Good Saturday

Today was a beautiful day, in more ways than one. It started out cloudy, cool and overcast - and hence so did my mood. But then, we went to the park, the sun came out and everything seemed good again.

We went out to lunch today in Capital Hill - a very chic little neighborhood just south of us. We went to an amazing Greek restaurant. Admittedly, I walked into the restaurant and my first thought was "no way - it's too expensive, the kids are going to hate it and we're going to have a miserable time." But, the waiter was so friendly, that I reluctantly decided to ask for a table of four, including one high chair. The restaurant only had one high chair. A one high chair restaurant is not a kid-friendly restaurant. When they say that they have one high chair, that is restaurant code for "we really don't like to have kids in our restaurant, but we got this one chair from the restaurant down the street that went out of business. So, if you can keep your annoying child from disturbing our real restaurant guests, we'll let you use our one high chair." We thought the least disruptive and most exciting place for the kids would be outside. And, it worked out well. The kids got to look at all the traffic whizzing by, Jonah particularly likes pointing out each bus and loves to yell and point, "Citybus!" The only problem with that is that Jonah's C's some times sound like Sh's. So, Noah and I quietly chuckle to ourselves and say, that bus really didn't look that bad. Anyway, lunch was a little more expensive than our normal Saturday lunch but it was absolutely fabulous. I do really love Greek food.

After lunch, Noah spotted "Vivace," which is supposedly know for one of, if not the best cappuccino in Seattle. So, he and Jonah went in for a cappuccino and a babyccino. I did not witness this, but apparently, Jonah got excited about running outside (near a busy street), and in Noah's haste to dash after his toddler, he spilled 3/4ths of the best macchiato in town. A sacrifice. Needless to say, we'll be returning to Capital Hill in the near future to hopefully drink the entire macchiato next time.

While Jonah took his nap, Genna and I enjoyed Alex's birthday party and then a fun time at the Magnusum playground with some friends from her school.

Although I wasn't very hungry for dinner, Noah made some fabulous lamb chops (with my yogurt mint sauce), and I threw a loaf of my bread in the oven. Surprisingly, my bread comes out beautifully even when I refrigerate the dough for a day or two (refrigeration comes after mixing, kneading and resting, but before rising, shaping and final proofing). Both Genna and Jonah ate some lamb. Genna even asked for a second helping of lamb. Although I'd like to say that was due to my fabulous mint sauce, I think it's more due to her impending growth spirt. It seems like she'll eat like a horse for a couple of weeks, sleep more than usual, and then suddenly all of her pants are two inches too short.

Having fun with some water at lunch today

I took seven pictures of Jonah today at lunch. And, seven times Jonah gave me a hugh smile and then took a sip of water. Seven times I missed the huge smile and instead captured Jonah drinking his water. 

One hundred

Today is my 100th blog. I'm actually a bit lucky that I noticed that today because I rarely look at my blog number. I'm pretty sure that I haven't missed a day since I began blogging, and I'm over the halfway point, since we have less than three months left here in Seattle. I'm not sure if I should be proud of this accomplishment, or perhaps a little disappointed in myself that I haven't found another hobby in my life to replace the fifteen to thirty minutes I spend each evening blogging on my computer.

Happy 100th blog to me! Here's me blogging away tonight.

At Genna's gymnastics this morning, the schedules were being posted for their summer sessions. It made me sad to think that this will be Genna's last session at Seattle Gymnastics Academy. I really like the academy and the coach, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to find something similar in Baltimore. The worst part is that Genna loves it so much, I think that she's really going to miss it.

After gymnastics, we went to a playground and then met Noah for lunch at our usual spot, Aqua Verde. I try so hard to not replicate restaurants while we're here for such a short time, but I just love Aqua Verde's sweet hot salsa and their fish tacos. The next time we go there I'm definitely asking what they put in their salsa so I can try to come up with some sort of replication to enjoy when we're back in Baltimore.

Jonah with Aqua Verde black bean soup on his face

Jonah eagerly wanting more black bean soup. Noah opted to spoon feed Jonah the soup; he can't feed it to Jonah fast enough.

Genna insisted on taking off here long sleeved shirt and wearing just her tank top underneath. I insisted that she keep the long sleeved shirt on. We compromised by taking one arm out of the sleeve.

Noah trying to clean the black bean soup off of Jonah's face. I think this was the point that Noah asked me to stop taking pictures and help clean up Jonah. 

