Camelama

Etsy Smile

Though wide, these bracelets don't look klunky or heavy at all - I like the blue and silver together too.

Order Of The Stick

One of my favorite things to do every day is to log on and read Order Of The Stick.    Even if I've already read the current strip (it's updated usually 3xweek, but sometimes not), it's worth going back and reading again.  They make me smile, ponder friendships, giggle at nerdy jokes, and feel superior when I 'get' an in-joke (which I normally don't!).

I highly recommend Order Of The Stick if you have every played DND type games, or wanted to, or just enjoy a good storytelling.  Start from the beginning or you'll have no idea what is going on!  It's a great read, set aside a few days because you won't want to stop. 

Order Of The Stick: First Strip

Patty's Eggnest - Ballard

Waking early this past Saturday, I decided to treat myself to a breakfast cooked by someone other than me.  I decided I wanted egg-based items more than pancake-based, so chose Patty's Eggnest over the Original Pancake House (OPH also has "country potatoes" rather than hash browns, and I was in the mood for some good old fashioned hashbrowns).

Business at 7:30am on Saturday was light, so I knew service would be fast.

One big point in their favor: the hostess actually *considered* where to seat me, didn't just grab the first empty booth.  As I was dining alone, she took me to a lovely little table tucked away in a corner out of the traffic pattern, and having seen that I had a book, chose a table for 4 rather than 2 - so that I had room for plate, drink, jam etc *and* space to lay out my book flat.  Bliss!   The actual art of hostessing is well nigh extinct, even in fancy shmancy expensive places, so to find it at the Eggnest put quite the shine on my morning.

Another big point in their favor: they didn't "push" their fresh-squeezed orange juice.  Since they didn't try to sell it to me, I was open to trying it.  Yum!  Another big point for their side.

I ordered a very simple breakfast - scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, and sourdough toast.  The meal arrived quickly - I barely had time to drink half my glass of water.  The portions were *huge* - I ended up taking a lot home.   This could be bad if you weren't going straight home - I probably won't stop there on my way out birding, for instance.  Don't want eggs and bacon sittin' in the car all day...

The bacon was delicious - thick cut, straight, and well-marbled (not too much, not too little). 

The toast was delicious - thick and chewy, yet crispy - a perfect vehicle for the jam.  I could have wished for more sanitary jam selections - one freezer jam dish on the table.  Who knows where the serving spoon has been, or what other dirty implements were thrust in there for more jam? I decided to ignore this and just eat.  (I'm really not a germaphobe, I swear!  I used to go barefoot around the horse barns, for heaven's sake.   But for some reason, other people accessing my butter and jam really bugs me.)

The hash browns were delicious.  Thick hash cuts, no shoestring potatoes here.  Cooked crispy in spots, perfect browning.  They were a bit too greasy for my liking, as it meant I couldn't enjoy as many of them as I wanted (perhaps best anyway, considering cholesterol count!).   I'd rather have less grease and more potato - but for a mass -produced diner type hash brown, it was just dandy.

Scrambled eggs: also felt too greasy.  Look, you don't need a lot of grease to scramble an egg.  So to get a pile of what should be tasty eggs, and discover them to be lacking all flavor and at the same time leaving a puddle of grease .... well, that's just not right.   They weren't *bad*, just ... tasteless.  I salted them (first time salting food in months!) and peppered liberally and ate about half the serving.  I wish I'd had half the portion, with more taste and less grease.  They seemed like real eggs, I have no idea why there wasn't that nummy scrambled egg taste.  At OPH I never salt, just pepper, and at home sometimes I don't even pepper, the eggs taste so delicious - but then, at home, I use organic butter and milk, and organic free-range etc etc brown eggs. 

But I didn't have to do the dishes here.  Nor be awake enough to use the stove - so it's a tradeoff.

I'll be going back, for sure, but I'll be forewarned - anything that could be greasy will be greasy.  And expect large portions. 

Etsy smile

What a cutiepie.   Just imagine what far-off radio stations those ears could pick up.....

Etsy shop link   

Mmmmmm, doughy goodness....

