Just another weekend

Things are definitely better when I'm able to mow the lawn once a week. I was able to cut my previous times by a full hour due to the facts that (1) I didn't  have to mow the entire lawn twice, and (2) I didn't have to rake up a ton of grass.


Taking advantage of the fact that we have someone who is living with us who doesn't mind looking after the kids, Carrie and I went down to Georgetown on Saturday to eat at Calamity Jane's, a new American eatery. We found the food there to be pretty good - not stellar fare, but tasty nonetheless. We both opted to have half-pound burgers - which we both finished ;) I had the Calamity Jane while Carrie had the Wild Bill Hickock. We both liked the toppings and the burgers were cooked perfectly. The food snobs in us suspected that they were using pre-formed patties that may or may not have been previously frozen (verssus hand-formed patties which would more definitely be fresh), but I personally don't think that detracted from from the experience.


Sunday, I tried my hand at making a drink that I had first experienced last week at Toulouse Petit, called a "Breakfast Flip". Here is the recipe that I used in my first attempt:

• 1 cracked raw egg
• 1 shot vodka
• 1 shot maple syrup
• 1-1/2 shot Cafe Boheme
• Sprinkled cinnamon on top of the shaken mixture

My first attempt came out a little strong and sweet. I alleviated the former by adding crushed ice into the mix. I suspect that the latter could also be remedied by my using Baileys instead of Cafe Boheme; both are cream-based liqueurs, but Boheme has more of a sweetened coffee flavor  to it. To cut down on the sweetness, I may just cut out a bit of the syrup and up the vodka content. Next weekend, maybe ;)


Links:
Calamity Jane's
Toulouse Petit

Memorial Day weekend

Aside from running, mowing the lawn, watching over kids and the like, not much went on over Memorial Day weekend. The weather prevented us from really being able to get out and do too much until Monday rolled around.


On Monday, Carrie and I took a trip to lower Queen Anne to eat breakfast at Toulouse Petit, an eatery that does for Cajun Cusine what The Kingfish Cafe does for Creole. We went there for breakfast during  their happy hour. We were in line for a twenty+ minute wait, but when two spots opened at the bar, the hostess asked us if we would like to skip the line for seats and eat our breakfast at the bar, which we did.

The bartender was fairly prompt and very friendly. I started off with a Breakfast Flip, and my wife had a Breakfast Martini. Both drinks were excellent and generous. To eat, we had the Cajun Meatloaf and eggs and the Pork Cheek confit. Both dishes were very tasty and delivered to us pretty quickly, considering that the place was at the time packed for the breakfast happy hour, during which all of the dishes were $6. My only minor complaint is that our order of beignets arrived late, after our entrees, but that just meant that we had a desert course!

After that, we went to Lowes to pick up some supplies so that we could get started on our herb garden this year. We planted cilantro, basil, thyme, parsley and chives in pots, and put them on the bench on our porch so that they'd get plenty of sun. 

Aside from the herbs, we had to buy the pots, potting soil, peat moss and vermiculite. We have so much of the soil-related matter left over  that we should be able to plant a fairly full garden with it, and we'll always have plenty of compost for our efforts, since I started composting at least three pounds a week on average since we moved onto Beacon Hill almost a year ago.

Friday, May 14th and closing

It was a strange mix of hubris, exasperation and desperation that led Carrie and me to believe that we could make the trip from Salt Lake City to Seattle in one day without an overnight stay in Le Grande, OR, as we had originally planned.

We had started out that morning with the best of intentions; Carrie, Carla, Gaboli and I ate at the Olympian Greek restaurant in Salt Lake City - excellent breakfast, wonderful Greek Coffee - and planned on meeting up in Boise later on. Carla and Axia took off in one car, and Carrie, the twins and I in another. After the first stop things were going fine, but when we had to stop due to a crying child less than an hour later, we decided to tough it out and push through the night.

Bad idea - but then again, in retrospect, so was the entire endeavor of driving three month old twins and an eleven year old Yorkshire Terrier across a thousand miles and over a mile in elevation to Utah.  If driving all night to hit Seattle a full sixteen hours earlier than we would have otherwise was a mistake, it was certainly the right one to make.

I am certainly glad that Carrie's extended family got the chance to see the twins, as well as the fact that Carla followed us from the small town confines of Richfield, Utah to the big city of Seattle, Washington so that she could have a chance at a new life, as well as helping Carrie and I out with the twins for a few months.  But neither Carrie nor I are particularly keen on making any more trips with the kids that takes any longer than  the drive from our house to their pediatricians on First Hill in Seattle, at least not for a couple of years or so.

