Date Night! -- Part 2

Tonight was a bit like coming home.  Tonight we returned to the place that sort of inspired it all.  Only this time, we were simply there for the dessert.

Restaurant name: Poppy
Food type:  "Thalia" (your own tasting menu on a plate)
Category:  Repeat customers
Location:  Seattle, WA
Reason for dining out:  Date Night... dessert 
Bonus features:  Rock star chef sighting! 
Food ordered:  Sweet Thalia for Two
Items of inspiration: None
Chance of repeat visit:  More than likely

Poppy.  I love this concept!  Why didn't I come up with it?  A few bites of a bunch of things.  I didn't even know I had a restaurant concept until I met this place during Seattle Restaurant week.

I first heard about this place by watching Top Chef Masters and seeing chef/owner Jerry Traunfeld compete.  I make a mental list of places based on chefs I've heard of from TV shows and have a side hobby of seeking them out.  This is how we found Susan Feniger's Street when we were in LA and Cafe Juanita/Holly Smith.  During Seattle Restaurant week we opted to go to Poppy and found the original inspiration for the creamed chard and roasted cauliflower mentioned in the first post of this blog.  We decided at that time that we needed to return sometime specifically for dessert.  Tonight was finally that night.

Upon arriving the first thing I noticed was the herb garden!  Compared to our initial visit back in April, there was a veritable bounty overflowing.  It has this way of making you feel at home in an amazing way.

Then we walk in and see the kitchen.  I could honestly just set up a camp chair in any restaurant and just STARE at the kitchen and all the activity that goes on there. It's a live showing of the food competition shows I adore.  Better reception than hi-def as well! 

But then it's time to actually get a table and become paying customers.  We're behind this super swanky group of young 20 somethings who all look like they read about food more... very quintessential Capitol Hill Seattle folks.  But all of a sudden I catch a glimpse of a young guy (who is much shorter than I expected) who looks quite familiar... and I whisper to The Critic "That's the guy!"  I ask the server if that's the chef/owner and she says "None other!"  Oh I wanted to snap a picture on my phone.  I just love it.  I've got to become an autograph hound for these people some day.  I'm not sure what it is about the whole scene that I love so much... but I admittedly (here) do.  I think it's so fun when I know someone like that, especially when others don't.  It has this odd way of making me feel like I arrived.

And so we had arrived... at eating.  The dessert Thalia for 2 was quite fun.  We picked the malted milk chocolate pudding with carmelized bananas, the hazelnut coffee butter crunch ice cream, and also enjoyed our lavender shortbread, nutter butter squares, passion fruit pâtes de fruit, and salted caramel truffles.  All was quite tasty with the passion fruit pâtes being quite the surprise.  I was also pleasantly pleased with the tiny bit of salt added to the banana brulee.  But after an incredible meal beforehand as well, I still found myself needing the "adorable box" to take home a few extra bites. 

I recommend this place to people who like to share.  And do come sometime for the dessert Thalia for 2... it makes for a sweet date night (oh har har har... what a caramel corny joke).

Date Night! -- Part 1

This blog is getting to my head a bit.  I fancy myself a bit more important than I really am now.  I make sure I have my phone for the good pics, don't let people TOUCH the food until I have a chance to get the money shot, and spend at least a portion of the meal (okay, all of it?) thinking about what and how to write.  It's so ridiculous!  Oh well... you're still reading it!

Complementary cracker "bread" starter... complete with tamarind, tomato salsa, and mint chutneys

Restaurant name: Chutney's
Food type:  Indian
Category:  Frequent flyer
Location:  Bellevue, WA
Reason for dining out:  Date Night 
Bonus features:  Repeat of a dish I have obsessed about since our last visit
Food ordered:  Naan, Kabuli Chicken, Lamb Coconut Delight, South Indian Masala Halibut, (all at a 2 star spice level), Basmati rice
Items of inspiration: None... though maybe we'll switch out Basmati for our typical Jasmine sometime?  Not likely...
Chance of repeat visit:  Absoultely

Chutney's is Indian food for foodies. You get the classic *smack* of flavor, aroma, spice, and warmth when you walk in with all the swank of a contemporary restaurant.  And something about it just instantly makes me feel at home.