Splurged tonight, drove over and picked up The Cow and went to a long-time favorite - Snappy Dragon.   Yummmmm, pot stickers!  Yummmmm, green onion pancake!  Swooon, won ton soup!  Yes, it was appetizer paradise tonight.  Doughy goodness, noodley goodness, and green onion-tastic.

I'll be walking off those calories for days, but it was sooooo worth it. 

YUM! Cannot stress the YUM enough.

The cat has not had as good an evening, though.  The poor thing is a puddle on the living room floor.  It got up to 90 today and she's just miserable.  Every once in a while she'll raise her head up and meow piteously at me. I've got the fans going, the windows wide open, and the late night coolness is slowly seeping in.   In fact she just rolled over and heaved a sigh, she may be cooling off....

Etsy smile

Today's Etsy smile:  viking helmet earrings.  Hee.

I want!  Mine!

 

Latest Literary Find

A couple of local works I'm quite happy to own, by Harry W. Higman and Earl J. Larrison:

"Pilchuck: the Life of a Mountain"

"Union Bay: The Life of a City Marsh"

Both are areas I go birding in frequently, so I'm pleased to have these.

Dorkiness Alert Level: Orange....

So with some of this free time on my hands lately, I've been entering more of the Puzzle Pirates events. My latest piece was paper cut-out work.  Yay! Paper, scissors, tape and glue.  Now just add in naps and I'm back in kindergarden.   (zzzzzz)

Stormy Stormy Night Event thread

Event Entries thread

My Entry

Latest literary find: Sherlock Holmes vs Wodehouse Cricket

Today's literary find is a program printed up for the cricket match between The Sherlock Holmes Society and the PG Wodehouse Society in 2001.

Inside, a sticker indicates this is from the library of Richard Streeton .  How apt!  I see articles in here from Wodehouse Society friends, and much to read re: Sherlock Holmes & Doyle.

Muffin hatred

Why don't I like English Muffins?  I've always wondered.   I like the taste, sort of kind of.  I mean, a little bit sour, a little bit dough-y, perfect.  The nooks and crannies, perfect.  Great vehicle for melted butter? Perfect!  Toastable? even better!

And yet, put it all together, I can't stand it.  I don't know why.   It seems the ultimate butter vehicle.

Reading Kitchenmage's post about English Muffins, I want to try them all over again.  But I know it will just be the same.

Sigh.

Sour Rye toast, I still love ye though, so breakfast here I come ...

Care and feeding of a Timid Nibbler

I call myself a "Timid Nibbler".   Yes, I have a limited scope of food that I will eat.   Actually, I shouldn't say limited ... I mean, it's not like all I will eat is potato chips and french fries.  (Mmmmm, french fries.......)  I eat some pretty wacky things.  You can't help it, growing up with the food of your ancestors from Sweden and Germany.  Don't even get me started on blood sausage.  Or lutefisk.   

But I also admit, I am NOT the kind of person who will eat anything.  Or even looks forward to trying new foods.   My idea of a great world trip does NOT include trying strange bizarre foods.  Nor do I think of boasting about what the latest weirdest food combination I had was. 

I am open to new foods - I mean, come on, I discovered my taste buds had changed and I actually liked salmon in Scotland last summer.  I obviously had to have tried an "i hate this!" food again to have discovered that.

After a friend was picking on me because I don't eat sushi, I sat to think about all this again, and came up with some points.   (And FYI, friend who knows who they are, I avoid sushi not because I am "scared of it", but because of horrific after-effects.  Raw fish and my digestive system do NOT get along!)


Timing of new food attempts.  This category could be broken down into two big areas for me.  Timing of sustenance needs, and timing due to stress.

An old boyfriend would bitch about how I never wanted to try new foods - but he broke both of the timing rules over and over and over.   

• Sustenance Needs:  If I am HUNGRY and need a meal to keep my diabetes under control, then I am NOT in the mood for new and strange foods.  I need food that I know the diabetic effects of, and the contents of, and the preparation of, and I don't want to mess with my blood counts just to prove to some pal of yours that your girlfriend isn't a food wimp.  I want food to keep me ALIVE.   This is not the time to suggest we go try that new all-deep-fried-squid restaurant or that new fusion pate bar.  (Both of which are most likely interesting, but also probably hell trying to figure out diabetic concerns on first visit!)   

