Sunset On The Work Week

It was a rough week this week and so glad it is the weekend.  Planning a lazy day of some laundry and prepping for dinner tonight.  I think I shared the menu in yesterday's post.  So last night I was out sitting on the deck enjoying the evening and too a few picture to share.  I was going to try and pick the one picture showing the sunset and well, as you can see it is not easy.  These were taken about 5 minutes apart and so you see the clouds were quite active.

As I sat there I looked into the apartment and realized this was a perspective that you had not seen yet.  I kind of shows you how the room looks from outside and how everything works together.  I sat out there for a good half hour just enjoying the scenery and knowing that I am a very lucky guy.

Before heading back inside I paused for a few minutes at the railing and as I was looking down on the traffic and passersby, decided to click this shot to give perspective.  All the balconies to the left and right of me up and down the building are slatted steel.  Also, very shallow, like a Juliet style.  Mine is over twice as deep and solid.  I like it a whole lot better.  It is set back a bit on the building and so allows for the deeper floor area.  It is also a solid composite.  I did have it confirmed by building maintenance that my AC is totally cool in the bedroom in that if it fell out of the window it would land on the deck and not fall to the street.

Today it is overcast and cool - in the 60's right now and I am loving it.  Yes, summer is approaching, but I am a person who has a bitch barrier of about 80, so this is perfect.  Ah there is the buzzer for the dryer, need to go fold and hang the load and get on with the day.  Enjoy your weekend.

Friday Musings

Yesterday's post brings up the whole food truck movement that has just blazed across the country. Do not know if you knew this, but Portland is now rated #1 in the USA for food truck operations and there are at least three permanent areas where they have a vast array of trucks established that operate into the wee hours of the morning.

Some of you wrote and asked about the dinner I made, the shrimp and pea stew, I added just enough Alfredo sauce to bind it together. Not excessive and thus not a lot of opportunity for bread, of which I am shying away from.  This evening I am just not sure what I will enjoy as a grocery order is being delivered between 6-7pm. Included in the order are 4 lovely rib eyes for grilling on tomorrow. Hosting a few friends and will serve deviled eggs and the green bean salad I am making. Before dinner, while playing Catan, there will be water crackers, cheese and salami. Cocktails, of course.  While I will be sticking with my vodka tonics, most of the crowd will be enjoying Old Fashioneds.

The recipe for their beverage of choice:

• 2 oz bourbon whiskey
• 2 dashes bitters
• 1 splash water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 maraschino cherry
• 1 orange wedge 

Mix sugar, water and  bitters in an old-fashioned glass. Drop in a cherry and an orange wedge. Muddle into a paste using a muddler or the back end of a spoon. Pour in bourbon, fill with ice cubes, and stir.

 

In other news...

 

We shall see what happens with the job interview. I have decided I am not going to sweat it. There is a side of me that says things work out for a reason and if nothing else, I have gotten back into the interview routine.

 

When Damon comes to visit we will likely go down to the beach at least once. There are two public beach areas fairly accessible in the Seattle area. Did I mention that I have a drumming store across the street from where I live? A good friend goes there every Tuesday when he is in town for a drumming circle. A couple of weeks ago they had an event on a Saturday where they did drumming outside and it was really cool hearing the light sound drifting across the street. It was not invasive.

 

As I mentioned, the weekend does have friends coming over and most of the weekly chores are finished so Sunday is open to all sorts of opportunities. We shall see. I was going to begin going through all my photo boxes and editing out all the excess. But Damon is having me hold off.

He is going to bring a scanner and we are going to begin scanning them into a "cloud file" and thus I can release a lot of these old photos. In one way it is nice, but at the same time I have not looked at them in so long that I am fine in letting the hard copy of each go. I would guess there are some that I will want to save, but most will be able to let go - like there are a lot of pictures of old apartments and things that I just really do not need to keep.

