I got out of class 2 hours early and as I was walking back to meet up with The Husband I saw the most amazing sunset. We made a snap decision and decided to lickety-split down to Salty’s on Redondo Beach for dinner.
Ordinarily we cant afford to eat there but we just got paid and all the bills were paid and we were just really feeling impulsively optimistic what with the beautiful sunset and all. (Yay for camera phones, by the way. I snapped both of these pictures with my phone.)
So we wind down the hill to the beach as as we come in to view of the sea-wall it’s lined with couples holding hands and making out. It’s just all to cute and we both let out an involuntary “Aawwwwwwwwwww.”
Salty’s is worth the visit for the bread alone, but they seated us right up at the window with this amazing view, and after the sun went down we watched the jumping fish and the scuba divers ascending out of the water – too cool.
The food was amazing – we both went for the special – halibut over wilted spinach and red potatoes with a delicate hollandaise.
We had a great visit this weekend with Mom and Grandma. It’s so good to see the two of them doing so well. On Saturday night we went to dinner at the Caspian Grill for Persian food. Bill’s Judy joined us there as well so we had quite the little party. We had hummus, smoked eggplant and a yogurt dip to start and followed it with koobedeh, lamb kabob, tadeeq, gormeh sabzi, and fesenjoon (my favorite). Mom and Judy really loved all the food. I don’t think Grandma liked the stews as much, but she really enjoyed the koobedeh.
It’s payday weekend so we splurged on breakfast this morning.
We went to Wild Wheat Bakery and Cafe in downtown Kent. I love the downtown part of Kent, it’s so old school. The shops are all independently owned and it’s a great pedestrian area where you can walk from the library to a wide selection of cafes while shopping.
Wild Wheat is a european style bakery with the really crusty breads. The decor inside the cafe is very simple, but punctuated with pieces from local artists that are available for sale.
Mr. H had the eggs florentine which was garnished with tomatoes and dill (the dill really added something special.) I had Stollen French Toast. The stollen bread is made with hazelnuts, raisins and currants and then stuffed with almond paste, and then battered and fried like regular french toast. The edges caramelized perfectly, and the meal was served with fresh fruit and real butter. Its a sad commentary in our world when butter is a pleasant surprise. We topped it off with 2 lattes and got out of there for less than $30.
For Mr. H’s 30th Birthday, I took him out whale watching… well that was the idea anyways, but apparently the whales didn’t get that memo.
The tour went out of Friday Harbor, so we had an adventure just getting there. We drove to Anacortes, two hours north of home, and then took a ferry across to San Juan Island where Friday Harbor is located.
We tried to have dinner at Front Street Ale House, but the service was so slow – not so much the kitchen, but getting the attention of the waiter (the one with the flat brim baseball hat cocked askew) – so we asked for the food to go and ate in on the boat as it was pulling out of port. The food was a bit greasy, but not bad.
The tour company we used was San Juan Safaris, and I would definitely use this service again. Our Captian was an old sea dog that looked like he’d spent more of his life on water than land, and the naturalist was a young college student who had been born and raised on the islands. They were both very skilled at keeping their guest happy and engaged (there were 20 of us on board) especially after it became apparent that the whales were not going to make an appearance.
We saw lots of eagles and eagles’ nests, rhinocerous oclets (horned diving birds), harbor porpoise, seals, sea otters, and beautiful scenery. The most fascinating sighting was also the most grotesque, we came across a tiny island, maybe 20 feet in diameter, with two young bald eagles on it. In the water below were a seal and her newborn pup. By newborn, I mean minutes old. We came up right after ther birth. The eagles on the rock were displaying their pecking order, the older eagle was eating the placenta, while the younger eagle stood by patiently waiting his turn.
We got back to Friday Harbor in time to catch the last ferry back to the mainland. The 9:55 is the milk run stopping at every island on the way, so we got back to Anacortes by midnight. That 2 hour drive back to Auburn was exhausting.
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