Well, I didn't watch THE wedding this morning. I did wake up pretty early, but opted to roll over and get more sleep and then watch it on YouTube later. When I woke up I watched the six minute recap on CNN, but the experience was quite poor compared to watching the whole thing from beginning to end. Six minutes didn't give me any time to build up any anticipation or excitement, nor did I get to here the music and trumpets. I watched a few other "special" recap videos too, such as a few special entrances and the God Save the Queen (abridged) song, but again, there was no "experience" for me like it had been with Charles and Di's wedding. Oh well. I guess I'll have to wait another 35 years for another big royal wedding. I did enjoy a lot of the Facebook chatter on the topic. My favorite comments were "I hope this puts an end to all the strapless wedding dresses." And, "Harry looked much better than his brother in his uniform." Yep, that red and blue uniform looked a bit ridiculous in our day and age. The bride gets to have the world's fashion elite design her a dress and the poor groom has to wear some hundred year old bad color combo.

My other big news for the day was that I saw a vintage light blue Chevette, just like the one I drove when I got my driver's license. Looked like it was in great condition. I didn't think it was possibly that any of those could still be around.

I finally did it

I finally created the loaf of bread I've been dreaming about. I'm not exactly sure what made the difference this time, but it worked. I used a different kind of flour, King Arthur. I used a 5-hour old starter and let the dough rise at a slightly cooler temperature and for slightly less time. I also shaped the dough sooner and placed it en couche longer. Too many variables, I know, but at least I've proven that I can make it work. Now the test will be if I can repeat it.

Isn't it beautiful?

Only kidding! This is just a mini-loaf I made from scraps that I decided to throw in the oven. 

Here's my real loaf

And here's dinner. Bread and pizza with arugula. 

I actually prefer to eat my bread cool now. I can taste so much more flavor when it's cool. And, it's so good with olive oil. Yum.

Jonah was a good little trouper today. I had to make a few very painful phone calls to get reimbursed for my medical spending account, which took all morning. Poor little Jonah had to paddle about the upstairs while I made my calls. I just hate the medical spending accounts. Every year I waste hours arguing with the folks there about why they should give me my money, that I deposited into my account. For some reason a credit card receipt that shows that I paid $75 to the Greater Baltimore Medical Center Emergency Room, that clearly shows it was for Jonah's Emergency room visit, doesn't constitute a good enough medical reason to give me back my money that I deposited in my medical spending account. Come on, does it really have to be this difficult?

Tomorrow is the BIG wedding. I'm actually surprised at how much time I've been wasting reading about the upcoming royal wedding. I doubt, however, that I will watch it live. First, I don't have a TV. There's one here stuffed away in the closet, but it is pre-digital TV so I'm not sure it will work. Also, it starts at 3am. I'm not sure how big a deal something has to be to get me out of bed at 3am, but a royal wedding certainly does not qualify. I will happily watch reruns on YouTube or Hulu. I really just want to see THE dress. Does Kate go formal, sexy, traditional, Diana-esque? I'd also like to see the handsome prince walk down the aisle, but unfortunately William is looking more and more like his father every day. Other than that, I suspect the wedding will be pretty boring as are so many weddings.

Jonah and J. Crew

Jonah found Genna's pink coat on the floor and tried to put it on. Since he was struggling a bit, we helped him put it on. He then ran into the front hall and got Genna's shoes. Again, we obliged. Genna then got her hat and tried to also put that on Jonah. We had quite a bit of fun dressing Jonah up in pink. I really don't see what all the silliness is with the J. Crew pink toenail polish. 

Dressing up like big sister

It's hard to believe that Genna was about Jonah's age when she first started wearing this coat

Genna helping Jonah with the hat

I wish they made pink leopard skin coats for grown-ups

Doing some flips with daddy

I overhead the teachers at Genna's school reading The Giving Tree. This is one of my favorite books. I asked Genna about it at dinner and it was interesting to hear the things that made the biggest impression on her: 1. The boy in the book kept getting older and older, but he didn't have any birthdays. 2. There were no colored pictures in the book. It will be interesting to see how she thinks about this book in a year or two.

Zoo (again)

When Jonah and I left the house this morning in the minivan, I couldn't decide where we should go. My goal was to tire out Jonah so he would get plenty of exercise and take a good nap. My two best choices were the zoo and the Northgate Community Center. Economics even came into play and may have even tipped the scale. The zoo was a little bit closer (less gas since it's $4.00/gal here in Seattle) and was no additional cost since I already have a membership. The community center is $2.00 and Jonah would probably not get quite as much exercise. So, I opted to go to the zoo. We ended up having a very nice time. Since it was cold outside, our first stop was the tropical rain forest. Once inside the building, it took a good five minutes for me to be able to see anything due to my cold glasses instantly fogging up in the warm humid environment. But once I could see again, my favorite exhibit was the dart frogs. I love these little frogs with their neon yellow and blue coloring. I was so disappointed that this exhibit was Jonah's least favorite in the entire rainforest, and I only got to stare at the little amphibians for a quick minute.

