Friday night we checked in and headed over to Red Fin – a sushi restaurant attached to the hotel. It was quite yummy. And we got to sit at the bar and watch them make sushi which eliminates the need for talking – we had been in the car for three hours, we didn’t need to talk anymore.

Saturday the hotel staff pointed us to a nearby restaurant for breakfast, Lola. While I was initially shocked at the prices for eggs and potatoes, I must say that it was some of the best breakfast I’ve ever had. So we forked over $40 for breakfast. Dylan was painting a mural during the day Saturday, so I supervised with the owner of the shop and got some projects done. Then it was back to the hotel to scrub spray paint off Dylan (sorry for the blue towels Hotel Max!) and off to an evening massage. Dylan had planned all of this and it was quite fabulous.

Brace yourself- here is where I remembered that I had my camera…

We took the monorail back to our hotel and the Space Needle was all lit up – very romantic!

I only had my point and shoot and it hates taking pictures at night – but I kind of like it blury.

Saturday night after getting all dressed up after massages Dylan whisked me away to a fancy little place called Urbane. I had some of the most amazing mashed potatoes ever. Great but spendy wine selection – just be prepared to spend a good chunk of change here and you’ll be fine.

Sunday morning, after lounging in our comfy King bed at the hotel and watching Olympics highlights we made our way to Pike Place market for a true Valentine’s day adventure. My sweety spent his last dollar on a tulip for me – all the flowers down there are beautiful. It made me wish the stupid cat didn’t want to eat every living flower/plant we bring into the house.

Overall, it was a great weekend escape . We left the doggy in Portland at her daycare/boarding facility and had an obligation free time! Thanks for an amazing weekend away – Love ya!

\

This year, Dylan and I will be spending Valentine’s day weekend in Seattle without dog/cat/houseprojects/cooking/cleaning/dvr etc. And we’re staying at a swanky downtown Seattle hotel and going out to sushi dinners and getting massages and my hair did – the whole nine yards. Of course, this is all taking place on the 12th and 13th and we’ll spend 3 hours in the car on actual Valentine’s day and probably not do much else (this is called cheating the Valentine’s day system). But I only see Dylan 3 days a week – which is equal to only 156 days out of the year (assuming he’s working 4-10’s out of town through 2010) So dang it, we’re going to celebrate Valentine’s day and enjoy every minute of it.

And I’ll probably tell him I love him the other 156 days I see him too That’s how Valentine’s day works at the Toomey house this year.

Love ya!

Butter Chicken by the Pioneer Woman

My poor sheltered soul has never had Indian food before, let alone attempted to cook it. So I went over to Whole Paycheck, stocked up on some bulk spices that have never seen the inside of my kitchen before – Cardamom and Cumin and got at it. Let me tell you, Cumin and Lime are a distinct combination, and if it turns out you are not a fan of said combination, you’re going to hate your life. Because that smell is not leaving your kitchen for a while. Luckily, I am happy to be transported to some faraway – warmer – land.

I’m halfway through this cooking debauchery for the evening and it seems to be a fairly easy recipe. Don’t burn the onions – That’s what happens when you try to cook, chase the dog out of the kitchen, text your husband and blog all at the same time. Maybe someday I’ll get the hang of it!

But seriously, my kitchen smells amazing and I’m not sharing so make it yourself – you can do it!

Here are just a few things I thought I would share:

My spoiled animals – who have become ESPECIALLY spoiled during the week while Dylan is working out of town (aka, the dog thinks the people bed is now a doggy bed)

Please note that there is very little room for me when all is said and done here.

It’s January in Portland which means it should be cold and rainy and miserable. Instead we’ve been having some almost spring-like weather lately. So it probably won’t stop raining until July this year. But one morning a few weeks ago I had to grab my camera and take a picture of the most amazing sky as the sun was coming up. This was my favorite.

I loved the bare wiry trees against the pink sky.

And lastly way back when I made my 30 by 30 list. I crossed a few things off in 2009:

• Grew Dahlias (and some even bloomed)
• Took a train from Bridgeport CT into NYC (Amtrak, the real thing)
• Made a quilt for someone
• Went to a NCAA tournament basketball game (Go Zags!
• Have a well trained dog (minus the whole sleeping on the bed thing)

I’ve had a few nice bottles of wine here and there, but I’m not sure I’m ready to cross it off my list. But most importantly, here is what I plan on tackling in 2010.

