TCI - The Lost Footage

Due March 2010.

Weekend(s) Project

We had leftover materials from our cement countertop projects in the house (laundry room, fireplace) and a friend was having a beautiful Madrona cut down so we decided to make use of these things and make some furniture. We needed a smaller coffee table for our living room so that was project number one and we also needed more seating for the kitchen table that we partially built. Since we couldn't find a bench with the correct dimensions we made one and both turned out great (for our taste). We only had to buy some plywood, screws and metal lathe and we were in business. We thought it would be a quick project because we used to be really fast when we were doing stuff for the house but since we are no longer had a time is money incentive it took us a few days spread over a few weeks to actually get er done.

Unto us a carrot is born.

--

Avery had an extra-credit "assignment" for Sparky's to build a nativity from vegetables. This is what we came up with.

Sky-High Santa

photo credit "Scott Beale / Laughing Squid"

The Space Needle is perhaps the most famous Seattle landmark and one I had resigned to never going up because they charge you $15/person to go to the top (for a ride that is not nearly as cool as say the St. Louis arch) but a local home builder was giving passes for four to anyone who donated food to their drive. I donated three times (or rather broke up one large donation into three smaller ones) in case we had time to go up when Ben's family was in town for Thanksgiving. We didn't so we were able to share some passes with friends and even a few strangers.

We have had unusually sunny winter weather here (freezing, but sunny - a fair trade as far as I'm concerned) so we knew we would have good views and we wanted to catch the sunset (which is pretty much 4:15 this time of year) to maximize our visual pleasure. A bonus was that Santa and his Space Elves were at the top ready to hear the kids secret desires for Christmas. I brought two cameras with me but batteries were out on both (I thought this might be the case so I even had at least a dozen batteries in my case and I'm sure I looked idiotic trying one combo of batteries after another to no avail. Santa can bring me a new pack of rechargeable batteries if he is listening) so I missed the most precious picture in the world of the kids beaming while sitting in Santa's Spaceship. Trust me, it was darling. But not darling enough for me to pay $20 to pay for it. Or even darling enough for Ben to let us stand in line to even view it (Santa can bring him patience). Avery told Santa that she wanted a Barbie (I was really really hoping it wasn't $150 Biscuit the Dog again this year because it would be a shame to not get what you wanted two years in a row. A Barbie we can swing.) Miles asked for socks. Done.



They also got to decorate little spaceship sugar cookies with frosting and candies so we defiantly got our money's worth on this adventure.

photos of family, city and sunset by Meka Manchak.

Seattle Sweets (and a little Salt)

I've just recently started exploring Seattle beyond Pike Place Market and what I have suspected is true - it is a very tasty city. Of course one can't just go explore on their own with only a three year old for company which is why I love visitors. My mom is particularly good for exploring with and often times she will do a little vetting on her own then let me know what is worth seeing, doing or eating. Everywhere we have lived she has found some of the best places. (And she is a human mapquest which is nice) So far the memorable eats we have had together are sandwiches at Salumi - a tiny restaurant owned by Mario Batali's parents. It opens at 11 with a line already formed well before that on most days. Basically it's a cured meats shop and they slap that on some good bread with some good cheese and voila you have a cult following. Seating is limited and you just file through and order at the counter. It's one of those places that intimidates you because the line is moving and you just keep staring at the menu on the wall without a clue how to pronounce most of the things, much less what to order. The first time I had...well...I myself ordered a spicy soppressata sandwich with fresh mozzarella and some thin, salty but delicious spread of something - garlic, anchovies? I don't know for sure but that's the sandwich I've ordered the last two times I've gone as well. The first time I also ordered the kids a meatball sandwich which I delightfully got to eat half of and my mom ordered the Porchetta at the recommendation of someone in front of us in line. Eh. It was a bit underseasoned for my taste. But that unfortunately didn't stop me from eating half of that one too. But enough about meats.

