Sunday July 24

The usual breakfast for Sunday: waffles (2).

Lunch: repeat of yesterday's sandwich (only I had to make it) and an apricot.
I did have two snacks which did not get recorded, as the kids and I were way too busy mowing and cleaning up outside, then the whole inside of the house. The snacks were a fresh fruit smoothie and later a scoop of coffee ice cream.

Doug's guacamole.

Salmon (no fancy marinade), rice pilaf and roasted green beans for dinner.

Saturday, July 23

Breakfast: Cheese eggs from Doug and leftover muffin.


Lunch: After an exhausting morning in Silverdale, Doug makes me a sandwich. It's really a plan to get me in a good mood, so I'll go on a bike ride with him. It works and I even suggest we ride up Toe Jam hill (after riding the trails at Gazzum Lake and to the end of the dock at Point White. The bread and lettuce are from the farmer's market and the turkey and herbed salami are from T&C.


Dinner: An informal dinner since we will all be going to the Music Man performance. Tuna sandwich, that same orzo salad and mixed olives and Balsamic onions from T&C.
(By comparing the tablecloth in the last two photos, the alert viewer will note that the photographer has gotten lazy about color balance.)


Dessert 1: a so-so pluot. Cinderella is looking quite happy in the background because she heard me use the "W" word (walk) amd knows whats up. I forgot to use one of our code words like stroll or promenade that she hasn't learned yet.


Dessert 2: Doug makes me one of his usual after-performance desserts - ice cream and chocolate sauce, and in addition, I get bananas. We did not actually get to see Doug in the performance, because the orchestra is behind a screen, but because he plays the tuba, we could hear how well he played. One theatre-goer was heard to remark that he "stole the show."

Friday July 22

Technical problems today with photos - not downloading properly.
Nothing much interesting, anyway. I didn't know how many kids were spending the night, so for breakfast, I made muffins as well as biscuits.
Orzo-vegetable-feta salad was on the menu for dinner and I made it early enough to have some for lunch.
Dinner (see above) plus french bread and cheese.
Later for dessert, ice cream with 3 kinds of fresh fruit.

Thursday July 21

Cheese-eggs, toast with strawberry jam and a side dish of Grape Nuts with blueberries for breakfast.


Doug and I bike to the bank to sign papers, then I want to stop in at the office (not really work) so we have lunch first.

...and share a cookie for dessert.

Pulling weeds in the garden I find the first ripe tomatoes. Everyone is gone except Doug who is "checking his email" so I eat them all myself.

We celebrate our anniversary dinner (again???) at Four Swallows (our favorite restaurant - so this one really counts). We share the antipasto plate like usual, but also have to try the Gazpacho.

We both have the crabcakes, with a delicious new condiment wasabi aoli (keep that one, Michael) and pea pods. They very kindly give me extra pea pods instead of the shoestring fries.

The frozen latte is the best dessert and usually Doug and I share one, but he wanted chocolate pot de creme, so I managed most of the frozen latte myself.
A perfect dinner.
(Photography was complicated by the mixture of tungsten and daylight color temperatures.)

Wednesday July 20

We spent the night at the Roosevelt Bed and Breakfast, also highly recommended (Doug is great at selecting accomodations). Our table mates were also bicycling the Centennial Trail.

The headwind was tedious and it was hot, so I found a great riverfront spot for a refreshing swim and energizing lunch - roll (2) mini-bonbel cheese (2) and my last nectarine.

We are back in Spokane well before we need to pick up Bianca and the other volleyball campers, so we get something Doug has been fantasizing about for days - root beer floats.

With all the great options at the new food court at the ferry terminal, it's a pity that they are all closed by 8 pm, except the wine bar which made us turkey sandwiches.

(The photographs that were here, have now been removed at the request of identifiable persons.)

I found these weird pictures on my camera. Does anyone know who these people are?????

Tuesday July 19

Self-serve continental breakfast came with our room. I had granola (not as healthy as most people think), banana, and a pathetic croissant imitation. I go back for a cinnamon raisin bagel.

It is usually hard to get Doug to stop while we're bicycling (once on a hundred degree afternoon on a long stretch of dry, dusty road, he passed up a kid selling ice cold lemonade) but he could not resist the raspberry invitation.

(note to CB: I did not color balance this ON PURPOSE) After bicycling 40 miles to Coeur d'Alene, we were hungry and chose the poolside cafe at the resort. I asked for no chips with my sandwich, but I can't blame the waitress for forgetting - she took our order an hour and a half before! In fact, I didn't even order this ceasar-wrap, but ingredients from my first order were apparently being shipped in from Italy, so I ordered something different. If you ever want to make a food picture look unappealing, a cyan hue is very effective. The deck was covered with blue tarp which provided the perfect tint. In their favor, the huckleberry lemondade was good and we got seconds on the house.

After a five mile hike and walk (we wouldn't want to relax!), we go to the Japanese restaurant for dinner and our meal starts with miso soup, salad and cucumbers.


