Happy Birthday to Debbie (Da other Mom)

First event with the new camera and things went pretty well overall.  It was Mom (Benezra's) birthday and for dinner the 8 of us went to Barrolo in downtown Seattle.  

The menu was personalized with Happy Birthday Debbie at the top.  Nice move Larry!

This is the first of many expressions by Jeremy, and of course he's eating an olive tapenade (olives are his favorite).  Amy and Anthony were just taking pictures to test things and Jeremy was happy to make things less boring.

Jason ordered a whisky, Basil Hayden, and Anthony tried it as well.  Who doesn't like trying new whisky's?   It was delicious.  

Samara drinking a martini and Jeremy, well....being Jeremy.

Dad enjoyed the evening.  Thanks for dinner!

The Husky Hoops team was playing Georgia in 1st Round action and Anthony resisted watching it on his cell phone because his awesome wife DVR'd it before she left the house so they could watch it at home later in under 45 minutes.  They ended up beating Georgia and losing a close game to UNC Sunday.  They will be better next year when the Frosh's become Soph's.  Wilcox and T. Ross combined with I.T. could dominate.  So we digress.  Sorry.  

Selena was the first one to the restaurant after she walked from her and Jason's Fremont house to downtown and shopped.  Quite a walk, but she likes walking so whateva.

For anyone who hasn't been to Barrolo, you should try it.  The restaurant has an incredible atmosphere and the food was excellent.  And as a bonus it is not absurdly priced.  

Sometimes, Jeremy is a bit crazy like Charlie Sheen....

Always interesting to follow the conversations of the 8 of us...

One of the coolest decorations we have seen at a restaurant.  They just continue to burn candlesticks and the wax drips down into a funky shape.  

Yep, this look has Jeremy WINNING!  Looks like he drank a bit too much Tiger Blood at dinner.

After singing Happy Birthday to her, Mom got to blow out her candle.  Her dessert was quite rich she said but hey on your birthday you are allowed a good treat.

Wow, a smile and a good picture.  Thanks Mom!

Anthony ordered a Cannoli after Jason recommended it.  It was delicious!

Amy got pistachio gelato and loved it.  What is not to love?

Overall, a fun evening filled with good food and some laughs.  Hope you enjoyed your birthday Mom!

NEW CAMERA

So before a little person comes around and takes up all of our time and energy, we decided we needed to improve our stock of photography machines....aka cameras.  Specifically, we wanted something that takes better quality photos and has a faster reaction time - we don't want to miss the chance to document all those important moments because of the stupid built in delay on the pocket point and shoot camera.  After meeting with our friend Mo at Camera's West in Bellevue and doing some research online, we went with a Sony digital SLR.  It has great zoom and is way better than our current camera which surely will come in handy.  

Since we love our kittens we made them our first ever pictures....stunning, right?  Unfortunately, these didn't come out as good as we wanted, Amy blames the lighting and not having the right setting on the camera at first, but that's why we have the camera now instead of in June... PRACTICE!!

Holla.  Sark loves couch.  

DIVA!  Mute is so soft and cuddly.  But you already knew that.

Happy birthday to Da Mom

Lynn's birthday was last weekend (March 8th), so it was high time we celebrate!  We tried to surprise her with a gift that she'd been wanting, but it was one of those things you really had to get an opinion about before purchasing... so even though it wasn't much of a surprise, Mom got a large decorative mirror that she'll be featuring in her new Yelm home one day.  The surprising part was actually unexpected by all - even though she'd seen photos of the mirror online, in person she loved it that much more.  Score!  She's really excited.

Usually Mom wants a nice home cooked meal at our place for her birthday, but this year we changed things up and went to Salty's Saturday Brunch.  Mom and Dad hadn't been to a brunch quite like this before, so we thought they'd really enjoy it.  You know those buffets you DON'T go to because the food is never all that fresh or put out more than once?  Not this place.  Stuff is refreshed so fast you hardly knew it was running low, the variety is incredible and the food is out of this world.  All you can eat?  You bet your sweet ass.

The buffet was incredible....omelet station, crab legs, oysters, chocolate fountain, caramel fountain, a Bloody Mary Station (Anthony had a virgin Bloody Mary but it still was really fun to add all sorts of vegis, olives, spice etc.), and much, much more.  

The view of the Puget Sound was gorgeous as we saw downtown even though it was a bit rainy.  Right outside our window was a seagull.  Now this seagull was a big boy and he was chillin long enough for us to take some pictures.  

Here are a few shots of a plate or two, or twelve.....yes, you can see lox, Oreo cookies and strawberries dipped in chocolate, pretzel sticks and a green olive and hot pepper for good measure.  Pregnant lady must have been eating that plate.

Anthony had a pesto pasta made fresh with all the fixings..... delish!

The dessert area was 14 feet of tables filled with cookies, cakes, pies, pastries, things to dip into the sweet fountains, crepes, waffles, and tons of other stuff.  This was the best part of the whole buffet in Anthony & Amy's world.

Norman had a great idea....best way to get thru a food coma is to just give in and take a snooze.  Anthony joined him during the second DVD movie we watched (big surprise as he can never make it through two full movies in one sitting).  

Overall, very fun birthday.  Last one for Lynn before officially becoming a Grandma!

UW vs UCLA at Alaska Airlines Arena

Generally, once a year, Allan takes Anthony to a Husky hoops game.  This is the first year that the old Hec Edmunson Pavilion has been renamed as Alaska Airlines Arena.  

Proof on the floor!

Brandon Roy's jersey is one of only 2 that have been retired by the Huskies.  We hope he is able to come back from his knee surgeries.