After seeing Food Network's Best Thing I Ever Ate, Fried Food Episode we had to go to Lola on Giada's recommendation and have the doughnuts. (Different day than the Salumi trip - by a couple of months actually) I am not a doughnut person. Occasionally I'll have an old-fashioned or a chocolate cake variety but Krispy Kreme or doughnuts like that I don't enjoy. These are kinda along the lines of those - light and fluffy - but small and served hot and shook up at your table with cinnamon and sugar on it. The doughnuts, while o-kay, were merely a vehicle for what accompanied them. Vanilla-Marscapone sauce and fresh seasonal (this time huckleberry) jam. Those parts were yummy. I would have them again yes, but I would go across the street and order them at Tom Douglas' bakery for a dollar less. I do want to go back to Lola though and order their Octopus Hash for breakfast. At least I think I do. In addition to the doughnuts we split a regular breakfast plate (eggs, bacon, toast, smashed potatoes) that was very yummy. Our intention was to hit up another Douglas restaurant across the street Serious Pie which was also featured on the Food Network for it's pizza. But we weren't quite hungry enough an hour later. So we went to Dahlia bakery and ended up with the Triple Coconut Cream Pie bites - I really really want a whole one but it's over $30. And the mini one at $16 just doesn't seem like the greatest deal either. But they might be worth it. The macaroons are super good too.

There is another place in Seattle that I have been having dreams about ever since I went there. This time it was with my sister-in-law Alise who was in town for a brief visit and our friend Meka who is lucky to live very near all of this culinary action. The place - Theo Chocolates. I had really wanted to go on one of their tours because it sounds like fun. But they were booked up when we went even though I called a week in advance, however, a visit to their storefront was not disappointing. It was pretty much an all-you-can-taste chocolate fest. Between my kids and I we probably ate...I don't know in weight but at least 20 dollars in chocolate. In addition to the usual milk and varying degrees of dark chocolate they had some wacky flavors like coconut curry, chai, ghost chili, etc. My favorites were the mints - peppermint and spearmint I believe, the cocoa nibs and the bread and chocolate which I had never heard of but was the best - a little sweet a little salty and a lot chocolaty. And Theo chocolate I guess is the only organic/fair trade chocolatier in the U.S. which should probably mean more to me but I just really like their samples.

Hopefully I'll get some more visitors after this.

The best run.

The perfect amount of hills, the perfect mileage. Perfect view.

Three.

Medium Close to Dying.

It was my grandpa's birthday the other day. After Avery called and sang him Happy Birthday and left him a message I told her "Did you know that grandpa is 84 today?"

"Whoa", she said. "He's getting close to dying".

Now, if you know my grandfather (or knew his mother, who only missed meeting Avery by a few months (although we have some pretty solid evidence that they crossed paths at some point) and would have been her great-great grandmother) you know that this is hardly the case. At 84 he teaches school about 90% of the year as a substitute and then in his spare time pours concrete or builds the occasional brick wall. By himself.

I then told Avery "he could live till at least 100". She said, "After 100 you die" and then added "I am way way far away from dying".

I ventured to toss in a hopefully reassuring "yeah, me too". She said, "weeellll, you're medium close to dying".

Sounds like grandpa and I better live it up.

November Recap

I'm going to make this quick (quick for me) because my Christmas present to myself is to get every half written post finished before the new year. And there is at least one that dates from 2007, so I am just going to post at random and then put things where they go at a later date. I'm hoping that this spring cleaning will engender the same feeling of freedom that getting a file cabinet did for me. Which I just got this month and have been wanting for years. Don't ask me why it took me this long to spend $31 at Walmart to forever change my life but it did. Previously I had a plastic file box - which is sufficient for to keep the paperwork of one person but not a family of four. If you don't have one go get one. I had paper piles everywhere, under coffee tables, in drawers, in folders, bags etc. but now, mostly, it all has a place.

So back to November. (And don't forget, get a file cabinet) Ben and I officially became old this month, which we realized as we stood outside the door of our daughters kindergarten class waiting for our first parent-teacher conference. It just gives me the chills to recount that moment. And not in a good way. For 30 minutes we had to listen to a grown-up talk to us as if we were grown-ups. Weird. I hope we did okay.

Like I mentioned before, Miles quit soccer. When we are at home he talks about soccer like he loves it. But the last time we went it was starting to get colder and dark and I told him if he kicked the ball once we could go home. Which he did. And I haven't made him go back. $30 down the drain...I could have bought another file cabinet with that.