• Read the Bible
• Learn to drive a car with a manual transmission
• Grow a vegetable garden

I think that is a good start for the year. Plus I’ll be chipping away at things like my Pulitzer reading list. And I turn 25 this year, so only 5 years to go!

If you would like to know the details about Dylan’s burning* people for energy plan, I’ll send you the link to his blog.

*Technically he’s discussing cremating people for energy. These are the ideas that you come up with when you work in the middle of nowhere apparently.

But after countless hours scattered through several months of weekends (and a little help from my sew-tastic Momma) I got it done.

This is the third one I’ve done and I will say there were far fewer screw-ups along the way than previous attempts. And because I’m a total nutters, I can never start small with these things. In my head, quilts are only useful if you can surround yourself in all their snuggly glory. And there are no babies around in my life that my mom hasn’t already made a dozen quilts for, so I’ll continue to embark on these crazy huge projects.

And I’m not one to do things half-heartedly when it comes to food, so I decided I should brine the turkey which NO ONE in my family has done before. We prefer the dried out version of Thanksgiving Turkey.

So tonight I unpacked my Turkey with Dylan’s help. There may have been some goofing around.

I don’t think there is much anyone can tell me that would convince me from serving Turkey neck in some fashion as opposed to feeding it to the dog. I really think it will make her Holiday (and celebrate her 1 year of life in our hands successfully)

Dylan preferred to be in charge of the brine and not touch raw turkey.

Hmmm, we really need to have a talk with him about the creepy mustache…

*Also, that is not enough brine to cover a 14lb turkey. I had to make a quick second batch. Lets keep our fingers crossed on this one.

I forgot to take pictures when I was making the crust, but it was pretty simple. Flour, butter, eggs, water mix up – pie crust. I’m sure the pie fanatics would have a cow about my lack of caring about the crust, but I’m sure it will be good enough for my family. I can tell you that if you have a dog that likes to stand directly underneath a cutting board that is covered in flour, and you have to roll out a pie crust and flour goes flying everywhere – this is what your dog will look like:

She likes to help out in the kitchen.

So besides the crust, pumpkin pie is pretty easy. You mix up some pumpkin filling, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, eggs, milk & molasses until it’s nice and liquidity.

I have a very well loved, hand-me-down KitchenAid Mixer. It’s not the prettiest thing out there, but it works. If you want to buy me a new one, I’ll make you a pumpkin pie, and maybe some cookies. But until then, I’ll keep trying to win one from the Pioneer Woman.

So it will look like this:

And if you’re lucky you will have your helper-dog underneath your feet for all of this.

Pour it into your pie crust – mine is not pretty. Thats what you get with homemade crust (at least mine)

Bake it for about 45 minutes and here’s what you’ll get:

It’s been very  difficult to not eat this.

I’ll let you know if it tastes as good as it looks!

Here’s what the days events will include – I’ll try and document anything interesting that happens along the way!

Appetizers

Salami Crisps with Sour Cream and Basil from Best of the Best – thanks Janine! These are a very cool series of cookbooks, so much variety in one book!

Artichoke Dip – Care of the Brendyl family for a fabulous wedding present. What new bride doesn’t want a few of someone else’s best family recipes!

Rosemary walnuts – also from the Brendyl family

Assorted cheese and crackers

I figure since I’ll be cooking all day I’ll get snacks set up early to munch on myself.

Dinner

Turkey – fresh from New Seasons. I’m also going to be trying their apple cider brine recipe before hand. Wish me luck.

Stuffing – Gonna wing this part of the dinner thanks again to New Seasons.

Mashed Potatoes with Pancetta and Rosemary

Roasted Carrots – Recipe from another great wedding cookbook present

Mom’s Squash and Pear casserole

Cranberry Sauce – Another recipe they were handing out at New Seaons but I can’t find it online. Yummy cranberries with orange, agave syrup and port wine.

Gravy & Rolls – nothing exciting here.

Dessert

Pumpkin Pie – all from scratch from a recipe from the best dessert place in the world – Serendipity

Me: Hey! Guess what next Saturday is.

D: Uhhhh, Gonzaga basketball starts?

Me: YES! Well, we had an exhibition game last week…

D: How did you do?

(because I greatly influence a men’s basketball teams’s performance)

Me: Oh ya know, won by like 40 points.

D: Were you playing a high school girls team again?

Me: Yeah, they are called Oregon State.

Boo ya! Score 1 Kimmy.

Go Zags.

I know this is from last season. The thing is we have like 3 returning players and therefore no highlights…