party weekend rocked.

dinner at the corson building was such an amazing experience. the space is so beautiful and quaint and lovely. brian shared our candle lit dinner(s) with 10 other strangers, whom were all very sweet people. we walked in and were immediately offered kir royales (framboise liquer, champagne, and with a twist). for the next half hour or so we mingled around the building perusing cookbooks on the chef's bookshelf, chatting in the kitchen, roaming the outside garden, and drinking more kir royales. three large tables fill the space each seating around 10+ people. the dinner is served family style so making conversation with your tablemates seemed easier than i had originally imagined

in no particular order we ate:

head cheese with crostini
scallops served with pickled meyer lemon rind
radicchio salad with porcini mushrooms and fried duck skin
arugula salad with chanterelles and anchovie sauce
manilla clams with green tomatoes and red peppers
skape wing with a brocolli sauce
roasted squash with a squash marmalade
roasted rabbit
apple tartine (not the word but something similiar) served with a housemade whipped cream.

everything we ate came with wine pairings. wines we drank:
charles schleret "herrenweg" riesling, 2001 alsace
da capo "mapli" ruche di castagnole monferrato 2006
foreau vouvray sec, 2001 chenin blanc
vizcarra roble, 2006 ribera del duero (temparnillo)
baumard "carte d'or ", 2005 coteaux du layon

i can't wait to return to the corson building.

on saturday, rachel took me to brunch at coastal kitchen. our waitress bought me a yummy mimosa and brought out a coffee cake with a candle in it! so sweet. after that we got our nails done. i picked out an awesome sparkly gold polish. we got ready at the house and the neighbies drove us to hazlewood. the drinks at hazlewood are probably my favorite in town. i drank delicious champagne cocktails the entire night. everything you can think of...bellinis, framboise types, even one with squid ink in it.

around 1145 we headed to the sunset for the velella velella show. we were right up front (well to the far far left of stage) and it was awesome. our whole crew of 15 people danced to the entire show. i had the best time!

along with my brand new super rad iphone that brian bought me i was gifted a bottle of rose from the columbia valley, a digital camera, beautiful earrings from last waltz, and many many drinks. seriously, best birthday ever. i feel so loved.

on that freak of woman sarah palin, i believe jon stewart says it best


its tuesday night. brian and i just got back from aaron's house. we watched the debates on aaron's sweet imac. the debates were less exciting this time around but that was predicted. aaron made a minestrone soup that was taken from a recipe book by the naked chef, jamie oliver. it was incredible, filled with tons of fresh veggies. julia made a delicious bread that was topped with shredded gruyere and then baked in the oven. brian and i brought a couple bottles of wine, one of which was a gift from a friend at work. the wine was a suprisingly light pinot noir from the san luis obispo region of california, although i have not had too many wines from this area of california i have a feeling i will explore more like it.

the weekend was great. friday night was a blast eating chinese food in the ID with regina and matt and then later consuming bottles of champagne. saturday we rented a cabin through washington state parks & recreation at the kitsap memorial state park outside of polsboro. the cabin was super cute. it housed a fridge, microwave, coffee table, bunk beds, and a futon couch. we were extremely close to the water so we visited often. "i wonder what the water looks like now" we wondered. the weather behaved perfectly and by that i mean it didn't rain, which meant we were able to have a fire that evening. the clouds rolled in and out but just clear enough that we could see the starlit sky often. i will make sure we rent those cabins more often this winter, it was an incredibly easy way to change up the weekend without having to go too far.