Dinner Club - Out!

Last night, our dinner club got together for a cruise. From Lake Union, we putted through Portage Bay and the Montlake Cut to Lake Washington, then headed east to our final destination, Kirkland.

Our hosts Peter (aka Captain Stubing) and Carly (aka Julie McCoy) were hoping for sunnier skies and smoother water (it was Aug.1 after all)... but we had a great time anyway! We had beer and wine and yummy cheeses, figs and crackers on the boat on our way to dinner at Milagro Cantina. Yep, Mexican theme again! I told you it's our favorite! 

Mark insisted on me taking a picture of him with three drinks in his hands again (see last post!). I think it's becoming his signature pose!

I followed his lead and kept things "classy" with a swig of rose right out of the bottle!

In all seriousness, it was a delicious bottle of Vihno Verde Rose. I had never had it before. It was light and effervescent. Pretty bottle too.

Oh geez, I can't believe I didn't get one picture of our captain in the boat. But I did get a cute picture of my hubby at the wheel! I think he liked it!

We spent a good bit of time talking about the upcoming Obliteride, as all of the guys on board are riding 50 miles next weekend! I love Carly's arm party, here.

Once again, Mark is hamming it up for the camera! I think he liked his fajitas! My shrimp tacos were delicioso!

Finally, here's our captain. I think he liked his tacos too!

It was fun to get out of our hood and over to the other side of the Lake. Although only a few miles separate our neighborhood from Kirkland, it feels like a world away and a true adventure. Thanks Capt. Peter and Carly for taking us out. I wonder what kind of adventure we'll have next time we are together.

Cheers friends!

A Recipe for Fun!

We recently started a new dinner club with a group of friends from our neighborhood. This is the second such "club" of which we have been a part. The first was a group of college friends and we enjoyed a 15-year run. Now that we are all through the baby stage (most of us!), it seems easier to get together for adults only fun every month or so. 

We hosted the first Montlake Dinner Club last month. The theme was Mexican (our favorite). Our dinner club model makes it pretty easy to have a great time.... The hosts come up with the theme, prepare the main dish and divvy up the rest of the menu. Everyone contributes a beverage to share. It's truly a simple recipe that yields a lot of fun! I look forward to many years of friendship and frolicking with this group. I think we're off to a great start!

Here I share a recipe from Geoff's aunt Jonnie Kae for yummy (and very easy) enchiladas that we served, as well as Geoff's "famous" margarita recipe. 

Aunt Jonnie Kae’s Chicken Enchiladas

1 chicken, cooked and shredded into bite-sized pieces (I use a roasted chicken)

Add 1 8 oz can of diced green chilis to the chicken

Combine first two ingredients together in a bowl

In another bowl, mix 1 can of cream of mushroom soup and 1 carton of sour cream

1 pound of colby jack cheese – shredded

1 package large flour tortillas

Lightly spray glass casserole pan with cooking spray.

Add a couple of spoonfuls of the soup/sour cream mixture to the pan, spreading the mixture back and forth.

Lay out the tortillas and evenly divide the chicken/green chili mixture among the tortillas. About ½ cup of the mixture per tortilla.

Top tortilla and chicken mixture with ¼ cup shredded cheese.

Roll up and place seam side down in prepared pan.

Top with sour cream/soup mixture and remaining cheese. 

Sprinkle a dash of paprika for color!

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until soup/sour cream mixture bubbles.

Top with salsa, avocado, cilantro and sour cream. 

Geoff's "Famous" Margaritas

I cup Sauza Hornitos Tequila

½ cup Hiram Walker Triple Sec

I cup Rose's Lime Juice

I large lime, squeezed

Splash of Cointreau

Mix together all ingredients in a pitcher.

Rim glasses with salt if desired.

Pour margarita over ice and serve with a slice of lime. 

There you have it - my recipe for a really fun time! I can't wait to see what theme our hosts dish up next month. Cheers friends!

Mamnoon: A Hip Middle East Experience in Seattle!

I have said this many times, our trip to Jordan and Israel/Palestine last year opened my heart and mind to the people, culture and food of the Middle East. So when I read about Mamnoon, a Middle Eastern restaurant in one of Seattle's hippest neighborhoods, and a friend urged me to go there saying "you and Geoff will LOVE it!" I couldn't wait to try it. We went for date night a couple of months ago and we had a fantastic experience.