After spending the previous month undoing our garden I spent November planting. There are now 200 tulip bulbs that I am just daring some squirrel to try to dig up and eat in my yard. Bulbs are not the easiest thing to plant, especially in rocky soil that only gets rockier the further down you go. So we'll see if it's worth it come spring. I also added 4 blueberry and 6 raspberry bushes to the yard as well. I wonder how many years it will take them to produce.

This month I also got a new windshield courtesy of Volkswagen. I had to go in to get new key fobs. Avery took one swimming about three years ago and the other one finally gave out on me as well. I used the valet key for a couple weeks but that got old quick and since my mom was going to be nice enough to watch my kids for a week I knew I couldn't subject her to any more torture. So I went to the dealer and quickly figured out that I might be able to get away with only buying two half keys since only the transponder was shot. So instead of getting only one full key for $170 plus $50 "reset" fee which I was planning on doing I got two for the same price. And they glued my keys back together so I wouldn't have to have packaging tape on them. Now I wish someone would do the same for my camera. While I was there they suggested I get a new headlight and new wiper blades - both of which I knew I needed. The headlight would run a ridiculous $75, which I got later at the VW shop I usually go to for $11 - including labor. But the wipers seemed a fair price and he said they fit the curve of a VW window. It immediately started to rain so I got to test them out. It did fit it except that on one side it kept streaking like it had before. A week later I went back and showed this to the guy and while I was showing I noticed faint scratches where the streaking was occurring. It turned out o be an installation issue. He said he would try to use a clay bar to get it out. It didn't work so on the spot he offered me a new windshield. So I got one. Just like you don't realize how bad your eyes have gotten until you get new contacts or glasses, you don't realize how bad your windshield is until you get a new one. Obviously I knew that I had two rock chips, one that had been there for years and the other a few weeks. But I don't think I realized how the years and roadtrips had marred the glass in general. For a couple days I thought I was driving without a windshield it was so clear. And it was free!

In other lucky news, a few months back I had won a $100 gift certificate to a home furnishings store we like. We finally went to redeem it. Ben wanted a reading chair for our bedroom. We found a brown leather club chair we both liked which was half off from $600 but when we brought it home it was too big for the space so we were going to have to return it - never mind that the receipt said no returns for sale items and a restocking fee for all other purchases over $100. Ben called and they said they would give us store credit. He loaded it back up and came home with good news - not only had they credited our card back they also credited the $100 gift certificate to our card and no restocking fee. Very Nordstromesque of them. So - get a file cabinet and shop at Moe's!

Even though this is not quick like I promised, I have squeezed like four posts into this one so because it's informative and could benefit someone else I'm going to recount another car story - this one not so lucky. So one day my car wouldn't start. It would turn over and almost catch but not quite. At first I had thought one of the kids left a light on and strained the battery but after letting it rest for a while it still wasn't working. So the next day we had it towed to the shop and waited for the verdict. It turns out that the spark plugs were saturated with fuel. So they cleaned them off and popped them back in, no other repairs needed. First of all I also love these guys - Too Quicks German Auto - If you have a VW and don't want to get ripped off go there. (If you're in Maryland go to Auto Centro and in Hawaii go to Tai VW and if you're in Dayton Ohio let me know and I'll look up the name of the shop there). Okay, enough with the endorsements, I swear I don't get paid for these. So how could this strange thing happen? The day before Ben had moved my car just a few feet so he could blow pine needles out from under it. Then he quickly moved it back a few minutes later. The quick start stopping apparently had something to do with the spark plugs getting gooped. So next time your car won't start it might not be the battery or the starter or the alternator (the dealer probably would have told me to replace all three). The spark plugs might just need a good cleaning.

Wanna Get Away?

I just booked (one-way) flights for the kids and I for what most airlines charge for overweight baggage (or three tickets for under what I paid for one for Ben to fly one-way on a different day so he can get back to work). And we each get to check two bags free. And we'll get snacks gratis. Since when did Southwest's no-frills philosophy become a better option than most other full-service airlines? So I don't get an assigned seat. But when you're flying with three or more people someone in your party is not going to get the best seat. And frankly is there a good seat on an airplane when traveling with children? Maybe I won't even have to sit with them.

Anyhow, if you need to go somewhere try Southwest. The same flights that were $122
for me yesterday were $50 today.