• Stress Needs:  If I have just arrived home after a 2-hour commute preceded by a 10-hour work day, and I'm obviously stressed out and needing to relax, this is not the time to insist on forcing me to try new foods.  Especially if you ask me to cook it.  Especially if you've been home for 4 hours, after a 10-minute commute, and a 6-hour workday.   And you haven't even done the breakfast dishes.  This all adds up to "Screw you and your pesto-stuffed-octopus-legs, I'm having tomato soup and going to bed".    (Yes, I have a thing about eating squid/octopus)   Or if we've just come back from a day spent hiking in the mountains, and I mention I'd love to grill some chicken and veggies, do not insist that instead we need to try this new place that stir-fries chicken gizzards right at your table as you do your laundry (I am NOT making that one up!).

If you want me to try new foods, just schedule it around those two needs, or inform me far enough ahead of time so that I can prepare. 

For instance, if after investigating the restaurant I realize I won't be eating much of anything good diabetes-wise, I can pre-eat a healthy veggie/protein meal, and prepare for a carb onslaught at your new frou-frou restaurant "Le Pomme de Terre du Lard". 

Schedule it for a night you know I won't have a long commute on, or try a non-work day, or even offer to pick me up from work so I don't have to deal with a commute at all!   Now THAT'S how to get me to try new food - whisk me from my office building doorway to the restaurant yourself, so I don't spend an hour on the bus getting headachey, tired, sweaty and who knows what else.

Who else is present during new food attempts

If I'm alone, or with close friends, I don't mind trying new foods.   But if you insist on dragging along your cousin's neighbor's best friend's college roommate and his 7 other pals, well, no thank you.  I do not need strangers judging me based on my idiosyncrasies.   I don't mind friends rolling their eyes at my "oh god, not MORE creamed sauce all over everything!" tendencies, because I know and trust them and realize they actually support me in everything I like/hate because they have their own likes/dislikes (yes, I'm looking at you, Ms "I can't eat anything that's been touched by a banana - not because I'm allergic, or could taste the banana, but just because it was NEAR a banana!") but I refuse to have utter strangers start in on me for no reason other than that they feel superior to me.

Have I had time to research the restaurant?

I don't like new food sprung on me last second.  "Oh wow, look at the line at the Italian bistro we like." "Ok, so instead of pasta, let's go down the street to the new oysters-and-flan bistro!"    Um, no.  Give me a day to look them up on-line, to ask friends about them, to call and ask for a quick run-down of the menu.   

Knowing is half the battle.   Even if I discover that the menu contains 100% new foods, that would be fine - I would *know*.   Arm me with information and I can face potentially dangerous food situations more easily.  I'll have had a chance to realize every chicken dish they serve comes with a lake of creamy pesto sauce engulfing it (ugh!).  I'll be aware that every creamed veggie soup they make has creme fraiche in it (please! someone serve a delicious tasting creamed veggie soup that DOESN'T have that in it!!!).   I'll know that their pork is of a lower quality and to avoid trying any of those dishes.  I'll know the pitfalls before going in.

I'll also know ahead of time what their seating arrangement is like (I'm a tall, big gal - I need a booth that gives ya room!  Or a table with chairs.  No tiny little kitchen nook booth for me).  I'll be able to figure out where parking is, how to get there, what buses go there from work, etc.   This all decreases the stress surrounding new food, and allows me to be open to more adventurous.

So that's it.  My rules for timid nibbling.  You may think it's an awful lot of rules and work, but it really isn't. 

Why, this morning I even tried my eggs a new way - of course, that was because I forgot to actually *scramble* my scrambled eggs before I poured them into the pan, but hey!  I discovered I really don't like fried eggs. 

Tonight I'll probably try something new, too - but of course, cooking it myself makes it ever so much less scary.   I know exactly what's in the dish, I know how it was prepared, and I know where that cat hair came from (SIGH).

Aaaah, Saturday.

I love sleeping in.  Waking up slowly, streeeeeetching out in bed, turning over and dozing off for another half hour just because you can ... life is good.

Unless you have a cat.