 

Funny at how I am more and more willing to let go of a lot of the old stuff as it just does not have a connection and I am not keeping it for anyone. I am sending a box of things down to my nieces and nephew in the next few months via my brother Mike to go through and keep or let go of that are family items. I just do not use or need all of them. Perhaps as they plan to have families they will want to keep and pass along.  But at least they will have a chance to be passed along and not just sit in a cabinet or closet collecting dust.

 

Whatever you do this weekend, do enjoy!  Summer is just about here and that means it will then be on its' way out!  Yes, it is my least favorite season of the year - LOL!

Taco Thursday

This is nirvana...

Yes a bacon wrapped taco!

24 Hours Later...

Well, it has been a tad over 24 hours since the interview and so here are my thoughts of what happened. I was overwhelmed in that the questions came fast and hard. I worked to not let them see me sweat, say too many "um's and oh's" to fill in quiet time and to not do a lot of excess movement during the interview. There were two gentlemen about my age and the other dozen were younger, some a lot younger.

While I went in quite confident, I did not have the same feeling afterwards. My friend Tim who was listening in on the interview said afterwards, "You didn't do too bad." That is not a glowing reference to be sure. I came out of the interview feeling like a wet noodle. After that I had to hit the ground running as I had three staff video conference calls, a senior staff video conference call plus reviewing 5 calendars for July and doing the funding request for the week in addition to the usual calls, emails, discussions, etc. that happen daily.

By the time I left I was exhausted and went home dragging. It had been a really hard day and yet as I made the drive home I realized by what I was attempting to apply for this would become the norm and not the exception. Do I want that? Once home, I decided to give this whole matter some additional thought.

Some friends work at Microsoft and told me how they do their interview process and it sounds like Digilent has copied them. Further, I sat down and did some serious review of the weather. I love Seattle weather and it seems that Boston is a bit more extreme when it comes to summer and winter. Not sure if that is something I want to deal with at this point in my life.

So now I await the results by end of month and see what will happen. Exploring a firm that has opened shop down in Hillsboro, Oregon as a possible option, but there again, is it the rat race style or comfortable. I have been at this position for 15+ years and know I need to move on. This whole experience has been one to get me to begin the process and where it ends up - who knows?

So on other topics...the apartment is feeling very much like it is me at this point and that is a good thing. Monday night I created a tomato, mushroom and garlic sauce and put it over a hamburger steak. Quite tasty. Last night I took shrimp with peas and combined with an Alfredo sauce for a stew like dinner. Tonight I plan to take the rest of the shrimp and put on a salad with tomatoes, cucumbers and some blue cheese stuffed olives for a bit of a kick. Using a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Next weigh-in is next Monday. Had a very clear and enjoyable conversation with Mom on Sunday that last nearly 40 minutes. I do treasure when those happen as they are few and far between. 25 days until Damon returns, not that I am counting. 

Queen Elizabeth's 60th Anniversary

A fanfare of trumpets and cheering crowds greeted Queen Elizabeth today to celebrate the 60th anniversary of her coronation with a service at Westminster Abbey featuring a priceless crown that has adorned the heads of British monarchs for 350 years. 

Decorated with rubies, sapphires and amethysts, the golden St. Edward’s crown was made for the coronation of Charles II in 1661, and has been used to crown many British monarchs since. Tuesday marked the first time it has left the Tower of London since the 1953 coronation. 

About 2,000 people gathered at the abbey in London on Tuesday morning to celebrate, with more outside.  Among those in attendance were 20 members of the Royal Family, the CBC's Ann MacMillan reported, clearly accenting the monarchy's future in the U.K.

They included Prince Charles and Camilla, who have taken on a greater role in recent years, and Charles's son Prince William and his wife Kate, who are expecting their first child in July.

The Apartment With Balcony

So I did take a few initial pictures of the apartment, but it appears there were some items missing that will now be addressed.  Here is the door opened that leads out to the balcony.  It was taken yesterday as I decided to in fill all the requests.  You will also note that the ceramic mask from the sideboard in the dining area has moved over to the computer table.  You will see why below.

This picture was also taken Sunday morning to show the covered grill and the two chairs that are out on the deck.  A nice space and will be used often me thinks.

