Happy President's Day!

Mike is off work today for President's Day, which was a happy discovery for him as we were driving home from dinner last night. He knew he had the day off, but he'd forgotten, and so it was nice when he considered that he didn't have to get up this morning.

We had a lovely evening last night at our Valentine's Day dinner. Of course, I took some pictures. If you're one of those folks who really doesn't want to see what people are eating, then you'll want to move on to the next blog. On the other hand, if you like that sort of thing, then I have some culinary eye candy for you. Sorry I can't give you the aromatic and gustatory experience to go along with it. Here's the view of the Portland city lights from our table:

If you look to the left of the image above, you can see the iconic towers of the Oregon Convention Center off in the distance. It's the same venue where the MQX quilt shows are held each year. Here are some daytime photos I took of it back in 2012 when I wrote this paragraph about it:

I love the Oregon Convention Center as a venue.  It is a fabulous structure.  I've lived in Portland long enough to remember when the convention center was built.  Its twin glass spires are visible all over the city and they have become an iconic part of the Portland skyline.  I tried to find some articles about this, but I was unable to verify my memory of the events.  As I recall, however, the original intent of the spires was simply to house the cranes used to construct the convention center.  When it came time to remove them, the spires had become a popular part of the skyline, and so they were incorporated into the design of the building.

It's always fun to see them at night when they are especially interesting and beautiful. Seattle has the Space Needle, which is very impressive. The Oregon Convention Center spires are Portland's interesting skyline feature...at least, I think they are. 

But to get back to dinner, I ordered an Apple Cosmopolitan cocktail. We were there just in time for the close of Happy Hour, so why not? It was yummy. Mike is a scotch drinker, and so he ordered his usual scotch on the rocks.

We had a lobster and shrimp spring roll appetizer with some sweet chili dipping sauce. Yum. I like spring rolls as an appetizer. They are nice a light and not too filling.

I was going to ask the server to take our picture, but Mike the Engineer got the idea that we could do it ourselves by propping the camera up on the table somehow. He was fiddling with that, and it wasn't going very well. The woman at the next table over apparently couldn't stand it any longer, and so she got up and offered to take the picture for us. She did good! (Thank you, some unknown woman!)

We brought a bottle of wine from our own wine cellar (translation: our basement). In Oregon, we can do that, and we only pay the corkage fee. It's a great way to enjoy an excellent bottle of wine without having to break the bank. Oregon wineries do best when they make Pinot Noirs.

So then we each had a side dish. Mike couldn't make up his mind, and so he had the "Best of Soup" while I enjoyed the "Apple Arugula Salad".

Here's Mike's soup. The one on the left is the lobster bisque, which is delicious, but also very filling. He chose wisely getting these little samplers. He said he liked the French onion best.

Then we were on to our main course. Mike chose prime rib, while I had the Pan Seared Scallops.

There's a little dollop of wasabi mashed potatoes under each scallop, and that wasabi cream was to die for.

And then we finished off with Key Lime Pie for Mike and Apple and Dried Cherry Crisp for me. I forgot to take a picture of it before I devoured it, so you'll have to imagine what it looked like before reaching this stage.

I've never met a "crisp" I didn't like.

So I've spent the morning reading email and recovering from dinner. Thanks to all of you who chipped in with your comments about the moon on the Duluth Trees wall hanging. Excellent ideas were offered up, and I'm going to spend at least part of today experimenting with placement and fabric choices. I'll probably end up using the silvery gray, but I want to see what a cream or pale yellow would look like as well.

This evening, I'm going to attend the Westside Quilters Guild meeting. I've attended their meeting once before, but it was so far north of where I live that I was kind of put off at driving such a distance at night. The fact that it was pouring rain that night didn't help either. Now they've moved their meetings to a location approximately half the distance it was previously. It will be raining cats and dogs tonight too, but the drive will be far easier, and I can take the back roads, bypassing a lot of traffic and stoplights. 

You know how I feel about rooms full of strangers, but I think this is going to be okay, and I'm actually looking forward to getting involved. There are at least two people I'm acquainted with who attend this guild, and so they aren't complete strangers. When I attended the first meeting, I found there to be a lot of energy in the room, and that is what I'm looking for in a guild. Tonight's speaker is going to be Janet Fogg, and so apparently there are some quality speakers on the meeting agendas as well. Here is a link to Janet Fogg's "Denim and Calico" quilt that was selected as a finalist in the "Embellished" category of the International Quilt Association's annual judged show back in 2006. I'm planning to be bold and join up tonight.

So that's my Monday agenda. Probably not going walking today since it is miserable outside. But hey, the power is on, and that makes it a very good day for staying in.