Early Bloom!

Yesterday I took some pictures of these first buds becoming blooms. Very soon the entire bush will be in full bloom. Enjoy the first!

Blue Ribbon Cooking School & Night Skiing

Tonight Rob and I have a packed schedule. I am meeting some friends to do one of my favorite activities. Taking a cooking class. We're going to Blue Ribbon Cooking School in Eastlake and taking a tapas class. I have been here a few times and it's one of the best cooking schools I have been too. They have great chef's with all different backgrounds and there is never a shortage of food and drinks.

Here is the menu for tonight:

Culinary Destinations: Spanish Tapas and Spanish Wine Tasting

Menu:

Pintxos (Bite-Size Tapas)
Pan con Tomate with Jamon
Confit of Mushrooms
Orange and Thyme Marinated Olives

Tapas
Salad with Seared Piquillo Peppers Stuffed With Manchego Cheese and Quince Paste drizzled with Sherry-Honey Vinaigrette
Grilled Asparagus with Salsa Romesco
Patatas Bravas with Saffron Aioli
Pork Tenderloin Simmered with Dried Fruit, Wine and Brandy

Dessert
Spanish Olive Oil Pancakes with Chocolate
Rioja Soaked Apples
Spanish Coffee

While I am off cooking Rob is headed to Snoqualmie Pass with some friends for night snowboarding tonight.

Yarn Crawl and Knitting Updates

Ang came in town to do the Seattle to Portland Yarn Crawl this year with me. It was really fun and well worth our time. Each store gave out discounts anywhere from 10%-20% and discounts on top of the sales tax discount is enough to make anyone head down to Portland for a yarn fix.

Below is a picture of the yarn stash I brought home.Stash includes:
Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool - green sapling
Cherry Tree Hill - Blues and Purples (a gift from ang)
ShiBui sock yarn - S Pebble
Blue Sky Dyed Cotton - Yellow
Dream in Color Smooshy - Flamingo Pie
Shepherd Classic 100% Wool - Sand

By far my favorite store was Happy Knits. If and when I ever have my own yarn store, it is exactly how I would want it to be set up. It was simple and cute. All the sample garments were very "today". I loved it. I also had the pleasure of trying the VooDoo Bakery and trying the maple bacon bar which was amazing! Fun weekend! Thanks Ang!

Fantastic Pictures!

Fun pictures of of the cats that we took in January.

Full Circle Farms

I have to say, having produce delivered right to your neighborhood is probably one of the most convenient amenities of living in a city. Especially a city surrounded by farmland. For the last few months Rob and I have been receiving bi-monthly deliveries of fresh organic produce from a local farm called "Full Circle Farms" It's been really nice. I haven't had to go to the market in ages and it really forces us to prepare meals using things I would never buy like turnips and beets. Here is an example of what will be delivered this Thursday.

Green Chard	Russet Potatoes Baby Spinach
Bunched Carrots	Sunchokes
Celery	Navel Oranges
Mangos	Braeburn Apples *
Cremini Mushrooms *	Shallots
	Bosc Pears

Happy New Year 2010

Wow - Is it already the 6th? I guess we've been busy celebrating the new year. Over the holidays Rob and I both had very nice, long, well needed breaks. We spent some time with friends and alone. It was great. We are now ready to take on 2010.

While I have too many goals for 2010 and prefer to not share them right now, the first one is one that I found from one of my favorite websites, My Money Blog. Each week in 2010, he will post a simple task to try to save money. This first week's tip was a tip that I've heard before but I do love it. It's to go into your savings (401k, Roth IRA, or IRA) and increase it by just 1%. You won't even notice the difference and I'm sure there is something you can cut out of the budget to cover that 1%.

Aside from all the goals we have for 2010. Do you remember this post? We hired and worked with an architect and spec'd out the job for the attic, but after having two Realtors come by we decided not to do this job after all. The best explanation came from one of the Realtors who said "Your house is a perfect traditional Seattle home right now, why would you do anything to make it weird." If we want a bigger house on a quiet street, we'll move. Case closed.

Sorry there are no pictures in this post, I promise I will do a better job of keeping up with this blog in 2010.