Valentine's Day 2010

Craig and I decided to celebrate Valentine's Day today (Saturday, Feb 13) because we new we would be babysitting Colby and Brynna tomorrow. So, after a quick trip to Costco (gotta get there early before it gets too crowded), we headed downtown to the Seattle waterfront to have lunch at Elliott's Oyster House.

We got there when they first opened, at 11:00, and were seated at a very nice table near the window. Our waiter (I think his name was Jeff) soon brought us our drinks -- Elliott's Apple Slice, a non-alcoholic drink with a mix of cranberry juice and sour apple. Yum! Because of a recent discovery of a wheat allergy, we asked about the calamari. The menu version, unfortunately, is fried with a light flour coating. But Jeff checked with the chef and found out that he (the chef) could saute the calamari in olive oil and garlic (skip the flour) and serve it with diced tomatoes. Perfect!

So, with that information, we ordered

• Calamari (Sauted in garlic and olive oil, tossed with diced tomato.)
  
• Geoduck Tartar Appetizer (Fresh geoduck thinly sliced and marinated in lime juice, fresh ginger and cilantro. Served with a shaved cucumber and daikon sprout salad.)
  
• Halibut Cheeks Piccatta (Alaskan halibut cheeks sauteed with artichoke hearts, button mushrooms, capers, clam nectar, lemon juice and white wine. Finished with butter and served with black pearl barley rice and market vegetables.)
  
• Fresh Wild Columbia River Sturgeon (Sturgeon fl ash seared golden then poached in spicy coconut-lemon grass milk. Served with a forbidden rice cake and seared baby bok choy.)
  

After we finished lunch, we headed south towards Kent and Haley's Corner Bakery, a 100% gluten-free bakery that my sister, Linda, told me about. (She is friend's with Haley's mom and grandmother.) At Haley's Corner, we decided to try one of their cinnamon rolls and a slice of their cherry cheesecake. The cinnamon roll was at least four inches across, and barely fit into the take-out box. The cherry cheesecake was a sizeable piece, too, and was almost too tall for the take-out box. Both were absolutely delicious; in fact, the cinnamon roll was the best I had ever had. Who would have guessed that both the roll and the cheesecake were gluten-free!

Following the scrumptious dessert, we now headed towards the Commons At Federal Way to see the Lightning Thief at the Century Theater. We got to the theater just in time to see the start of the previews for upcoming movies. Not bad timing. We enjoyed the movie (didn't bother getting any popcorn since we were full of lots of scrumptious food).

After the movie, we decided that a perfect finish to a really fun day would be to stop at our favorite Tukwila Starbucks and have our favorite drinks: a green tea Frappuchino (extra matcha, no whip) for Craig and a caramel blended coffee Frappuchino (with protien powder, no whip) for me. Yum!

What a great Valentine's Day we had, even if it was a day early.