Sort of a fun background story... The Critic introduced me to Indian well before we tied the knot.  The original details are fuzzy (yes, it's been THAT long) but we seem to recall that perhaps his co-workers treated him to a dinner on the town and he was amazed by the flavors.  Very early on in our dating relationship we went to Chutney's on Queen Anne.  And I'm SURE we didn't appreciate it fully.

Kabuli Chicken

Fast forward to our last adventure.  We get this dish which sounds tasty enough... "chicken medallions simmered in our ginger-cumin-tomato sauce and finished with an assorted nut puree".  This Kabuli Chicken arrived and was beautiful and tasted amazing.  At one point, I have a bite that includes this BURST of sweetness.  I tried and tried to identify what on earth that could have been!  Seemed a bit like a grape in texture but the flavor was so so so much sweeter... familiar, but I could not identify it until... wait a minute... that's not... it is???  Yes!  Maraschino cherries!  What?!?!  Who would come up with that?  But surprisingly it wasn't weird at all... it was delicious!  It's like a deep burst of sweetness, like a packed nugget of brown sugar.  Surprisingly addictive!!  And there are only two in the entire dish.  Guess what?  The Critic doesn't like them. Score for me!

So on date night tonight we decide to return to Chutney's.  We go from time to time, but definitely not every week or anything.  The Critic wanted to take me back so we could have that dish again... he remembered how much I loved it.  We also remembered that we didn't just adore the tandoori items, so we searched the menu for other tasty ideas. 

Lamb Coconut Delight

Nearly instantly we both agreed on the Lamb Coconut Delight.  It was also super tasty... thicker and sweeter than I expected with real shredded coconut flakes on the top (I was not expecting that).  This was a tasty curry to scoop up with the Naan or spoon around with the Basmati rice. 

South Indian Masala Halibut

The other dish was definitely one of the most intriguing of the night.  South Indian Masala Halibut.  VERY subtle in flavor, it was surprisingly complex as long as your palate had not been overtaken by the other two rich curries.  I went back and forth, saying I wouldn't get that again to realizing that given a blank canvas, it was actually quite a shining star and the fish was SUPER moist (something we missed in the tandoori mixed seafood grill we had on our previous visit).  Finally we decided that everything was quite the tasty little dish... but our pairing of the 3 didn't quite work.

Overall it was an amazing meal.  Indian food makes for an amazing date night.  Spicy, warm, comforting, and exotic.  And the food was good, too <wink wink>.

Basmati Rice

Naan

It's Not Always About The Food

Sometimes dining out is as simple as enjoying a special treat with friends or family... or both in this case.

Restaurant name: Baskin-Robbins
Food type:  Desserts
Category:  Snack
Location:  Renton, WA
Reason for dining out:  My nephew wanted to share his special gift certificates with his cousins! 
Bonus features:  Chance to chat with my sister.
Food ordered:  Chocolate peanut butter ice cream cone
Items of inspiration: None
Chance of repeat visit:  Some other day... B&R is a rare treat.

Tradition!

Last summer The Guys and I started the tradition of going to a local farmer's market every week.  We rotate who gets to pick a treat for everyone to share.  It is usually the snow cone, which I am not usually interested in participating in.  But every third week it's my turn to pick.  Thus, the entry for today.

Restaurant name: Not sure... something about Mobile Sweets (can't find it on the vendor list!).  I also snuck a bite of the teriyaki chicken skewer from one of The Guys.  Remember?  Meat on a stick = summer!
Food type:  Desserts
Category:  Street Fair Vendor   
Location:  Renton, WA
Reason for dining out:  Our weekly market trip 
Bonus features:  Long standing tradition... walk the market, get a treat, get any fruits/vegetables anyone wants to try, visit "the playdough ladies", head for home.
Food ordered:  Chocolate ice cream/teriyaki chicken skewers.  And we got to take home Rainier cherries!!!
Items of inspiration: None
Chance of repeat visit:  We'll be here every Tuesday that we're home... all summer long.


