The Adventures of a Calamari Queen – Page 35 – Christian, Wife, Mommy, Homemaker, Retired nurse, Fur-mama,living a simple and minimal life!

Feast Buffet!

Hello friends! Happy Christmas week! We had a nice buffet dinner with our friends, Faye and Roger (and the kids!), at a Renton buffet restaurant called Feast Buffet. This was our first time at this place. Faye recommended it because they’ve been here a couple of times and she said they have a good food selection that we might like! We were pleasantly surprised because the place was impressive. The selection was enormous. The sushi was quite good for a buffet, better than conveyer belt sushi places. They had Dungeness crabs and fresh Uni as part of their specials today (Zach liked the Uni). It was such a fun evening catching up with our friends before the Holiday ends. Thanks Faye and Roger for spending your night with us. We will be back to this buffet place for sure!

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Snowflake Lane!

Hi friends! Happy weekend! I can’t believe Christmas is almost here? I’m so glad I’m done with my Christmas shopping and gift wrapping so I can just focus on Christ (the real reason for Christmas!) and focus on my husband/family time. Planning makes a big difference. Today, we went to see the Snowflake lane event at Bellevue and it was a fun night. My favorite was the fake snow, the music and lights were great too! There was a ton of traffic and we couldn’t find parking for 30 minutes,but that’s OK (It’s expected after all since it’s the last weekend before Christmas). We had dinner before going to the event, so we’re all good!

We had dinner at Spice restaurant (it’s in the crossroads / bellevue area)

Braised Pork Belly! So Good, our fave at this place!

Braised Pork Hocks or Patatim (in Philippines)

After dinner! We’re off to the Snowflake Lane fun:

Some of the pictures are from my Ipad so it’s kinda blurry.

It was a cold night, Hot chocolate was in order when we got home. I love my new Lenox personalized mugs and plate that I got during their black Friday sale last month! So pretty and perfect this time of year.

Safeco Field

Hi Everyone! This weekend, my husband’s company had their annual Holiday party. This year they held it at Safeco Field (home of the Seattle Mariners). I’ve never been to a Mariners game (it’s always been a bucket list item to do every summer!) or been to Safeco field, so it was exciting for me to get a tour of the whole area! The whole night was fun, so nice to see my husbands co-workers and get to know them a little bit. Their company is really expanding so a lot of new faces (even the hubs is not familiar with all of them) I guess thats a good sign that the company is doing well.

OOTD! (JCrew sweater,Coat and skirt:Forever21,Booties and leggings: Target)

Press room. This is where a foul ball struck and they decided to never repair it.

Media Room!

Holiday dinner:kale salad,mushroom risotto,brussel sprouts,roast (some kind of tender beef that was really good!)

I have no idea where to look whenever we have a couple selfie!LOL

Group tour!

The only Mariner player that I know! HA!

This weekend, we did some Christmas shopping and sent gifts for our family outside of Washington and it was a nightmare at the post office! We treated ourselves after and ate some good tacos from our local taqueria.

4 kinds of tacos!

Carne Asada for me!

weekend cuddles are a must!

Enjoying a Christmas movie while wrapping gifts!

We also tried a new Indian restaurant in our neighborhood! It was good and we will definitely be back! My husband likes Indian food.

Butter Chicken and Naan bread!

And more pictures of our Safeco field tour:

Derick Jetters must have locker, the one to the right of the tv. Everybody knows this is his place whenever he’s playing at Safeco Field!

Christmas season is here!

Hello Everyone! It’s been a while since I posted here. November was hectic for us with our birthdays and hosting Thanksgiving so I decided to slow down a little. Next thing I know December is here! The Christmas season is always busy, so I always try to be intentional with our day to day lives. I try to focus on Him during this season, since Jesus should really be the focus! I try to minimize the chaos that surrounds me this time of year, thus, less social media, activities, and stress. I put up some decorations in our home. The tree is up and the mantle is done. The Hubs wants me to decorate the stairs but I’m not sure if I will do that this year.