7:30am:     Maow.       Maow.        Maow.       Maow.    (this serenade accompanied by repeated treks up and over me, and up and down my back, claws out of course)

7:45am: Snurfle?  Flurfle!  Snorgle!  SNORF!  (these noises describe her breathing process as she attempts to cheek-swipe my semi-exposed face)

8:00am: Magically the floofy tail always happens to land right on my face no matter how she is sprawled out on the bed.  For some reason.  Mere coincidence.   

8:15am: FINE.  Fine.  I'll get up.  But ya know what?  I'm the human, I'm smarter than you, so I'll get up and pretend I'm staying up, but once you're in the living room distracted by your toy mousie, I'll slip back to bed and nab another half hour.

8:45am: right on schedule, half an hour later, MAOW?  MAOW???   MAAAAAAAOOOOOOW?  She has "lost" herself in the living room, and freaks out about where I am.  Enters the bedroom, "MAWWWW?" I wiggle a foot to let her know where I am, and instantly a purry furry warm happy kitty curls up next to me and we both drift off to sleep again.

9:00am: Ok, now I'm up and awake.  And what does she want to do?  Sleep.  In bed.  FINE.  See if SHE likes it - maow!  maow!  maow!  maow!   

I am ignored......

Comfort Reading

Needed some comfort reading to help me fall asleep last night, so I turned to some old favorites: the Swallows & Amazons series.

The title made me, at first glance, roll my eyes and think sci-fi, but no - they're wonderful charming lovely books about children in the UK in the 30s.  These kids spend their days sailing, rowing, camping, gold mining, skating, etc - and imagining.  Lots of imagination!  And lots of food stuff.  Always about packing lunches. 

When I read these, all outside troubles disappear.  Stress is gone, unemployment anxiety is gone, everything is a cozy rosy hue.

I highly recommend the entire series by Arthur Ransome.

Swallows & Amazons

Misc

Kind of took today off.   I'm not sure why I needed to... I am, after all, unemployed.  But I let myself sleep in, then I lounged around reading and playing computer games, then ran some errands (my "once a day, have contact with other people" rule for being unemployed), then came home and am contemplating making pizza for tonight and playing more computer games.   The cat is out basking in the sun (she doesn't stray far, she's scared of birds and wind-blown leaves and any movement at all in the alley), I have the door open to catch the breeze, and it's gorgeous out.   It's a perfect day.

   (The Floof, taking a sunbath)

Now if only I had a job.....

Happy (belated now) Father's Day

Visited the parents this weekend.  As a gift to my father, I let him assist me with installing new headlights on my car.  Happy Father's Day!

Then I let him take me to the DMV to get my license renewed.  Holy hannah - I was given #204 and they were only assisting #115!  You're telling me there's 89 people ahead of me?!!?  But there were only 30 people at most in the room!  Where are all these other people??!!   

Turns out the two other closest offices were closed today - why they didn't triple the # of workers at this office on such a day, I'll never know, but talk about cushy jobs!  After every 2nd person that a clerk helped, they took a break. 

Wonder if they're hiring....

Wait, second thoughts, never mind.  I might end up looking like Patty and Selma.

Hale's Brewery

http://halesbrewery.com/

This is a local spot, easy to get to, street parking, nice place - so I've always wondered ... why don't I go here more often?

Tried it again last night and remembered - oh yeah.  THAT's why.  It's not bad ... but it's not somewhere I'm yearning to go try again.

The bready items are great, made by a number of excellent local bakeries. Their side options are rather potato-centric, with none of them being interesting enough to make me say "let's go get some of [whatever] at Hale's!". 

We started out with their spent-grain pretzel and I had a cup of french onion soup.  The pretzel was fine (could have used better, larger, more obvious rock salt on it) but the soup - oh dear.  WHY must you ruin a perfectly good Gruyere covering with shredded Parmesan?  Stop it!  Just give me that lovely smooth cap of melty gooey cheese.  The hard, unmelted parm just made the cheese top impossible to actually eat while on the soup (hard enough with just the guy, but the parm made it stiff and tough and unable to cut with a spoon).  And then the soup itself ... well, let's just say it wasn't soup, it was Onion Stew with a teaspoon of broth.  Guess the tip is: tell the waiter you want more broth than onion, hold the parm, and maybe not go late at night when they're trying to get rid of everything they have left at dinner service.

