Indigo Kitchen and Ale House in Lynnwood

Indigo Kitchen and Ale House, recommended by friends, was the destination for our semi-annual breakfast/dinner get-together last Saturday evening.  We always mean to do this more often, but twice a year seems to be the norm for us.  NORM!

Yelp foodies mostly like this place and a look at their online menu left us with a dilemma about what to order.  It is varied and all looks yummy.

This is our review of the place, with photos.

Starters

 Calamari served w/ spicy ailioli

VERY spicy ailioli.  I couldn't eat the sauce. 

 The calimari was plenty spicy without it.

Indigo Steak Bites marinated in a spicy chipotle-soy sauce.

Very tender, very tasty.  We all liked it very much.

Gin martini for --pf

She said it was fabulous.  It was also $10.00.

Entrees

Lainie chose the Cobb Salad ~ quite tasty.

She said "It's a Cobb ~ they're pretty much the same everywhere."

--pf had the Fish Tacos, very delicious.

 Leslie chose the Buttermilk Fried Chicken, which she totally enjoyed.

Pe, surprisingly, had the Shrimp & Grits.  See that little white creamy corner?  That's grits.

It was go good it was hard to stop eating and she said that next time she wouldn't have the starters and would just concentrate on that fabulous dish.

 This is the Black and Blue Burger with sweet potato fries.

Leah and I both ordered it.  We like blue cheese.

I left off the pickle and the onion because it looked tall enough without them.

Cutting it in half was a must. 

I suspected it was over-cooked just by looking at it, and one bite confirmed.

The server, Stephanie, was kind enough to have it taken off my bill.

If I order a burger again, I'll ask for medium or medium rare.

I always like to order as the menu states the first time in any restaurant,

to give them a chance to do it their way.

Leah said I received most of the blue cheese on my burger ~ 

she had hardly any.  She didn't eat much of hers, either, but she liked the fries.

The sweet potato fries looked over cooked but were perfect!

Crispy on the outside, sweet and soft on the inside.  Yum.

Next time I'll ask for tartar sauce to go along.

The service is excellent, our server Stephanie was professional and accommodating. She brought lemon wedges twice, since we used them on our calamari and in our water.  It smells wonderful in that place and isn't too loud for conversations.  They have outside seating, which people took advantage of ~ it being a balmy 68-70 outside and some of us being intrepid Seattle-ites.  It needs to be slightly warmer for me, but they did crank up the outdoor heaters after awhile as dusk fell.

A good time was had by all and we decided to come at 5:pm next time and do the happy-hour menu in full.  Most of us arrived slightly before 6:00 and Stephanie encouraged us to order starters from the happy-hour menu before they cut us off.  A very welcoming atmosphere and good food.  We will be back.

Lunch at Calico Cupboard, June 1

We had breakfast here not long ago and thought we'd give lunch a try, 

since we were going to Mt. Vernon for the quilt shop.

Peggy F. had the Fish Tacos 

and said they were yummy.

 Peggy had a combo lunch:

1/2 roast beef barbie sandwich, salad and chicken chili.

She says the sandwich was very good, the chili was ok 

and the blue cheese salad dressing had chunks of cheese.

I chose the combo 1/2 sandwich (shrimp and avocado), salad and chicken chili.

The shrimp was a tad fishy smelling as fresh shimp can be even after it's washed,
but it was a tasty sandwich.

The salad was great with blue cheese dressing and 

the chicken chili was ok, nothing special.

Here's what I really wanted:

Vanilla Cream Puffs.

Oh my.

We were adult about it.

We passed on desert.

Weekend in Redmond

The Friday Knitters spent the sunniest, hottest* weekend so far this year (May 4&5)

in a Pat Brunner class on Designing Knitwear to Fit Your Body (One Size Does Not Fit All.)

Lisa welcomed us to her Redmond home:

The view of the house and garage/shop/craft loft coming up from the pasture.

The Juliet balcony of the loft.

 

From the balcony overlooking the pasture.

 They have 16 chickens.

Two shy sheep,

and Wedding Cake,
a very friendly SallyBill** wether who loves cookies.

We spent quite a bit of time outside at the breaks and lunches.

Michale took advantage of Wedding Cakes' appetite 

for a close-up photo opportunity.

This is just a small part of the potluck as it was being set up ~ it was dee-licious!

 Trixie was riveted.

Henry was riveted.

Matilda: not just riveted.  She was fascinated by all the food.

Lisa has remodeled the upper floor of their garage 

for fiber related activities.

This is the classroom end,

and in this end there are 5 looms.

It was a wonderful weekend.  If we had to be inside for most of it, oh well! 
Spending time together, knitting and laughing: priceless.

*It was 87 on Sunday afternoon in Seattle.  It didn't get quite that hot in Redmond, maybe only 84.

**SallyBill: a flock of sheep from Island Fibers on Lopez, one of the San Juan Islands, started about 70 years ago by Sally Bill, blended to the originators' handspinning preferences.  Nobody knows quite what the mix is at this point, but the fleeces goes for about $16.00 a pound, unwashed, in a bag.  That must be a pretty good fleece.

Breakfast in Mt. Vernon

Last Saturday we drove north on I-5 toward the spin-in at the high school in Oak Harbor,
the annual event sponsored by the Whidbey Island Weavers Guild.
We always stay in the same motel, usually the same room,
which we share with Evanne and Natasha.

Stopping for breakfast here was Evanne's idea. 
It was a good one!

Calico Cupboard

I order French Toast 99% of the time.

 It was excellent.  I could eat only 3 of the 4 pieces.

It was crispy on the crust and custard-y on the inside, as it should be.

Peggy ordered the House Granola and Greek Yogurt.

It is a lot of food.  The yogurt was very sweet, the granola filling.

Evanne chose the Huevos Rancheros.

Looks yummy.  She said it was very good, but she couldn't finish it all.

Our opinion: we'd go back!  

There's an antique shop next door which we may check out next time.

Edina Sushi w/ photos

On Monday, Labor Day, the Peggy's and I treated ourselves to another round at Edina Sushi, mostly because we were hungry but also because they were open, unlike the nail place around the corner, where we were going to go to get our nails done prior to dinner but had to put it off until Tuesday.

We took the camera and managed 'before' photos rather than 'after' this time.

We ordered the Sushi Tower; it's been outstanding each and every time.

Here's a close-up:

 The roll on the left is the Tropical Roll.  Mango and Crab.  SO GOOD!

 On the right we have the Vegas Roll, also very good.

These two were new to us and we were not disappointed.

 The ever popular (with us) Rainbow Roll, better and more interesting than the California.

 The ginger is fresh and yummy.  They'll bring you a big dish of it if you want more.

The staff is efficient and friendly, the very good Genmaicha tea is free.  yea.