Just Breathe

Kent and I had a great week-end. New Year's Day we woke up without hangovers (I was the designated driver..how responsible of me). I made us a yummy egg and bacon panini and we sat around and relaxed. We were invited to two separate eating events, one traditional Scottish the other traditional Japanese. Let's just say that by the end of the evening my gut was freakin' out.

Our first meal was at 1pm, a traditional Scottish meal served by a long lost roommate of Kent's that he reunited with in the parking lot of a Dick's drive-in (sounds dirty, but it's a burger joint). The couple, Peyton and Aimee love to travel and this traditional meal of Haggis, Neeps and Tatties and Mushy Peas is a tradition for them. Peyton happens to be a pretty gourmet cook and he scoured the land for the ingredients of haggis, which is a dish containing sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally boiled in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours. Peyton came up with about 70% of the ingredients to make it, which by the way I don't really want to know were, but struck out and found a place in Oregon who ships fresh haggis. I will have it known that when they invited us over and told us the menu I said yes, we will come, but no, we will not eat. I've always been a sucker for peer pressure and Kent and I found ourselves be talked into trying it. The haggis was sliced and then fried and covered in brown gravy. I took all of 2 bites, but I did it. This wasn't on my NY's resolutions, but damn it, I'm penciling it in because who in the hell would have thought I would ever accomplish that. The Neeps and Tatties are basically mashed yellow turnip or rutabaga and potatoes. The mushy peas were mushy peas with a mint sauce. I liked the side dishes very much. It was a fun lunch complete with homemade creme brulee and good conversation.


I'm so bummed I left my camera, but here's something I stole off of wikipedia

After our first eating event we stopped off at my friend Susan's to see her no named baby who has since been given the name Jayce. He is just a little nugget who was sitting with dad and that was fine by us. Those brand new ones freak us out, so fragile! Our visit was short as we headed to our friends Chris and Shannon's house for Sukiyaki. I love this dish. It is basically very thin slices of beef in a yummy broth with vegetables, crazy vegetables that I don't have a clue what I am eating, but they taste great. You leave the table bloated like a crazy woman from all of the soy sauce, but it is totally worth it. Every time Chris's mom Sumiko comes to town I ask for a lesson to this dish, but I realize she doesn't measure, she just pours things in. I'm a cook only if I have an exact recipe.

The rest of our week-end was spent organizing, love it! and relaxing. It was so nice to have some time off to tackle some projects and then enjoy a movie. We went and looked at a couple of houses, but this is just not an easy task as housing is a nightmare in Seattle. I questioned if we should live in the suburbs, but I just don't see that happening. I'm so close to downtown that I could walk...not that I ever have, but the point is that I can. One house looked like it was 30 miles from downtown (an exaggeration, yes, but I could never walk that far). This moving this is sort of scary for me. I struggle with change, but it will be fun to live in a new part of town. More than likely we will be renting a home, which is fine as we will still have our current home. I hate the idea of paying a strangers mortgage, but it is a temporary thing. We are both breathing, relaxing, eating well and taking care of ourselves. This is our only job for the time being.