As entrees, and because we were at a pub, we sampled their burgers and I'll most likely never order one again.  HALF POUND.  Who the heck needs an entire half pound of burger?   Or if you like a half pound, that's great - but offer a smaller size burger so that the rest of us don't waste food!

Dessert was nice, if somewhat boring choices (please - have something light and airy and small available!  sorbets, mousses, fruit and cheese plate, etc).

A good enough local spot, but too expensive for me to visit frequently, and wasn't impressed by the choices available. 

Oh, and the beers?  NUM-MEE.  Those I'll go back for.

Wild Ginger

http://www.wildginger.net/

Now, as a Timid Nibbler the restaurants that really scare me are the fashionable places whose menus seem like someone chose random words out of a dictionary and threw 'em all together on a piece of paper and called it done. 

Wild Ginger seemed, at first glance, to be this kind of place. Trendy, right next to Benaroya Hall so you get the artsy crowd, well-dressed financial district workers lunching there on expense accounts, etc.  But then I browsed their online menu and realized that under the hype, under the high-heels and iphone-users, there was an actual restaurant.  Amazing.

The reception area at WG always seems to crowd up and become completely unusable.  Whenever I meet a friend there for lunch, it's packed with suits and everyone's (happily) shouting at one another and it's very difficult to a) find a host and b) be heard by said host when giving your reservation name.  Then it's difficult to wait for a table and to be seen/heard by the person trying to find you to walk you to your table, as there's nowhere to stand and again with the shouting - take them up on their offer to wait in the bar! 

Don't let this experience put you off, though.  This place is a gold mine for timid yet interested eaters. 

The appetizers here are wonderful for us wimps.  Every starter, every satay is VERY well described - there will be no surprises when your plate arrives (Knowing is Half The Battle, remember!).  And nothing is overwhelming - any dipping sauces or such are in separate dishes, the food is not wallowing in it's own sauce.   The presentation is lovely, and the food is *good*.  Good cuts of meat, the chicken seems to be mostly white meat and hardly any gristle, the short-ribs were very good once and ok the next, and I haven't tried the salads because I'm still working my way through all the interesting satays! 

Now, I'm a pot sticker conneisseur.  I try them everywhere I go, and never get tired of them.  WG's chicken pot stickers are tasty, well-formed (they don't fall apart while you're eating them), have actual flavour, and the dough is nummy.  I'd eat the filling or the dough alone, the sign of a really good dumpling.  The dipping sauce that accompanies the little pillows of flavor is delicious also - not too spicy or too garlic-y. YUM.  Even just typing about them gets me drooling.  It's difficult not to order these every single time.  Or multiple orders.  "Bring me a round dozen of your pot stickers, good waiter!"

I haven't tried their Emperor Bowls because, as a timid eater, the idea of being presented with a very large extra sized serving of a dish is too threatening.  If I hate it upon first bite, then I have this ginormous lump of unwanted food on the table!  This is why I love places with great appetizers and satays - you can experiment without committing yourself fully to a family-sized entree.

Their noodle dishes are wonderful, tasty and spicy but not overly populated with strange things! Veggies are always fresh, meat is usually of a good cut (though sometimes the meat bits seem to be those leftover from more visual dishes, where a good cut is demanded due to presentation).  The noodles are delicious, whatever kind you get.

Their lunch entrees don't really sing to me, so I normally just order an appetizer, a satay, and some other non-entree item.  If I do an entree it's usually a curry - they do such a great job with those!

For the dessert I typically go for the fruit sorbets, an excellent way to finish off a spicy meal before going back to breath on coworkers. 

I always have a pot of their tea, love the pot and tea cups on the table.  Sometimes, if we're talking a long time and it's not one of their frantically busy lunch hours, we'll even go through two pots - but the one pot is large enough for quite a few cups between two people.