This hardly counts as a "dining out" experience.  It's more like one of those building memories experiences. But it still involves food, family, friends, and fun.  The ice cream was fine.  The day was better.  I love this tradition.  See you next week!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Last night we went to Bai Tong for the express purpose of celebrating my birthday, simply because dinner out was not a real option on my actual birthday.  And then the now infamous words of my friend, "Would you like to go out for a glass of wine tonight?"  Um.  Yes.  Please and thank you.

This turned into an impromtu birthday bash for me.  And a lot of fun!  I love my girls.  Sorry I don't have pictures of the tiaras, balloons, and pink stickers that say "Look Who's Fabulous!"  It was an awesome night.

Restaurant name: Mama Stortini's
Food type:  Italian... sort of
Category:  Voted one of my personal favorites for a girls' night out.   
Location:  Kent, WA
Reason for dining out:  Happy Birthday to ME! 
Bonus features:  MS has an AMAZING happy hour menu.
Food ordered:  Crispy Gorgonzola Fries and Bruschetta (which, if you want a real laugh, watch my friend say "Bru-sket-tah" and then listen as the server "corrects" her to "Broo-shet-uh".  Her reaction after the fact is priceless.)
Items of inspiration: I've made a caprese bruschetta that is similar, but no where near as divine.
Chance of repeat visit:  Absolutely!  Can we go tomorrow?  But really, it's less about the food and more about the friends.  Correction.. it's ALL about the friends.  But the food is not bad.

To be clear, I began with the "glass of wine".  Mmmmmm... it was tasty.  I have an unwritten rule with this blog.  If it's not food, I'm not writing about it.  Buuuutttt... 

I ordered pizza for The Critic and The Guys tonight and kept getting frustrated when it wasn't showing up.  30 min.  40 min. 50 min.... at 90 min. wait time I checked the online order only to find out... I had ordered it for carry-out.  Oops.  So the fam got cold pizza reheated and I had to take a slice to go to catch a softball game on the fly (ha ha!  Get it?  The fly?).  Anyway, by the time I arrived at Mama's I was needing to have a few bites to eat as well as that "glass of wine".

So we ordered two appetizers to share.  The first was the "crispy" Gorgonzola fries.  They weren't bad, but by the time you put that Gorgonzola all over them, they were hardly "crispy" anymore.  Tasty flavor, bad name.  But oh that Bruschetta!!!  Drizzled with a balsamic reduction that resembled syrup more than vinegar.  It was YUM-MY!  Mmmmmmm....



So a fun night was had by all... especially me.  Thanks, girls.  But I must admit.  This post comes with a bit of a disclaimer.  If you have the food at Mama's and aren't impressed, well, it *might* be affected by, er, um, a "couple" pomegranate splashes.  Enjoy!  I know I did.  :-) 

For the Love of Bai Tong

Another book I love to read to The Guys is called "Toad Eats Out", a cute rhyming book with very simple text.  It states quite beautifully in the beginning, "It's my birthday!  I can do what I want!  I want to eat out in a restaurant!" This is our family tradition come birthdays.  Today, we celebrated a couple of birthdays together, including yours truly.

Restaurant name: Bai Tong
Food type:  Thai
Category:  No reason to open the menu... we already know what we're getting. 
Location:  Tukwila, WA
Reason for dining out:  Happy Birthday to ME!  Happy Birthday to K!
Bonus features:  We were joined by my parents and two good family friends.  When you dine out with a 4 extra adults, you get to order more food!  When someone else picks up the tab, you get to go again.  Thanks Mom and Dad!
Food ordered:  Fried Wontons, Moo Dade Deaw, Crispy Garlic Chicken, Phad Thai, Phad Sei-Iew, Mas-Sa-Man Curry, Brown Rice
Items of inspiration: There is no recreating this food.  Just eat and enjoy.  And lick your fingers well.
Chance of repeat visit:  Absolutely!  Can we go tomorrow?

To know me is to know my love of this restaurant.  It has a great story behind how it opened... whether that's fact or fiction I'm not entirely sure.  Nor can I accurately capture it in words here.  The Critic tells the story best, so let me know when you'd like to join us at this restaurant together and he'll tell the story. 

