A visit from Mom

Mom came for thanksgiving week and we did a lot of stuff. We had a nice visit from Patty Clement on Saturday and then sunday we went to Pike's Place Market.

 Here is a picture of Post Alley near the market...

...and the wall of gum in Post Alley. YUM. I'm sticking my tongue out in this picture, but you can't tell because apparently my tongue is gum-colored.

We also stopped at this adorable Crumpet Shop near the market.

 Making our crumpets!

 I approve of the decor. Actually, I'm not going to lie, we went in because of the decor.

 Crumpet with gooseberry jam!

Mom took this picture of me in my hat nono made for me!

SNOW!

When I woke up to the grumbling of the garbage truck early monday morning (and the realization that I forgot to put out the garbage) I ran outside to discover that it had snowed! This is my apt in the snow.

And the view from our front yard

 Here is "Dick's," a nearby fast food seattle staple, in the snow. It looks nice, but if you saw the video below, you know how much havoc it caused!

The Thanksgiving Leftover Sandwich

a black friday tradition

-Cover one piece of bread with leftover turkey

-layer on some stuffing/dressing

-smother that in gravy

*microwave until hot*

-then add cranberry sauce/relish and other piece of bread

TA DA!

Easy peasy and possibly better than thanksgiving dinner itself!

Mom made us New Mexican food one night including her yummy enchiladas:

Mom's Enchiladas

Here is the recipe:
Red Chili Cheese and Green Onion Enchiladas

2 T corn or canola oil
1 large clove garlic pressed and cooked for a few minute  in the oil
Add 1 T flour to oil and garlic. Brown until golden
Add 5 T ground red chili--heat for a few seconds until dark.
Add 2 cups water
Add 1 small can tomato sauce
Add 1 tsp ground cumin and a
Pinch sugar
Heat --may need to add more water--it should be a little thinner than tomato sauce

Spoon chili into bottom of 9x13 pan-enough to barely cover the bottom
Dip tortillas into chili to coat them--place 6 in the bottom of the pan.
Sprinkle cheese and 1/3 a bunch of green onions chopped fine over tortillas.
Repeat for two more layers of tortillas--covering the last layer with cheese and onion
Cover with foil
Bake at 350 for about 30-40 minutes.

Action Shot!

 She also made Piccadillo. yummmmmmm...

We got lattes as well that day and look at the beautiful latte art!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'll do a more comprehensive post at some point...but here's what we've been experiencing here in Seattle. A little entertainment for your turkey day:



Featuring the bus-route and bustop I used to get to get to work that very evening... this could have been me!

Unofficial picture picks!

Just wanted to share a few pictures that friends took at the wedding! There were so many good ones, but here are just a few:

Everyone in the elevator at the Bachelorette party

Zoe presents me with the beautiful wedding quilt she made!

Alli and I dancing pre-wedding

These are all of Nathan's school friends who traveled from out of state to be there.
I guess they don't dislike nathan so much after all...

The bridesmaids looked STUNNING (as did nate!) I'm so glad I decided to make the dresses instead of getting the overpriced pieces of junk that I found at David's Bridal. They turned out exactly how I wanted and the flower crowns were the also perfect and so fun to make! I love hot glue!!!

Each centerpiece was different and I only have this one photographed.  But you get the idea. 

Bouquets Aunt Mary so skillfully crafted!

Beautiful (and delicious!) cake made by our dear friend Brianne.  She made all of the roses out of gumpaste even! I made the topper (the ballerina is me and the robot is nathan, just incase you didn't get it)

We also had cupcakes made by our lovely friend meg. They were super moist and she even made gluten free ones for my mom! Fortunately she also made extra so I enjoyed them for days after the wedding!

a lot of dancing!

Zoe and Gdad!

We are sweaty and maybe not looking the greatest by the end, but having a blast!

The little things

First off: A few people who made my day yesterday

I was having kind of a crappy day for whatever reason and a few people's kindness really helped turn that around. I went to trader joe's for some groceries (don't get me started--I love joe's) and they always have great customer service. Anyways, my check out girl was so nice and recognized me and asked me if I had cut my hair recently and we talked a bit and I thought that was so nice, because she must see a million people a day. How nice that you can be familiar with your checkout person! Later I realized that I recognized her as well because she frequents plum bistro, but I was already cheered up so I guess that doesn't matter. I don't think she realized where she knew me from either, so hopefully I'll run into her again and make that connection. Anyways, thanks to Brit at trader joe's for being super nice!