Once again, Jonah kept asking for the elephants and mentioned that the elephant "has a big poop." Seeing the elephant poop a couple of weeks ago has really had a profound effect on him. So, we walked all the way to the elephant exhibit (of course it has to be the farthest exhibit from the main entrance). Happily, we got to see Chai and Bamboo grazing in the pasture, but we didn't get to see them perform their bodily functions. Oh well.

Penguin lunch time

Note there is a two inch thick wall of plexiglas between Jonah and the jaguars

Jonah's favorite part of the bird building was the bamboo door to keep the birds in

A bird

Playground located between the zoo and my car

Jonah's hat-head hairdo

After the zoo, we met Noah for lunch and we were both very impressed by the lack of apprehension and vigor that Jonah at his Japanese noodles. I love asian food and there is so much good asian food here in Seattle that I'm going to eat as much of it as I can now. I'm really going to miss all the asian restaurants when we move back to Baltimore. 

Shoes

Well, it was gloomy again and hence, so was my mood. At least Jonah seems to be coming out of a week or so of teething or some mild sickness. I took him to the mall today and there were no tantrums, and he seemed to be happy all day long.

Jonah only has three pair of shoes: a little brown pair that are much too tight, a pair of lined Crocks that he uses as his waterproof shoes (these are also a little tight), and a pair of summer sandals that are completely useless in Seattle. A couple of months ago we bought Jonah some shoes at Nordstroms Rack. I picked out a size 7, but Noah insisted the 7s were way too big. I don't know why I let Noah talk me into getting the size 6 for Jonah, but I did and it was a mistake. When I brought the shoes out for Jonah to wear, they were way too small. Since we were beyond their 30-day refund policy, they kindly gave us a store credit. So today, I had to spend an additional $15 to get Jonah the correct size of shoes. When we got home, Jonah promptly jumped in a massive mud puddle and they will never look new again.

Easter

There's nothing like the pitter patter of little feet running around looking for an Easter basket, except for maybe the excitement to tell mommy what was in the Easter basket. Genna had a wonderful day eating candy all day long. Jonah throughly enjoyed his chocolate bunny for breakfast. Easter is the one day that the kids can eat as much candy as they want, whenever they want. Surprisingly, this doesn't turn out to be very much candy. Genna didn't really like most of her candy: she didn't like the Jelly Belly flavors or the peanut butter chocolate, or the dark chocolate. She does like Tootsie Rolls, Tootsie Pops and Gummy Bears. Jonah's not much of a candy addict either, but sit him in front of a half gallon of ice cream, and I'd bet the entire thing would be gone before it melted. Fortunately, both kids were given tooth brushes by Auntie Zoe. Very appropriate for the day's events.

Goofy Jonah after eating too much candy

Weather was back to normal here in Seattle, so I didn't even dress up the kids for Easter. The late afternoon turned out to be relatively dry so Noah tried out the grill in the back of the house. He did an excellent job on the fresh halibut we got yesterday at the fish market, and Jonah even ate some.

The kids enjoying the last bit of junk food while watching Monsters, Inc before bedtime.

Spring break comes to an end for Genna tomorrow, so our Seattle life will be totally back to normal tomorrow (including rain). I found myself looking at the Baltimore weather again today. I don't know why I torture myself.

Wow

If every day was like today in Seattle, or even every other day, I would move here permanently. Weather was beautiful, about 65 degrees and sunny. We started the day with an Easter egg hunt. Then, we went downtown with the kids. We had lunch at Serious Pie; this was one of the stops at last week's Savour Seattle tour. The kids had a tomato mozzarella pizza and Noah and I had an egg, bacon and arugula pizza. Ours was really good. I am going to try try to be more creative with the pizzas that I make at home because although egg sound bizarre on a pizza it truly was delicious.

Jonah and his Easter egg "backpack." Easter baskets are just not something you think about packing when you're temporarily moving across the country.

Got one!

Genna showing me one of her surprises from the egg hunt

The kids soaking their feet after running around at the park

Genna and I at the pizza shop. Why is that guy behind us covering his eyes? 

We then had some ice cream and headed to Pike's Market to buy some fresh halibut and salmon. After driving home, we gave the kids egg salad sandwiches and spend the last hour of daylight at the playground. Since we skipped naps, both kids were exhausted and passed out moments after their bath. Noah and I got to enjoy our dinner of fried calamari (also from the fish market) and my homemade bread. It seems like we can do so much more when the kids don't nap, on purpose. So, even though I usually need my downtime during Jonah's nap, when the weather is so beautiful, like it was today, it's worth it to have everyone exhausted at the end of the day.

