Movie date

Doug and I got a babysitter to stay with the kids while we took in "Objectified," a documentary about the design of objects and our relationships with them. It was directed by Gary Hustwit, who made "Helvetica."
It was cool to check out the flick and to see it at Northwest Film Forum. Doug felt right at home listening to the folks at IDEO (who he worked with at the d.school during our time at Stanford) and I found it interesting comparing the attitudes of male vs. female designers. Design is about problem solving, troubleshooting, making something functional yet beautiful without being obviously functional and beautiful--there is a huge variety of perspectives. It's fascinating to discover those attitudes, to throw those ideas around with your life partner and figure out where each other's sensibilities lie. But all in all, I'm fascinated with design and designers because I want to, in some teeny tiny way, make cool stuff like they do. I'm not talking about designing the next iPhone or making a dramatically efficient and sexy car, but it would be satisfying to continue to be creative. To take something from thought nugget to gilded road. I'm working on it.
I just finished reading "Julie & Julia," which is now a film starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. I really got into it at first, felt like I could identify with the author, Julie Powell. I felt like my trials, my desire, even my voice was simliar to hers. As I read on, I can't say that feeling stuck with me, but I admire her courage to take that leap-of faith, of folly, whatever you want to call it. She took a path. Although it was difficult, she stuck to it. I find that admirable.

At the end of the book Powell talks about finding one's way in the world. Her "Julie/Julia" project helped her to find the joy it takes to do that. It takes some bravery to face the road you want to take and even more to stay on it. So this is my thought for now-for my business, for my family, for the life I live and how I choose to live it: Be Brave.

Ground cherries

Here are few pictures of a sumptuous discovery at the market: Ground cherries. I've never tasted these little lovelies before, but after seeing one gentleman at the market with a bag stuffed full of them, I thought I'd give them a go.

You pop the papery casing off and out comes a tiny little cherry-tomato-looking berry. They taste sweet and savory at the same time. Em, Phee and I were downing these babies at the market, walking around the U-District, in the car-by the time we got home there were just a couple of handfuls left. Yum!

Saturday scene

After our space exploration, we decided to hit the University District Farmers' Market in search of goat cheese to put in these lovely little squash blossoms that a friend gave us from her garden. As much as I enjoy farmers' markets, this one is a little tight for me-a cramped space in a bustling neighborhood with tons of people. Lucky for us, we made a couple of great discoveries from vendors that don't frequent our market in Ballard.

Spaced Out

Since our visit to 826 Valencia, we'd been meaning to check out our very own 826 writing center. Conveniently located across the street from my hairdresser (and really at 8414 Greenwood), we hit the "Greenwood Space Travel Supply Company" after my latest trim.

We entered to find a rocket over our heads and dehydrated astronaut food on display. The space is smaller and a little more low-budget than 826 Valencia, but there are still fun toys to purchase, as well as McSweeney's and other Dave Eggers-edited fare.

Em enjoyed playing with a smoke-ring gun and a nerf-rocket launcher. Phee wrote in the "stardate log," nearly toppling over the table on which it was standing. At that point, it was time to leave. The new schedule of workshops and tutoring will be available next month. It will be great to get Emma involved there, working on her writing skills as a (gasp) 3rd grader.

Vive La France

By complete happenstance, the family and I had a full evening in our 'hood.

The girls and I were pretty exhausted today, staying home, taking it easy. I wanted to feel like we did something, however small, so after Phoebe's afternoon nap I got the girls into the van and schlepped them to the library. Doug met up with us and we hit Epilogue. (I am one of these people who goes to the library and various discount stores in search of my next book for book club knowing full well that it is unlikely to be there. I should really just jump on Amazon or put a reserve on the book as soon as I know what it will be, but of course, that would be far too easy)

The shelves were pretty picked over at Epilogue, but it felt great to be able to tell Emma that she could choose as many books as she wanted and not worry too much about the total. After we cashed out, we picked up our dry cleaning a few doors down and thought it'd be fun to grab a soft serve at Snacks!

But it was getting close to dinner time and we'd been anxious to try Bastille, so hey, why don't we just walk by and see if it's crowded? It wasn't. So there we were, on a Friday evening, out and about when ordinarily we'd probably be re-heating the bulgogi, tofu and rice that Doug's parents brought us earlier in the week. It was a lovely, unexpected surprise.