Babies are tough creatures at heart - muh tougher than we as adults give them credit for - but Gabriel and Oliver are still recovering, emotionally and physically, from the ordeal; Gabriel in particular seems to have picked up a sore throat that is most likely the symptomatic manifestation of an unknown something that had been transmitted to him by the many pairs of unwashed hands that had handled him. His cries are currently rather raspy shadows of their former selves; being such, his short throaty peals are especially dolorous. Note to selves and others: no handling of our twins with unsanitzed hands for the next few months.

----

Yesterday, I awoke to a lawn  that had been sorely neglected by human hands  - but taken care of to extreme abundance by the wonderfully bountiful Pacific Northwest spring rains - for three weeks. So long was the grass that I had to essentially cut it twice with our little manual push mower. Seeing as how we had returned home a scant seven hours prior, after three hours of labor, I was pretty much ready to pack it in. Making a trip through the chaotic, crowded aisles of Costco with two crying babies, who were surely freshly traumatized from their recent ordeal, in tow didn't help things any. This morning, I did a reset by running around Green Lake and stopping off at Peets for Coffee. Then  things seemed to be much better.

Welcome home.

Thursday, May 13th

It was pretty much all over for us in Richfield, except for the crying. Rus and I went back to The Cove for coffees this morning, and made one last trip (this time around) to Katie' Cup. I then started to pack the car as Carrie and Carla bid their farewells to their family.


Carrie and Carla...?


Yep – that's right. Carla, Carrie's sister, is coming to Seattle to live with us for a few months as she looks for a new job and new life. In the process, she'll be giving Carrie some much needed help with the kids. Both Carrie and I (and Axia) are very happy to have her with us and our house is now officially hers for as long as she's here.


After mahy tearful farewells, we, in two cars (Carla took Axia, which was a huge load off of Carrie and I) made our way to my brother in law's house. Even during the (relatively) short drive from Richfield to Salt Lake City, Carrie and I still needed to stop one time to take care of the kids.


Rodney had just recently brought a new house in the Sugarhouse district of Salt Lake City, and this was the first time that Carrie and I had seen it. It's about the same size as our place in Seattle, but it has a full size basement and sits on about twice the amount of land as ours does – all for half the price. You gotta love variability between housing markets!


We ended up eating pizza, watching DVD's, and spending the night at Rod's place. We'd need plenty of rest for the next day's journey.

Wednesday, May 12th

A sweet pungent odor filled my my nostrils as I stepped into the cramped confines that was “The Cove” coffee shop on the outskirts of Richfield. I was pleasantly greeted by the barista, a young amiable man wearing a flannel shirt and a baseball cap who wore the air of one who was as comfortable reigning in steers as he was pulling shots. Smiling, he explained to me the menu; espresso drinks- here. Juice menu – here. Same with sandwiches and wraps. Pull your own soft serve yogurt, and here are your toppings. What will you have?


I inquired as to the possibility of getting a decaf latte; Carrie is still breastfeeding, and we've seen the consequences of giving the kids breastmilk with traces of caffeine. 


I didn't tell him that last part.


Oh – I'm sorry, we can't do that.


I smile and nod. I'll just have a cappuccino with four shots.


Four shots? Whoa – you like it strong.


You betchya. And some vanilla syrup.


Syrup? You mean flavoring.


Yeah.


He prepares the drink. Another man looks at me. This one could be the Bishop in charge of the Ward were he not standing here with me in a café. He still could be – I haven't actually seen him partake of any caffeinated beverages, just oversee the sale of such to the gentiles. Which technically I'm not.


I digress.


He asks me where I'm from. I say Seattle. No – wait. I say Maryland. I live in Seattle. He says Richfield is a small town. Nothing wrong with that. That's my contribution. I'm visiting my in-laws. That's also my contribution. Some more stuff is said, but it's all inconsequential. Small talk to fill a large void in time.


My drink is ready. I pay the man. I leave the ample change as a tip for the guy. I like this place. But I have to go back to Katie's Cup for the Latte. For today, The Cove is not a one stop shop.


After I drop off drinks, I spend a few hours with the family before I go to pick up some lunch. I drop off the lunch and then head to the Family History Center to do some research into my maternal grandfather's side of the family. I find a 1930 Madison Parish census record that indicates that he was raised in a house headed by a single mother alongside eight other siblings, two of them twins. I reach a dead end here because I can't find his birth certificate. But I do find out that he enlisted in the Army in 1941, rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant, and was buried in a national cemetery.


An older Elder, fulfilling his calling, is helping me. He asks me if I am a member.


I fess up. I am inactive, though.