Good Friday

I remember it often raining on Good Friday, so it was a nice surprise to have beautiful weather today. Since we didn't have gymnastics today due to spring break, we had a leisurily morning at home and then went to our favorite playground, Meridian Park. We met Noah for lunch at Aqua Verdi for fish tacos, which are fabulous there, and their hot-sweet salsa. The salsa is so good, I could practically drink it. I felt like it was such a nice morning with the kids, even though Jonah had one of his 45-minute temper tantrums. Then it dawned on me that it was sunny outside and a bit warm (mid-fifties). If the sun and warm weather continue I might even like being a stay-at-home mom. Maybe.

While Jonah was napping, Genna and I colored Easter eggs. Genna had a great time, and it was so much fun for me to see her so excited about the different colors. I just wish we had more eggs to color, but I just couldn't justify any more than a dozen hard-boiled eggs. I like egg salad, but not enough to have it three days in a row.

I spent the afternoon in the kitchen preparing another Spanish tapa. This time, I made a garlic, white wine, tomato and pea sauce for calamari. It was the kind of sauce that I thought would be fabulous, but it just didn't taste that good. It was almost bland. Noah thinks that it was because I was in a hurry and didn't let the sauce simmer for 15 minutes. I think it was the frozen peas that I used. In any event, it wasn't the sauce that I had hoped for. I may try it again though.

The kids had fun looking like daddy and putting their hands in their pockets

"Jonah, it's not a good idea to run with your hands in your pocket!"

Life as usual

Today was life as usual in Seattle with the kids. In the morning we went downtown with our neighbors to the Seattle Center for "free bounce Thursday." Someone (not really sure who) sets up about a 10 big inflatable bouncy slides and bouncy obstacle courses. Genna had a glorious time; not only did she get to ride in someone else's minivan, but she got to bounce around with Blaise, her classmate, and Ellie, a kindergardener, whom she adores. It was fun for me too since I got to play with little Genevieve, our neighbor's one-year-old who is the most pleasant baby I've ever held (why didn't I get a baby like that?).

While Jonah napped and Genna played by herself, I experimented with some more bread. I'm almost there. I didn't get a catfish like yesterday, but I did get a larger than expected hole in the center. Fortunately I have five more pounds of local, organic flour and 13 more packages of yeast. More practice.

At this point, the bread the bread had been out of the oven for a while and was cool. Noah and the kids still devoured the loaf. To me, this means that the family really likes the bread, not just the fact that it is warm and fresh out of the oven. I actually think this bread tasted better cool than warm. 

Genna wanted to take photos again today. I won't upload all 22 photos that she took, but here's a sample.  This is a "station" that she completed while I was downstairs baking bread.

After Jonah's nap, he had a tea party with Bunny. This was Jonah's very first tea party that he instigated completely by himself. He put Bunny in the booster seat, buckled her in, scooted the chair close to the table and fed her strawberries and glass of milk. I'm glad that Bunny is washable and that Genna didn't see what Jonah was doing to her Bunny.

My Seattle children. But, we really don't use umbrellas here, the kids just like playing with them.

Success... well, almost

I was thrilled with my bread when I took it out of the oven tonight. The loaf was light, the crust was absolutely perfect, and the first cut into it was beautiful. I thought that I had finally done it. I thought that I had created the perfect loaf until I cut a little further into the loaf and found a GIANT hole in it. Uggh. But, at least I now have hope that I can create the loaf I've been striving for.

Beautiful, isn't it?

AHHHHH!! It looks like a giant catfish. I actually hesitated to upload this photo. It's a little embarrassing. 

I also made tapa (singular) tonight too. I made meatballs with an almond white wine sauce. Noah and I thought it was pretty good, but Genna did not. But, she did at least eat hers. Both of the kids polished off their bread. 

Since the weather was supposed to be nice today, I took the kids to a playground and then the zoo. Genna would have been happy all day at the playground, but I thought the zoo might be fun for the kids too. 

Genna calls this the giant swirly thing. 

Jonah playing king of the hill

I pretended to take a picture of Genna (left), but I really took a picture of the woman (right) in the giant parka with the Siberian hat. She was truly the only person sensibly dressed for the weather. Genna and I were freezing cold at the zoo.

For the first time, Genna seemed genuinely excited about an animal and asked me for my camera so she could take a picture. Not a bad photo for a four-year-old. 

