Remember how on Valentine’s Day I tried to be all romantical by taking Mike to Red Lobster?  That day, our plans were side-lined by an epic 2 hour wait.  At the time, I promised Mike that one day we’d return and he could find out if the the food was really as good as the commercials make it seem (though I warned him it wouldn’t be).  When I said that, I was thinking that “one day” would end up being a day far, far into the future.

Well, fate intervened in the form of a Media Manager named Erica, who found our little blog (isn’t Google wonderful?) and read about Mike’s disappointment.  She asked us to email her and offered up a chance to try Red Lobster again, but this time on the house.  And not only did we get free food, but she sent us TWO $25 GIFT CERTIFICATES to give away to our readers- all 3 of you!  (You can enter by commenting on this post- I’ll give details at the end of the recap.)

So this past Friday night, Mike and I headed out to Lynwood to enjoy the bounty of the sea.  I was armed with my general sense of food snobbery, while Mike had a look of hope and wonder in his eyes that I just don’t get to see often enough.  Le sigh.

Yes, it’s Lobsterfest!  Evidently this is a MUCH BIGGER DEAL than I was ever aware of- there was a 1 hour wait.  However, WE had reservations because we’re special.  Of course, Red Lobster doesn’t usually take reservations, so when you walk up to the host and tell him that you have reservations, he just looks at you as if you really are special, and then you have to explain that a marketing person set up this very special meal for you and you really do have a reservation.  Then he gets a look on his face that basically says “oh yeah, I do remember the manager saying something about some crazy people coming in for a special dinner or something- who does that?” and he sends you to be seated.

I totally tried to come into this with an open mind- just like I had tried to encourage Mike to not let his expectations get TOO high, I was trying to set aside some of my own preconceived notions.  I mean, not EVERYTHING about chain restaurants is bad- who doesn’t love the corncake at El Torito?  And back in high school and college, there were few things I loved more than the portabello mushroom sandwich at Cheesecake Factory.  And even today, if you stick an avocado eggroll in front of me, I’m eating that shit STAT.

The waiter came over while we examined the menu.  He could see that we were totally overwhelmed and asked if we wanted anything to drink, which we declined.  He then asked us if we were POSITIVE that we wanted to pass up their “world famous” Lobsterita.

Lobsterita?  Seriously?  I don’t care what that is, I’m ordering it.  Because the name is crazy.  And because it’s free.

Then he brought it out, and I burst out laughing.

SERIOUSLY?  It was HUGE.  And sweet.  And blended.

So Mike dug in.

We ordered our food.  Just looking around, we were both intimidated by the sheer size of the entrees, so we decided to split an entree and some appetizers.  This was a good idea.

The Lobster Lover’s Dream- “a succulent rock lobster tail and sweet split Maine lobster tail, roasted and served with shrimp, lobster and langostino linguini Alfredo.” Overall…  it was…  okay.  It was the first time I’d eaten lobster and thought “this really needs the butter.”  It was just a bit more bland than I’m used to.  The langostino bits in the pasta was better than the lobster.  Mike liked the rock lobster.  The broccoli was NOT covered in butter, which was nice.

A side of crab legs.  Not great.  Mike loves crab legs (and is a champion at sucking meat out of them- you should buy him some crab legs just for the pleasure of watching somebody act truly efficiently.)  The ones I made when he and An and Jaime returned from the motorcycle trip were MUCH better.

Bacon-wrapped scallops- these would have been okay (I mean, they’re scallops that are wrapped in bacon) if they hadn’t been completely drowned in some way too sweet peach jelly sauce.  Way too much sweet, almost no salty.  Sad.  Mike’s review of the coconut shrimp was succinct and accurate- “They taste the way coconut shrimp are supposed to taste.”  That’s generally a good thing.

The absolute highlight of the meal- CHEDDAR BISCUITS!  These are as good as I remember.  Mmmmm…  cheddar biscuits.  I was kind of sad that they only brought out two at a time.  I mean, seriously, THIS is where you choose to show some restraint?  Oh Red Lobster gods, must I remind you of the Lobsterita?

If you’re going to give me a 72 oz (this may be a slight exaggeration) of high fructose corn syrup + tequila, you might as well bring me out a bucket of cheddar biscuits as well.

There was no dessert.  I mean, they offered the typical fare- a chocolate cake thing, a giant cookie with ice cream on top thing, some cheesecake, an apple pie or crisp or something, etc- but honestly, we had just consumed about a quart of butter.  There was no need for dessert.  (Speaking of dessert, if you live in Seattle and want a really good dessert, check out Barrie’s crazy enthusiastic review of the gourmet ding dong we ate last week.  You see the way she describes that thing?  That’s passion.)

