Dinner at the Old Sage

Posted in Adventures, Exploring Seattle, Food by mszerwo

Dinner at the Old Sage

I’m a little behind in sharing this wonderful dinner we had at the Old Sage in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.

I occasionally write for Mercer Island Living, about life and businesses on Megan’s Island. Mercer Island Living partnered with Madison Park Living (another hyper-local magazine) to provide a six-course dinner at the Old Sage, with the owner. (Who, incidentally, grew up on Megan’s Island!)

Without further ado, here was the delicious spread:

Pickled Vegetables, inspired by past seasons

Head of Pork (apple wood), malted mustard

Puffed Sour Bread, caraway, fennel pollen and sea salt

Salad of Amaranths, beet root, inca quinoa, chard and urfa biber

Malted Emmer, mountain cheese and apples

Duck Wings (cherry wood), roquefort fraiche, celery, cherries)

Various panna cottas

The sour bread, salad of the amaranths and malted emmer dishes were our favorites. We’ll definitely be making our way back to the Old Sage and recommend that you do too!

24Sep2014

Celebrating our third anniversary

Posted in Exploring Seattle, Food, Photos by mszerwo

Brandon and I celebrated our third anniversary last night at Salty’s, the restaurant where we had our wedding reception three years ago today. We like to go back to Salty’s each year to celebrate: anniversary number one: all-you-can-eat brunch and number two: a romantic dinner.

We also like to take photos with our year numbers, in their traditional gift themes:

Year one: Paper! (We have a better photo somewhere, but haven’t been able to locate it)

Celebrating our paper anniversary

Year two: Cotton

My cotton #2 for our second anniversary dinner

Year three: Leather (We finally got a tripod, so we could take photos of ourselves! We also took the “3” to Montana and took photos at the wedding photobooth and with the wedding photographer.)

Leather anniversary at Salty’s

Photo check in the rain. We got married right in that very spot!

So windy! Enjoying the elements on our third anniversary

Cheers to three years together!

Salty’s was doing something fun last night: a fall equinox luau, so we were able to enjoy the following:

Salty’s Luau Feast

Kalua Pork Slider
hawaiian sweet roll, chipotle pepper-spiked slaw

Chile-Rubbed Mahi
tropical fruit salsa

Prawn and Portuguese Sausage Kebobs
sweet peppers, maui onions, passion fruit glaze

Corn on the Cob
tossed in chili lime-infused butter

Pea Salad
bacon, jicama, snap peas

Asian Chicken Cabbage Salad
grilled chicken, red and green cabbage, hearts of palm tossed in a soy-ginger dressing

Assorted Fruit Tartlets
passion fruit, coconut crème, lemon

Tonight we made Smitten Kitchen’s chicken marsala and it was delectable. (Brandon even asked why we didn’t have chicken marsala every night!) We paired it with the 2010 Robert Ramsay Par La Mer. Cheers to three years and wine Wednesday!

Third anniversary dinner: chicken marsala

I’m sure you’re wondering about gifts… I bought Brandon some suede slippers and he bought me a blue leather case for the new Kindle I’ll be getting for my birthday. (EEEE!)

Salty’s Luau

22Sep2014

Goodbye, summer

Posted in Adventures, Exploring Seattle, Q13 by mszerwo

While I’m excited for the fall, today is a little sad: it’s the last day of summer. Between work and Brandon’s big test, we started summer a bit late, but tried to enjoy every minute of the short summer we did have.

Here’s a look back:

Visiting a new-to-me state: MONTANA for Brandon’s brother’s wedding:

The happy couple

A mama mountain goat and her baby at Glacier

We weren’t able to make it raspberry picking, but the blueberries were delicious!

Blueberry picking in North Bend

I WAS ON TV!!!! And crafted with a new medium: AstroTurf!

Looked good on TV!

The pizza oven finally became a reality!

A wonderful shot of the flames leaping toward the pizza

We visited Carmel for another wedding, more wine and wonderful extended family time:

We visited Carmel

We gardened and grew basil-mint! And figs. And lots of herbs. Next year we’re going to have raised beds and plant lots of veggies!

Our basil-mint bush

We enjoyed Seafair, the Blue Angels (from land and sea!) and had a nice little staycation. (I forgot about that post and re-discovered the photos in my phone. I’ll work on that post next!)

SeaFair 2014: The Blue Angels from I-90

Have a wonderful last day of summer — we’re going to grill some kalbi steaks for steak salads.

We’ll see if we can’t enjoy a few more dinners out on the patio. Cheers to fall!

My happy place: Our backyard

17Sep2014

{Wine Wednesday} Fall reds

Posted in Drinky drinky, Food, Wine Wednesdays by mszerwo

Happy Wine Wednesday! It’s not too early to talk about fall, right? It is less than a week away.

