Date Night

Last weekend was a 3 day weekend and G was gone at a conference last week so this was the perfect weekend for a date night.  We are very blessed to have a great babysitter and she was available on Saturday night so off we went for a little couple time.

It was a simple date and a great little restaurant called Stickers in the Sellwood area of town.  We timed are arrival perfectly and were able to get a booth that looked out onto the street so we could watch people as they walked by.

We started with drinks (martini for me and beer for G) and some wonderful dumplings that were rolled in a wonderful coconut peanut sauce topped with scallions and cilantro.  They were heavenly!

Next I had the Pad Thai and G had Kung Pao Chicken.  Both dishes were packed full of flavor

When we were done we walked around the neighborhood - its such a great neighborhood.   We would live over there in a minute.  I don't want to live their when I work in Hillsboro however.......not thanks to that drive.   But we have looked there before and who knows what the future holds.   When we got back to our car I wondered what the people parked next to us where doing.  Oh well they full on had a glass pipe and were participating in a little known herb that is not technically legal in the state for another couple of months.....funny for me.   That's Sellwood for you.....

When we were done it wasn't time to go home yet!   We decided to head back to our neck of the woods and go to a nearby bar and listen to some live music.  The couple performing was great, low key duo - perfect night cap.

We came home and rented The Imitation Game.   Great movie and I can see why it was nominated last year for Oscars.   If you haven't seen it I recommend.

Our next date night is yet to be determined ...  maybe when we are at the beach with my parentals ... at our old stomping grounds at Salesian.

And the journey continues.....

Super

So being that they week was a busy one G and I decided just to chill at home for the Super Bowl.  I knew it was going to be a good game but I didn't have a dog in the fight so I was fine with just hanging out at home.

We ate in "courses".

First course:
Smashed up a couple of avocados and added some cumin and salsa.  Served with some chips and a nice cold CocaCola.



not the prettiest dip but it was yummy


Second course:
Wings!  Just baked these at 375 for about 30 minutes with a little salt, pepper, and garlic powder.   Served with BBQ sauce & homemade ranch dressing (added some sour cream to make it thicker) and carrots and celery




Furry one LOVES carrots so that's what she was after

 
Third course:
Hot Dogs!  They are Nathan dogs - my favorite.   Cooked them in some beer.  Soaked some red onion in milk (makes them not so oniony), G grated some cheese, and sliced some tomatoes.  Yum! 

Then after the game we watched The Help. This again was one of those movies that I think you will enjoy more if you have not read the book.  If you read the book I think they missed the whole point of Skitter and her relationship to her "Nanny".  The cast however was great and really did make the movie for sure.   I would definitely recommend.

Lights, Camera, Action

We went to the movies with some friends this weekend.   And the movie we saw left me ..... well confused.   We saw Tinker Tailor Solider Spy.   I'm all for a good spy movie full of Brits - and Colin Firth to boot so why not.  My only concern was that it might be violent.   My only concern should of been that I might not know what in the world was going on.  Some in our party thought this was the worse movie they had ever seen, I will not make that statement.  I enjoyed the acting and to be honest I think they movie would of made more sense had I read the book.   Which I just might try and do.   There were parts in the movie were it felt like things were skipped.  I mean we have all been in movies where we read the book and thought - they left out this - but we can still roll with the movie because we read the book.   This I believe is the situation with this.  Gary Oldham was good - not sure if he should win best actor for the Oscar good but he was good.  And Colin was his usual adorable self.  Not worth the $15 dollars but I would not discourage others from renting this one.   Who knows you might get it.

Also, this weekend we rented Moneyball.  I must preface this by saying:  not a huge Brad Pitt fan, not a huge Jonah Hill fan, not a huge baseball fan.   Why, you might ask, would I rent this movie?   Its based on a true story which I love and everyone said it was a great little story.  I enjoyed it (remember this is shortly after the Tinker Toy fiasco) and I thought it gave some great insight into the world of sports namely baseball.  We paid $1 for it and it was definitely worth that.

As long as we are talking movies I will tell you some I've seen lately that I did enjoy.

The Descendants - yes it is set in Hawaii and yes George is in it in all his glory so really how could I lose?   But honestly it is a great story.   You laugh and you cry a little in this one.   And I of course loved the music as well.

On rental I would recommend:   Super 8 (great kinda close encounter of the third kind meets stand by me) and Mr Poppers Penguins (not anything like the book but a good little film with no violence and penguins!)

Ok that's all I got for now....enjoy!