If I'm dining here at lunch for the Dine Around Seattle (aka "25 for 25" or now "30 for 30" or other such name), the choices are a bit different on the prix fixe menu, but they always seem to include those yummy potstickers, and the entree choices are a bit different from the normal menu.  I had one of their omlettes once through this program, and it was astonishingly good.  This was a HUGE jump out of my normal eating area, but it really paid off.  Their omelettes are not thick eggy beasts, but more like a dry egg tortilla folded over ingredients. And the ingredients when I had them were all veggies, including golden raisins, carrot strips, bean sprouts, cucumber strips, etc.  Oh. My. Goodness. Delicious, fascinating tastes on the tongue, and I've watched for this to appear again on the menu and I've never seen it since - what a shame!  There was also a version of Pho once, that was delicious but again, has never shown up again that I could see. Pho is great for timid eaters because you can see everything, you know what everything is, you can eat around the things you don't like, and it's filling and while typically a big serving, it's not unusual for even non-timid eaters to have to take half of it home! So only eating part of it will not raise eyebrows. You can always take the rest home and be picky in private! 

Dinner sees a few changes.  Soups appear, none of which have ever made me want to order them.  Ditto salads.  No specific noodle menu, a shame.   Entrees are some duplicates from lunch, some are appetizers livin' large, and there are more seafood dishes.

Frankly, I like eating here at lunch more than at dinner ... I feel like I get my money's worth more, and that I'm not wasting their time and mine.  The Dine Around Seattle prix fixe menu is a great deal here at lunch, I heartily recommend it.

So, Timids, there are many options here (including a vegetarian menu I haven't browsed because, well, I likes my meat!) that are great for us.  On first visit, or for the very timid, stick with appetizers, satays, dessert and tea and you'll be fine and have a wonderful meal.

Rialto Pasta Bar

http://rialtopastabar.com/

I've driven past the Rialto for many years, and always wondered what it might be like.  Never gave it a try, though - the life of a timid eater!

One night, for some reason, I felt brave and suggested a friend meet me there for dinner.  Then I checked their menu online - as any timid eater will tell you, knowing is half the battle.  If I could find something beforehand that I knew I could handle, I would be able to look at the rest of the menu in a more receptive manner. 

It was love at first menu sight.   Huzzah for Rialto!  Not only do they have their entire menu online, they also list quite a few of the rotating specials.  I was able to immediately find 3 basic, timid-eater items that I knew I'd like.

While the dining area is quite small, the tables are set up nicely and there was plenty of room for my size (I'm tall, have long legs, and need lots of elbow room!).  It did get noisy, but not a shouting level.

The wine selection was wonderful.   A number of easily recognized wines, but also plenty of wild and wonderful wines to explore.  (Note that I am not a timid drinker!)  Over my visits I'd had their house red, which was decent, a couple of different Chiantis, a Montelpuciano, and various of their special wines - I can't remember what they were, but it doesn't matter - the wait staff always know what's available, and can even go into detail about the night's offerings.  Educated wait staff! What a wondrous thing!

And now, the food.   Oh, oh, the wonderful glorious food.    I have yet to be disappointed with any item I have ever had from their menu. And that's sayin' something!!

You are started off with bread, lovely bread, and olive oil.  You have to ask for balsamic vinegar, but it is brought without question. Good show.  You would not believe how many Italian restaurants I've been to that don't have any of the stuff available in regular serving vessels!

Once a friend ordered the Bruschetta starter, and the portion was astounding - first time I've seen someone, after 2 people ate, take home a doggie bag of bruschetta!  The bread was great, so much roasted garlic, and the various spreads and toppings were fresh and delicious.

Their salads are a very simple romaine mix, with an oil and vinegar dressing (which they're happy to leave off, no questions asked, no raised eyebrows, no "Huh?" comments - huzzah the wait staff again!).    There aren't a lot of other veggies in the salad, which I applaud.  If the lettuce is good, it stands on its own.  People these days don't know what a good lettuce tastes like, because they drown it in dressing!  But this is good stuff they're serving.  A few times I've felt like I've gotten the bottom of the mix bag, or the last before a new delivery, but I understand - it's like eating at home. I use the lettuce until it begs for mercy.  The lone little tomato in the salad is easy for me to pass over to my dining companion (I can't help it, I don't like raw tomoatoes!).   No cheapo black olives shredded all over it, no cheap cheese on it - just lovely lettuce.  Bliss.

