A Father's Day Apple Pie

So... it was Father's Day and we were taking Norman out for a nice steak dinner... something Amy can't make for him at home... but she still wanted to make something special for Dad... so why not Apple Pie? One of his favorites!

"Gosh," Amy said, "I have 5.5 pounds of tart apples... what should I make..." Oh, how about the biggest apple pie man has ever seen?
So it started with the crust. She had to make that in two batches with her 4 cup mini food processor... hey, it was better than if she only had a magic bullet... so after making the crust and letting it sit over night... it was time to make the pie crusts (Ma, like "time to make the doughnuts") Let's just say that $hit was hard as eff to roll out... phew...
Then it was time to place the pie crust in and cut off the excess...
Then time to peel, core, chop and slice the apples - this formula calls for chopped and sliced apples to give it the huge size...
Oh yeah, it was LARGE... there it is next to our canisters for indication...
Don't forget to dot with butter, then time for the fun upper crust! Individually cut pastry hearts... where's the love? Somewhere inside the 4 hours of hearts...
Egg wash, sprinkle with sugar and chill for one hour...
Then it's time to bake that baby...
And TA DA! The 5.5 pounds of apple have been reduced, literally, to this mountain of apple pie! Enjoy!!

Father's Day with Brelsfords

So for Father's Day this year we decided to take Norman out for an excellent steak dinner. We picked Ruth's Chris in Bellevue.

Lynn ordered the 6 oz Filet and the 8 oz lobster tail. She also picked a sweet potato side dish that tasted like dessert. It had pecans on top and tons of sugar and butter.
Norman ordered a huge Rib Eye steak and sauteed mushrooms.
Anthony wanted the garlic encrusted halibut with the mushrooms.
Amy got the chop salad and shared with Anthony, as he shared with her ... like always. We all shared an seared ahi tuna appetizer too.
We had a great time, they headed back to the house to watch a movie with the folks - Surrogates. Who doesn't like a good Bruce Willis flick, right? Anthony, apparently, because it was sci-fi... but he'll live... :) Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Nana and Papa 55th Anniversary Party

As made evident by the title of this post, Nana and Papa just celebrated their 55th Anniversary! Congratulations!! They thought, and rightly so, that this was cause to get the whole family together so we all met up at Daniels in Bellevue for a lovely meal together.

We started with some apps, nuts and drinks. Below see Anthony's good lookin' martini.
Selena and Jason were there, of course, and sat at the "kids table" with us. Aww, they are so cute... and Selena is blonde now! We think even blonder since this photo too...
Of course Ali and the Khaleds were in town so we got to see them too...
Here's Amadla and Brian. We were talking about music and how much Brian loves Tool... Anthony does too! What a co-ink-e-dink!

Here's Mark, Cindy, Gayle and Ellen... we were waiting for Nana and Papa to cut there anniversary/wedding cake...Isn't that so cute?
Here's the honored couple with Anthony and I...
The Khaleds with Nana and Papa...
Famularos with Nana and Papa...
Benezras with Benezras... Debbie and Larry to be more specific...
More Benezras with Benezras... Michael, Cindy, Brian, Mark, Stacy and Ellen (technically there are a couple of non-Benezras in there... but I don't know their last names...)Debbie and Anthony... Mother & Son photo op...
Amy and Debbie...
Cake cutting!!
Cake eating...
Aunty Vi, Papa, Nana, Elaine and Mike...
And the whole family!! Ali, Mohammed, Gayle, Brian, Cindy, Larry, Debbie, Amy, Anthony, Michael, Stacey, Jason, Selena, Mark, Ellen, Vi, Papa, Nana, Elaine, Mike and Amandla. Jeremy, Samara and Hannah were not able to make it because they were out of town... sad :(
Congratulations, Nana and Papa, and thank you for a wonderful evening and some lovely memories! We love you!

M's game 6/18 Cliff Lee is so amazing

On the way to Safeco field Anthony saw a warm puppy dressed up like a hot dog.
At Pyramid, Anthony saw some dude wearing these foot gloves instead of shoes. Doush.
The first wearing of Anthony's heat outside the house.
Taylor (Daddy J's) daughter also had some sick kicks on.
Cliff Lee pitched and again dominated. He went all the way for another CG. 7 more K's.
Mercer Island's own Joel McHale threw out the first pitch. For those of you who do not know this dude, he is the host of The Soup.
Doush move dude.....seriously.
Taylor, Daddy J and Nicky D.
That's a few bills worth of heat for sure.
Yes, that is 64 K's and 4 BB's. That is a 16:1 ratio which is ridiculously good.
Once a game you can always catch an angry Nicky D shot...here it is again.
Cliff Lee is so excellent. At the beginning of every inning, he runs out to the mound, grabs the ball, makes arm circles and then does the motion of a pitch on the back of the mound. He is meticulous and does the same routine every time. Anthony will miss him when the M's trade him.
Not all that often that this happens.....a Mariners win!
There is the star of the game!

Kitties will be kitties

So the kitties are mellowing out a little... but not quite to the point of sleeping more than terrorizing...

Just go about your day and the cats are always getting in the way, but that's ok! Like below... it was time to organize, so we got out some boxes to put stuff into... and BAM sneak attack ninja kitty comes along to organize herself...

Then of course Sark wants a turn...

Hey, I'm just hanging around yo!

And one of Mute's favorite things to do is to climb on top of our paper bags in the closet and go to town. Sometimes she chews them, sometimes she sleeps on them... but typically it's about the terror and not the peace... silly girl!

Teattro with Jere and Samara

For Jeremy's Birthday, Samara (his lovely girlfriend for those of you who don't know) wanted to surprise him by taking him to Teattro ZinZanni. She invited us along and since Amy had never been, we decided to give it a shot. We got there first, checked in and waited for the birthday boy to arrive...

Surprise!!
We ordered drinks and hung out, then finally it was time for the show to start! Dinner is made a part of the show, and while we didn't take pictures to prove it, dinner was phenomenal and the show was awesome! We had a great time... and the drinks didn't hurt...

Then it was time to check out the gift shop area. We kept trying to pose with masks on or something fun, and the Gift Shop Nazis kept stopping us... but we were able to get a few shots before getting caught... SO EXCITING (said not so seriously...)

Ooooh, cheap merch for high prices... and not worth owning too! Cool!

Oh, is anyone surprised that Jeremy found a way to juggle on his special night? Not us!

Yes, try on the purple gloves, good choice! This was just before Jere found the dog toy and put that in his mouth... oy vey!

They would only let you take pictures with stuff once you bought it, so we bought a Doo Poof for Amy and she posed with it... for some reason this little poof really made her night... and that was good cuz she'd gotten laid off earlier that morning... the evening was a great distraction and we had such a great time with Jere and Samara! Thanks for a fun night guys!!

Oh wait, you didn't like that pose? How about this one?

Or this one?
Much better...