Overall, it was somewhere in the middle of our expectations.  I had enough to eat, and aside from the general butter slick in my mouth, I had no negative side effects.  Mike, who just wanted to live inside of one of those damn commercials, wasn’t blown away like he wanted to be.  If there was another free meal offered, I’d go.  But if we really are craving lobster, we’ll either make it at home, drop a bunch of money somewhere fabulous, or go to an Asian seafood restaurant where we can eat really delicious lobster for a really delicious price.

I feel kind of bad not raving about it, because they did give us a free meal.  But honestly, people were lined up outside the door, waiting in the cold for the same meal we ate- obviously, they do something right.  So while it may not be for me, some people really dig it.  When I talked about it with our waiter, who had been there for going on 6 years, he told us about an older couple who drives 3 hours from CANADA every Sunday afternoon during Lobsterfest.  To me, that is crazy.  But they obviously dig it.  (Also, I kind of want to meet them- don’t you?)

OH- now for the most exciting thing of all- it’s time for our very first blog giveaway!  YAY!  We’ve got two Red Lobster $25 gift certificates to give away.  If you want one, just leave a comment below telling us what your most favorite chain restaurant guilty pleasure is (everybody has one, own it), and we’ll draw 2 names randomly next Wednesday, March 17th at 8:00 pm. One answer per person please. Make sure you leave your email address so we can tell you about your fabulous prize.  Good luck!

My two besties, Mary and Scott, have been talking about planning a vacation for months now.  We have almost everything pinned down- time off from work has been secured and budgets are fairly well figured out.  However, there is one tiny little issue still remaining- where to go.

The original plan was Iceland, but I think we’ve all decided that we need something a little…  warmer.  We had decided on Argentina at one point, but then Scott had the nerve to get an assignment at work that kept him committed to stay in New York through March, and airfare went up by $400 or so in the meantime.  Total fail.  However, the world is a big wonderful place and we still have lots of options.  Here’s what we’re looking at right now-

• Peru- Definitely intriguing, but we are worried that we may not be able to do the Inca trail this year thanks to recent mudslides.  Lima would definitely offer some actual city life, which could be a good thing in between hiking and exploring.
• Costa Rica- I feel like everybody I know has been to Costa Rica lately, but they all seem to dig it.  Pros: We could gets lots of suggestions of what to do and where to go; also, it’s supposed to be ridiculously beautiful, it has the cheapest airfare on our list (at least for me).  Cons: Possibly too touristy, more expensive to get around.
• Panama- Mary found this awesome article that describes Panama as a “more rustic” Costa Rica.  I would love to see the Canal and do some island-hopping, but I know absolutely nothing about Panama otherwise- not that that is necessarily a bad thing.

So those are the main contenders- does anybody have any experiences or opinions?  Weigh in!  Make decisions for me!

February is over in 2 hours, and my posting this month has been lackluster to say the least.  But since there is a tiny bit of time left, I’ll get one last yay/boo post in before it’s over.

• YAY!  I feel like I got a lot accomplished this weekend, even if most of it was mundane- cooking, groceries, laundry, cleaning, working out.  I live a glamorous life, yo.
• BOO!  The weekend over.  Already.  I really am missing that string of 3 and 4 day weekends I enjoyed earlier this month.
• YAY!  The past week was filled with lots of good eats- a donut sundae and fancy ding dong at Table 219 with good friends, surprisingly good deep dish pizza at Kylie’s (which was made even MORE delicious by the fact that we had a 50% coupon, so dinner was $12) and a pretty decent dinner I made for our landlord- pancetta-crusted halibut, mashed sweet potatoes with sage, roasted cauliflower with cilantro-pepita pesto and carmelized onion flatbread.  I am very full and happy.
• BOO!  I forgot to take pictures of the spread I made tonight.  Total fail.
• YAY! Even with some incongruities with the utilities (I may have forgotten one account was on auto-pay and double-paid), we successfully were able to up our savings this month.  Goal reached!
• BOO!  The trip back to California at the end of the month that I was looking forward to is looking like it’s not happening.  Utter sadness.
• YAY!  This Tuesday I get to skip out of work early because of a launch party for the new shopping experience we launched last month.
• BOO!  Tomorrow I have to skip out of work early to get a filling.  Fail.