I watched the Nutcracker ballet with my In laws last week. It’s one of my favorite holiday traditions with them since moving here from the Philippines. The show didn’t disappoint! So good! If you have the chance to watch it, GO, you will love it!

Nutcracker ballet show with my In laws — Nutcracker ballet with my In laws

Parents In law, we had chinese food after the Ballet — Parent In laws, we had Chinese food after the ballet

Watching the Rockettes show on netflix!

Panera dinner with Hubs!

I've been enjoying coloring books lately! — I’ve been enjoying coloring books lately!

I hope you’re having a good week during this holiday season!

Black Friday Tradition!

Hi friends! How was your Thanksgiving? It’s Black Friday today and we went to Seattle (I’ve mentioned before it’s my In laws tradition) to walk around Seattle, be part of the festivities. We checked out shops, walked around Pike place, got coffee, sandwiches and hombow ( siopao in the Philippines); macaroons at Le Panier is one of my fave things to get this time of year?. My In laws also like to get Cashmere sweaters from Macys ( part of the Black Friday deal). We normally don’t participate in the shopping madness but this is the exception! They love their cashmere? (I didn’t buy this year because to be honest, I’m pretty happy with the amount of cashmere sweaters I have). Anyways, it was a nice sunny day to be out and about, but we were still freezing cold, especially Zach. Winter is just around the corner! Stay warm friends.

Parking lot pictorial with Julia!

Goofy DIL! He’s such a funny guy:)

I wanted to buy this for Riley but Zach was not convinced that this will help (Riley is anxious sometimes)

This rocking chair is ridiculous! $5500 for this (260,000 Philippine peso). What the Heck!

The crazy line at Piroshky…

Getting my siopao (Mee sum pastry)

stolen shot from Hubs! Walking around Pike place and happily eating my hombow (from Mee sum pastry)

With the In laws!

The best macarons in Seattle! Le Panier macarons:)

Thanksgiving 2015!

Hello Everyone! Happy Thanksgiving! We hope that it was a wonderful time with family, friends, and people you hold dear in your life. We’ve been hosting Thanksgiving for the last 3 years now (my husband’s side of the family) it’s not as stressful because we do potluck style. My Inlaws are in charge of the turkey, stuffing and 3 other dishes, someone takes care of dessert, SIL for appetizers, we made mashed potatoes and green bean casserole! Our house is God’s blessings to us, so anytime we have the opportunity to host and practice hospitality we’re all for it! Thank you God for all of your blessings:) Anyways, we had a great time with our family, sharing stories(so fun to hear how Zach was like growing up based from his relative’s stories) and just spending time together with a yummy Thanksgiving spread. We are now relaxing, watching tv, and cuddling with my fur baby. My hubs ( the birthday boy) took some pictures today, enjoy!

Stuffing,carrots,brussels sprouts,yams

corn casserole

Turkey, sweet rolls, honey butter

Salad,green beans casserole,turkey

Gouda mashed potatoes, salad

Turkey coma! He ate too much tonight..

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

Happy Birthday to us!

Hello friends! This weekend we had our birthday celebrations with my In laws. My bday was last nov. 16 and the hub’s is this coming nov. 26 (yup, Thanksgiving day). Ever since we got married we always just combined our birthday celebrations. I personally prefer it that way. No fuss and just a simple time with family is all that matters to me:) On my actual bday the hubs and I had a casual dinner at home, we had charcuterie (we got from Delaurentis at Pike Place), steak and green beans with blue cheese (Ree Dreemond/Pioneer womans recipe).

I told my husband not to give me flowers or a card, I prefer food! This is what he gave me when he got home from work! HA! Mcdonalds has the best fries for me.

Charcuterie plate with pate!

