What a weekend we had here. We had Valentine’s Day. We had President’s Day. We had a dinner date out of the house. And we had about a foot of snow that greeted us Saturday morning. The snow is quickly going now and that’s okay now that we are back to business but what a treat it was to have for the short time it was here.
So first, let’s get to that once in a blue moon dinner date that Bryan and I had on Thursday. We booked the night well in advance, knowing that Harvest Vine has all of two tables for two outside their restaurant and are still one not wanting to open for indoor dining. This was technically our Valentine’s Day dinner and it was, like usual, amazing. We were the only dine-in customers there that night and so the main server paid his full attention to us, providing us some good conversation and treating us to an extra glass of Spanish red wine and flan on the house. Their menu is limited in menu but still nothing short of amazing. We had their sheep’s milk cheese with candied sweet potato, grilled cauliflower with salsa verde, shrimp with an almond romesco sauce and their iberico pork over pan sauteed potatoes, all of which we sopped up with what seemed like two full baguettes. It was lovely and warm under the canopy and with the space heaters and our blankets that we brought from home. I never once got cold and it was nice walking back home before picking up Reese (who didn’t want to come home with us) from her playdate with Lottie.
Friday we had a dusting of snow which was a glimpse of what was ahead for us. I picked Reese up from school while Bryan got his Valentine’s Day massage after a long week of work. Reese played at the playground briefly in her snow gear and then we headed home for a low key dinner. Saturday morning brought all of the snow and Reese woke up and said “whoa” as soon as she saw it from the upstairs window. We had our usual pancakes (heart shaped) while the snow kept coming down and then headed outside to shovel, sled and ski down our hill. So many kids and families out, many who borrowed our sled throughout the day. We spent a few hours outside playing before Reese was ready to head in for some pizza for lunch and take her nap. She wanted to go back out in the afternoon for more sledding and then we walked around the block and to the store for a few essentials and rode the sled with the groceries down the hill back to our house! We made an at-home special dinner of seared scallops and filet mignon and watched The Goonies before heading to bed.
It was still snowing through much of Sunday morning and afternoon but Reese was wanting to hang inside for the day. We didn’t really venture out until about 4 pm when we put Reese in the hiking pack and walked up to Sarah’s and Lottie’s. We played in the snow with the girls for a while and then headed in while Bryan walked to go get the Lunar New Year dinner that we had ordered a week ago from Plenty of Clouds. What a delicious dinner. Intended to serve two we shared it with three adults plus two kids (made them extra rice and frozen dumplings to round out the meal of which they ate so many). We had some amazing shrimp spring rolls, sizchuan pork dumplings, longevity noodles with broth, one giant meatball in an amazing broth, soy braised short rib with mustard greens, wild mushrooms sticky rice, sauteed pea shoots, and a kind of sesame fudge thing for dessert. All of it was amazing and the girls were so well behaved all night. The three of us walked back home for bed.
12 short hours later I was walking Reese back up to Sarah’s in the pack. With the holiday, the girls’ school was closed but we both had to work so Sarah volunteered to watch the girls since she has the day off. I was relieved that she was willing to watch them again for even a half day but Sarah was a rockstar and got them both to nap in the same room, letting me have about another two hours to work. Reese apparently demanded Lottie’s bed, which is no surprise to me at all. I walked back up the hill to get Reese around 2 pm and we were back home by about 3 pm.
Reese’s school is back open and she seems excited to be back with her friends. I have a busy next few weeks ahead of me with two main projects; one for BNSF in Wyoming and another for the Eglinton light rail in Toronto. Knowing we have a short vacation at the end of this little rush is the light at the end of the tunnel that I need! Bryan will be heading out to South Carolina again this Sunday but is only going for a week this time so that’s totally manageable.
Back to the grind.
Chelsea
Evolving in the Emerald City 