This weekend Ralph Lemon is bringing his new work to Seattle and I've really been looking forward to going to this concert, but then earlier this week when I tried to get tickets, I found out that the friday show (the only night I could go since I work thurs, sat, and sun nights!) was sold out! I had been trying desperately to find someone to cover one of my shifts and went to work yesterday mad at the world, since Thursday night wasn't even supposed to be my shift anyways. Anyway, I had posted a wanted add on craigslist for tickets to the sold out show in a last ditch effort to find some, and when I returned home after work, this was waiting for me in my inbox:

Hello,
Earlier today I found your craigslist posting about Ralph Lemon tickets. I
work with Ralph and he would like to extend three tickets to you for the
show on Friday, free of charge.  The tickets will be at the box office
under Ralph's name.

Can you believe it? I couldn't, but it's legit! So a big thanks to Emily, who miraculously found my desperate craigslist plee among hundreds of Miley Cyrus ticket posts and then went the extra distance to get them to me, a total stranger, and thanks to ralph lemon too! Can't wait to see the show tonight. I'm going to feel pretty crazy at will call: "yes, tickets under ralph lemon(!?) please."

So the little (and not so little!) things count. Here are a few other little things:

 This lovely man sells roses in front of Plum Bistro where I work several times a week. He always smiles and waves at me through the window. Aren't his roses beautiful?

 Here are some little things that sit on the window sill in my kitchen that I thought looked so nice on a rainy day. Sorry the photo is a little backlit!

This little guy's name is Edras. He is three years old and lives in Guatemala and is very poor, so Nathan has signed up to be his sponsor through this international children program. What a cutie! Hopefully we will get a letter from him (or drawing or something) soon!

Alright, with Thanksgiving less than a week away, it is getting to be that time of year to be thankful for all that we have and also to do things for others that are worthy of thanks! Not that those things aren't important/appreciated at any time of year...

Veteran's Day fun!

Sorry about the long time without posting. I've had a cold and been bumming around the house more than usual, so didn't have much to write about. I'm feeling better now though (with a runny nose still of course...) Anyways, Nathan had school off for veteran's day and thursday is my day off too, so yesterday we went on a little bike adventure along the Burke-Gillman trail, which is a lovely paved bike path that travels along the water and is mostly flat. First stop was Gas Works Park, which has lots of old industrial structures in it.

Nathan looks over the (canal?river?lake?) at the houseboats on the other shore.

Me on this giant hill. You can't see how big it is here.

The view of downtown seattle from the park!

This was a really neat bridge we passed on our way.

 This sculpture was by the rail bridge in freemont.

We make it to our destination--Golden Gardens Park! I'm sure it is busy and lots of fun in the summer, but november is pretty chilly. Nathan tries to fiddle his glove lining back into place.

Me on the beach!

We stop here to get a little lunch. Nathan gets clam chowder of course.

Then we return home as our old friend Staci is coming over for dinner! I made Chicken Pot Pie from this recipe (sort of):

http://fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com/2009/07/chicken-pot-pie.html

From FOR THE LOVE OF COOKING BLOG

Filling:

• Meat from one small roasted chicken, shredded
• 1 tbsp butter
• 8 oz of button mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 sweet yellow onion, diced
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 4-5 red potatoes, diced
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 1/2 cup of frozen peas, thawed
• 4 cups of Chicken Broth
• 4-5 tbsp corn starch
• Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
• Thyme, to taste

Add the potatoes and carrots to 3 cups of broth and boil for 10 minutes. Heat butter in a large skillet over medium heat, add onions and sauté for 3 minutes then add sliced mushrooms. Cook for an additional 4-5 minutes or until softened then add minced garlic, stirring constantly for 60 seconds. Remove from heat and set aside. Add the chicken to the skillet along with the carrots, potatoes, broth and peas; bring to a boil. Mix the cornstarch with the remaining cup of broth and mix thoroughly. Once the filling is boiling, add the cornstarch mixture along with sea salt, pepper and thyme. Stir well. Taste and re-season if needed. Remove from heat. Pour filling into a large baking dish that has been coated with cooking spray.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll out. Place dough on top of the filling, pressing to the edge of the dish. Cut 4-5 slits in top of crust to allow steam to escape.

Cover the edges of the crust with tin foil to prevent burning. Bake for 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy.

But I omitted the mushrooms of course and ended up using the pie crust recipe from The JOY because when it comes to pie crust, you need to go with a trusted source.

Here is my pot pie! It turned out delicious. Yum yum. And perfect for a chilly wet day! Staci brought along a very fun card game called "Once upon a time" in which you use cards with fairy tale tropes on them to tell a story semi-competitively. Then we played some Settlers of course and fun was had all around. What a lovely day!