He cheerfully encourages me to continue to do research so that I can do some temple work. In his mind, at least ten additional people with the last name of Skinner have just been posthumously baptized and are awaiting their bounty in the Terrestrial Kingdom. I don't dissuade him of the fantasy.


We - Carrie, Gaboli, my mother, father and sister in law, and both of Carrie's grandparents, go to the local Wingers, where we get decent enough food delivered by inadequate service. Both Bev and Carla want the all-you-can eat wings and fingers special. Bev gets only fingers; Carla gets only wings. I get nothing, and Carrie gets soft chicken tacos with barely enough pico de gallo to call a smear.


Carrie and I both order refills on our iced teas; I request vanilla syrup. The waitress returns with two iced teas, both with vanilla.


Carrie orders water to drink. She never receives it.


To close out the night, we, with the sole exception of Carrie's paternal grandmother, go to her maternal grandmother's house to play Tripoli. I win one poker hand and three kittys. It's past ten when we finally get home and retire. The kids are grumpy; Gabe is only taking his food straight from the source, and Ollie is extra hungry, thrashing about until I prepare an extra bottle for him and almost force an ounce down him. He then calms down enough so that he can sleep in the bed with the rest of the family.


Tomorrow, we'll be heading to SLC. The day after, we begin the long trek home. Great.

Tuesday May 11th

Today I had my first “real” cup of coffee. Almost.


I should have prepended that statement by saying that while I am not enough of a coffee-snob to totally dismiss the utilitarian benefits of ease contained within a brewed pot of Folgers or Maxwell House, both international travel and living in the self-proclaimed café capitol of the United States has definitely broadened my palette to the point to which I now regard the drink that is produced by extracting the essence of the grounds from mass-marketed tin drums through a Black and Decker coffee maker is, at best, a rather watery substitute for that which is garnered from micro-roasted beans finely ground, and then steam-pushed through a bail.


So, having said the above, I now rejoin the narrative in progress. In Richfield there are (to my surprise) two establishments which serve what I consider to be “café quality” coffee. The first is an actual stand called Katie's Cup that is located in the parking lot of a local appliances store. On each of my two previous visits to Utah, Carrie and I had stopped off here in the hopes of getting a drink that more closely approximated the ones that we were accustomed to getting back in Seattle. While both the quality of beans and technique used in constructing the drinks both left a bit to be desired, at the very least the desire to go above and beyond was there, and we did end up getting drinks that one could at least label as being a “Latte” and a “Cappuccino” (The second is a place called “The Cove” that I will review tomorrow). Plus, in their defense, Coffee culture is not quite as ingrained in Utah – especially in small town Utah – as it is in Seattle. So the fact that there are such places there is to be applauded, even if there could be improvements to be made.


But I, once again, digress. On Sunday both shops were closed, which is probably to be expected. However, yesterday, on Monday, both shops were again closed, which was more than a little bit of a downer, since I had gone without “real” coffee for the past two days. Today, however, I finally was able to sit back and sip my quad espresso with vanilla, and even though the shots were pulled a bit too long and there was a tad too much vanilla flavoring in it, I still proclaimed the entire affair “good.”

Monday, May 10th

Today was pretty uneventful. We took the kids to Carrie's maternal grandmother's place so that one of their many great-aunts would have a chance to say goodbye to them before she left town. We then dropped the kids back off at the grandparents' place so that we could go shopping together and get something to eat - just the two of us, something that we haven't had the opportunity to do for months now.


After we had finished shopping, Carrie and I were standing in line at a local restaurant, and I had gone up towards the front to take a look at a couple of items. On my way back to Carrie, one woman looked at me, then immediately turned to see if she could find Carrie; upon doing so, she practically beamed “I recognized you from the photos!” It turns out that this person had known Carrie ever since she (Carrie) was a teenager. The proud grandmother had either shown pictures to or sent links to the kids' photo gallery to just about everyone in Sevier and Wayne county who would have them, and this woman had recognized me as being “Carrie's husband.”


The night went pretty well. The kids, still recovering from the events of the day before, took a little while to go to sleep, but once they did, it seemed as if Gabe slept for three hours and Ollie close to five; he would have probably slept longer had Carrie not had to wake him up so that she could feed the two of them at the same time.


We are impressed at how quickly it seems that the twins are progressing. Both Gabe and Ollie are smiling back at people, and it seems that Ollie is actually grinning even more and being very conversant; he is also rolling over more and more, and entertaining himself. Gabe, for his part, is reaching out to objects and grabbing hold of them.


The days of dual-feeding are coming to a close, it seems. Gabe is definitely too long for the special U-shaped pillow that Carrie uses to feed the twins, and Ollie is not too far behind.