Mamnoon, which means “grateful” or “thankful” in Arabic, is unlike anything we experienced in the Middle East. It's hip and cool and modern. The hummus, za'atar and flatbreads mustered up memories from our trip, but overall everything was presented with a lot more flair than what we experienced in the Middle East. But it did not disappoint at all. In fact, it was a really wonderful experience. I can't wait to go back.

Here I share some of the highlights from our experience.

First off, the cocktail menu is amazing featuring 10 signature cocktails simply named No. 1 - No. 10. Observant Muslims refrain from drinking alcohol, so the cocktail menu was our first hint that this was going to be a non-traditional Middle East experience. Again, we were delighted, not disappointed!

I ordered No. 10: prosecco, pomegranate syrup and rose water. It was simply divine, with a lovely perfume aroma and fresh taste.

We had a hard time deciding what to order because everything on the menu made our mouths water. We started with a couple of traditional mezzes (small plates) and flatbread.

Instead of the "regular" hummus, we "splurged" on the fatteh hummus, which my husband proclaimed was so good he wanted to cry! It's a creamier version of regular hummus made with fresh chickpeas and green garlic yogurt. I highly recommend it.

For our main course, we landed on the rubyan (marinated prawns) and tenderloin kebab. Both were very, very good.

 

I couldn't resist taking pictures of some of the artful touches, including these colorful glass chandeliers and a few other cheeky items!

To top it off, Mamnoon has their very own special edition glassybaby that benefits Syrian refugee relief.

 

In addition to the beautifully designed restaurant, superb service and delicious food, one of the highlights of our evening was meeting the owner on our way out. Racha Haroun (pictured with me below) and her husband, Wassef, are from Syria. The article I read in The Seattle Times says "their hope is that Mamnoon brings to the city a sense of modern Middle Eastern culture, something beyond the headlines and the suspicion that have permeated the United States for so many years."

Run don't walk to Mamnoon for a hip Middle East experience right here in Seattle!

Cheers to Summer 2013

Happy summer friends! Today is the summer solstice, marking the official first day of the season and the longest day of the year. Yay! Around the world people celebrate the beginning of summer in a variety of ways. As you know, I love celebrations so I couldn't miss this one, especially since it signals (hopefully) that better weather is ahead.

A couple of weeks ago, on a beautiful warm evening, my mom and I did an early toast to summer 2013 at a lovely little neighborhood wine bar. We sat outside and enjoyed rosé perfectly paired with charcuterie (local artisan cheeses and cured meats).

They take their pairings seriously at Bottlehouse and customize them for each person based on their wine selection. The wine and cheese experts at Bottlehouse also love to share, in great detail, the flavors and notes in the wine and why they pair so well with the cheese and meats they selected. It was a lovely experience. I felt like I was transported to France for the night.

I couldn't resist taking home one of my favorite bottles of French rose, AIX. It reminds me of our trip to Provence in the summer of 2003.

 

We planned our trip to France in July to see the lavender in full bloom right before harvest.

We brought back some brightly-colored French linens from the market. As soon as the weather gets better, we'll be dining al fresco ala Provence!

Next week I will share more colors of Provence with you. Until then, cheers to summer solstice!

The Life of a Peony

My sweet husband gave me a gorgeous bouquet of peonies last Saturday. They started out as dark salmony pink tight blooms. Two days later they had completely opened up.

And then they began "the change." Each morning when I came downstairs to start my day, I was excited to see how much they had changed over night. Bigger and lighter each day until the petals began to fall. I had fun capturing the fleeting life of a peony on instagram - and I wanted to share this beautiful transformation with you. Sofia calls them "magic flowers." You probably will hardly believe they're the same blooms. 

The life of a peony is actually quite short - but I am so grateful for the fleeting beauty they bring to our lives and our gardens at this time of year. I just bought another bunch yesterday. I can't get enough of these gorgeous blooms. 

Let’s Obliterate Cancer!

It's no secret, I love celebrations! Birthdays and other milestones in particular. I cherish my friends’ birthday celebrations as much as my own. They’re a great reason to reach out and connect, to pick out the perfect gift and card. To pick up the phone. To send a text. To have lunch. To simply, and importantly, connect.

Today is an especially important day for me. My oldest friend from childhood since I was 2, Scott, who for all intents and purposes is my brother, is celebrating his birthday today. It also happens to be National Cancer Survivors Day ... a day of HOPE, INSPIRATION, SUPPORT and CELEBRATION.

