A very pleasant surpise

Today didn't start out too well. I had a Mammo appt this morning at 8:40 am. I set out on my way to get there and have plenty of time. First, I had a hard time finding the front door to get in. Then when I did, I was told my appt was at another location. 

Let me back up a little. My appointment was supposed to be for Thursday. But I had to reschedule it. Oddly when I called, they had an opening almost immediately on Saturday. So I took it. Now, the person who rescheduled me didn't say anything about a change in location. I assumed I was booked where I was previously booked. I was not. 

So I missed the appointment. That just put me in a bad mood. I swear everything I touched from there on out just didn't feel right. I ran over a curb at the grocery store. I cut my finger when getting seran wrap out. Spilled wax from a candle on my stove top. I could go on. 

In an attempt to get my mind out of the sour mood I decided to do some scrapbooking. I did a couple of pages and then decided I wanted to review photos from San Francisco 2008 - which is the next conversion I'm doing. 

As I was going through the photos I came across a video I took of the cable car turn around in downtown SF. I thought I'd play the video for fun. 

I was stunned immediately. On the video is mom talking. I had to stop for a moment. I haven't heard her voice for 6 years. I watched that video a dozen times to just hear her voice.

I won't lie, I may have teared up a little. 

What a gift I found. I will treasure this forever now. 

Happy Father's Day

These are the days that my brain perks up and floods me with memories. It's a special day for many to share their love for their Dad and show him how much he means to you. 

When you're a "fatherless" daughter on this day, all you have are memories. 

"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal." - Richard Puz

I've really noticed that with the passing of loved ones, you really do only have memories. And your brain seems to only dish up the good ones. I'm well aware there are bad ones in there, but thankfully my brain is protecting me, I suppose, from the bad ones and giving me the opportunity to remember the strong, positive, loving memories. 

I miss Dad a lot. I miss what he represented in my life - a strong, firm, fair, loving hand guiding me to become a value to the world. He did this by tough love, support, providing advice - whether asked for or not, living by example, sharing his knowledge, sharing his love for food, and sharing his curiosity about the world that gave me the desire to travel. He was so much more than all these things, but these are the qualities and values I remember the most. 

He had his moments though. Don't we all? He could be so very stubborn (a quality he didn't appreciate in me). His argumentative side came out once in a while and there was no "winning" or even having an adult conversation when he was in that state (usually after several drinks). It was frustrating, at times, to try to get him to see the world the way it is and not have him demand it stay the was. He loved the old way of life and wasn't interested in change. 

Still, those "qualities" taught me a lot about myself. I often wonder if those traits annoyed me so much because I might have had/have some of them. That's a post for another time I suppose. 

Still, all the good and bad, I miss this man a lot. Every time I light up the BBQ or travel the world he's there with me. All the glorious memories I was able to make with him remain with me. And while life took him away from me, nothing can take these memories. 

Taken in 1978 in Iran. This photo was taken before he was my dad.
The smile was likely because he didn't have a teenage daughter to deal with yet. 

Sunday Dinners H1

I didn't do so well this year so far tracking Sunday dinners here on the blog. My intent was to post one a month as they happened. And, well, life. 

I started out strong in January. Then nothing. So let me catch you up. 

February - Italian

February was a wroaming Sunday dinner. We all gathered at Chez Levi out in West Seattle. She's got a beautiful house that has a killer view. It's always weird for me to have Sunday dinner some place else. I both love and hate it. Love it because we get to change it up and I don't have to do dishes. Hate it because I love hosting. 

Dinner was stuffed shells. So delicious. We also had Italian Salad, Deconstructed Tiramasu, and appetizers. It was a small group that was the Braspirs, Claudia/Bob, Janet and I. I like small groups sometimes. 

The view from Chez Pantry Goat

That's not one of my cats, that's Frey.

March - Burger Bar

Mmm burgers. I do love a good burger. I blame my mom for that. She LOVED cheeseburgers. The drippier the better. Homemade burgers are one of my favorite things to make. So easy, so inexpensive and so yummy. 

I did the burgers and cheese. Claudia brought all the veggies, including amazing grilled onions. The Braspirs brought baked beans, Janet brought a beautiful lemon cake, Rose and Graeme brough arancini (risotto balls). So much food. I also provided the condiments that included BBQ sauce and fried onions. 

Poor Graeme. Lucy only wanted to sit on his lap. Poor guy is allergic to cats, and that stinkin' cat kept coming back for more. 

This cake was amazing.