I love, love, love the fall. Why? So many reasons. The cooler weather and the crispness in the air, the weather that gives you an excuse to bundle up but isn’t too cold. The spirit of football season and dressing up to watch the games. The smell of freshly-fallen rain. And finally, the RED wine! Enough of the Rieslings and roses. It’s time for some deep, peppery reds.

The weather on Megan’s Island cooled down a bit, long enough for us to open the bottle we got in the Carmel Valley — the award-winning Joullian 2011 Zinfandel. It did not disappoint and was just as good as we remembered.

A very happy wine Wednesday, indeed!

What did we pair with the wine? It’s chanterelle season and we sauteed them with thyme and unsalted butter (about 1/2 a stick over 30 minutes of cooking) and added some half rigatoni noodles. We also sauteed baby zucchinis with olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper. Combined the meal was delicious.

We recently received an email from Joullian and our first shipment of wine club wines is set to ship on October 13 — the day after my birthday — and will include their 2011 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, 2011 Family Reserve Syrah, and 2012 Estate Sias Cuvee Zin (the next vintage of this wine).

We’re so excited we joined the club! CHEERS!

14Sep2014

Pizza, pizza: We named the oven

Posted in Around the house, Food, Garden by mszerwo

Our glorious backyard pizza oven

We capped off a wonderful summer with a big, ‘ole party. It was the prefect weather and we invited all of our friends for a full-on Italian feast, complete with a make-your-own pizza bar.

Backyard pizza party toppings bar

Brandon and I thought up some unique Italian names for our pizza oven and narrowed the list down to four:

Name ideas for the oven

We had our party guests vote (I love elections!) and we chose the winning name…

Oven’s got a name: Fatto e mano!

Since the oven is short and stout, we think Fatto (or Fattie, as we like to call it) is perfect.

Now that we have the name I’m working on a fun logo (it’s a pizza place, right?!) and a fancy door for the oven. More to come on both of those fronts soon! Have a wonderful week!

UPDATE: It appears as though Google translate failed us! “Fatto e mano” isn’t the correct, rather Fattie’s new name is Fatto A mano. Thanks to Sarah for catching it!

Fattie in action!

12Sep2014

{Gone Pinning} Leather anniversary gifts

Posted in Gone Pinning by mszerwo

Woah. It’s already mid-September. Where did the time go!? Brandon and I are getting ready to celebrate our THIRD wedding anniversary on September 24 and it’s past time for me to get a gift for my beloved. We’ve already celebrated our cotton and paper anniversaries by giving one another gifts to fit the traditional anniversary themes. Again this year, I’m on the hunt for great, “traditional” gift ideas. This time, I’m looking for leather gifts.

Here are some fun ideas, courtesy of Etsy and Pinterest.

A romantic leather rose, perhaps?

This leather BBQ mitt is pretty fun…

A personalized scrapbook?

Or a leather key chain?

We like to travel, maybe this leather luggage tag?

I almost like this one more…

This make-up/whiskey/miscellaneous leather bag is nice…

A wallet card is a fun idea… and so affordable!

A leather flask? Maybe…

I may or may not have one (or more!) of these already in mind for Brandon. I also may or may not have already bought something not listed here. It’s a secret for a few more weeks!

Have a great weekend!

10Sep2014

{Wine Wednesday} Mercer Island Art UnCorked

Posted in Adventures, Drinky drinky, Wine Wednesdays by mszerwo

The weather reports are in and it looks like the Pacific Northwest will have fabulous weather on Friday!

If you’re looking for something fun to do, I’d suggest a quick visit to Megan’s Island (aka Mercer Island) and enjoy Mercer Island Art UnCorked, an evening of wine-tasting, art, music and food at the Mercer Island Outdoor Sculpture Gallery, located at Sunset Hwy. and 78th Ave SE. The event runs from 6-9 p.m.

A mere $30 buys you at least two wines from 10 different local wineries. Juried artists from both Mercer Island and the Seattle area will have a selection of fine handmade artwork:

Convergence Zone Cellars – www.czcellars.com
Genoa Cellars – www.genoacellars.com
Lodmell Cellars – www.lodmellcellars.com
Michael Florentino Cellars – www.michaelflorentinocellars.com
Northwest Cellars – www.northwestcellars.com
Ramseyer Vineyards – www.ramseyervineyards.com
Swakane Winery – www.swakanewinery.com
Tildio Winery – www.tildio.com
Welcome Road Winery – www.welcomeroadwinery.com
Wilridge Winery – www.wilridgewinery.com

and… Schilling Cider! – www.schillingcider.com

Along with wine and art, there will be food trucks and music. A portion of the proceeds from this evening will benefit the scholarship programs of the Mercer Island Chamber of Commerce and Mercer Island Visual Arts League.

Wines poured will be available for purchase on-site, with a 10 percent discount.

Buy your ticket today — or stop by on Friday! I hope to see you there!

Happy Wine Wednesday! Pour yourself a nice, big glass as you wait for the web to load!

