You only turn 30 once and for Bryan his 30th came on Wednesday. I had a lot in the works for the big event and was excited to enjoy them with him and then again with all of our friends in Eastern Washington for the weekend.
The Big Day:
We have talked about going to Hitchcock for dinner on Bainbridge Island for awhile now and decided we finally had to when the head chef and owner recently came to FareStart for his second time with a phenomenal meal. I made 7:30 pm dinner reservations for us and we got dressed up and caught the 6:20 ferry to Bainbridge Island on my scooter (Bryan driving). We enjoyed the 30 minute ferry ride over in the sunshine, scooted 1 minute to the restaurant and were in for a treat. We did the chef’s tasting menu for $65 per person where they select and bring you out several different courses. We had no idea what to expect except politely declined any oysters and each ordered a glass of wine. Our menu thus included:
- Mead pickled ruby beets with house-made ricotta salata, salt
- Olive oil poached turnip, roasted turnip greens, bagna cauda, arugula, anchovy dressing
- Charcuterie of house-made coppa, arugula salad with pine nuts and lemon dressing
- Salmon tartare with creme fraiche, onion mostarda, crunchy croutons
- White gazpacho, almonds, sourdough, sherry vinegar reduction, garlic chips, olive oil
- Neah bay king salmon, fava beans, snap peas, onion soubise, carrot gremolata
- Palate-cleansing rhubarb basil sorbet
- Lan-Roc pork chop, creme fraiche panna cotta, grilled peaches, farro
- Cheese plate of sheeps milk cheese with wildflower honey and marcona almonds and raw cows milk cheese with rhubarb catsup
- Caffe Vitta Coffee
- Theo chocolate and elderflower torte, creme fraiche, chocolate mousse, elderflower bark
- Orange spiced cake, sorbet, island strawberries, mint
Best salmon dish ever? 
Great cheese platter.
We ferried home and I gave him his birthday presents; the ones I got for him from his parents along with my own gift for him.
The Big Bash:
We invited several of our friends to trek over to Banks Lake in Eastern Washington for a weekend of boating, skiing, wakeboarding, tubing, lounging, drinking, eating, etc. We had 14 people total split on three campsites. Polly, Bryan and I took the Jeep, leaving around 5:30 on Friday night, with a stop at Fidelina’s Mexican Cafe in Ellensburg for dinner, and arriving at our campsite at exactly 10 pm. We set up camp and enjoyed a night of drinking as well as the homemade Neapolitan cake I made for Bryan to kick things off.
Saturday morning we woke to the sun, had breakfast and picked up our speed boat at 10 am. We had the boat reserved for 9 hours and fully utilized the boat for nearly the whole 9 hours. I got two ski sessions in for me which was great and I was a happy camper getting up on my first try both times and skiing really good. We also broke out our new 4 person flotation raft, the Relaxation Station, an inflatable kayak, and other water toys. After our time was up we refueled the boat at the marina, returned the boat and arrived at our campsite to beautiful smells of Bryan’s smoked brisket and chicken. Along with the BBQ sides that I made we had a joyous evening playing games, chatting, and enjoying one another. We all headed out to the Grand Coulee Dam to watch the laser light show on the 550′ tall, 1-mile long dam. We had a bonfire before hitting the hay.
Sunday morning we all lazily woke up to more sunshine and heat. We made breakfast tacos, hung out at the lake for a while longer to cool off in the heat, and finally packed up camp and headed back to Seattle around noon. We pulled into Seattle at 4 pm and after Bryan and I unloaded the Jeep, showered, and cleaned up a bit we grabbed some Russian dumplings from Vostok for dinner to eat on the deck.
What a great birthday week and I’m glad I got to celebrate too with some amazing friends! And, you can find Mark’s one and only flip off the tube here!
Chelsea
Evolving in the Emerald City 