50th Birthday Bash - Part II

OK, so it has been a holidaze to be sure and yet here it is the first day of the new year and watching a huge accident out on the freeway curve you can see from my house. Oh my! But that is not what this is about. It is about multi-tasking and trying to wrap up a few odds & ends...that are lingering. Among them, the balance of my birthday bash.

Saturday arrived early as Michael and I do not tend to sleep in early. He was going to be heading home to assist a friend of his with an annual holiday party and I needed to head for the Shanty to have breakfast with Mick. Decided to go light as I knew a brunch would soon be happening at the Space Needle. It was just "the girls" having brunch and oh the laughs and well, my obsessive-compulsiveness came out. After a morning to get gift bags prepped and doing a bit of cleaning, it was off to the Space Needle to meet Mom, sister Janet, plus friends Helene from Canada, Connie from DC and Sandy from Longview. Helene got to join in as Katrina sadly had to bow out of the weekend due to illness. Totally bummed, but we did acknowledge her and hope that we will see her again in the new year. So once the group was all together, up we go in the Space Needle and got seated very quickly. The food has gotten a lot better there in recent years. It is a three-course brunch and so we all tried different things from fruit parfaits to salads and soups. The main course had the table all over the place from sandwiches to pancakes to mac&cheese w/ crab to Eggs Benedict. Boxes did head home as we needed to save space for dessert. Did I mention they make a mean Bloody Mary by the way! YUM!

So during the course of brunch the restaurant is rotating and you get a 360 degree view of the Seattle area - quite lovely. At one point a post-it note or 2 showed up on the ledge of the window and it was cute. Some kids having some fun...and then it happened, dozens of them began to appear. It had gotten out of control. Well, I began to collect them as we went by...and soon an envelope appeared and I put the slips of paper and post-it notes in the envelope and soon had collected them all and did not destroy them, but left them on the table. I did notice a sever smile at me as we left. Heck, saved them a lot of clean-up time! Also as we sat there a Channel 7 helicopter swooped down and around - what was going on? Well, on the 2nd fly by we figured it out. Santa was in the back waving to all in the restaurant and up on the observation deck - quite fun. Soon, it was time to head out and back to the apt. Mom and Janet played some Scrabble while I dealt with a work issue that came up. Connie went shopping and Sandy was with us at the apt. relaxing a bit. 5pm would be here all too soon and off to Bizarro's we would go!

Please know that to get a reservation at Bizarro's on the weekend is just not done, but thank you Curtis for reaching out and begging! Seriously, if you have not been, you must go http://bizzarroitaliancafe.com/ it is so good! We selected a couple of reds and a white wine to feed the table and then came salads and soups including The Beet Down - Golden and Chioggia beets with a crumbly gorgonzola cheese, toasted almonds, blood orange vinaigrette and Sicilian sea salt. Yes, this was my first course and then for dinner I got to have Bolognese - their house made wide ribbon noodles tossed in rich organic beef, lamb and pork – slow simmered for six hours and finished with a touch of butter. Oh Mamma, hurt me I ask of you! Dessert was a fabulous finale and all the following were enjoyed at the table: CHOCOLATE VESUVIUSA warm espresso infused, ganache glazed-chocolatebunt cake, topped with a scoop of chocolate-hazelnut gelato. TIRAMISU The name Tiramisu is Italian and means "pull-me-up”,a reference to the effects of the sugar, espresso and liquor. CRÈME DI LA CARAMELLAA decadently rich and silky caramel custard –dusted with cocoa. And yes even the ICE CREAM provided by their good neighbors at Molly Moon’s Ice Cream. http://www.mollymoonicecream.com/ I went with the latter and had Salted Caramel. What happened next is not easy to really describe how over the top it was. The music STOPPED! Then one of the owners holding my ice cream up like a chalice started doing "Happy Birthday" like a benediction chant or something?!?!?!? It was hysterical while the guy behind him kept hitting a tray after each verse. So solemn and yet all in good fun. What could one do but blow out the candle. BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE...all of a sudden, Lars, a dear friend who is Swedish and in his 70's and looks a bit like Alfred Einstein, breaks into a song and I forget what it was about but Anita - his wife - shared he had not done that in 30 years! Oh my and the whole place broke into applause. A night never to be forgotten.

Homeward bound we were and soon we had quite a group in the apt. all having cocktails and sharing stories of how they met me or memorable stories involving me. Not quite sure how, but soon my sister and friend Jeff were into a mean game of Scrabble and oh what cut throat playing it was to which we had not 1 but 2 people using I-phone apps to get Scrabble rules = too amusing for words. Soon the night was winding down and Jodie and Rob refused to leave until the kitchen was all cleaned up they are such wonderful friends, but not just for that! I drifted off to sleep, knowing I had made the right decision to make the celebration smaller.

Sunday had me taking Connie, Sandy, Mom and Janet to breakfast at Patty's Eggnest up on Holman in Seattle - go sometime if you are in town - it is a delight. And all too soon it was time to bid all farewell and head home to relax and know that being 50 was not going to be so bad after all. I want to thank everyone for the wonderful gifts and remembrances! But little time was to be spared as the holiday season was upon us and it was just over 10 days to Christmas - what would I do...stay tuned and you will find out. Happy New Year to one and all!