Homemade Baby Food

Julie used her Beaba baby food maker for the first time last weekend. She made zucchini. Julie said that the zucchini tasted very good, almost buttery. You can see the pretty green color in the photo and Adam clearly liked it.

Nanaimo Bars

During the Winter Olympics, our local paper published a story about Nanaimo Bars. We made a batch of them yesterday and they are quite tasty, but very rich. This dessert originated in Canada and is named after the West-Coast city of Nanaimo, British Columbia. The bar originated in Ladysmith, South of Nanaimo in the early 1950's. The traditional bar consists of a wafer crumb-based layer, topped by a layer of light vanilla or custard flavored butter icing, which is covered in chocolate. Variations of the traditional Nanaimo Bar involve mint or mocha flavored icing. We made the traditional version.
Similar desserts are found outside of Canada, particularly in New York City. Nanaimo Bars can also be found in Austrialian coffee shops in large cities.

Geocaching in 2010

Susan and I combined our trip to Suncadia (see previous post) with our first Geocaching adventure of 2010. Before leaving for Cle Elum, we printed out two caches that were located close to the resort.

The first cache, named Fork in the Road was the furthest from the resort so we found it before meeting Bruce and Marie for lunch. This hill is located near the cache. There is still snow melting along side of the roads near Cle Elum.

We saved the second cache for after lunch. This one was a little more difficult to find as the signal was not as strong, but in the end we prevailed. This cache is named Broadcaster Fish and it is located just of the John Wayne Trail shown here.

Suncadia Resort

Susan and I met Bruce and Marie yesterday at Suncadia Resort for lunch. It was the first time any of us had visited the resort, which opened in 2008 and is located near Cle Elum, WA. When the resort is fully staffed, there are five dining options. This is the off-season so our options were narrowed to either the bar or dining room in the lodge. We ate at Portals, the lodge dining room. The lodge is beautiful and the views of the surrounding mountains are stunning.

I could only get a very small section of the lodge in the picture. Guests can rent rooms in the lodge, which has 254 suites and penthouses, and one or two bedroom units. Guests can also stay at the Inn at Suncadia or rent condominiums or vacation rooms.

It would not be difficult to find something to do at Suncadia. There are two award winning golf courses at the resort with a third currently under construction. There are miles of hiking and biking trails, swimming pools, fitness center, spa treatments, ice skating (winter only), boat and scooter rentals, fly fishing excursions, river floats and much more! We stopped and watched some little kids try to ice skate. You can rent skates right next to the rink.

We checked out the Swim and Fitness Center (shown below), which has an indoor pool, rooms for classes such as Yoga, a water slide and a large fitness center.

There were several outdoor fire pits located around the resort, all with some type of seating available.

I would like to go back and visit the resort in the summer time when they have an outdoor concert and cinema series.

Sage Restaurant

Last night Susan and I tried another restaurant in Yakima. The Sage Restaurant and Wine Bar was the OpenTable.com Diners' Choice winner in 2009. Shortly after the restaurant opened, some of Susan's friends went and were not impressed, so we decided to wait a bit before we went. Since it was a Thursday evening, there were no crowds and we walked right in without reservations. I ordered the Ladies Thursday special that included a starter, half specialty salad and a dessert. The starter, Cranberry Orange Shrimp was just wonderful and big enough to be a meal all by itself. The shrimp salad was great and had so many pecans that I could not eat all of them. My only complaint was the Molten Chocolate Torte that for some reason was missing the lava. Susan ordered the Pacific NW Pot Pie and tried the White Chocolate and Berry Bread Pudding. YUM! She couldn't eat all of her dinner either. We liked the food and enjoyed the atmosphere.

Moving to Pittsburgh

Tommy, Julie, Adam and Luke are moving from Orlando to Pittsburgh. Tommy has taken a new position with Fairmont Hotels and he has actually been in Pittsburgh for the last couple of weeks. This week Tommy and his Dad drove down to Orlando to pick up Julie, Adam and Luke.

On the drive up North, they stopped outside Savannah for lunch. I don't know what Adam is looking at, but it sure has his interest. After taking anti-anxiety pills before the trip began, Luke appeared to be drunk but at least he was calm.

Adam sleeps in the car, bless his heart, so when they stopped for the night in North Carolina, Tommy and Julie took him to the pool for his first swim so he would sleep at night. He loved the water as you can see.

ANNIE

Last night Susan and I went to the Capitol Theatre to see Annie. This musical is part of the 2010 Best of Broadway season in Yakima. After the Thursday evening performance the musical heads to The Paramount Theatre in Seattle for an extended run. Our favorite performers were Mackenzie Aladjem (Molly), Madison Kerth (Annie) and Lynn Andrews (Miss Hannigan). This show is worth seeing if it comes to a theatre near you.

Construction Update

Construction has begun on our new home. To date, the sub-floor, walls, plumbing, insulation and heat vents have been built. Keep checking for more updates.

The Carousel

On Friday February 5, Susan took off work early to help me run some errands. It is very unusual for her to get home early on a Friday evening. Like most cities, restaurants in Yakima fill up early on Fridays so we very rarely eat out on Friday. We took advantage of this opportunity and went to The Carousel in downtown Yakima. Susan and I are continuing our quest to go to every restaurant in town and I had not been to this restaurant that offers French Cuisine. Susan ordered Pork Tenderloins with Shitake mushrooms while I tried the Crab-stuffed Salmon fillet. The food was good and we splurged and had dessert - Cherries Jubilee that they made right in front of us. We had a very nice evening.

Mom's Coyote

Ceramics is not what it use to be. Mom has been experimenting with new techniques in ceramics while in Arizona this winter. She made this coyote using a process called Horse Hair. The greenware is put in the kiln and when it is done, horse hair is placed on the item while it is still very hot. After the item cools, the excess horse hair is scraped off and the item is wiped with a wet sponge. Wiping the cooked hair leaves a smokey effect. To finish, a clear glaze is put over the entire piece. It is not only interesting, but very beautiful.