Why we started this idea????

A passion for food, wine, friends and entertaining is a big part of our life. This is a way for us to document our experiences, passion for food & life and also share it with others.




Thursday, June 30, 2011

Sunday Breakfast...Salmon Scramble with Mustard Sauce

On our gorgeous Sunday morning we were ravenous and still had a bit of left over salmon to finish up. We created what we'll call a Salmon Scramble with Mustard Sauce for breakfast on the patio.

It started with 4 eggs,  a little cream cheese, a bit of heavy cream, capers, fresh herbs and salt & pepper.


Into the skillet they went.

I softly scrambled eggs before gently adding the left over flaked salmon.

We toasted some English muffins.

G cut up some melon and washed some blueberries to add some fruit to breakfast.

I created a creamed mustard sauce by simmering some heavy cream and adding some whole grain mustard.

We topped the English muffins with the scramble, added  a bit of mustard sauce and fresh chives.

We enjoyed our tasty breakfast creation in the sunshine on the patio.

It truly was the perfect way to start a perfect weather kind of day.


Recipe:

Salmon Scramble with Mustard Sauce:
4 eggs
2 T. softened cream cheese
2 T. heavy cream
2 T. capers, drained
1 tsp. each fresh chopped chive & thyme
1 fillet left over cooked salmon
2 English muffins

Cream Sauce:
1/2 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
2 T. Course ground mustard

beat eggs with cream cheese, cream. Add capers, herbs & seasons. Butter the skillet. Add eggs to skillet and scramble softly. Fold salmon into eggs gently.

Simmer heavy cream with mustard until bubbly & thick.

Toast English muffins. Top English muffins with eggs. Top eggs with sauce and fresh chives.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Date Night in Tacoma: Primo Grill & The Grand Cinema

For principal appreciation week some of my staff gave me a gift certificate for one of our favorite local restaurants; Primo Grill.

We decided to make a date night out of it going for dinner and a movie.

Primo is a great local restaurant in the 6th Avenue district of Tacoma. We try very hard to support as many of the local businesses as we can in the area. Luckily Primo Grill seems to be here to stay.

Primo is a great little spot....with a small bar area (that has a superb happy hour deal)
and an open kitchen.

We started with the grilled bread salad. Which was delicious with

rich balsamic vinegar and homemade sausage. (...forgot to take a photo until we had half way eaten it..ooops!)

We ordered a bottle of Power Champoux Cabernet Sauvignon to go with our meal.

G had the Grilled rib eye special with arugula and fingerling potatoes.

I had the white salmon special served over a roasted corn salad.

(sorry...photo didn't do justice at all...was too close & it's far too dark in there.)

We enjoyed our dinner and our service very much.

Next it was off to the Grand Cinema. Another local favorite movie house that plays independent movies.

Unfortunately we were earlier than the 7:00 movie that we were intending to see so we went to the 6:35 movie instead not knowing that it was a Woody Allen movie. Neither of us are real Woody Allen fans. So the movie was pretty much a dud in our opinion. But the date overall was great.

Monday, June 27, 2011

The Perfect Sunday in Proctor

FINALLY we woke up to this...Sunny Blue SKY!

yes, it was a joyous occasion that we fully took advantage of in every way we love to do. (Can you see that blue sky? It doesn't look blue in this picture but trust me it was.)
(Here this photo shows the sky is actually blue a bit better than the previous one.)
As I've mentioned before one of our favorite summer time treats is to be able to eat breakfast on the patio (yes, it's the simple things in life that make us happy!) So we made a salmon scramble (more about that soon.)

and devoured our breakfast while enjoying the blooming beauty in our own backyard.






Our second favorite thing to do on a lazy, warm, sunny Sunday morning is take a long walk in our neighborhood...

This is the Proctor District where we live.

Now for Washingtonians Tacoma is considered by some to be Seattle's ugly step sister of the two largest cities in the state. But we love our neighborhood and enjoy it's beauty, especially so on a day like this.

As we walk up into the business district we pass the community garden.

We've always thought about getting a plot here but are gone so much in the summer we never end up following through with our thoughts.

We pass our two grocery stores

the newly renovated Safeway

and our favorite Metropolitan Market. If only we had a Whole Foods...but this is as close as we get without making the trek to Seattle or Bellevue.

We pass the firehouse..

which luckily is quite today,

the cupcake shop...

the historic blue mouse theater

our closest Starbucks

and Knapp's restaurant.

I have lived in the Proctor District for almost 2o years now..Wow..and there isn't anywhere else in Tacoma that I'd really want to live.

There is just something about walks like this whether it's for a purpose...

going to pick a few groceries, or a coffee or a movie, or just a leisurely stroll like today.



Our walk takes us passed Mason Middle school where my father went to school.

It takes us past Puget park which my niece & nephew used to call the "little park"
because it is so much smaller than Jefferson park that also walk to from our house.

It takes us over the bridge

and past the local nursery.


Down the massive 34th street hill, that we'd really love to own a house on someday



and along the waterfront of the Puget Sound.





We head back up to a part of town known as Old Towne to pick up a coffee
at a different Starbucks...

Which is directly across from one of our frequent haunts

The Spar bar.

We walk back up the very steep hills getting our exercise and some sunshine. Sadly a bit too much for Mr. L on this walk as he forgot to put sunscreen on his neck.

When we finally arrive back home feeling glad for both the exercise and the time in sunshine we enjoy a quite afternoon with nothing on our agenda. A true pleasure.

We decide to end our fabulous day with another favorite thing to do on a warm evening... with a bottle of wine by the fire on the patio.

Oh, finally a day like this arrived. It was starting to feel like summer might actually never come to the Northwest. We were so thankful it did at least for just this one day!