Firehouse Restaurant V-Day Menu

Firehouse advertised a special Valentine’s Day prix fixe menu, and Matt and I took them up on their offer. It was quite good.

We had eaten at this restaurant before (and check out that post to see if you can find the fun typo), and I was glad to see roasted carrots were on tonight’s menu. While we didn’t opt for the wine pairing, I had a nice red, and Matt had some ginger beer.

We ordered one of each item and traded. This served us well until the dessert course. The sorbetto was good, but not nearly as good as the chocolate brownie.

SKS: Napa Valley

Sara was on a 50th birthday jaunt, and I got these postcards out of the trip.

Fun quiz question. What do you think is the postmark on a card mailed from the Napa Valley? Answer below.

With this postcard, Sara had just been to the bookstore and sent a hello.

Sara reports that the London Fogs at the Retrograde Coffee Roasters are quite nice. Also that the sunny weather with temperatures in the high 50s is a good combo for a weekend celebrating the entrance into one’s fifties.

Answer: These are postmarked Oakland. Is that what you guessed?

Sugar Skull Embroidery

I finished Kiriki’s sampler a few weeks ago, but took my time washing and stretching it. Let’s have a look.

I like the overall result of my stitching, but I do wish the ink transfer had been darker. It’s almost invisible.

The embroidery turned out well. I really like that rose in the center of the skull’s forehead made out of bullion knots. And I also enjoy pistil stitch, which made up the flowers on the top of the skull.

This pattern came with the sampler club bonus. (I think it was the reason I bought this, the haunted house, and the crow, because they were the last available samplers that included the sampler club bonus). It’s a cute little candy corn cat, which I have diligently embroidered and which will stay in this form until someone comes to deal with my estate.

Mom’s Birthday Celebration 2025

My mom celebrated her newest birthday with pizza at Pizza Caboose, and a black and white cake. That would be a chocolate cake with a chocolate fudge filling and vanilla bean buttercream frosting.

As you can see, I could have done a little more planning before I started decorating. Both the sideways day and the numeral one could have come out better.

In good news, it all tastes the same, and it was delicious.

It Has Happened!

I stopped by the Starbucks in the Fred Meyer near my house because I needed to buy 6 ounces of coffee to make a cake. Like I usually do when buying coffee to make cakes, I explained that I wasn’t a coffee drinker, but needed a small amount for cake baking. The nice young man working there did some figuring and quoted me the price of $1.77, which was fine by me. I handed over two dollars and was on my way, holding the coffee behind me on the walk home, so I didn’t have to smell it.

The next day, I had another look at the receipt and discovered why the price was so low. I had been elevated to senior pricing!

While I’m still several years away from getting this discount for real, I was happy to take it in my 50th year.

While looking for the age requirement for the Starbucks senior discount, I have discovered that Starbucks does not have an senior discount policy! But! Some baristas might apply one if you ask. So I got doubly lucky. Thanks, Jayden.

We Finish the 2024 Exit Advent Calendar!

Here is our prize!

It’s a magnet, and to see the size of it, look at the next picture.

We had a busy December, and fell behind on our puzzle advent calendar. But February 1 was the day we got it done!

This had the usual combo of fun and frustrating puzzles, this time all were themed to movies. Each room was a different movie set on the “Werner Sisters’s” lot. And at the end we found out who the Werner Sisters were!

Books Read in January 2025

*book group selection | bolded means favorite

Picture Books

*Just What to Do by Kyle Lukoff and Hala Tahboub

Young Adult

6 Times We Almost Kissed [and One Time We Did] by Tess Sharpe
*The Wilderness of Girls by Madeline Claire Franklin
*Aisle Nine by Ian X. Cho
The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

After Life by Gayle Forman

For whatever reason, Forman is at her best when death is involved. A slim book with bits that mesh perfectly.

Grownup Fiction

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
Goldenseal by Maria Hummel
A Summer Affair by Elin Hilderbrand

The Strangers on Montagu Street by Karen White

It remains to be seen if the cardboard nature of the characters will outweigh the fun ghost stories and if I will finish this series.

The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand

I marvel at how many points of view Hilderbrand managed while never making the story seem jumbled.

Youth Nonfiction

*The Painter and the President: Gilbert Stuart’s Brush with George Washington by Sarah Albee and Stacy Innerst

Grownup Nonfiction

Stress Resets: How to Soothe Your Body and Mind in Minutes by Jennifer Taitz
Alexandra Petri’s US History: Important American Documents by Alexandra Petri
Black Friend: Essays by Ziwe

The Strip: Las Vegas and the Architecture of the American Dream by Stefan Al

Good thesis, and Sefan Al really won the lottery with the cover. So stylish.

Draw Your Day: An Inspiring Guide to Keeping a Sketch Journal by Samantha Dion Baker

Given that the author is a graphic designer, artist, and has studied typography at Cooper Union, I’d call this “pretty” rather than “inspiring.” There’s no way any sketch journal I kept would come close to looking like hers. There also not much how-to other than “draw every day” (which is good advice).

Brothers by Alex Van Halen

This memoir is clear about one topic: Alex Van Halen really misses his brother. Written in a conversational style (or perhaps dictated and very lightly edited), this book provides insights into the Van Halen brothers (Ed, and Al, apparently) upbringing and their time in one of the greatest bands on the planet. It is not a cradle to grave account, things mostly drift off around the time David Lee Roth leaves the band. But to hear about the scrappy up-and-coming Van Halen, this is your book.

Perspective in Action: Creative Exercises for Depicting Spatial Representation from the Renaissance to the Digital Age by David Chelsea

Chelsea lives in Portland, and on page 97 you can see the Keller Auditorium and the Keller Fountain in a equrectangular panorama. Plus, there are some Benson Bubblers. There are some good instructions too, but first I must master one, two, and three-point perspective.