An Oktoberfest Cooking Class with Sheena the Punk Rocker

halloween punk rocker costume
halloween punk rocker costume
Me and my punk rock daughter “Sheena”

 

Halloween Note:

All of Seattle wore a costume to work on Friday, October 30th and my daughter was no exception. She dressed as “Sheena the punk rocker” and had no time to change before the cooking class.

Me: Hi, nice to meet you cooking classmate, this is my daughter Alex, and whispered (she’s wearing a costume).

This is Seattle after all, “Sheena” fits in quite well. People in the class were not quite sure how to approach Sheena, however they were very nice and when I shared with them that this was her costume, they seemed a little relieved.

Hot Stove Society
Hot Stove Society – Photo courtesy of Sheena (Alex Stavert)

WEINERS! BIER! SCHNITZEL! An Oktoberfest Cooking Class!

IMG_3198

 

Just under the wire on October 30th we attended an Oktoberfest Cooking Class at The Hot Stove Society in downtown Seattle. Hot Stove Society is a year round cooking school operated by Tom Douglas Restaurants. They offer curriculum that offers a wide range of classes from light hearted and sociable, to ones that are more challenging. My daughter Alex (Sheena) and I drank beer, ate homemade pretzels, sampled delicious bratwurst, Weiner Schnitzel (yum) and Classic Raclette. Who doesn’t love melting cheese?

Read more

Happy Thoughts About Long-Term Marriages

seflieinmaui
Our Maui selfie, taken on our anniversary trip last week.

 

Allow me to declare that any and all anniversaries should be celebrated! Any time a married couple begins another year together it’s fantastic. Long-term marriages are an important milestone and I wouldn’t be me unless I said we also need to find adventure in life too!

Aren’t we all looking for hope? Hope for a great life for our families, for ourselves and for our friends. On social media I see where “likes” of happy things way outnumber the negative. I actually just scroll past the negative. You and I both know that negativity is floating about, I just don’t need to focus on it, but that’s just me.

hugging in the cornfields
In the cornfields in the Pacific Northwest, a couple of years ago

Read more

The Beauty of October in Seattle

multicolor leaves of fall on one tree


IMG_4033

“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

I know that I am not alone when I express how dazzled I am by the beauty of October. The miracle of autumn takes your breath away, doesn’t it? Who isn’t enchanted by the spectacular changing leaves bursting with color, carving plump pumpkins and enjoying the apple cinnamon scent of hot cider. The college football schedule keeps us very busy this time of year and we plan family suppers like delicious chili and belly warming soups. Sunday pasta dinners with homemade marinara sauce are a tradition for us as well.

Read more

Jacques Pépin’s 80th Birthday Bash With Tom Douglas

Jacques Pépin is a culinary icon, a husband, a father, a grandpa, a best friend and just an all-around wonderful man with a sexy French accent. As long as I have loved the food world, I have loved Jacques Pépin. I started my culinary journey, thirty years ago, as a newly married woman, soaking up every …

Read more

Gone to Maui …

  We have up and gone to Maui!  For our 31st wedding anniversary we are checking out the brand new Hyatt Residence Club in Kaanapali, Maui. Someone has to do it. We promise to think of you as we drink a Mai Tai or two watching the magnificent Maui sunset. I will be back in a …

Read more

Four things I’ve learned from living in Seattle for one month.

Road Trip to Seattle
Road Trip to Seattle

 

It has been almost exactly 30 days since we started our #6monthsinSeattle adventure.

We drove for three days and nights from California to Washington and the drive was (mostly) fun.

I have already learned lots of great things about the city as well as myself from living in Seattle just in one short month!

1. I can live with much less “stuff”.

We started this whole downsize to a smaller house adventure and I knew that we would need to purge our belongings because the new house is half the size of the old one. We ended up storing about two thirds of our personal possessions in storage and kept one third to be used in the new house.

While we were renovating the house and had to move out, we then hatched the brilliant plan to move to Seattle, to be near our daughter after nine years of living apart, in an urban high rise… in a teeny tiny apartment.

We then had to pare down our belongings even more because of the lack of room and closet space in our apartment. Evidently, I can live without a great deal of what I already own.

In one month, I have not longed for or whined for any of my other clothes, dishes, glasses, books, etc that are packed away and inaccessible.

Read more

Photo Friday: Are you a cloud watcher?

cloud watcher Seattle

  Cloud watcher – Do you love that term? Are you a cloud lover? Do you marvel like I do at the formation of clouds? I was looking through my photos and found so many with clouds as the subject matter. I giggled and thought, I cannot be the only one who admires the beauty of …

Read more

Park Hyatt New York: Where Luxury is Personal

The living room in our suite at the Park Hyatt New York
The living room in our suite at the Park Hyatt New York.

Our recent experience at the Park Hyatt New York was so dreamy that it felt like we had stepped into a design magazine cover shoot. The hotel was sleek and exquisite, with cool, polished marble floors and soaring ceilings. Supreme accommodations that included all of the amenities a discerning traveler expects. As our personalized iPad suggests, “luxury is personal” at the Park Hyatt New York.

Read more

A Walk Through Central Park in September

IMG_2542

It was September and still very warm in New York City. The day prior, we spent a memorable 10 hours at the US Open and endured some heavy rainfall and high humidity. We woke up Sunday morning to powder blue skies and lush green trees and everyone was headed to Central Park. It still felt like summer and the leaves had not started to turn quite yet.

Central Park is beautiful any day, any season in my opinion. Blooming spring flower gardens, hot humid summers, fall trees, profuse with color and even charcoal grey days in November make me happy. In November in The Park, I have witnessed spooky trees with gnarly branches and no leaves, but I still think it is one of the prettiest parks ever.

Read more

We're Honored to be featured By:
FlipKey2