The food is delicious.  If you ask me which item was my favorite I'd likely say "Yes".  It's hard to rank.  This is the best I can do...

Fried Wontons:  A favorite of The Big Guy for sure.  They are deep fried with a bit of pig tucked in them.  (The Guys call all pork "pig" and they will correct you if you tell them it's called pork... forgive me for when you get uncomfortable.  We eat a LOT of pig in this house!).  The sauce that comes with it is a pungent sweet and sour sauce.  Very flavorful.  The Big Guy also appreciates the "purple carrots" that come on the side.  The rest of the world knows that as shredded raw red cabbage.

Chicken Phad Sie-Iew

Phad Sei-Iew:  One star with chicken as well.  I must admit.  This is not our favorite Phad Sei-Iew.  But it will certainly suffice and I will never turn it away.  This is the shining star in The Little Guy's book.  He will eat most of the plate when given the chance.

Phad Thai:  We ordered ours one star with chicken.  It was a bit on the spicy side tonight which is okay except The Little Guy isn't a big fan of spice, so he won't eat it if it's too spicy.  I like spice, but not "kill it" heat.  I like to taste my food.  This was yum to me tonight.  We don't get Phad Thai very often anymore so having it tonight was a super special treat.

Brown Rice

Mas-Sa-Man Curry:  This is a delicious dish that is amazing over rice.  Again, we have it with chicken and I think we asked for 2 stars tonight.  It could have used more.  This was the first dish to be completely consumed tonight and I came very close to licking the plate clean.  For. Real.  This is when I get to talk about Bai Tong's brown rice.  What a misnomer!  If you aren't a fan of brown rice, get thyself to Bai Tong.  It's really a red rice varitey and it is simply delicious. 

Moo Dade Deaw:  Our newest find at this restaurant.  The Critic calls it "Captain Crunch Pork".  My mother disagreed with this name but said it was delicious.  Not being a fan of sriracha, I bypass the sauce.  Actually, it's REALLY good if you mix it with the curry.  Sigh.  I just remembered that.  I forgot to do it tonight.  Ho hum.

Crispy Garlic Chicken:  Probably the dish that first endeared us to Bai Tong.  Definitely the dish that keeps us coming back.  This is De-Lish-Ous!  Uh-Maze-Ing!  I cannot say enough about it.  It's a double deep fried super crispy chicken in a sweetish batter that has a pheonmenal sauce.  And then they deep fry basil and dump it all over the top!  The basil is just like a crisp that disappears on your tongue.  It's CRAZY good!  For the ultimate Crispy Garlic Chicken experience simply spoon up some of the "crispies" stragglers with the sauce and some scraps of basil.  You will finally understand that food critic phrase "It's like a symphony of flavors in my mouth!"  It truly is.  Nom nom!!!

Crispy Garlic Chicken

In my opinion, Bai Tong is Thai food at its best.  And Bai Tong is one of the restaurants that officially turned me into a foodie.  Tonight didn't disappoint.  It never does.  The only downside to tonight is that it's really hard to lick your plate clean when you're sitting across from your mom for fear you'll be sent to your room or something.  But you know what?  If I had done it, she probably would have been grateful that I broke the ice and would have joined right in.  Happy birthday to ME!

Old MacDonald Had a French Fry

Sigh.  It was inevitable.  And The Critic said I had a pass on blogging about it, but I said this was part accountability journal, and so this is the accountability part.

Restaurant name: McDonald's
Food type:  Oh please.  If you don't know... well, I kind of envy you.  Fast food.
Category: First Time Ever!  (yeah right)
Location:  Maple Valley, Washington
Reason for dining out:  "Hangry" Guys post church
Bonus features:  New play area, and, well, the food isn't THAT bad if it's been a while since you've eaten there.
Food ordered:  Quarter Pounder with cheese minus pickle, french fries, and diet coke (I snuck an apple as well)
Items of inspiration: Really?  REALLY?  Do I really need to ask?  No!
Chance of repeat visit:  Never!  (yeah right)

Annnnnnd.... that's all I have to say about that!

Summer = Meat on a Stick

For years The Critic and I have agreed... one of the best things about the summer is the season of "Meat on a Stick".