The Huskies sure keep it Gangsta before the game.  Lots of special handshakes during player intros.

Coach Sark was on hand much like he normally is.

It was really an awful first half as the Huskies were down 25-24 and only made 7 shots out of 33.  In the second half, CJ Wilcox absolutely caught fire and had all 24 of his points in the last 20 minutes.  He hit a bunch of 3 pointers, 6 free throws and a couple other jumpers including 1 as the shot clock was expiring as he was getting fouled.  Alaska Airlines Arena really got loud as the Huskies made a run, took the lead and eventually won!  Anthony's record of attending games with Allan gets better yet again.  

GO DAWGS!

Collin's 2nd Birthday Party

Collin Stewart is officially 2 years old!  We can't believe it!  His parents, Maureen and Jon, threw his birthday party on Saturday the 26th (his actual birthday).  The weather had been pretty miserable leading up to the big day, so we were lucky to have the weather hold up enough for us to make it to the celebration.  

We should mention that along the way we made two quick stops in Bellingham - thse are must visit locations if you are ever traveling through the area.  One is the Fairhaven fish and chips joint that operates out of a red double decker bus.  Head into Fairhaven and you probably can't miss it.  SO delicious!  Then, what's better than fried fish?  Following up that fried fish with some fried dough!  That's right, doughnuts!  You've got to make a trip to LaFeens - apple and blueberry fritters the size of your head, and SO delish!  You'll find this amazing spot on Electric Avenue.  Yes, you read that right... Electric Avenue... how sick is that!?

Back to the real reason for the trip... Collin!  He is so adorable and well behaved, we just love him.  Granted, it was his birthday and he had very limited reason to throw a fit, but still, he's a great kid.  Here are some photos of him enjoying the day:

He's so into balloons!  This year he was really enjoying the mylar balloon, last year he was more into the hand blown ones.

Collin isn't super into movies, but he does love Cars... thus the Cars cake!  He was so excited for the cake but ultimately just wanted to play with the cars.  After some singing and photos, it was time for a quick cleaning of the cars... and the kid couldn't have been happier.  Who needs cake when you have toys!?

Collin's look of anticipation... he wants those cars...

Yesssss!  CARS!!!

Ok, I guess cake is pretty good too... he was pretty into the cake until he got a bite of just the lemon filling... then he was done.  So cute.

Collin got some pretty nice gifts, although he probably would have been just as happy if he'd just been given a balloon and two cake cars...  We can't wait to see him grow this year and catch up with him again at the big 3!

Battle Royale... with cheese!

It's been a while since we've gotten the battle crew together, so it was about time so something about that.  We had Nick and Sommer over for our latest showdown:  Battle Royale... with cheese!  Initially this was supposed to be a burger battle with boca or salmon burgers, but in the end it turned into a salmon burger dinner with fun condiments to choose from, a side of fries and cheesecake for dessert.  We don't really select a winner at these battles, so we just made this one especially informal.  

Before getting started we had to take a picture of all things that were cool (besides the 4 of us of course). This included all 4 of our iPhones (it may become a requirement for future battle inductees to posses one of their own, we haven't decided yet...).  Coolness, apparently, also included cold brewskis (ignore the bread that made it into the shot please), but most obviously included the new Blue Box Heat that Nick had only just recently acquired after a shoe trade.  We would have taken a picture of the shoes themselves, but they are too cool for this blog...

Time to get the grillin' goin'!  Salmon burgers with melted pepper jack cheese!

Condiment selection included fresh and thinly sliced organic heirloom tomato, avocado, onion, sriracha sauce, mayo, ranch, amy's secret sauce, ketchup and best of all... fire roasted and skinned poblano peppers!

Delicious burgers were had by all and accompanied by french fries with sea and seasoned salt.  For dessert, Sommer prepared a mascarpone cheesecake with ginger crust, garnished with fresh raspberries - all gluten free and delicious too!

Mmmm, cheesecake!  And so pretty!  It almost made up for the fact that Sommer shouldn't be trusted with knives and dropped our chefs knife on the floor... bad for both the knife and the floor, but thankfully missed Anthony's toe by just enough...  Sommer, you're officially banned from knife use in the Benezra household...

We all enjoyed our meal and had a great time.  Here you can see Nick as evidence to that fact... Anthony took pictures of the rest of us too... but they weren't blog approved (faces full of food, etc.)

Can't wait for next time!  Mmmm, what should we eat... I mean battle with next!!??

Palm Springs 2011

Anthony and Amy went south to Palm Springs to visit Grandma and Grandpa Friedman this Feburary.  It was a Monday to Saturday trip and there was much relaxing taking place.  

One major task we undertook: buying a new computer for Grandma and Grandpa.  Their PC was on the way to the grave.  Amy and Anthony took a hesitant Grandpa Henry to the Mac store.  We picked out the laptop and all the accessories and software and then while waiting to pay, Anthony met Ron Fairley (Seattle Mariners past and present color analyst).  We actually bought the computer thru his son who worked at the Mac Store.

During breakfast one morning, we saw a Roadrunner come right up to the patio of the condo.  

Over a decade ago, Anthony went to a seafood restaurant with Debbie. Larry, Jere, Selena and Grandma and Grandpa.  They took us there one evening and Amy's salmon was excellent.  Served over a bed of garlic mashed potatoes encased in a crispy fried tortilla of sorts with spinach... and did we mention the salmon was blackened?  One of her favorite fish preparations!

Anthony's Ahi tuna was delicious as well.  

During our stay we managed to get some time in the sun, a dip in the pool, a trip to the outlet malls and some good quality time with the Grandparents.  Overall, it was a fun trip, the weather was nice and it was a good break from being at home.