Christmas

Christmas was good.  It was nice to spend time with the family but of course it wasn't complete with out Janelle.  She is in Minnesota until the 30th.  Mom served up some fantastic food. Of course we played apples to apples and the snow was beautiful!  Bo enjoyed chasing snow balls but he could never find them, this is what he looked like after trying to catch one.  

Tonight is my last night at Canlis, there is excitement and sadness as I move on to a new chapter of my book.  I just finished applying for my first position as a law enforcement ranger for summer work after the ranger academy, how exciting and scary.  For those of you who don't know the academy starts Monday and will take place at Skagit Valley College in Mt. Vernon.  I will be staying there 4-5 nights a week. A church friend introduced me to his parents to stay with them while I am away from home.  Janelle and I drove up to meet them last week.  They are such nice people, the whole process of this academy is a blessing and I look forward to new relationships ahead of me.  It will be hard with out my number one fan but I am excited!  Janelle is going to drive up to Mt Vernon for New Years, that should be a lot of fun!

A night at Canlis!

Janelle and I went in for a final dinner at Canlis as an employee.  Walt Wagner the pianist and a friend was playing that night (He played at our wedding, for all you who were there).  Pepe made us some great drinks, Janelle started with her favorite, a sidecar and I had the maple old fashion.  My next drink was a creation of Pepe's, with brandy, lime and some other ingredients, it was great!  We ordered the steak tar tar as a starter app.  Nothing like raw beef, great cocktails and beautiful piano music, what a start!  After that Brian Canlis moved us to a corner table by the window (table 35).  I have served the table many times but I had never realized what a beautiful table and view it was, don't get me wrong all the tables have a amazing view (which never gets old to see).  We requested Wanda to be our server.  She had trained me as a server and in my eyes, she is the best!  She has been a server at Canlis for around 20 years.  She is also a good friend!  I ordered a beet salad for Janelle and I had the crab salad. Beet: gold and red beets, creamy goat cheese, Hawaiian heart of palm, watercress, citrus vinaigrette and chive oil. Crab: dungeoness crab, avocado vinaigrette, papaya, parmesan crisp and french green beans. mmmm good!  We then had a mid-course meal, (set up by Chef Jeff Taton, who has been there 27 years another good friend) it was the day-boat scallops pan seared golden brown, with a cauliflower puree and a lime, crouton and caper vinaigrette, AMAZING!  We took our time and enjoyed the whole scene.  For our main course Janelle had the muscovy duck, with scalloped potato, persimmon puree and a veal demi-glaze.  Somehow it also had a half of the Australian lobster tail, WOW.  I ordered the Australian Lamb Chops, with Isreali Cous-Cous, Oregon blue cheese, Swiss Chard and a Lamb and Pancetta Au Jus. Again it showed up with a half lobster tail, half a American Wagyu tenderloin and Foie Gras, Oh my Gosh I was in heaven!!! I forgot to mention the side of truffle fries and forest mushrooms (Thanks Josh) Phillip, the Somm, set us us with a perfect match in the new Peter Canlis Syrah from Buty, 06!  After dinner we moved back into the lounge to enjoy Walt as we ordered dessert.  Of Course we ordered the  "What I like to call: The Canlis Doughnuts!!  Beer and rum battered doughnuts filled with hot apples and bourbon buttermilk sauce to dip them into, accompanied by pumpkin ice cream!!! Somehow a Milk Chocolate Espresso Mousse with choc. Almond Cake Caramel espresso and Mascarpone arrived as well.(Thank you Ryan and Chef Neil)  Heaven again!!  Janelle ordered the Clover Coffee, specifically the Sulawessi (thanks Jackson), which is so flavorful.  (Everyone watch out for the clover machine to come into your town, it makes amazing coffee).  I went to the scotch list :) Brian Canlis came over to take my order and check in on us and set me up with a, I want to say 23 year old Port Ellen Scotch, that isn't made anymore.  It was amazing!! Janelle even liked it, and she doesn't like Scotch.  Janelle and I had the most wonderful experience, we felt so special!  Thank you Chef Jeff (Cheffrey), Wanda, Pepe, Ryan, Phillip, Jackson, Chef Neil, Josh, Walt and Brian Canlis for making my last employee night an unforgettable one!!  (Thank you to the whole kitchen team and front of the house as well, I know everyone plays a role!) WOW!

