Adelaide Lemonade

Happy Valentine's Day

Belated Valentine's Day, that is.  I started this post yesterday but couldn't manage to find the time to finish it.  It's review time at work, and at home we're playing the all-consuming, time-sucking, silly, manipulative car buying game.

We're not doing much in the way of Valentine's Celebrations, but we did have a lovely family weekend in Boston this past weekend.  We found a cheap hotel in South Boston near UMass, so after crashing for the night, we started out our Saturday in a local establishment.

It was called the Galley Diner which I had found via Yelp.  You couldn't beat the local atmosphere, and the staff was very welcoming.  The food was just okay.

Check out these two neighborhood thugs.

After that, the girls and boys parted ways.  The boys went to the JFK museum and library while we girls hopped on the T to do some shopping.

Doesn't she look like a pro?

We got off at Park street and headed straight to Windsor Button where I got 10 bucks worth of bulk buttons and some pretty Malabrigo lace weight yarn.  I asked there if there were any fabric stores nearby (which I had totally researched before hand - I wasn't about to leave that to chance!).  The super-friendly guy behind the counter gave me excellent directions to WinMil fabrics which was just a five minute walk away.

As much as I LOVE quilt shops, it was nice to visit a store that seems to specialize more in garment fabrics.  Addie was being a bit wild, so it was hard for me to concentrate on picking the right things, but I found some hot pink, nice heavy wool for a jacket for her and a couple of selections to try to make something for her older sister.  After that, it was all about shopping for the girls.

After being dragged around for a while, I needed a break, so we stopped at a cute little cupcake shop called "Sweet".  The decor was really cute, and it was very quiet in there.

Yes, those are Addie's socks on the table.  Maggie was helping her change into her new socks and shoes.

It was very pleasant and relaxing to sit in there for awhile and look at the pretty view out the window.  You can't tell from the photo, but there was just a bit of snow falling lightly.

We continued to shop and ended up at Quincy Market.  I think we hit just about every shop there including Baby Gap where Addie modeled this hat.

Right in front of the boys underwear.  Cute.

We finally headed to Chinatown where we were due to meet.  The boys had moved on to the science museum and were still there when we arrived, so we hung out with some shady looking characters at MacDonald's while we waited for them to catch up.

Once we met up, we walked a few blocks to get Dim Sum.  I had it once in Hong Kong over 10 years ago then one other time in Boston and have been wanting to get my family to try it ever since.

The boys were really good sports about trying it.  They (including my husband) liked the pan-fried pork dumplings the best.  My favorite, hands down, are the sweet sesame balls.  

My oldest was a pro with the chopsticks.  My younger son, not so much.

But I guess if you can't bring the food to you, bringing yourself to the food works.

My oldest, Joe, spent almost the entire meal trying to get Addie just to try a bit of the dough around the pork buns.  No luck, but it was fun anyway to get the family to experience a bit of food culture.  I'm sure there are several good places for Dim Sum in the area.  We ended up at a place called Winsor Dim Sum Cafe which again, I had found via Yelp.  We were quite happy with it.  We had a nice big table.  The service, food, and atmostphere were all great.  What more could you want?

Once we got back to the hotel, the girls chilled out in front of the TV while the boys conquered the world with a game of Risk.

I'm not sure whether or not the Ukraine was weak in this game, but 10-year-old, Frank was quite pleased with his first ever success in world domination.

The Rest of My Trip

Even though I think I could have spent every spare moment in the Japanese book store, I did manage to do a few other things during my trip to San Francisco.  Most of them involved eating.

I walked by a cupcake place called "Cako" several times before I finally succumbed and treated myself.

I tried the coffee toffee,

but I think the plain old vanilla was my favorite.

The famous Britex fabric shop was not far from my hotel, so I checked that out as soon as I had a break in the conference.  My favorite floor was the fourth floor with all the remnants.  I may have been tempted except that the saleslady followed me around so closely that I couldn't think straight.  I wonder if I looked like I might steal a remnant.

I went to a nice yarn shop nearby there.  The doorway for it was so nondescript that I passed it right by the first time.  The yarn shop was called ArtFibers, and as their web-site advertises, they have a beautiful, bright space.  I ended up buying this yarn:

Which is made in a color scheme after some Manga movies.  I'm really not that familiar with Manga, but they had several other colorways in the same style, and they were all gorgeous.  I'm tempted to order some more.

I ended up making Addie this hat with it:

I used this pattern.

There were several of us from my company at the conference, and we got wined and dined a bit by one of our vendors.  I went to a fancy steak restaurant one night, and they took a winery, Clos du Val, the next day.

 We got to taste several of their wines.  I think the Zinfandel was my favorite, but that might have just been because they referred to it as a pizza wine.  Mmmm.

