Seattle Patriot

Watch the all new, world premier of my video ALL FOR ONE, here! After I got my new computer, Ben showed me its awesome new power of making DVDs out of photographs, videos, or whatever other kinds of media one might have on one’s computer. This one is basically a slideshow set to music of a selection of some of the races the girls and I ran over the past year (hence the trochanteric bursitis)

I hope you enjoy it – please feel free to respond with feedback and suggestion for future films!

This month’s Culinary Club visited marjorie, a tiny, tucked-away little restaurant toward the north end of Belltown.

If you’re not looking for it, you might walk right by and never know you passed, but if you keep a sharp eye out on 2nd between Bell and Battery to the west, you’ll spot a tiny restaurant, whose entrance opens into a tiny alley, where patrons sit for hours enjoying the (purposefully?) relaxed pace of service, gentle evening breezes, white lights tucked in trees that stretch over tables and forty feet into the air, and candle light once the sun goes down. Caveats: marjorie is not a restaurant to visit if you’re in a hurry. Our meal took about 2.5 – 3 hours in total from start to finish. They could speed it up for you, most likely, but why hurry? Also, this is not the place for large parties. Outside seating cannot accommodate more than 4, and indoors looked pretty tight as well.

marjorie was, in my opinion, probably the best restaurant we’ve been to so far in the 8 months Culinary Club has been going on. So let’s get to the food! The cocktails were refreshing and tasty, but pricey. The margarita (Ciara’s choice, and the drink for which the restaurant is most famous) rang in at $12, and the mojito (my selection) was $10. Both were served in short glasses.

The “Trenchtown,” served in short glass as well was also good. Although it was never clear what the actual alcohol in that drink was, it was described as a being made from sugar cane, and as a sweeter version of rum. It tasted very much like a mojito, with a slight and mysterious scent of tequila.

Our table ordered 2 $30, 3-course, pre-fixe meals (one vegetarian, and one “meal-lovers”) and two $45 “Chef’s whim,” 5-course meals that change nightly to the Chef’s, well, whim. Last night he/she was on his/her game! Each course was very small in volume, but absolutely packed with flavor. We all shared a half-order (plenty!) of plantain chips (sort of like long thin potato chips) with an avocado, onion, pineapple, lime, and herb dip. So flavorful and light!

The 3-course pre-fixe meals:
Course 1: Simple Salad; field greens in a light balsamic vinaigrette, which was just a bit salty (not in a bad way).
Course 2: Polenta (vegetarian – this course and selection received the lowest rating of the evening with 6 out of 10) and tri-tip (carnivore) (cooked medium rare, as ordered!) with asparagus tips (which I usually don’t like, but here even they were great!), and golden potatoes
Course 3: Rhubarb tart; fantastic – flavorful, delicate crust, with a sort of lemony ice cream/sorbet on top.

The 5-course Chef’s Whim taster menu:
Course 1: White salmon; incredibly tasty. (Cooked medium-rare, so if you like your salmon cooked through, you’ll need to specify…)
Course 2: One scallop. One very tasty, tasty scallop with a delightful honey sauce of some kind
Course 3: Pallet cleansing mango sorbet
Course 4: Lobster over lentil ragout. The lobster had a bit of shell still on (no biggie) and the ragout was surprisingly flavorful.
Course 5: Creme Brulee with rhubarb atop.

Everything was wonderful, and we would all go back again (and can’t wait to!). Bottom line? Go to marjorie – it will not disappoint.

Last night I participated in a panel which, evidently, the richest man in the world (give or take) decided was worthy of his time. That’s right, about seven other Lakeside alumni (including one Mr. Jeremy Lazowska!) and I participated in a panel at Lakeside (scroll down to the May 17 posting) describing our years at Lakeside, offering advice to parents of current and incoming students, answering questions in front of the public, the head of school, college counselors, and apparently Bill Gates as well. Unfortunately, since he came in after our discussion had begun, I didn’t get to see him. My sister and brother-in-law were also in attendance and clued me in after the fact. Well, I suppose it is all for the best since the anxiety level and perhaps content of the commentary I made might have changed dramatically had I been aware of and thereby star-struck by his presence. I expect that was a once-in-a-lifetime occurance!

Pictures from today’s festivities with the family at the annual Seattle Cheese Festival. We ran into Carmen who was handing out some very tasty new Cheddar/Gruyere hybrid – so good! The lines were long but the cheese was tasty and way more filling than one would think. The last photos are from our last stop at the newly remodeled Seattle Art Museum.