In summary, February was stupid busy and March is promising to be even worse, but there are lots of good things coming down the pipeline.  I’ve got a new side project in the works- details coming soon- and this Friday, we have a brand new (and rather hilarious) blog-venture coming up.  I won’t share too many details now, but let’s just say it involves Lobsterfest and a very exciting first for our little blog- a real-deal giveaway!  (This is basically the blog equivalent of being able to wear big-girl panties.  We are now officially a big deal.  (Not really.))

Throughout February, Mike and I have been conducting an experiment in frugality.  If you’ve ever even talked to either one of us for about 2 miliseconds, you know that this is quite possibly the most challenging thing in the entire universe for us to do.  I mean, we are a lot more financially responsible than you’d expect- in the past year we’ve managed to eradicate credit card debt (the stuff we accumulated from fixing up our house in California and stockpiling an array of hobby-related expenses), we don’t have any student loans hanging over our head (thank god), and we do actually have a reasonable rainy day fund that will keep us covered in case of a sudden emergency- but honestly, neither of us are ever going to be poster children for the financially conservative (sorry Dad).  We like stuff- we like eating out, whether it’s the dope new hotdog place we discovered by accident last Friday night (seriously, I hate hot dogs and dug this place- it’s a total hole in wall, run by an old Asian man, decorated with random kid’s drawings and tiny plastic chairs, and they have frozen yogurt) or somewhere fancier; we like clothes and shoes; we like STUFF.  But even with those constraints, we’ve tried to be extra good this month and see if added savings can motivate us to be a little more responsible in general.

And so far so good- we have seen our savings grow, which feels good and is better for us in the long run.  And it hasn’t been TOO terribly difficult- we still ate out, though less, I concentrated on being responsible with grocery shopping (read: less “ooooh I NEED a block of pink Himalyan salt right now!” and LOTS of leftovers, which was made easier by the fact that I’m getting a whole chicken every other week from a local farm- I am getting GOOD at making that shit last); I still spent money on gym stuff, including signing up for Crossfit classes (which I need to do a post on by itself, because wow, talk about excercise that targets stuff I’m really comically bad at, like catching things and jumping), and we still saw the occasional movie and leave the house.

But sometimes when I think about ways to save money, all it does is make me think of things I want to buy.

So here is a list of stuff I’m currently obessing over.  Maybe listing it will have the opposite effect and make me hug my wallet instead.

• A good french oven.  I’ve been obsessed with braising things lately, and my craptastic stockpot isn’t thick enough to get the job done properly.  Obviously, my first choice would be an orange Le Crueset model, but I just can’t justify spending the money on it.
• Red hair.  I’m bored of being blonde again, but I’m hesitant to commit to the frequent touch-ups that dying my hair darker entails.  I’m thinking generous lowlights, but no streaks.  I’m trying to find a picture of exactly what I want, but haven’t had any success so far.
• Totally impractical, amaze-balls heels.  Like these.  Or these.  Or these.  Maybe it’s just because my google reader is jammed with fashion week slideshows, or because I’m totally obsessed with Kell on Earth right now, but my heart swoons over the though of some fantastic heels every time I walk by the display windows at Bloomie’s and Nordstroms.  Not that I would even be able to wear them anywhere ever because I walk so freaking much, but a girl can dream.
• A vacation.  This one doesn’t really fit in here because I am going to take one of these, but the details haven’t been worked out quite yet.  But come March or April, I’m going somewhere.  Maybe Iceland.  So I can sit in a hot spring, eat pickled fish and walk on a glacier.  (If anybody has any other cheap airfare/awesome vacation ideas, please share.)

• Our friend Ben sent me this picture because he knows how much I love fat Asian kids.  Seriously, I cannot look at this picture without squealing.
• A professional chef to come and teach me how to hack up a chicken.  You know how I said I’m getting whole chickens from a local farm every other week as part of a CSA?  Well, I totally love the chickens- this week I even got positive reviews from the boy when I used it to make a psuedo-chicken masala- but cutting them up into 8 or 10 pieces when you don’t want a whole roast chicken all at once is hard!  I’ve watched about 50 videos on YouTube telling me how easy and quick it is, but I still always end up in a full-on wrestling match at some point with one stupid joint or another.  If ONLY I had had some interest in this when we lived down the street from Mike’s mom, who can disassmble an entire chicken in about 30 seconds while wearing platform stilettos and telling you which plastic surgery procedure would make you look way more attractive.  Then the only cost would have been my self-esteem.

That’s everything I can think of at the moment.  There’s more, but I need to get back to work.  *Muah.

There is a vital question weighing heavily on Mike’s shoulders.  One that he’s been carrying around for weeks now.

Tucked?

or Untucked?