Two of the culinary highlights of my week of eating out for almost every meal were an Afghan restaurant called Helmand Place and breakfast place called Buttercream (how can you go wrong there?) Bakery and Diner.

I knew absolutely nothing about Afghan food, and honestly, it never even occured to me that there was such a thing, but one of my coworkers suggested it.  It ended up being SO good.  The restaurant was fairly small, but the atmosphere was lovely, the service was great, and the food . . . mmm mmm mmm - yummy.  For my main course, I had Theeka Kebab which was prime rib with a bunch of other stuff.  I always thought of prime rib as that scary-looking, bloody stuff at buffets, but this was nothing like that.  For appetizers, we shared Mantwo, Bowlawni, and one other that I can't remember now.  I definitely have to find a similar restaurant closer to home.

After the conference was over, one of my co-workers and I visited on of our company's locations in Sacramento.  On the way back, we were determined to find a great breakfast place.  After some research on Yelp, we ended up here:

at Buttercream Bakery and Diner in Napa.  We had a bit of a wait, but it was well worth it.  I had the blueberry pancakes which came with a big helping of fluffy butter.  I also had the generous portion of bacon which had a bit of an apple flavor if I remember right.  I'm pretty picky about how I like my bacon cooked, but this was perfect.  One of my guilty pleasures is having a diet cola with my breakfast.  I had a gi-normous glass with endless refills.  I can't remember the home fries now, but I'm sure I got some - I always do - and they must have been good.  But mmm, the butter, that was the best part. 

There was a great local-feeling atmosphere there.  I would definitely go back.  I'm going to have to try to plan a trip out west with my husband.

Lest you think I didn't even attend the conference I was there for, don't worry, I learned about exciting things like CDI, Arquillian, JBehave, Fusion, OBIEE, and OES, but don't be expecting a blog post about that any time soon.

Brisbane

What a sorry blogger I've been.  I'm surprised I even remember how to log into my blog to update it.  Looking back at my few sparse posts, I've been an even sorrier craft blogger.  I've been making up for lost time with my sewing machine by quilting like crazy and barely coming up for air (much less blogging).  I think I must have had a lot of pent up ideas because I can't stop making quilt tops.  But I'm making this silly little rule with myself that I can't blog about any of them before they're done.  It's really more of a superstition than a rule.  I'm afraid that if I blog about just the quilt top, I'll never sandwich, baste, quilt and bind it.

So you'll have to suffer through at least one more non-craft post.

I can't believe it's been over a month since I've been back from Australia.  It was really a great trip - an awesome experience, but it was a work trip, so I didn't do a ton of sight-seeing.  I spent my first 6 days and last two days in Brisbane.  It was winter there, but still quite tropical and pleasant - not much cooler than a Maine summer.  

I arrived on a Sunday, and after 30-some hours of travelling, I was dying for a shower, so I headed straight for the hotel.  In spite of all the advice about avoiding jet lag, I took a short nap then set out to meet some of my co-workers for a drink and dinner.  I was excited to learn that the best way to get to my destination was via one of the many ferries used for public transportation in a city that's interwoven with a big river.

We met at Eagle Street Pier where you see the round white buildings in the photo below.  I had some beer - I don't remember what kind and some yummy coconut prawns for dinner.

For the next 5 days, we worked.  We had some nice dinners together and some enjoyable lunches at the Woolongabba Antique Center that was right near where we were working.  Odd place for lunch, I know, but they had a yummy sandwich called a "Turkish" which I think referred to the bread.  My favorite one was a veggie and cheese one.  One of the main veggies was pumpkin - which I think Australians may refer to any kind of squash as.

The only time I found to explore was early in the morning when it was just getting light.  My hotel was near a nice walkway along the river.  The first morning that I walked, I caught a glimpse of this crew team practicing.

And this adorable little houseboat.  I'm ready to move in.

I didn't see much in the way of residential neighborhoods, but I think this is considered a classic Brisbane-style home.  My hotel is looming in the background.

When I came back to Brisbane at the end of my trip a big group of us went out to dinner at a fancy restaurant.  I think it was called Tucka.  They had some really interesting things on the menu.  I had crocodile for an appetizer (tastes like chicken) and emu for my main course (tastes like steak).  The guy sitting next to me had Tasmanian Possum for an appetizer, so I had to try a bite of that, too.

This was the view at night from my hotel room.

 Story Bridge is on the right.  I haven't had a chance to research it, but apparently it's quite famous.  The Story Bridge Hotel was near my hotel, and I had a couple of yummy dinners there.  I ate there the last night I was in Australia, and luckily enough it was Craft Beer Week.  I had some really delicious beers.

Yep, that was my stay  in Brisbane - mostly working and eating.  Next up - Adelaide.