Anniversary #19

Debbie and I celebrated our 19th anniversary last Wednesday. We didn't know whether we'd have a place for our daughter to go in the evening, so we put off making any plans. We went to Madoka for lunch, which was delightful. We sat outside. We started off with some oysters on the half shell which were very refreshing on a warm day (thanks, Cat!) and I had the kobe beef burger (rare, natch) and Debbie had the farfalle with smoked chicken, yum. For dessert we shared the vanilla-black pepper ice cream with local strawberries in a balsamic sauce. It was fab. I managed to shear the arm off of the cheap resin dining chairs they have outside when reaching for my wallet. (Try these ones, guys, they're really comfortable and good looking.) After lunch I went and worked out with my trainer, Andrew. I had a little bit of a pulled hamstring, and should have stayed home--I ended up at the ER last night because it got really bad and I popped a fever, which the doc called a coincidence barring any more evidence to the contrary. So now I'm sitting around (can't lie down, slept in my chair) on Percocet.

Catherine managed to sleep over at a friend's house (thanks, Jen!) so we went over to the city for dinner. We went to Brasa in Belltown, which we'd never been to. Debbie started with a truffle-oil-drizzled carpaccio with parmesan, and then had the pizzetta with figs, serrano ham, and preserved lemon. I started with the spinach salad with shiitakes and bacon with a warm, creamy dressing. For a main course, I had Brasa's famous roasted pig, served in a cazuela with housemade chorizo, clams, smoked paprika and potatoes. It was really good, with everything swimming but not drowning in a paprika-y broth. It's been rosé weather, so we had a bottle of Rhône rosé. For dessert we shared the churros (listed as "spanish donuts"--doesn't everybody know what a churro is?) with spiced valhrona chocolate sauce. Life was good. Afterward we wandered around Broadway in Capitol Hill, where we picked up some soap and bath stuff at Bliss. Nice to be on a real urban street with people around in the evening.