I dream of Rudy's Red Sauce.  I am reminded of it during the day for some obscure reason, call my friend up to see if he's free that evening, and spend the rest of the day lusting after this incredible sauce.

Oh, it's not fancy.  It's "just" handmade, all-day-simmered, full-of-taste red sauce.  My favorite way to enjoy Rudy's Red is the simplest way available: sauce and spaghetti.  That's it.  You don't need to mix anything else in to have a dish of the gods.  You can, though, get it with sausage or meatballs or something else, but I don't even know, because I just get it the one way.

Some of the specials I've tasted and enjoyed were: Onion Soup, Ravioli with squash and pine nuts in a butter sauce, and a cream pasta that was good for a nibble but far too rich and creamy for me - though my pal ate it up and just about licked the bowl clean, he loved it so much.

Rialto gets the stamp of approval from this Timid Nibbler.   But if you go on a Friday or Saturday, get ready to wait for a loooong time for a table - they only seat about 20 at a time!  So get there early and then walk off your meal around Green Lake, or walk then lake and THEN eat!  Either way, nummy food and good exercise.

UPDATED: Rialto has had to move from their Green Lake spot, and is opening in Fremont. Their webpage has the address as: 4307 Fremont Ave. North Seattle, WA    Have not yet visited the new site, must do so soon!  No idea if any menu changes have gone on, or how many that site sits.

more dorkiness.

Tonight I won my Boots of Bilging trophy.

Yay me.

stuff!

As my craft swap partner has received my package, I can post pictures!

Seaweed Scarf

I had so much fun making this scarf- I learned how to do Yarn Overs!  Wooo!

But even more fun were these:

SEA MONSTER ARMS!!!!

They have suckers and everything.

My swap partner took a GREAT picture, it's in her posting about the package:
swap package posting
I'll be selling these in my Etsy shop, soon as I work out a few more wrinkles in the engineering of 'em.
SO. MUCH. FUN. making these two items.

Hello, I am a dork....

My entry in the OM Voodoo Doll contest *WON* the grand prize!

Event Description

My Entry

Winners announced!

    

Yes, there she is in all her kelpy glory.

Here she is, taking a swim, before she slipped away into the waves.

Dorkus malorkus, that's me!

I love this feeling.  Going through the pile of clothing I've acquired, culling and sorting and getting rid of stuff!  Next up is the living room, and then the kitchen.  Looming far off in the background is the Garage of Doooooooom, I hope to tackle that in July/August. 

Somewhere that must be an antidote for my Puzzle PIrates Addiction.  But do I want it .....

Wooooooo!

I shouted WOOOOOOOO! so much last night, I'm hoarse and gravelly today.  And my legs are like jelly - 2.5 hours of dancing around on cement floors, and I'm out of comission for the next day!  Uff da!

Went to sushi and The Paperboys last night.  WOOOOO! Still hyped up and bouncy from the concert, oh my goodness!  GO SEE THEM if you can!  Yowza.

So today has been dedicated to drinking a LOT of water, resting, stretching out the legs to get rid of cramps, and in general lolling about.

Low Tide

It was a 20-year low tide the other day, and I decided to take it as a good time to make changes.  Low tide ... low point ... low expectations ... nowhere to fall, you're already down there!  I'm not talking depression, I'm a happy person.  I'm talking about low times for projects, goals, activities, energy.  There's no where to go but up the beach - so here we go.

I wandered down to Golden Gardens and spent a couple hours on the sand, wading in the water and clonking around on the stones.  Lots of kelp, barnacles, sea stars, crabs and snails.  It was wonderful to be so far out onto the sands! 

Today I had the joy of meeting for the first time a most handsome young man.  James is quite the quiet gentleman.  His mother and I went to the mother's showing at a local theater, and saw Sex And The City.  Me, the not-much-for-kids person, surrounded by 50 moms and their babies for 2.5 hours.  Hee.  It was actually ok - the screamers got taken out quickly, and the general baby babble was nothing compared to regular theater cell phone calls, conversations, etc.  Plus, um, not exactly a movie one needs to hear every word to enjoy the movie and comprehend what's going on...  :)