Flashback Friday! I'm baaaack

I took a little extended blogging break, but I'm back and wanted to quickly flashback over the past couple of months to get you back up to speed! There may be more to come, but this is the (blog) readers digest version :-)

I spent some quality time with my best childhood and lifelong bud Allison!


We took a tour on a duck with Captain Tenille (I kid you not)


Saw the market at night


Took at steam engine ride on the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad


Saw a beautiful reflection


Felt the love at the Hoh Rainforest in the Olympic National Park


Braved the rain at Forks


To hang out with some vampires and giant wolves


Spent the night at a brothel - the Miss Kitty room at The Palace hotel was verrry nice


Took a boat ride to the San Juan islands


To eat some fish tacos


And see some whale tails!



Saw the Seattle skyline from a different perspective


We finished our week watching the lady elk show off for their man at Northwest Trek


Then my sister came to visit and we at some cheesey ice cream at a Taste of Port Orchard


Found some spawning salmon


Took in some mountain flowers at Tipsoo Lake

Went on the Savor of Seattle gourmet tour - yummmmy



Then I headed to Kansas City for work for a week and met up with one of my internet buddies, Cynthia (and her hubby John). Here she is eating up a big ole plate of gizzards at a neat place called Strouds.


Headed back home just in time to catch the end of the Western Washington state fair in Puyallup


More recently I was able to spend some quality time with my parents. Here is my Mom checking out the test dahlias at the Point Defiance Dahlia Trial Garden. Isn't she cute sporting her post cataract surgery glasses?? Love you Momma!


And finally we sought out an internet legend - have any of you seen a photo of this house in your email? I've gotten it a few times. Its really a piece of work! So many plants to water :-) It's right here in Tacoma!


Well maybe you can see why I had to take a little break! Its been a whirlwind around here, but I enjoyed every minute of it.

If you have a flashback to share please add your link here!

Pendleton & Walla Walla & Potato Pancakes

Last week I was in Pendleton, Oregon for work. It's in the eastern part of the state..a little drier and treeless than you think of Oregon being.


But a very cute little town whose heyday was back at the turn of the century (the last century). It was a carousing cowboy town with a main street full of brothels. The downtown area is still cute but I didn't see any brothels! I did see a lot of neat neon, like the sign at this restaurant I ate at the first night.


Mac and Cheese with bacon and jalapenos!


Besides the brothels and cowboys Pendleton also must have had some higher class who lived in pretty pink houses like this


How about another claim to fame for Pendleton....the woolen mills. Some of you out there are bound to have heard of Pendleton wool.


Dinner the second night was at an awesome old western steakhouse inspired Virgils at Cimmiyotti's. It was like stepping back in time..and not necessarily the old west. It was more like a 50s supper club. Red velvet wallpaper, dark wood and stainglass lamps plus the gracious owner/hostess wearing a 50s inspired evening gown. The food and service were outstanding, but I was only brave enough to take one sly cell phone photo of my beautifully garnished house salad.


I did find this one on Yelp. I sat in the seat right behind the server..who happened to be mine! This would be the perfect date restaurant. I had the Virgil's Steak Oscar with sweet potato fries. Everything was perfect.



So Wednesday night I drove out of Pendleton...


And headed to Walla Walla, Wa where I was going to be catching a plane the next morning. The drive between the two towns is essentially through rolling harvest wheat fields like this. Pretty...but reallllllly rural.


Walla Walla seemed to have a lot to offer restaurant wise, but after I failed to find a couple on my list I was getting a tiny bit desperate (=hungry) so I just decided to pick the closest restaurant that my trusty GPS had to offer. That's how I ended up at Clarette's on the skirts of little Whitman College. It was night when I got there...so I didn't take a pic but I'm getting pretty good at this swiping bit. Courtesy of Yelp. As you can see it's just a diner type establishment, but with some very tasty food. The menu was a surprising multipaged jobby and I had a hard time deciding on my meal but settled on Potato Pancakes.


Now I thought the pancakes would look like all of the other potato pancackes I've eaten..little flattened mounds of shredded potatoes. But what came to my table looked exactly like regular if not a bit flat pancakes. Hmmm...was my first thought. Served with bacon and applesauce with various syrups brought to the table. I settled on the apricot syrup and a little applesauce combined and dug in. Definitely more potatoey than pancakey in taste but I loved the texture. I had to try and recreate when I got home. They were so yum I failed to take any photos, but here's my take on Clarette's

Potato Pancakes a la Clarette's

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
2 medium potatoes shredded (about 2 cups)
1/4 onion, shredded
2 tablespoons green onions
salt & pepper
1 tablespoon butter

Mix well flour, buttermilk, baking soda and eggs. Add shredded potatoes, onions and green onions. Salt and pepper to taste. Heat skillet to medium high and melt some of the butter to grease bottom. Pour spoonfuls of batter to make pancakes. Flatten mounds of potatoes to spread over entire pancake. This made 7 good sized pancakes and was more than enough to feed two people. Serve with pats of butter & apple sauce, apricot syrup or preserves or ketchup or all three. I enjoyed the preserves...Randy like the ketchup. Clarette's served with applesauce but had syrups on the table...the apricot was perfect.

Flashback Friady ~Dreaming of Disney

Three years ago my husband and I went on a fun vacation to Disney World. We met up with my parents, a couple of my siblings and my niece and nephew. I would love to do a repeat one day! In the meantime I will do a little reminiscing.



We stayed at the Shades of Green which is the military resort on the Disney property. My Dad's retired and my brother is in the Guard so they were eligible to get rooms. Great location and great price! It backs up to a pretty wild area and we saw quite a bit of wild life just outside our room including wild turkeys! This little guy was a daily visitor and it looks like Randy better eat quick...


I love all of the parks, but I think Epcot is my fave. The stuff they do with flowers blows me away...like these super cute floating polka dots!


Its just a *Magical* place. How else could I eat lunch in Germany


Travel back in time to the birth of our country


Get lost in a miniature forest


Witness an unrehearsed bird mating ritual (or so I think)


And see how Mickey pumpkins are grown


All in the same day? Is it London...



Or is it subtropical Florida????



Although I'd been to Disney twice before, I had never visited Animal Kingdom. Another amazing place! The Tree of Life is central to the park and is truly a piece of art with carvings all around


The natural looking setting for the animals makes for excellent picture taking!


I don't know that I'll ever really go on a safari, but this is sure a fun place to pretend


And the animals just seem to perform on cue


The variety of birds at this park are amazing..love this little red guy


And let me not neglect the beautiful flowers


We also spent a day at MGM Disney


Where some cartoon characters escaped the film reel


And we had a quick side trip to San Francisco


And of course we hit the Magic Kingdom..here's a peek at Minnie's House


And I'd be remiss if I didn't show the famous castle


We spent a day at one of the water parks...sorry I will not be posting a pic of me in a bathing suit, but here's one of me at Downtown Disney..a little droopy from the heat and shopping! Thanks goodness I had Winnie to hold me up


Hope you enjoyed my little flashback. If you've got a flashback of any kind please add your link below and then link back to me in your post. It can be a memory, old recipe, picture, post, whatever!