Sylvia's Scenario

It's been twice in two months so I'm thinking this could be a regular blog post; visiting a favorite restaurant because it's the last time before it closes forever, or in other words,  Vanishing Seattle.   I understand I was gone for 17 years but to tell you the truth, so much that I remember growing up here is still around.  Many things may be different, like the name of the Coliseum is now Key Arena, but the things that make Seattle unique and the things I love are basically the same; the Space Needle, the Seattle Center, Nordstrom, the Public Market (or Pike Place Market-the official name), Green Lake, Magnuson Park, the Ballard Locks, the Montlake Cut, Opening Day of Boating and crew races, the Daffodil and Tulip Festival at La Connor, Mariner baseball, Seafair, the Seafair pirates and Seafair parades, hydroplanes and the Blue Angels, the Underground Tour, the Smith Tower, Mt. Rainier, riding a ferry or watching them go back and forth across the Soun...

It's that time of year again when everyone is getting ready for the Academy Awards and we are rushing out to see the big movies of the year. Last year, I wrote about the The Revenant that was a very immersive, visceral cinematic experience that won three Oscars. This year, Hidden Figures is making a big impression on me. Bruce and I loved it. It is based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly, by the same title, about the black women who worked at NASA as "human computers". They basically calculated math for the engineers to save the engineers time so they could do more important tasks. The story is specifically about three women, Mary Jackson played by Janelle Monáe, Katherine Goble played by Taraji P. Henson, and Dorothy Vaughan played by Octavia Spencer. All three had incredible stories but the movie was mainly focused on Katherine Goble who was a mathematician protégé. Similar to women at Boeing called  Rosie the Riveters, where 47 pe rcent of the workers ...

Here is a lightened up version of Shepherd's Pie from Weight Watcher's, another appropriate recipe after over-indulging during the holiday season. Lauren came over for dinner tonight and the three of us ate nearly the whole pan; the recipe says "Serves 6". Really?  I've already changed the original version of the Weight Watcher's version so I can't even tell you how many points this recipe is now.  With our cold weather, we want hardy meals yet we want to eat light. I guess if we eat twice as much as we suppose to then we're really not eating light. But this recipe was that good. It was hard to stop going back for more so that is why I'm posting this recipe. It's not the most picturesque recipe but it tastes a lot better than it looks. Serves 4 4 large uncooked potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces 1/2 cup lite sour cream 1/8 tsp. salt or to taste 2 tsp. olive oil 1 cup chopped onion 3 medium carrots, diced...

Tonight, I made a high protein vegetarian dish to take over to Lauren and Ari's house for dinner and we all agreed it was blog-worthy, which means it passed the taste test.  They both had to work today so I thought a meatless, 17 grams of protein per serving, cheesy, gooey, hot dish would hit the spot after a weekend of celebrating the New Year.   They had a New Year's Eve party at their house and spent yesterday cleaning up so I did what moms do; make dinner.   Their party included a sit down dinner of pork roast for eleven friends, karaoke, a photo booth and even played outside in the snow after it started snowing Saturday night. Fun times.  And Bruce and I couldn't even stay up until midnight...oh, to be young again.  I got this recipe from  skinnytaste  blog that is full of delicious, healthy recipes with Weight Watcher's points listed for each recipe so it's a good blog if you want to watch your calorie intake after all this holiday ...

We woke up on our New Year with fresh snow and it was so quiet and beautiful.  I love waking up to a surprise like that especially since snow is so rare here.  It apparently snowed in the early morning hours, not last night while all the celebrating was going on. I was too tired to stay up until midnight but Bruce said he could see the fireworks at the Space Needle while laying in bed, a show that lasted 10 minutes - talk about watching fireworks in the comforts of your own home or should I say, own bed. This isn't quite our view but you get the idea. I haven't had any food postings for awhile because I haven't been doing much cooking since Christmas.  With Nick and Sachiyo visiting, I was constantly cooking and eating, then Christmas, more cooking and eating...it feels good to just not think about cooking and eating for awhile.  I did, however, enjoy the feast we had on Christmas at my brother's house with my entire family, at least those who live here loca...