Restaurant name: Pho Cyclo Cafe (with a mention of Espi's as well...)
Food type:  Vietnamese
Category: First time!
Location:  Tacoma, Washington
Reason for dining out:  Taste of Tacoma
Bonus features:  The most surprising gorgeous weather with the most amazing family ever... honestly a perfect family day
Food ordered:  Chicken on a Stick, chicken skewer, pork skewer, meatball skewer.  Elsewhere we enjoyed green bean fries, fried macaroni and cheese tastes, and bottomless flavored lemonade
Items of inspiration: There is no recreating this food.  Just eat and enjoy.  And lick your fingers well.
Chance of repeat visit:  Absolutely!  We go to the Taste of Tacoma nearly every year.

Today we were able to get ourselves to Taste of Tacoma, this wonderful event is in its 20 somethingth year and we have gone for at least the past 7 or 8, give or take a year we miss it.  Today was practically perfect in everyway.  Even the weather cooperated and we received clear blue skies and 70 degree temperatures.  The only way it could have improved is if The Guys and I had been in shorts and t-shirts.  But we all had our favorite moments.  The Big Guy got to ride The Scrambler for the first time.  The Little Guy enjoyed a spinning bear ride on his own (he said it was like driving a car).  The Critic found some art by an artist which really caught his eye and will likely grace our living room walls in the future.  But of course, the Taste of Tacoma is mostly about, well, tasting the good food of Tacoma!  And for sure, today did NOT disappoint.

A new restaurant to us!  Pho Cyclo Cafe

The first thing we noticed was a new sign for a Vietnamese restaurant which offered a variety of foods we love.  What immediately caught our eye was their $2 chicken, pork, or meatball skewer.  We went back and forth on which to get before finally deciding to just try one of each.  While looking at that we noticed an additional sign of "Chicken on a Stick" which was described as "Deep Fried with a Tangy Sauce".  So for good measure, we had one of those too.  Four meat skewers to share with all four of us is hardly overkill, and really this buys you a lot for $10 at The Taste of Tacoma.

Chicken on a Stick (with Tangy Sesame Sauce) + 3 meat skewers:  meatball, pork, and chicken

What we enjoyed was nothing short of delicious.  Truly.  We ended up going back later and getting a few (5) more sticks.  We were not shy about letting them know it was our favorite food of the event.  The chicken on the stick had the PERFECT balance of sweet crunch with that tangy sauce.  I wanted to lick that paper boat down once it was gone.  The meat skewers had a fabulous flavor of lemongrass which was an awesome surprise.  Not one of us could refuse those.  And it was a new place to us, which makes it all even better.  At least for us, this was advertising at it's best.  We will be searching out this restaurant to see if we can enjoy those tasty meats again.  Somehow I wonder if they will taste as good if they don't come in a red and white cardboard boat.

We do know that not all the places which frequent these festivals have a sit-down restaurant.  Luckily that just makes the event that much sweeter.  In our case, it doesn't get any sweeter than Espi's rice balls.  Only available at food events like Taste of Tacoma.  And we always end up with a skewer or two (or more) per person.  Nothing says summer like food on a stick around here!

Espi's Sweet Rice Balls ($1/skewer of 3)

Help... Yelp! We Yelp For Help!

I guess reading Hop on Pop a million times over the past 5 years paid off... I wonder if that's why they decided to name the site Yelp...

The Guys got to experience a rare day of "summer camp" for 4 hours!  I got to experience the rare day of a day to myself.  Which means a chance to eat out!  At a real place!  That isn't Red Robin!  Woo hoo!

Restaurant name: Noodle Boat Thai Cuisine
Food type:  Uh, THAI!
Category: First time!
Location:  Issaquah, Washington
Reason for dining out:  Lunch on my own!
Bonus features:  Pleasant little salad, discovering a new curry I like, a chance to eat without having to cut up someone else's food into tiny pieces or hear about how it has "stuff" on it
Food ordered:  Chicken Panang (1 star), which came with a garden salad and rice
Items of inspiration: You know, maybe I should give curry a try...
Chance of repeat visit:  Next to none

Tasty Little Green Salad

Chicken Panang Curry

I knew I would have 4 glorious hours to myself while The Guys were entertained by someone else and that these 4 glorious hours would span the lunch hour.  What I didn't know was where to eat in Issaquah.  It's not that I've never been, it's that I don't just spend countless hours there.  And besides, I was in the mood to try something new.  So I needed some help... and I Yelped for help.

