister in law (I think it's safe to show them here since she never reads our blog) and is by far my best work.




This particular one is my favorite.




I love the different colors of embroidery floss and frequently will spend a few minutes just staring at the rows of color in my box. I know, I'm weird like that but I LOVE color!

This one I took just to show off our cute little birdie we bought at Ravenna Gardens. I love him!

Another Week, Continued Perspective

Last week was a tad stressful on the work front. Holly's office reduced staff, all across the board. My company continues to reduce staff outside of our division. We're all wondering what the impact of the budget cuts will be to our division at the end of the month. It's all sort of surreal. I cooked a ton of things this weekend, as a way to alleviate work related stress. It did help for the most part and got my mind off of things I have no control over. Given the economy, now I feel the sense of urgency to keep stockpiling money in the bank to weather any unforeseen event that may be in our short term or long term future. Or subsequently, the future of a family member. There will probably be a time for all of us to need to step up to the plate and help a family member given the state of the economy around us. As nothing is secure from a secular standpoint, from a bigger picture standpoint this all stems back to what church leaders through inspiration from the lord have counseled us to do for decades. If you are prepared, ye need not worry. Holly and I have been working over the past several years to beef up our savings, beef up our rainy day funds, create comprehensive 72-hour kits, continue to supplement our 1+ year food storage and rotate food in and out of it. From my perspective, this is all sound advice for anyone in today's economy.

Ridiculously Wicked

I'm a little pissed that preliminary ticket prices for Wicked, coming to the Paramount Theatre in Seattle later this summer are ASTRONOMICAL! Nosebleed, 3rd tier seats are $115.00 and up. Decent seats down on the orchestra level are $215.00-$275.00 and up...PER PERSON! I'm hoping these are typos, and when tickets finally do go on sale via Ticketmaster, they won't be that much. No Broadway show is worth spending hundreds of dollars on. Good Grief! Maybe I'm just a super cheap tight wad?!

Hello Miss Dolly-Gallagher-Levi

For a birthday surprise, Holly took me to see Hello Dolly in the unexpected March snow storm. I thought Jennifer Lewis did a great job in this. Pat Cashman was OK. You can typically expect a few mishaps on opening night. I felt it made it all that more entertaining. The costumes had the most amazing colors. Traditional, period detail, but modern colors and fabric choices. I loved it! The sets were very cool too. One thing Holly and I love doing together is attending the performing arts. I'm pretty excited for the 2009-2010 5th Ave Theatre season. South Pacific is coming to Seattle, and we've never seen that. Also, Irving Berlin's White Christmas is coming back to Seattle this December. WE LOVED THAT IN 2006! We will be seeing that show again this holiday season. Thanks for the nice birthday experience honey.