(Note that his head is not included in this picture.  Because nobody reading this blog knows what Mike looks like, right?)

I think the pressure of his upcoming birthday (we’re about 5 weeks out from the big 2-9) has him questioning if he’s ready to make this big, very symbolic step.

Discuss.

How do you say Happy Valentine’s Day to your one true love?

I know, you’re jealous.

But yeah, this year I decided to take charge of Valentine’s Day plans.  Considering how low the bar is usually set, it’s not that hard to do exceed expectations.  We just aren’t Valentine’s Day people- I don’t have an actual vase for flowers (those are still in storage in our house in California), Mike doesn’t like chocolate and I lack the self-control to keep it around the house. As for restaurants, those usually scare me on Valentine’s Day- too many people, too much waiting, too much planning required for Mike.

But this year, I decided to break my rule and tried to really surprise Mike with a trip to a very special restaurant he’s been talking about going to for like, years.

(Mike refused to pose in front of the sign and only let me take this picture if he could pretend to be nonchalantly talking on his phone.  Because that makes the whole scene normal.)

Some background on how we ended up at a Red Lobster 25 miles from our house on Valentine’s Day: Mike calls me a food snob- this is mostly true.  He, unlike myself, appreciates chain restaurants in a way that makes my skin crawl.  He talks about burgers at Rubys with an enthusiasm that makes you almost want to eat there.  Most of his family’s most important meals took place at Black Angus.  It’s really entertaining, but kind of terrifying when you realize that he’s not joking.

But one chain restaurant he’s never been to is Red Lobster.  For whatever reason, Mike has never partaken in Lobsterfest or All You Can Eat Shrimp-o-Rama (or whatever it’s called).  But he HAS  seen the commercials, and he really wants to believe that the commercials tell the truth.  He’s spent the last 2 years trying to talk somebody, anybody really, into going there with him, but nobody will ever go.  So this year, to express my love, I decided to suck it up and surprise him with a trip to Red Lobster.

We left the house at 4:30 and proceeded to drive 30 minutes to Lynwood, home of the nearest Red Lobster.  I hadn’t told Mike where we were going until we drove up to the restaurant (which, unsurprisingly, shared a parking lot with an Olive Garden).  As soon as we drove up, he started claiming that he totally knew what the surprise was going to be.  Lies.

What did surprise us, but probably shouldn’t have, was that there was a 2 hour wait for a table for 2!  Evidently Red Lobster is the very definition of romance in Lynwood.  I mean, with signage like this, who could resist?

Seriously?  Zagat, we need to talk.

Unfortunately, even Mike couldn’t hold out for 2 hours, even if it would have meant a giant bowl of cheddar biscuits as a reward.  I promised him that we would return one day (hopefully a LONG time from now), and we headed back to the city for another super romantic dining option- hole in the wall Chinese food.

Nothing says love like an empty Chinese restaurant!   Especially one with a really strange name- Jack’s Tapas Cafe.  I still have no idea why they even put the word “tapas” in the name, but their hand-shaved noodles and scallion pancakes are so super delicious that I don’t really care.  I was soon full and happy, and I was with a guy I kind of dig.  Even if he sometimes has truly terrible taste in food.

There are few things in the world that make me as happy as visitors, especially really old friends whom I love bunches and bunches.  And bunches.  So when Elizabeth emailed me last week saying her husband had a job interview in Tacoma and she was going to be tagging along, I immediately made plans to hang out.  Well, first I squealed and clapped (yes, I’m part seal), and then started making plans.

Elizabeth and John arrived yesterday afternoon.  As a bonus, Shaina (Elizabeth’s childhood friend and my birthday twin), drove down from Vancouver with her brand-new fiance, Kevin.  It was like getting a two-for-one coupon for chocolate or something.

As usual, I had spent hours thinking of ways to entertain everybody and had made absolutely no actual decisions.  Thankfully, Shaina had told them about the Experience Music Project.  John and Elizabeth are both music nerds (back in California, John was in a punk band and played at their wedding reception last year), so the decision was made.  (I LOVE visitors who come armed with interests.)

We found street parking (VERY valuable anywhere near Seattle Center) and wandered around.  We were able to point out all the major attractions, like the Space Needle, the Key Arena and the giant fountain where crazy Seattlites let their children play in whenever the temperature is above freezing.

This time though, besides the normal teenage skateboarders and precious toddlers risking pneumonia, there was also this chick:

Evidently, she was in the middle of her very own photo shoot.  And she was workin’ it.