This photo was tken Saturday night around 6:30pm and that is Rob grilling up brats and zucchini for dinner.  Rob and Jodie arrived around 4pm and it took Rob about two hours to assembled the grill.  He has so much more patience than I do!  They brought the canister of propane to be sure to test the grill out.  It is fabulous!

Seems people did not believe me when I said I had a bathroom!  There it is folks.  The picture to the left is three different fireworks photos out of Australia.  In the bathroom on the left is a great black and white of the Eiffel Tower and on the right is the cover from The New Yorker the week after the president was elected the first time.  To the left of the bathroom is the wine rack and all the cardboard you see is recycling that went out the door last night.

Got the final three pieces up on the accent wall and you will see I moved the one mask as I had the other one I wanted to put up on the wall and having two so close just would not work.  Also, moving the other mask over to the computer table gave it a nice shot of color.  The glass piece hanging on to the right is by a good friend Jeff Crandall and the lower piece is by a friend out of Vancouver, Steve Horvat.  Finally feel like the apartment is settled and it only took two months!

The Brew Master Dinner at Port Ludlow

Back in September when I was on a break from the blog, I got to take Damon (it was his first visit uop to see me) and experience an amazing weekend at the Inn at Port Ludlow.  Lovely spot up on the Hood Canal.  We met up with Lisa and Mark, dear friends from Portland.  Made for a festive time.  I got the room and dinner free in that they were offering a FAM trip as they call it and so why not.  I had never had a multi-course dinner where each course was paired with a different beer.

Before dinner began, they brought out fresh out of the oven bread and it was topped with an olive tapenade.  Quite delicious.  The first beer of the night was a Hefe Weizen.  It was also used with the appetizer.

Appetizer - Casscioppo Bratwurst and Braised Cabbage / Hefe Weizen was the beverage served and while the bratwurst was very good, the cabbage was amazing.

 Soup - Ridgetop Red Ale Cheddar Soup w/ Fried Leeks that was stunning.  The fried leeks on top really gave a twist to what could have been a rather boring soup.  A bit on the rich side, I found I did not finish mine.

Entremet - Indianola IPA Poached King Salmon w/ Braised Lentils was not a course I was overly excited about initially in that I am not a fan of IPA nor lentils.  Well, in this case it ended up being my favorite course.  The IPA had a floral overtone I usually do not taste in an IPA and the lentils really worked with the salmon.

Intermezzo - Granita - Clear Creek Pale Ale and it could not have been better timed.  Light and refreshing, it was also a point in the evening to use the facilities and stretch the legs.  And to think we were only half way through.

The gentleman on the right is a sous chef at the restaurant and had the night off so he brought his wife and they ended up at our table.  He was quite knowledgeable about the menu and it was funny how quiet his wife was.  We spent a good chunk of the evening trying to get her to talk and finally when we complemented her jewelry, it opened the flood gates.  The man on the left is the executive chef and it was funny in that he was wearing the cook shirt of the guy on the right.

Main - Fat Scotch Ale Kobe Beef Braised Short Ribs which were HUGE!  Seriously, I have never seen a presentation like this in my life.  By this time all the earlier food was starting to tell the body it was full.  We did have a couple of bites, but as you see below, most of it was pulled off the bone and made its' way into a doggy bag for a snack later that night.  And it was just as good cold as hot.

Thank goodness by this point it was only two courses to go and they would be lighter.  Below is the only course that did not have a beer and it was not missed.  Allowed us to get some water into the body and mellow out the beer nirvana that was overtaking all of us.

Greens - Local Red Dog Farm Greens and was lightly dressed.  Clean and crisp it was a delight to cleanse the pallet before the final course arrived.  Yes, we are finally getting to the end of the dinner.

Dessert - Panther Lake Porter Chocolate Ice Cream was a wonderfully sinful finale to an amazing dinner.  It was not a heavy dessert and yet it really was a nice pairing of the porter and the chocolate.  Not a huge chocolate fan, but it was a nice ending to a lovely dinner.