April - Thai

Thai themed is officially not my favorite theme. I like Thai food, but I like Thai food in a restaurant. It's a tricky theme because it requires ingredients most of us don't use (kinda like Indian last year). Still everyone played along. 

I made Thai Beef curry in the crock pot. Mark and Jo made spring rolls. Kathy did Chicken Satay. And Janet did Thai Lettuce Wraps. 

I discovered too late that no one signed up to bring dessert. So I brought out some Cresta bars, and Nutella cookies. Worked like a charm. 

Spring Rolls. It took a couple to get the hang of the rolling.

May - Burrito Bowls

I love me a good burrito bowl. And this dinner was spot on. I made carne asada and Charro beans (so good). Mark and Jo brought guac. Graeme and Rose brough Mexican corn. Janet brought sides for the burrito bowls (sour cream, cheese, onions, salsa, etc). The Braspirs brought Flan. 

We had way too much food again, but we were happy and full. As we always are on Sunday dinner nights.

Kathy made flan.

June - Spanish / Portuguese

Oh boy! What a Sunday dinner. Mark and Jo hosted it at their new house in Gig Harbor. We moved this Sunday dinner to Saturday to make it a little easier to get to Gig Harbor and home again without Monday looming. 

Mark made Paella. He and Jo had taken a class and so they knew the right way to make it. Plus he has this massive Paella pan - so it seemed like we had to break it in. 

We started with appetizers, of course. Rose and Graeme brought jamon and cheese; there was smoked salmon; marinated olives, and I made Garlic Shrimp. 

Making Paella is a process, but it's not difficult. There's a lot of components, but if you're an organized chef, this part is easy. Mark did an excellent job and the Paella was some of the best I've had. 

Best part of the night was when Mark was going to take the Paella pan into the house and we'd serve ourselves from there, only the pan wouldn't fit through the back door. That's one large pan. We ate our paella with a yummy El Senior Caesar Salado (it was just a Caesar salad, but we had to make it Spanish.)

We finished the night with a chocolate tort brought by Janet. 

Our next two Sunday dinners will also be wroaming ones. Next month is our annual Low Country Boil at Janet's. Then August is being hosted by the Pantry Goat. 

Crabby Girls Weekend

Once a year the crabs plan a getaway. It's usually in October, and it's usually for longer than a weekend. This year, we had a plan to go over and see one of the crabs new vacation/weekend home. It doesn't mean we won't go somewhere in October, it just means we got to spend an extra weekend together. 

We loaded up and headed over to Eastern Washington on Friday morning. Stopping in Cle Elum for groceries, Owen's meats (a must), the bakery (also a must) and last minute groceries for the weekend. Not that we needed any more food. We always over plan and always have more than enough food around. 

This is just the snacks for only two days.

The Braspir's house is a small, comfy house on top of a hill outside of Cle Elum. It was so comfortable and welcoming and had a killer view. 

We headed off that afternoon to the Thorp fruit stand. I've not ever stopped in there, so we thought it'd be fun to go check it out. An added bonus, they have ice cream. 

We had tacos that night and spend the evening in watching Blazing Saddles. Can I just say, that is one of the most offensive movies! I suppose in 1974 they didn't seem to care as much as we do now. 

Saturday we lazed around for the morning then headed off to the Wild Horse Wind Farm. It's an area where they have 149 wind turbines. It's plenty windy up on that hill so it makes sense. We gave it crabs. 

They have a small "museum" up there that talks about wind energy and all that goes into it. I found it very interesting and learned a thing or two. 

After that, we met my friend Kara in Ellensburg for lunch at The Porch. If you're in that part of town, stop by. Their food was amazing. It was a great lunch and gave Kara and I a chance to get caught up. Sometimes with old friends, it doesn't matter how much time passes between visits, you pick up right where you left off. 

We then headed off to do some wine tasting. Ellensburg Canyon winery is a bit up the canyon heading to Yakima. It's beautiful country out there and they make pretty good wine. I tasted for the first time a Cab Franc "Blanc". It's a white wine, which I normally am not a fan of, and was so freaking yummy. I had to buy a bottle. Oh and I bought two bottles of Port too. One a malbec and one a cab sauv. So good. 

Loaded...hahah, not quite, we headed back home and made a dinner. Chef Kathy made us an excellent salmon dinner. We do not starve on these trips. 

We opted to do book club on Saturday night since we were all together. I wasn't a huge fan of this book. It was ok, but not great. 

Sunday we were headed back home, but not before we stopped at one more fruit stand and had a little fun. 

All in all it was a great weekend and a fun getaway. WE will be visiting that house again I'm sure.