In early January, I received shocking news that Scott had stage IV colon cancer. His wife Heather called me the day before we officially announced Obliteride, the project I’m working on to raise money for cancer research at Fred Hutch, to tell me the “news.” I was stunned and shocked. I still kind of am. Scott is 42 with two awesome young boys (Chance and Zane, above), an amazing wife and a great life in Hood River, OR. How could this happen to him?

 

The timing of it all is ironic, coincidental, meant to be. I didn't realize it when I signed on to be the PR consultant for Obliteride last fall that I was truly meant to work on this amazing project. Obliterating cancer is extremely personal for me now. It feels like my life's work and it feeds my soul. I’m passionate about telling everyone I can about the insanely-amazing research that Fred Hutch is doing to save lives.  

 

 

The last five months have been an intense rollercoaster for Scott and those of us who are close to him. Emotions run high when we get good news and low when we get not so great news. But Scott is riding the cancer waves (he’s a surfer!) with strength and determination just like he skies, surfs and lives his life. In fact, he was surfing on the Oregon Coast this weekend (picture above) and windsurfing on the Columbia River a couple of weeks ago. He was skiing on Mt. Hood recently too. Pretty amazing considering the extremely intensive chemo treatments he's enduring.

 

I consider Scott a SURVIVOR even though he’s not out of the woods yet. We are still praying for a miracle and believing that God and modern medicine will save his life. He is fighting hard and getting the best treatment possible. He also feels like what saves his life could be the next research breakthrough that’s right around the corner.

So in honor of Scott and everyone else I know who has been touched by cancer, I am taking this opportunity to invite you to join me in the ride to OBLITERATE CANCER so we can stop hearing the shocking news that our best friend, our spouse, our parent, our child has cancer.

Please join me.

I am raising money for Obliteride as a “virtual rider” since I will be working the weekend of the event.  I'm kick-starting my own fundraising today with a $42 donation in honor of Scott's birthday and his journey so far. Please consider joining me and donating online through my personal fundraising page.

Here are a few ways you can think about how much you want to give:

·    Donate $20 in honor of each person you know who is fighting cancer, is a cancer survivor or who has lost their battle with cancer. 

·    Give up one latte or beer per week until Obliteride in August and divert the money to cancer research.  

·    Donate in honor of your birthday or your spouse’s birthday – or both. The number of years = your donation.  

 

 

Everyone who donates $50 or more will get a cool orange Obliteride bracelet (pictured above). Start an Obliteride arm party today! They are all the rage!

Whatever you decide to give is perfect. 100% of every dollar you donate goes directly to the insanely-amazing research that is happening at Fred Hutch every day. That means the more money we raise, the more lives are saved and the more birthdays we get to celebrate! Of course, you can also join the Obliteride movement by riding or volunteering! Much more info here.

 

Happy Birthday Scott! Cheers to good friends, celebrations and a cancer-free world.

Xoxo.

 

 

Crushing on glassybaby

How cool is it that I get to work on an amazing project with the signature color orange, its mission is to obliterate cancer, and they just launched a partnership with glassybaby? Lucky me!!

As you likely know, I have had a huge crush on glassybaby for a long time! Now I have a gigantic crush! Yesterday we announced that glassybaby has created a new color called 'crush' for Obliteride. And guess what? It's a beautiful, vivid orange! 

glassybaby is donating 10% of each 'crush' purchase between now and the end of August to Obliteride to fund the insanely-amazing cancer research at Fred Hutch. My first glassybaby was given to me by Gretchen Mathers, a Seattle culinary icon and business leader, friend of glassybaby founder Lee Rhodes, and an amazing woman who I was related to through marriage. Again - lucky me. Gretchen was truly amazing. She lost her battle with cancer six years ago. She is dearly missed. I still think of Gret when I light an orange Seattle Sunset glassybaby. They are powerful little vessels of hope, I tell you!

Anyway, I stopped by the glassybaby shop at University Village yesterday to see 'crush' up close and to snap a few pictures. Isn't it a gorgeous color? Enjoy!

Now for the shameless plug!

Please join the community to 'crush" cancer. Purchase 'crush" online or at a glassybaby retail shop in Seattle or Bellevue.

Thank you friends and thank you glassybaby for bringing more light, warmth and hope to the world!

 xoxo.