We've watched Bastille take shape for some months now, anticipating its opening each week as we walk by the construction while at the Farmers' Market. It doesn't disappoint. The black painted ironwork and white subway tiles set the tone of the Metro, accented by the faux-gas lamp fixtures and numbered pop-out lights on the pillars. The light fixtures from the ceiling have intricate motifs in a surprising cranberry color and the menu du jour was written in white dry erase marker on a few of the mirrors. And don't get me started on the clocks. Those super-cool illuminated clocks! The detailed interiors are spot-on.

Then the bread comes.

Accompanied by a ramekin of butter topped with sea salt, the bread, made by Grand Central Baking Company, was crazy delicious. Crusty but not tough on the outside, doughy yet airy on the inside and just unbelievably savory with that salted butter--I was in love.

But I was also a little irritated. I mean, how simple is that? To throw some salt on top of a huge block of butter. Of course that's going to be a hit! And why the heck don't we do that at home? Well, we are now, folks, that's for sure.

We decided to share a few small plates: Moules Frites, Grilled Octopus, Summer Pole Beans and Soup a L'Oignon. Em had the Mac 'n Cheese. Everything tasted fantastic. There weren't any of those, "Well, these mussels would be better if the sauce were a little thicker," or "The soup is too cheesy, not enough onion." The food was exactly like the interior-every element contributing to the whole dish without anything overpowering or overbearing, yet nothing lacking, either. So delicious.

If anything, the whole picture seemed a little too...uh, dare I say it? The whole picture seemed a little too beautiful for Ballard. I'm grateful to have a lovely place in which to eat lovely food. But looking around the restaurant, there seemed to be more people I'd see at Bellevue Square than the Ballard Locks. As a Ballard resident, I suppose all of this is only good for me. It really was a wonderful way to end the week with my family.

Because Phee decided to eat her dinner and then climb into the booth behind us, then shriek when one of us tried to hold her down, we thought it best to walk down to Snacks! for our dessert. I guess for me, that's the flavor of Ballard: Sitting in a parking lot behind a bar, eating a soft served ice cream cone.

Moules Lover

Pictures of Doug. 1) With the moules, or mussels, 2) Making his Julia Child 'savoring-the-food-face.'

"Bluebirds in the bluebells..."

If you know the rest of the lyrics to that song, you're an even bigger musical geek than me.

It's the song I thought of while we ate ice cream there this evening. Bluebird is the latest homemade ice cream shop to open its doors in Seattle. More specifically, they are located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, on Pike Street between 12th and 13th.

Our nearest ice cream shop is The Scoop@Walter's (32nd at 65th in Ballard). But this evening, when Phoebe came out of the kitchen pretending to slurp up "iiiiiiiizzzz kkkkeeemm" from a spoon, I was really hoping for a change of scenery. Since it was a rare evening when we were done with dinner before 7:30, we thought we'd load the kids up in the van and head to the other side of I-5.

Doug got the blueberry sorbet (beautifully violet, but too icy and crumbly to be tasty), Em got the snickerdoodle (perfect for a kid-sweet and cinammon-y good), Phee got vanilla bean (solidly 'good') and I got chocolate pudding (so creamy chocolatey that I wanted Bill Cosby to be sitting next to me with that pudding grin he's so good at). The flavors were fair, but I wouldn't say outstanding. Creamier texture than our usual favorite, Molly Moon's, but not nearly as hard-hitting on the subtleties the way MM's is. Good 'scream, but perhaps not enough to tempt us out on another rainy evening.

A side note: It must have been ArtWalk on Capitol Hill tonight because people wandered around, music blared and open containers were common. Upstairs in the Bluebird is a small shop, Snowmonkey's House of Monsters. They had a fun array of goofy stuffers, stationary and art. They also had this cool glass orb dispenser with multiple spigots. A glass with a silver spoon/sifter on top was under each spigot. On top of the sifter thing was a sugar cube. As the liquid dripped out of the spigot, it dissolved the sugar cube and filtered into the glass. Emma was quite taken with the spectacle of this magical orb, as was I. The glass orb fit in with the theme of the multiple-headed monster artwork, too. What was even cooler was the liquid coming out: Absinthe. I've never had Absinthe, but was more tempted to drink the concoction because of its elaborate preparation display than any promise of befuddlement. The hosts tonight were so gracious, offering the drink for free, or if you were willing, a small donation. I was tempted, but decided it might be better to keep on the straight edge while taking my kiddos out for "iiiiiiiizzzz kkkkeeemm."

p.s. The song is "Wonderful Wonderful Day" from "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers."

You can find a sample of the song here, but be sure to click on "Spring Spring Spring" because although I fully respect the good people at Rhino Records, their links are reversed for these two songs.