9Sep2014

Fall 2014 TV premiere dates

Posted in Around the house by mszerwo

Each year I try to wait until Labor Day to get really excited about the fall TV premieres. This year was no different and I started this blog post and my extensive research on Labor Day, surfing the net and chatting up my TV buddies. My friend Liz lives in SoCal and works at CBS. We have similar tastes in TV and she informs me on everything I need to know, especially the new shows.

I’ve already printed this calendar (from TVline.com) and highlighted the shows we (mainly just me) will be watching. I like to set the DVR for the week each Sunday.

Fall TV premiere dates from TVLINE.COM

I’m most excited for the returning shows, specifically and in chronological order of return:

Sleepy Hollow (9/22, 9 p.m., FOX)
The Blacklist (9/22, 10 p.m., NBC)
The Goldbergs (9/24, 8:30 p.m., ABC)
Modern Family (9/24, 9 p.m., ABC)
Nashville (9/24, 10 p.m., ABC)
Scandal (9/25, 9 p.m., ABC)
Castle (9/29, 10 p.m., ABC)
Homeland (10/5, 9 p.m., Showtime)
Grimm (10/24, 9 p.m., NBC)

And I have the following new shows on my radar:

Z Nation (9/12, 10 p.m., Syfy) I’ve never really been into zombie shows — I prefer vampires — but a friend of mine from high school is in this show, so I’m going to check it out.
Gotham (9/22, 8 p.m., FOX) I’m not that into superhero shows, but I’ll try it. Maybe it’ll be a surprise breakout show, like Sleepy Hollow was last year.
Scorpion (9/22, 9 p.m., CBS) I’m on the fence with Scorpion too but it looks interesting and I do enjoy Katherine McPhee.
Selfie (9/30, 8 p.m., ABC) I’ve heard mediocre reviews, but it’s the same writers as Suburgatory, so I’d like to give it a shot.
Bad Judge (10/2, 9 p.m., NBC) I’ve heard poor reviews (again), but I really like Kate Walsh, so hopefully she’s able to save this show!
How to Get Away with Murder (9/25, 10 p.m., ABC). I’ve heard nothing but amazing reviews on this show. I’ve heard its even better than Scandal, which means it’s going to be really good.
The Flash (10/27, 8 p.m., CW) I’m not that into superhero shows, but I’m hearing really good things about The Flash, so it’s on my list!

I’m pretty bummed out about these cancellations:

Betrayal: It was weird but I couldn’t get enough.
Ravenswood: I love Pretty Little Liars and although it was almost too creepy to watch live, I loved this spin-off and miss it. It does sound like they’re planning on blending it back into the next season of PLL, which will be cool.
Suburgatory: Although it is/was apparently shopped around to other networks, so maybe we’ll see it again in the future.
Trophy Wife: I was loving this show! Too bad.

Beyond the Mindy Project (9/16, 9:30 p.m., FOX) and the Good Wife (9/21, 9 p.m., CBS) — which I don’t currently watch but might start this year! — what do you think I should watch? Tell me in the comments below!

(A few of my favorites are mid-season shows: Parks & Rec (final season!!!! NO!!!), CSI: Cyber (new show…looks interesting…I like IT), and Downton Abbey! I’ll be looking forward to them too, but likely won’t be blogging specially about them…)

Read last year’s fall TV premiere post here and happy watching!

4Sep2014

Our Montana adventure

Posted in Adventures, Photos by mszerwo

I took a few days away from the blog last week to go on an adventure… to Montana to celebrate Brandon’s brother’s wedding!

It was my first time to Montana and we flew in and out of Missoula, spending a few hours eating and drinking there, but the bulk of the time in Polson and Flathead Lake (about an hour drive north).

Ready for take off! Next stop: Missoula!

In Missoula we checked out a lunchtime festival at Caras Park, ate chocolate at Posh Chocolat (one of Brandon’s favorites), visited the Boone and Crockett Museum, and took a day hike (referred to as a “bear hunt” by me) around the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area. We also dined at Plonk and had a couple of delicious desserts at Sweet Peaks ice creamery. I would HIGHLY recommend their huckleberry ice cream.

Hand-picked Posh Chocolat truffles

A statue outside of the Boone and Crockett Museum (Yum…flag tastes good!)

Rattlesnake hike

Plonk, Missoula, Montana

We also went to Fort Missoula and had a really fun time exploring.

Climbing the lookout tower at Fort Missoula

Ahoy! Looking up at the Fort Montana Lookout Tower

Ahoy! Looking up at the Fort Missoula Lookout Tower

Fort Missoula

Brandon found a bench at Fort Missoula!

Strong-man competition

We also took a day trip to Glacier National Park, which was one of my favorite parts of the trip. We took the “Going-to-the-Sun Road” and hiked the trail at Logan Pass to the Hidden Lake overlook.