This Saturday, my In laws treated us for our bday dinner at Flat Iron Grill (local restaurant in Issaquah). We like this place because the food is good and prices are reasonable. I used my ipad for the pictures so I apologize for the poor quality.

After dinner,we went back to our house to have our bday cake (baked by my MIL, she’s the best) and opened gifts. We are so grateful for what the Lord has done in our lives over the last year. He is so good! The Best is yet to come:)

Having our Bday dance and song! It’s a family tradition:)

Thanks to my MIL for baking molten chocolate cake! She asked me what I wanted and baked me my fave (chocolate cake of course!).

Spoiled Riley licking the ice cream!

I’m so loving what my SIL gifted me!LOL

Gifts from my Hubs! I got some Lenox stuff I’ve been wanting to get this year. Thanks Hubs:)

Pike Place Market (again!)

Hello friends! Sorry I haven’t posted for the last couple of weeks. Life has been a little busy here, but rest assured we’re still having fun and eating yummy food. Last Saturday we went to Pike Place market in Seattle, it was so much fun as usual! We had Piroshky (if you visit the market, this place is a must). Don’t be too intimidated with the long lines because they are pretty quick in taking orders. We had some mini donuts too, it was a food trip basically. The day after Thanksgiving we will be back again in Seattle because it’s been a family tradition and Seattle is such a festive place to be especially as we welcome the Holiday season. Enjoy!

What We Ate Lately / Menu Planning

Hello friends! I hope you’re having a good Monday. I’ve been menu planning for the last couple of months now and it’s been a positive thing for me as a homemaker. No reason for me not to do this because I don’t work outside the home. Saves me time and money, that’s always a good thing right? Here’s my meal plan this week:

M: Left overs (Pizza, Filipino Chicken soup/tinola)

T: Tuna Steaks,veggies,rice

W: Chicken wings,salad

T: Frozen meal for me (maybe tomato soup); Zach will have a dinner at his Office

F: Mushroom Risotto;salad

S/S (weekends): Eat out/take out/left overs

I don’t include Breakfast/lunches in my menu planning because we always have the same thing most of the time. We typically have cereals, oatmeal,yogurt,eggs,toast,fruits,coffee:)

Here’s some of our dinners lately:

Grilled Hamachi Collar

Braised Pork shoulder

Sautéed baby squid

Potato hash with eggs/bacon

Sushi dinner when we visited my Sis In Law in her place!

Beef teriyaki (from my fave Vietnamese place)

Chinese take out from Safeway (Zach was out of town last week for 4 days; I wanted cheap chinese food:)

Stir fried beef and veggies while the Hubs was out of town!

Dried fish,eggs,rice (perfect brunch!)

Grilled Halibut,rice,veggies

A special treat! King crab legs and steak last Friday (when we had my In laws for dinner)

Saturday night: Pizza and salad

Sunday dinner: sushi from Uwajimaya

Happy cooking and eating friends!

Halloween Weekend!

Hello Friends! Yesterday was Halloween here in the states and this is the first time that we didn’t have that many trick or treaters. The weather was mainly to be blame because it was just so bad. Raining and windy is not an ideal time for cute kids to be out and about ( we had a blackout Saturday morning that lasted 2 hours). Kudos to the brave parents though because they were still out there last night! The Hubs and I don’t really do anything during this time of year. We make sure we have candies though because we live in a neighborhood with lots of kids:) We watched the world series (Go ROYALS!) and NBA games, football (me specially, the hubs is not that into watching sports). Friday evening my In laws had dinner with us because our local seafood market had fresh King crabs legs (FRESH, flown from Alaska Friday morning) so we took the opportunity to have some because it’s very rare to get fresh king crab. It was such a special treat. It was so GOOD! We also had steak to go with it. Have a great week friends!

How cute is my Mom In Law?hehe

Crabby fights!

So GOOD!

Beechers cheese bread!

Thank You Generator for the 2 hours of electricity!

Napping every weekend is his fave!