Bread is improving

With Jeanne gone and Jonah still sick, we had another quiet day. I took Genna to Jonah's music class today since she is on spring break this week. Class today really exemplified the age and maturity difference between the two kids. Genna sat quietly on her mat and listened intently to the teacher during the class. She  banged on her drum to the correct beat and followed the instructions from the teacher such as walking in a circle to the left, then right, then to the center. Jonah, as usual, got excited about getting the musical eggies and scarves from the teacher's bag and wondered off to the chalkboard and ballet balance bar a few times.

After class and about a half hour at the playground, we went to Whole Foods. Jonah ate at least an entire orange, a dozen grapes, and some grapefruit samples while in the store. I'm so glad the samples were out today because he would have never made it through the store without them.

Jonah took a good nap and Genna did not nap at all while I started experimenting again with bread. Today's bread showed an improvement since the last time I made it. As long as I'm improving, I'm happy. I also experimented with a couple new recipes: grapefruit avocado salad and leek and potato soup. The soup was good enough for me to want to make it again. I really like the freshness of the grapefruit in a salad, but the salad needs a little more experimentation.

Grapefruit, avocado and arugula salad with fresh bread

The upper half of my bread has the beautiful big holes, I need to somehow get the bottom half of the bread to look the same way

I forgot to take a picture of the potato leak soup, but it just looked like any other white smooth soup. It did however taste good enough for me to write down the recipe and keep it. A bit of truffle oil (inspired by the Savour Seattle tour I took Sunday) and some smoked pepper added a little something special to the soup.

Goodbye

It's always sad saying goodbye to a friend, and today was no exception when the kids and I drove Jeanne to the airport this morning. It was fun to have a visitor and it got me out and about to see more of Seattle than I'd normally see. So, feeling rather blue, the kids and I had a quiet day. After the airport, we had an early lunch and then went to Cowen Park playground, one of Genna's favorites. Then, just about the time that I should have started making dinner, I came down with a bad stomach ache. It was really my own fault. As I was breaking down the box of cupcakes for recycling and about to compost the last remaining cupcake, I decided it was too pretty to compost, so I ate it. Mistake. So, instead of making dinner, I sat in the playroom with the kids, hoping my tummy ache would go away and telling Noah on the phone that he'd have to come up with something for dinner. He told me he thought about dinner the entire walk home and couldn't come up with any ideas that would be simple and quick enough and would not require going to the supermarket. So, we went out to eat, and I'm glad we did. We went to a Japanese restaurant and both kids ate a great bento box meal. I had a simple rice noodle dish and my stomach felt a lot better.

Jonah loved his bento box

So did Genna

Getting ready for bed

Kisses from daddy

Foodies

On Jeanne's last day in Seattle, we took a Taste of Seattle walking tour. For three hours we walked near Pikes Market and sampled a variety of foods at local eating establishments. I didn't have extremely high expectations for the food samples that we'd be served, but my expectations were definitely exceeded. So much so, that I can't wait to go back to a few of the restaurants.

Yep, we were the dorks following around the tall guy with the pink umbrella.
Shockingly, our tour guide grew up two streets away from where I grew up in Worthington, Ohio.

First stop on the tour. The crowd is getting warmed up.

Jeanne + Sangria

We called this a duck falafel. Duck with seasoning rolled in bulgar on a bed of yogurt sauce, topped with apricot and chives.

Seriously the best pizza I've had in Seattle, perhaps ever. Best crust ever.

I could eat this whole pie myself. We will be returning here with the kids and leaving with a tummy ache.

The kitchen. Perhaps I could pick up a part-time job here and learn how to make a crust like that.

The only thing missing from the tour was the Seattle rain

Potato leek soup, about to be topped with a bit to truffle oil. Apparently the pigs have been replaced by truffle smelling dogs. I wonder what an unemployed truffle-smelling pig does.

Lemon curd on a cookie. A drop of balsamic in a raspberry. 

Balsamic tasting on the back of our hands.

We finally make it to the market

Seattle's most romantic restaurant

Saffron risotto with mussels (I ate some mussels before I remembered to take a photo). Served with a nice chianti.

Pike Brewery

Beer here

Beer and cheese tasting. On my way out, I asked if they have high chairs. They do. We'll be returning here.

Sixth stop on the tour

Fish sauce and pad thai. I wanted to eat an entire bowl of this. So many restaurants. So little time.

Most elaborate sushi I've had, possibly one of the best tasting I've had too

Green tea tiramisu

Noah took tired and sick Jonah and hungry Genna out to eat while Jeanne and I were downtown.

Hope you liked your stay in Seattle, Jeanne!