The first name that came up with the particular search I did popped up the name "Noodle Boat Thai Cuisine".  I'm still not sure what the criteria for this search was, other than restaurants in Issaquah, but it came pretty highly recommended.  I searched the location and it was a stone's throw from the place where the kids would be.  And it's Thai.  It's THAI!!!!  What's not to love???  Some of the Yelper comments that intrigued me... "Best Thai food in the greater Seattle area, hands down."  "I don't even like Thai food, but Noodle Boat is down right amazing."  Even one who claimed west-side friends will trek across the lake simply to get this amazing food.  I was in, hook line and sinker! 

I found it easily enough, thanks to the Yelper comments which said it was hard to find at the end of the strip mall.  True enough.  One also mentioned it was pretty cluttered, so when I stumbled behind it in the "parking lot" which looked like a Thai family garage sale, I was pretty sure I had the right spot.  Bonus hints at the delights that were to await included zero parking nearby as well as TWO people pulling in and asking for a table before me.  Gleefully, I was ready to wait to be seated but was actually seated right away.

It's a TINY place.  And, yes, it has a ton of knick-knacks everywhere.  Part of it's charm to be sure.  The menu featured all the standards and I had all but decided on the ever popular Phad Sie Ew until my eyes fell on the curries.  I looked for Mus-Sa-Mun curry but didn't find it.  Boo.  Two intriguing options though, red curry and Panang curry.  So I asked the server.  She said she loved them both but recommended the Panang.  I tried to ask how similar it was to Mus-Sa-Mun but the translation between us was a little lost at this point and I just went with it.  I think this is why most people I know are intimidated by Thai food.  It's not a place where you ask a lot of questions.  If you want Thai, you need to know what you're doing.  So if you are going to try Thai, I suggest going with someone who has eaten it before.  Anyway, I settled on the chicken panang at one star for the spice level.

The lunch included a delightful little green salad.  Really, nothing special about the lettuce but the dressing was yummy and had very bright flavors.  The Critic can't eat salads and I often enjoy them when I dine without him, but I like them to be special.  In a simple way, this one was.  A great start to the meal!

Then came the chicken panang.  It was really beautiful!  It smelled incredible.  Again, to quote a Yelper, "It comes in a freakin' boat!"  My server said she'd be right back with my rice and I eagerly looked forward to eating.

<screeeeeeeeeeccchhhh>   Did you hear the record scratch to a halt?  Yep.  Here's where the raving ends boys and girls.  The rice was awful.  Truly truly awful.  Completely overcooked.  How is that possible?  It's a Thai restaurant!  They have rice cookers!  I was seated right next to them behind the little gold statues of Buddha on the shelf!  But it was truly bad. Jasmine rice does one of two things when it over cooks... it gets mushy or it gets dried and burned.  This was somehow both.  The problem is that the curry was actually very tasty.  And it was a nice similar flavor to the Mus-Sa-Mun I was hoping for.  But sadly all I could think about was that awful, horrible rice.

And so for the rice alone, I must disagree with those Yelpers.  And I must encourage them to get themselves to Bai Tong as fast as their cars can drive (hey "West Siders"... it's much closer than Issaquah).

I do look forward to the leftovers... just as soon as my rice cooker finishes cooking some rice.  Correctly.

Houston... We Have Finally Eaten Out!

This is close to my nightmare here.  My nightmare was that the first dining out experience I blog about would be a fine dining establishment that involves some golden arches and a red haired clown.  Close... the red part is right.

Restaurant name:  Red Robin
Food type:  American Grill
Category:  Previously frequented... well, frequently
Location:  Seattle Washington Waterfront
Reason for dining out:  Taking care of that "hangry" button/Earning my mom-of-the-year badge
Bonus features:  Winning the Diet Coke award (this is important in my world), very good experience for the kids
Food ordered:  Banzai Burger, fries, diet coke
Items of inspiration:  None
Chance of return:  More than likely... sigh.

