The Week Family visited

So now it is June and we have a fair number of things on the calendar already...

June social began Monday - we met up with Frank for dinner at Aroy Thai. Good food, good wine, good conversation. Best dish was definitely the sticky rice with pork shoulder. Called Sticky Rice Pad Jeow.

Tuesday we had pizza at Pat's because it was a lovely night to sit outside- finally warm enough.   Then Wednesday Steve and Suzanne were arriving after midnight so we went to Sochi for dinner... Viet - Michelin recognized and priced accordingly. Fortunately the service and dishes also met the level of expectation set by the pricing. All the dishes were excellent but my favorite was definitely the shaking beef, followed by the original egg roll. Phil preferred the Slap Mama Crab rice and the duck salad. #Recommended

The next day S&S went for a LOOONGG walk with Lee and Phil had a number of things on his calendar so S&S and I went to the new cafe aorund the corner for lunch. Then we all met up for a glass of bubbly and then went off to dinner. First evening out during a visit from family. We had French-Canadian at Dear Margaret. Excellent meal in every aspect. Terrific dishes and fabulous service from Shannon who was extremely helpful with menu guidance. The winning dessert was the paw paw tart. The rest of the menu was all so wonderfully designed and prepared it would be hard to choose even a few winners.  But the asparagus wins for best color presentation. #highlyrecomemded

Friday night Phil went off to a Judy Collins concert with Ron & Mary and S&S and I met up with Lee & Nick at Mon Ami Gabi for dinner.  It was a fabulous dinner with friends. Everything was superb. A classic bistro that exemplifies all the best dishes of the genre. My skate was first-rate! And the salads were marvelous. The shrimp cocktails got great reviews. The evening was enhanced by two great wines. A 1996 Branaire Ducru and an excellent Hudson Little Bit vineyard Chardonnay 2019 vintage.

There were four steaks at the table and then my Skate...

A lunch of salads and an omelet with spinach and feta (for me) at Golden Apple and then Saturday night dinner at Proxi with the whole group of six... 

The whole mishpucha tonight. Proxi with all six of us. Fun evening as usual when we all get together. #friendsandfamily #friendsarefamily  We had great cocktails to start (after a round from the mixologist at Diego's Bar - check out the last photo) All food items and cocktails described in the marked "menus."

Cocktails at Lee & Nick's

The full menu- for reference

We made arrangements to see Lee & Nick again soon and Steve & Suzanne have penciled in dates for Tenerife... They had a 7 AM flight the following morning so we said our goodbyes and they were in PDX before we got up LOL. Fun visit with family. 

more stateside

 At the theater Saturday to see one of the final performances of Tale of Two Cities presented by Shattered Globe Theater company at the Theater WIT space. The staging was hokey and only a quarter of the actors had any emotional impact on me as an audience member but the adaptation was well done. I told Phil that the play would have read very well. It was slanted for today's fight for democracy and had a number of impassioned speeches.  Overall I would give it a B.

After I returned from the theater we went to Falcon's for a quick bite of sandwiches/wraps and soup and chili. 

Then Sunday I returned to the theater to see the brilliant ART.  So sorry to say that this was the final day of this fabulously funny emotional rollercoaster of a play! Otherwise I'd be telling everyone to get your tickets immediately. I was not alone in my raucous laughter and sometimes groans, because every audience member was "involved" with the quick pace and snappy dialogue. Sometimes vulnerable but mostly cutting to the quick with each other, three friends have a complete and utter meltdown ostensibly about a piece of art that one of them has spent 200 grand purchasing. Of course, the work of art (which is argued about and over) is simply the trigger point for issues in the platonic relationships of the three men. The three actors playing the characters of Marc, Ivan, and Serge were all outstanding in their performances. This is well worth seeing if you ever see a restaging of the play. #highlyrecomemded

After that we went to Brownstone for burgers and when we got home I worked on trip planning with TB... centerpiece of this year's trip  will be Crater Lake the deepest lake in the United states at 1949 feet deep and the water is replaced every 150 years by rainfall and snow melt as it has no rivers flwong into or out of the lake in the caldera. 

above photo and diagram from wikipedia.  This week we are busy with a visit from Steve & Suzanne and get togethers with friends Lee & Nick and another dinner with Frank (Aroy Thai) so stay tuned...