At sort of the last minute, we booked a trip to Vancouver and Seattle. Two reasons: 1. For a "Dangerous Dinner" with some business people that Ben wanted to talk with; 2. Visit the Larson family.
We flew into Vancouver on Wednesday. The Larson's (Shelby, Kerry and Emma) drove up from Seattle. We took a very scenic route to our hotel (note to self: always remember that iPhones don't work in Canada and so an address, at the very least, should be taken with so you can find the hotel). But we found it and got ready for our dinner. Emma came to our room to babysit Adelyn. We got to the dinner hotel a bit early, so we joined some of the other people we were meeting in the bar for a drink. And then the Dangerous Dinner began!
A week prior, Yanik (the starter of Mavrick Adventures) decided to throw something together since he was going to be in town. So with just a week's notice, the chef at the hotel put together an awesome dining experience. I was very impressed! Here is what we ate:
1. Sea cucumber - I actually liked this pretty well. It was sliced and served with mushrooms.
2. Sea scallop - Had these before, so it wasn't too crazy. And it was a little awkward to eat. It was served with a micro green salad and it wasn't clear if they should be eaten together or not. I thought the salad overpowered the scallop.
3. Python soup - This was awesome! He wanted to get rattlesnake, but couldn't on such short notice. Apparently python is pretty mildly flavored and since this python was from Vietnam, he decided to Asian up the dish. The python was made into a cake (think crab cake) and put into a spicy Thai soup. Very tasty. Loved it.
4. Squab and foie gras - (aka pigeon and duck liver) This was ok. The foie gras was very slimy, but if you ate it with the squab, it was ok. Not my favorite course.
5. Alligator loin - This was also very good. It was prepared Cajun style. I'd had alligator before in New Orleans, so this wasn't new either, but definitely not on my typical menu.
6. Orange Desserts - This was very creative. There were probably six different bite-sized orange things including a gum drop, fruit roll-up and sorbet. Very tasty.
7. Marshmallow covered chocolate - Yum!
After dinner, we headed over to the Roxy - a night club type place. For a Wednesday night, it was pretty hopping. Very interesting people watching. Around 1:30 we called it a night.
The next morning, Adelyn was still on central time, so I got to get up at 5 with her after getting to bed after 2. Yawn! After her first nap of the day, everyone was still sleeping, so the two of us went to a local diner for some breakfast. Then we packed up and headed out of town with the Larson's.
On the way home we stopped by where they film some of the show "Psych." Haven't ever seen it, but I want to move to that town! Not even joking, the street along the water had an ice cream or gelato store every third store. Heaven!
When we got to the Larson's house, Ben and Shelby had to run to her home office to do a webinar. Adelyn and I got swarmed by the remaining Larson children (Carter, Avery, Anna, and Sophia). They were excited to see Adelyn and excited about my birthday. They had blown up a ton of balloons and had them all over the house for me. So sweet! Adelyn was a little overwhelmed with all the attention, but she did pretty well.
Friday was a school day, so as the kids went off to school, they all wished me a happy birthday. Once all but Sophia left (she has afternoon kindergarten) Ben and I made monkey bread for breakfast. I had been craving it for a long time. So yummy. For lunch (by this time Sophia is at school) we went to fast food (Taco Bell and Wendy's) because I wanted to pay for the person behind us. It was fun! I think the guy at the window thought we were nuts, but I had fun.
For dinner we had pizza and watched "Despicable Me." The pizza was great and the movie was funny and good. After that, Shelby told the kids that we couldn't do the piñata because it would wake up Adelyn and besides, I wasn't very excited about it. Wha??? I quickly told her she was wrong (which was true, but even if it weren't, the kids had done that as a surprise for me and I would have played along for their sake). We came up with a solution: attach it to a broom handle with a dog leash and have Ben hold it and play in the driveway. It was so much fun!
The next morning we packed it up early and headed home. It was such a fun (albeit exhausting) trip!