I have a delicious vegetarian Udon. I demonstrate to Doug how to set the color balance on my camera even though he has no real interest. He thought the unbalanced picture looked ok too. In a way, he's right, if you're going to err on color balance, it is better if the color is too "warm" as opposed to too "cool" (for food, anyway). Besides getting the color right, lighting is important in food photography. On-camera flash looks terrible (also makes a distraction in a restaurant). Ideally the lighting should come from behind, so I factor that into my choice of a seat at the table. "Real" food photographers spend hours on each picture, arranging everything and spraying with mist, but mine are "real-life photographs" as opposed to being done by a food photographer.

Monday July 18

I was able to talk Doug out of taking the very earliest ferry. I have my usual Grape Nuts, fruit and yogurt breakfast.

I brought along three nectarines and ate this one somewhere along I-90 (after Doug was pulled over for speeding and did NOT get a tickett [although it served to keep him closer to the speed limit {note the word LIMIT means maximum - it does not mean add 5 to 10 for the average speeed} for the rest of the trip.])

Doug knows all the hot spots in Spokane, so we ate at Clinkerdaggers were we had a nice view. Their huckleberry lemonade was way too sweet and the sandwich (without warning) came with french fries which I normally avoid. But since they were there, I ate them.

I eat another nectarine after a refreshing swim at this stop on our afternoon bike ride.

Another Spokane hot spot is the Peacock Room at the Davenport, where I adventurously order a martini! And I eat some cashews.

We had dinner at our hotel (the classy Hotel Lusso - highly recommended) but since the restaurant was closed we ate in the bar and called it another anniversary dinner (allowing Doug to justify a fancy dinner). We both had Ceaser salad to start.

We both also had steak, which I only eat a couple of times a year. It was not as good as at the Four Swallow's. The mashed potatoes were my favorite part. We ordered a dessert to share, which turned out to be enough for a group of eight, so it looked like we didn't eat any of it. We should have just skipped it for the cookie that was waiting for us in our room.

Sunday July 17

Waffle day. The raspberries are so good, the waffles are simply a vehicle for eating them.


Ham and cheese sandwich with "bad" leaves for lunch. Doug made me bike home really fast because he wanted plenty of time for lunch before the Sunday matinee performance. So I needed a smoothie. Its made of banana, yogurt, blueberries and chocolate ice cream. Blueberries are so healthy, but they make an unattractive scattering of blueberry skins in smoothies.


Doug makes his famous guacamole. (see recipe link) I snack on it while packing and cleaning out the van. If the dog smell is not gone, Bianca and her friends will die back there.


I couldn't eat all the guacamole, because it was also needed for dinner as a condiment for the chicken fajitas.

Saturday, July 16

For the first time in years, Bianca wants us to get an early start - she wants to get home because she's leaving later in the day for volleyball camp. We get to Gere-a-Deli by 8, but it was a circutious route because of "Shipreck Days" where the main street is closed for the town to have a humongous garage sale. Same breakfast as yesterday except a bagel.


Doug hands me a piece of cold pizza for lunch. He bought a gigantic pizza for his dinners while we were gone. I think it was the worst pizza I've ever had. I don't know why I ate two pieces. I had to wash it down with a scoop of coffee ice cream.


Douggie reminds me that it is our anniversary - I'm the one who always forgets the exact date - he's the romantic. He makes grilled swordfish with his special sauce (see the recipe link), pasta, and salad with "bad leaves" as Bianca calls the organic wild greens. She's already left, so we can have them.


I make chocolate desserts for an anniversary treat. (check recipe link for chocolate frosting) The heart shaped cake with pink flowers (Ballerina rose buds) is reminisicent of our wedding cake. And the cupcakes are...well...extra decoration.

Friday July 15

Mom and I let the kids sleep in while we go to breakfast at our usual place, Gere-A-Deli. Perfect breakfast: serve yourself oatmeal (including yogurt and rasins), a bowl of fruit, coffee, and pick out something freshly baked like my gigantic blueberry scone. “I haven’t seen you two in a while,” the clerk says. We always sit at the same table. The only other people there are the self-proclaimed “old-guys” who hang out there all morning enjoying themselves.

The kids are showered and ready to go by noon, so we have lunch at the Calico Cupboard, their favorite breakfast spot. I get the salad which has sunflower seeds strewn over it, giving it a retro-taste.

A few M&Ms are needed to fortify us for our hike and spelunking adventure.

We have a good dinner at the Happy Chopsticks except when Bianca and I embarrass the others with our uncontrollable laughing fit.

Thursday July 14

I’m trying to eat up these bagels before the kids and I leave town. I munch on it while getting things together and tidying up the kitchen.

We’re so hungry that we start our sandwiches before we get on the ferry.
Once on the ferry we eat the rest of lunch while transcribing a very funny conversation going on behind us.

My mom takes us to dinner at La Jinte in Anacortes. I warn her about my blog before our food arrives. She says, “So what about these chips, shouldn’t you be taking a picture of them?” She’s right, so I do.
Bianca and I share the vegetarian fajitas. We do not share it equally. Giselle and I make a bet on one of the ingredients in the potato salad that Jasmine had brought to our party on the Fourth. The answer will be published in a future blog.