The Ever Important Diet Coke

The Little Guy's grilled cheese with cantaloupe

So first, a very cool moment for me.  The Guys (my 5 year old is The Big Guy and my 4 year old is The Little Guy) and I headed into downtown Seattle for a special occasion... the chance to be on live television with their favorite music band.  Total bonus for me (and, no, I'm not referring to the complimentary Chocodiles they gave us... but that was nice, too).  Walking back I glipse over to see none other than Chef in the Hat Thierry Rautureau!! 

Get used to it now, folks.  Celebrity chefs are better than rock stars in my eyes.  I spent the rest of the taping waiting anxiously for his segment, hoping we got to taste his food (we didn't... grrrrrrr....).  I spent the remainder of the taping scheming how to get The Big Guy to take my picture with him after the taping.  But he didn't stick around (double grrrrrr....).  So this picture is the closest I have to prove that I was in the same vicinity with the man.  Still dreaming of eating at Luc someday...


But on this special occasion of being on live TV, I decided to take The Guys out to lunch.  I could have packed a picnic and taken it to a nice park on this gorgeous occasion of a summer day in Seattle, but really, and if I may, I'll be totally honest, I wanted to be able to create an entry here.

I did offer The Guys their choice.  I knew it was a lost cause, but coming up on those gorgeous numbers of 66 down on the water front, dreaming of my favorite crab and corn chowder, I knew I'd kick myself if I didn't offer.  "Guys!  We have two choices for lunch today.  First, I can take you to a place where you can get some amazing fish... fish and chips or broiled fish, the kind you LOVE (believe it or not, The Guys truly are suckers for sea bass, which they enjoyed at El Gaucho once... we truly are crazy).  And then, almost under my breath as an afterthought, I said, "orwecangotoredrobin...".  CHEERS!  ERRUPTION OF UNADULTERATED JOY!  "RED ROBIN?!!?" they both cried.  "We've been wanting to go there!"

So I pass up the beautiful fish sign of Anthony's on Pier 66 (sniff), still saying, "Are you sure?" (like I had to ask) and slowly, very slowly, attempting to get used to the inevitable.

Don't get me wrong... if you're going to have a burger, Red Robin is a good place to go.  I'm just tired of it.  So is The Critic.  So this was my chance to earn my mother-of-the-year badge, for today anyway (until I offered a bike ride at the park later only to find the bikes weren't in the car.... easy come, easy go).

The other thing you must get used to with our family is the phrase "hangry".  The Critic claimed this name for that really quick change of attitude (the angry one) that comes when one is hungry.  And by one, I probably mean The Big Guy (though I'm a safe bet as well).  And today, the hangry Big Guy was in rare form.  We needed to eat quickly at a place that was special to him.

And it turned into quite the fun experience afterall.  I do love their kids' menu, when The Guys actually are hungry enough to eat those meals (and if I could create a machine to detect that before one orders, I would be a rich woman).  Anyway, I do love that The Little Guy's eyes light up at the idea of fresh cantaloupe as a side dish.  Love that The Big Guy is so busy eating his "delicious hamburger" that he forgets about the french fries.  But I also love that it's a safe place to begin introducing them to basic requirements for dining out... being patient, waiting to be served, being appreciative, using good manners, speaking politely to food servers (just to name a few).  And we enjoyed some fun playing I Spy with the menu as well as a little Tic Tac Toe.  Outside, we had a perfect view of an Argosy ship that rocked back and forth and gave us the impression of dining on a boat... fun for the imagination.  And of course there is the awesome 80s music to enjoy (The Guys can belt out a mean rendition of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, when the occasion presents itself).

So my food... Banzai Burger, ordered as it appears on the menu without mayo.  And you know what?  It wasn't bad this time.  Maybe it satisfied my own "hangry" feelings.  Maybe it was the fun we were having.  Whatever it was, it was a good burger... this time.  Maybe it was that it was cooked well (and by well, I mean medium rare... apologies for being confusing... should have said it was cooked correctly).  Or maybe it was that my burger was comped thanks to that rewards card I got from them a few months back.  Whatever it was, it wasn't a bad experience and I'm glad to have a break from this place again for a while.

