After the waterfall we had to decide what to do for dinner. I would have loved to try the Salish Lodge; we stopped and checked out the menu, but frankly I was not inspired. When plates start at $23, the description on the menu should make my mouth water. We decided to head towards Issaquah instead.
Gillman village is a cute little shopping center in Issaquah comprised of a grouping of cottages on a boardwalk. The shops are cutesy and charming, ranging from toy stores, to yarn shops to kitchen gadgets – there is also an Amish furniture store that made me want to refurnish the whole house.
Gillman village also has an assortment a restaurants, but the only one we have ever tried is Bamiyan Afghani Restaurant, because how could you pass that up?
Bamiyan was originally just an Afghan restaurant, but we noticed that they’ve added more traditional Persian dishes as well (Persian food and Afghan food are very similar). We started with the Ausht, which was an amazing creamy and savory soup – very rich. Then Mr. H had the koobideh which is one of our all time favorite dishes. Koobideh is a savory ground beef kebab, the kind of savory where it’s difficult to stop eating even when you’re completely stuffed. I had the fesenjan. Fesenjan is one of those dishes that lives on a continuum, in this case between sweet and tart. The placement on that continuum depends largely on family recipe and geographic origin of that recipe. I asked the server how tart the fesenjan was and she claimed it was not too tart. Fesenjan is a dish of stewed chicken in a walnut and pomegranate gravy. The tartness of the dish depends on the amount of pomegranate juice used. It turned out a little more tart than I expected, but I like it really quite sweet. Nonetheless it was very good.
For desert, Mr. H had the Firni (custard with cardamom and pistachios). I went with the Bastani which is ice cream made with rosewater and pistachios (we served this at our wedding with the cake). To top it all off I got to watch Mr. H rap with the staff in Farsi which always turns me on.
I got out of class early tonight and on the way back home, Mr. H and I were both trying to think of ways to get out of preparing dinner. Then Mr. H confessed that he got paid today – and we veered left into the parkinglot for Chihuahuas.
We live near Chihuahuas – and have for years, but for some reason we have never bothered to give the restaurant a try. How sad that we lived this close to such a good restaurant and didn’t know it.
I had the tortilla soup – the chicken was grilled to perfection, lots of vegetables, fresh avacados and the broth was very savory. I only got half way through the bowl and I was stuffed.
Mr. H had the fish tacos, and judging from the effort I had to exert to try to get a bite, they were pretty good. (I did eventually get a bite, but it was only the tiniest corner and mostly cabbage.) Mr. H was also quite pleased that his O’Douls was delivered with a frosted mug.
The flan did not live up to the standards set by the rest of the meal, but it was good nonetheless. We’ll be back.
I got off work a little early today so I met up with Mr.H at Uptown Espresso (highly recommended by the way). We putzed around Belltown for a while trying to decide what to do and then wandered over to the Pacific Science Center to check it out. As it turns out, the displays were all closed (apparently some kind of kids camp/overnighter going on) so we decided to check out the IMAX instead.
The film was narrated by Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet, and Danny Elfman did the music. I am seldom disappointed by any movie scored by Danny Elfman.
I had never been to an IMAX film before – the size of the screen is astounding. And this one was 3D, so they handed us funky little glasses as we entered the theater. It took a little bit for my eyes to adjust to the 3D, but the film was stunning. I was completely riveted, although there were a few moments where I wished we were sharing this with my 6 year old nephew (I can just picture him with his mouth wide open in amazement). I usually complain that films are too long, but this one is 45 minutes. At the end we both though “that’s it?” We wanted more. All in all, I would recommend the film.
We watched two movies tonight. The first was “War of the Worlds” with Tom Cruise. The movie was exactly what I expected it to be – but Spielberg is so skilled with tension and pacing, it kept me rivited throughout.
The second movie was really interesting. “Murderball” is a documentary about parapalegic rugby and the lives of the players on the American and Canadian teams. This is more than a warm fuzzy “people in wheelchairs are people too” movie. These guys are fascinating, and as you get to know more about the players and their life stories, you get so much more caught up in the rivalry between the teams which takes an interesting turn at the Olympics in Greece. Great film – I’m going to watch for these guys at the next Olympics.
After the death of his mother, Damian is obsessed with saints and martyrs, and visits with them, asking each if they know his mum, Saint Maureen.
Damian builds himself a castle/rocket ship out of boxes down by the train tracks and a bag of money falls from the sky. Damian’s brother Anthony thinks they should invest the money in real estate and tries to get the brokers to take him seriously while Damian tries desperately to drum up some poor people to do good to.
All of this takes place during the countdown to the change over to the Euro, which would render cash in pounds worthless.
The photography was stunning and the music magical. The movie is best through the first 20 minutes, it loses some of it’s grace but deftly manages tension during the climax, and the ending is a flight of fancy fitting only to Damian. Alix Etel in the lead turns in a great performance, he has heartbreaker written all over him.
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