Wedding Venue Selection

We started wedding planning this week... hooray!  We started viewing venues Wednesday and finished up this afternoon.  The five we looked into are the Rainier Club, the Woodmark Hotel, Willows Lodge, Novelty Hill - Januik winery, and the Edgewater Hotel.  Here are a few pictures:

The HUGE fireplace at the Rainier Club.  They even set up food stations in it!

Olympic Terrace tent at the Woodmark Hotel right off Lake Washington.  So pretty!

The outdoor space at Willows Lodge was just amazing.  And there were potbelly piggys!

Photosynthed pic of the Tasting Room at Novelty Hill - Januik winery.  Love the modern feel of this place.

Olympic Ballroom at the Edgewater Hotel.  Stunning view of Elliott Bay.

It looks like we have a pretty big decision on our hands.  I think we have it narrowed down to two so there will be a lot of comparing going on in the next few days.  More wedding stuff to come... stay tuned!

Pizza in a Bowl

Since I started keto, I've been a little nervous when we go out to eat.  It was hard enough to find something to eat before(picky eater here), but now it's even worse since I can't eat bread, pasta, or rice!  We recently went to a local Italian restaurant which offers a low carb menu.  I was surprised when I found a bowl pizza.  It's literally what it sounds like... pizza in a bowl without the carby crust.  I decided to try it because, hey, who doesn't like a big bowl of cheese and pepperoni?  It wasn't as pretty as normal pizza when it arrived, but it definitely fixed my longing for it.  Jeff later decided to try making it at home and here's what we ended up with:

Again, it might not be the prettiest bowl of cheese and toppings, but it sure hits the spot!  He basically layered a little tomato sauce(caution: carby) and toppings then covered that in cheese.  He baked it in a pyrex dish at 450 until it started to brown as a pizza would.  Then he took it out and let it cool.  Then, obviously, we chowed down.  I'm really starting to see that you can make any meal keto friendly. :)

Ravelry

Random post alert.  I decided I wanted to learn to crochet a while back, but didn't really decide to do it until I signed up for Ravelry.  It might be my new favorite website.  There are zillions of amazing patterns for just about every interest and I think it's what pushed me to actually learn.  I'm in the process of making an amigurumi Totoro right now and I have a ton of others on my "to do" list for later.  Here's a pic of some of his parts so far:

Totoro's tummy, eyes, and part of his unfinished body

My absolute favorite part of the site is the "projects" area that's shown for each pattern so you can see how the pattern turned out for other Ravelry members.  Not only is it neat to see all the variations, but it can also be helpful since some users leave little notes when instructions are vague or other useful tidbits.

Ravelry also helps you keep track of your "to do" projects, stash of yarn, and even offers help selecting yarn for individual projects.  I can't even begin to describe how helpful this has been as a beginner crocheter.

If you knit or crochet and haven't signed up yet, go do it now.  You won't regret it.  Feel free to look me up there(sarahlizette).  Happy crocheting(or knitting)!

"I can't believe you."

We all know I love Palettes & Pairings and will make/take any excuse to visit.  Lucky for me, my friend, H, got a P&P party from her husband, P, as a gift.  I was so excited and kept asking P what we were painting, but he would only tell me it was a surprise.  When we arrived at P&P, each guest drew a letter from a box to paint.  Ok, now I know what we're painting, but what does it mean?  I had a theory that it was H's full name or maybe even an announcement of their new baby's name.  I pondered this off and on all evening, but in the mean time we all painted and had a great time.  Finally, it was time to take the group shot (the owners do this at the end of every class).  We all lined up and they took a picture, but then started to rearrange us so the colors would work out better.  One of the owners pointed at me and asked if I could hand my painting to the person beside me and come to the front.  I was confused.  As I was walking, he pointed to someone else and told them to come forward too.  I turned around and here's what the paintings spelled:

Screen grab of the video the owner was taking.  "Sarah marry me" (with a few extra letters thrown in on the left meant to throw me off in the beginning)

Jeff was down on one knee in front of me holding out the ring.  I was shocked.  I didn't know what to say or do.  He eventually stood up and had to flat out ask me if I was going to give him an answer.  I, of course, said yes.  I think I've repeated, "I can't believe you," more times than I can count this week because of Jeff and his sneakiness and H and P's "fibs" to keep the wool pulled over my eyes.  Not at all what I expected, but I have to say this was my best P&P experience ever!

Fried Cheese

Thank goodness for all the keto forums over on reddit.  Jeffrey discovered a substitute for grilled cheese:  fried queso fresco.  It's super easy to make and is just what a cheese lover like me craves!

More after the break...