Night Dive!

So last Thursday Morgan and I went on a night dive hoping to find our large friend the Great Pacific Octopus.  We have found him during the day sleeping in his den but that isn't too exciting because he is huge and we want to see him out and about.  So we know the octopus go hunting at night and sleep during the day.  Finally I had a night off of work and we decided to go try and find him, we were also hoping to find a 6 gill shark which our known for feeding around 80 feet in the Puget Sound area, specifically around Alki.  So hopes were up, it was below freezing outside and I am in a wet suit so I knew it would be a cold finish to the dive.  We were in the water around 9:45 pm, the tide was fully out.  It was pitch black dark underwater, only being able to see where your flashlight shined.  If you turned your head to the right or left it was like looking at a black wall.  We saw some cool fish, the ground was alive with crabs, starfish, prawns, and shrimp.  As we were heading to the octopus den I saw a large grayish color hovering above us, Morgan hadn't scene it yet (wimpy light) my heart jumped, my first thought was it was a 6 gill shark but quickly I figured out it was a seal.  A old friend told me at night they would sometimes hunt off your light.  The seal looked huge!  It got lower to where Morgan finally noticed it, he stopped and froze.  It then grabbed a crab off the the ground and quickly disappeared into the darkness.  Morgan looked at me with a "What do we do now look". I quickly figured out he either didn't get a good look and wasn't sure what we just saw or he had no idea seals like to hunt off lights.  We continued on and after a minute, sure enough the seal reappeared, held for awhile, hit the ground (I think this time he got a prawn) and vanished into the deep dark abyss.  Morgan looked a little fragile for awhile, we found the den and he let me get down on the ground and peek into it.  I saw a little risen sut in the water but no octopus.He must of recently left the den.  I was curious if he was swimming near us watching us, this 10 plus food octopus.  They are very curious.  We kept a look out for him, I even carried around a de-pinched rock crab incase we came across him or the seal.  I have seen video's of octopus taking crab from divers.   That was disappointing we never saw him but we both had already saw a first with the seal, so we were pretty excited to talk about it after the dive.  Morgan took a few pictures and we continued looking around, saw some huge prawns. mmmmm wish it was season!  We went to a depth of 48 feet and stayed under for 45 minutes, I need to check my temp gage to see how cold it was.  Morgan had a little ear problems and I gave him the "I am chilled" sign and we headed back.  A great dive and I will always remember my first dive visited by a seal, it only took 70 dives.

The 2nd Annual Christmas Tree

Janelle packed the snow shoes in hope of another winter wonderland Christmas Tree hunt.  Unfortunately that wasn't the case.  There was no snow in the mountains, but the view was spectacular, as you can see from the picture.  We enjoyed the search for the perfect tree for our home, and of course we found it.  There is nothing like disappearing from the craziness of life into a quiet peaceful outdoor scene, that smells and looks like heaven.  I guess the pictures will tell most of the story.

Turkey Day!

Isn't Thanksgiving great!  I mean the Seahawks were a downer but there is something about spending a whole day with your family.  Your family you grew up with and there spouses.  Mike and I spent a hour in the garage drinking beer watching the turkey drown in hot oil.  This was Mikes first deep fried turkey and it turned out great.  We had to adjust the cooking time with our knowledge and skills due to a faulty flame but in the end and a few beers later and some great conversation a beautiful golden brown turkey was created.  Mike and Carrie hosted the day and Carries parents Linda and Bill, her sister Tara, our parents, sister and newest Brother-in-law MJ and Alex as well as Janelle and I all had a great time. We played a fun game of apples to apples and before you knew it, it was late and the night sadly came to a end.  Thanks Mike and Carrie for hosting!!