Nothing that I had inspires me to be creative in the kitchen this time around, though a Banzai Burger was likely the inspiration for the famed "Yoshida Burgers" we often have.  They are simple enough, mixing a good amount of Yoshida Gourmet sauce with ground beef, shaping into patties, they topping with pineapple and monterey jack cheese.  They are best grilled and we have even been known to grill the pineapple slice before topping the burger.

In conclusion... not a bad "first" eating out experience (in the blog, anyway).  But I'm still drooling for that crab and corn chowder instead.  Are you SURE you guys don't want to go to the fish place???

Will This Really Happen?

"I'm thinking about starting a Blog", I tell my husband at dinner tonight.  When I explain the concept, I'm ready for him to go back to eating and talk about the weeds popping up in the backyard.  Instead, I'm met with a different reaction... intrigue.  So I'm diving in and starting it.  Tonight.  Because if I don't, I won't.  Will I keep up with it?  Probably not.  Let's be honest.  That's not really what I do.  I'm great at coming up with good ideas, but continuing them?  Not so much.  Thankfully that's not been the case for the kids... I've been continuing staying home and raising them for nearly 6 years.  I digress.  See?  It's what I do.  Okay.  The blog.  The concept.  Here it is.  We eat out.  A lot.  A lot more than we should.  But a little over a year ago, I came to realize something.  Dining out is my splurge.  I'm a pretty frugal person by nature.  And unlike a lot of people who eat out, I actually can cook very well (no, I can!  Really!  Ask my husband!). But I do enjoy the whole dining-out experience.

The inspiration came from a recent dining experience at Poppy in Seattle.  Let me start by saying that I *loved* the concept of this place.  Small sides to go with a single protein... a basic tasting menu on a plate.  I am a side dish's best friend.  But a funny thing happened at that meal.  Rather than sitting and just gazing at my husband while we enjoyed the food, he pointed out some of his favorites.  I began to realize that my trained culinary skills (read all the food competition shows I spend hours watching on TV) were allowing me to dissect certain dishes and giving me the idea that maybe I could recreate a couple at home.  So I tried.  And I did.  While sitting at the table, I popped out my iPhone and made a list of all the flavors I detected.  I made a mental list of how I might accomplish this at home.  I copied down two ideas.  The first was a cream chard recipe... I call it creamed spinach for grown-ups.  Oh my.  It's delicious.  I have dreams about that one.  I admittedly love it more than my husband.  But he was also holding out for the second recipe I analyzed that night.  Roasted cauliflower.  Made it tonight.  It was a wild success.  My husband is so ecstatic that it worked.  I told him I would make it again some time and he said, "Ya think?!?!"

So the concept is simple.  I will chronicle our dining out adventures.  The hope is that three things happen.

First, as I go, I will have an organized list of places we've gone and the food we've enjoyed.  I eat out the way I cook (or rather, the way I used to cook before I had kids).  I would make a dish and my wonderful husband would say, "That's delicious.  It's too bad we're never going to have it again."  The same is true for dining out sometimes... there are just so many places I want to eat and there is only so much room in my stomach!  But I'd like to remember that the Capital Grille's lobster mac and cheese and prosciutto wrapped mozzarella is WORTH going back for, even if their spinach salad falls flat. 

Second, this is an accountability journal for me.  If we eat out, I will write it down.  Hopefully this will limit the number of lunch drive-thrus and other quick stops we have.  Dining out should be a special experience.

Third, well, if someone identifies this and wants to give me a free meal to try out their new restaurant, ummmm... I'm not stopping them!  No, my husband explained it best.  I have a dream, people.  I have a dream to be one of those judges on Iron Chef America (not the original one... too many fish eyeballs and bull testicles that can find their way into dishes!) or Chopped or any other food competition show.  I admit I'm sadly obsessed.  So this is my small way to be able to do that.

And that is all... we'll see where this heads.  Right now, it heads to bed, as I didn't dine out today and spent an awful lot of time on here already.