Keep in mind, we may be in the middle of a “warm spell” up here, but for Seattle in January, that means it’s about 55 degrees outside.

Mike was obviously more than a little amused by the show.  The rest of us..  well, I think our faces say it best.

Yeah.

We finally made it to the EMP.

Bad news: It was 4:15 and the place was closing at 5:00- not nearly enough time to make it worth the cost of admission.

Good news: The staff took pity on us and let us check out some of the exhibits for free.  Score!

(Yeah, I look cross-eyed in this picture, but Elizabeth looks cute, so what the hell.)

Once we got kicked out of the museum, we headed to Green Leaf for some pho and further catching up.  I ADORE Elizabeth and John and was super happy to see them again- keep your fingers crossed that the interview goes well and they end up in Tacoma.  It’s not quite as good as them being our neighbors or anything, but it would be really nice to have some old friends near by.  (Actually, the idea of Elizabeth living 40 miles away from me in a slightly more industrial and smelly town will be extra comforting, considering that pretty much describes exactly how it was back in high school, when she made the commute to Orange County every day from Chino Hills.)

- Alain de Button, Author and Philosopher

Ever since Christmas and the apparently cursed trip back, I’ve felt out of sorts.  I’m not good with change in general (it’s something I’m trying to get better at), but ever since that trip, I’ve felt like there have been too many things flying at me all at once and I hadn’t been able to catch a single one of them.  (This is a particularly good metaphor if you’ve ever actually seen me try to catch something- my lack of hand-eye coordination is not exaggerated.)

But then this weekend, sometime around Saturday evening/late afternoon, I suddenly felt like things were starting to get back to normal.  It was one of those odd moments when the tiny voice inside of me suddenly said “ah.”  Maybe it was the fact Mike, who had just picked up a book on mountain biking trails in Western Washington (at the LIBRARY no less- yes, we finally got freaking library books), was setting up the indoor bike trainer thing I got him for Christmas and I find something comforting in watching him tinker around with bikes, or maybe it was the fact that both of us had some actual free time during the past weekend thanks to some big projects at work finally wrapping up, but I finally felt like the universe was giving me a brief whisper of reassurance again.

It’s not that I think that everything is suddenly going to be easy from here on out- I’m never that optimistic.  (And truth be told, shortly after I had this nice sunny moment, we futilely tried to go see Avatar, which we didn’t know was sold out until after we had paid for parking.  Ugh.)  But I’m starting to feel on kilter again, and that says a lot.

And since I’m in such a fuzzy wuzzy mood tonight, here are some other things that make me happy.

Met a friend for breakfast on Saturday at Homegrown, where they give you a mini cup of oatmeal with every breakfast sandwich.  Mini!  Oatmeal!  What could be better?

Mike complimented my cooking.  In a public forum.  WTF.  (And in case you’re wondering what goes into these inspirational tacos, it’s leftover roast chicken simmered in store-bought salsa thrown in a corn tortilla with cheddar cheese and some so-old-they-might-have-been-icky leftover beans and grilled onions and pepper.  Yup, that’s what I have to do to get positive feedback around here.)

This graffiti by my bus stop makes me immeasurably happy.

Things I’m totally crushing on lately:

• I was excited when I finally got a Snuggie for Christmas (I think my brother was sick of me always talking about it, so he finally gifted me with one.  I’m wearing it RIGHT NOW.)  But then I saw THIS:

Hello perfect Valentine’s day present.

• When I was home for Christmas, I talked my dad into giving me his pressure cooker.  They don’t use it and I read one too many articles about how BPA in canned goods will kill me (or make me fat).  I was initially a little scared to actually use it- the idea of a kitchen appliance that could potentially blow up our house was a little bit intimidating- but then I made black bean soup from dried beans in 20 minutes and was instantly in love.

Tonight I used it to cook hulled barley (note: NOT that pussy pearled stuff).  Combined with collard greens, sweet potatoes, sausage and carmelized onions, I made the best dinner I’ve made in a week in 35 minutes.

So.  Freakin’.  Good.  Plus I have lunch for the rest of the week.

• Speaking of food, I have been obsessed with dates lately.  It’s a problem.  I can’t stop eating them.

I actually made a really good faux dessert the other day with chopped dates, cocoa powder and almond butter- it tasted like fudge and was less guilt-inducing than what I usually crave.  Unfortunately, while it’s completely delicious- it totally tastes like fudge- it also looks like poop.  So I can’t take a picture of it until I figure out how to make it look a little more presentable.

That’s all.  I’m off to bond with my Snuggie and eat some more poopie chocolate date surprise.  Night kids.