Raving Amicks

To celebrate the end of my 30th rotation around the sun, I invited some friends to Crawfish King in the International District last Saturday. I’d never been there before, but a friend from work whose culinary taste and skill I admire recommended it. I’ve been to Crab Pot and had a good time, but this place makes Crab Pot look like Sizzler. Anyway, we got crawfish and sauce all over ourselves and it was fantastic.

Even before we ordered food, my friends had perched a cardboard box of unusual size upon the table. After navigating (with assistance) the styrofoam puzzle within, an incredible form emerged: two chicks at the same time.

The statue was purchased from a strange store in Leavenworth that appears to specialize almost exclusively in naughty statues. Our favorite is a busty pirate named “Trixie”, but she is also life-sized and requires some creative engineering to fit on a coffee table. My drinking buddies understandably opted for the table-top version.

I’m sure Mindy is reevaluating our relationship accordingly. ^^

More than a month ago, Tyler, some friends, and I went to the first weekend of Leavenworth’s Oktoberfest. Most places in the US have one weekend of festivities, but not Leavenworth. They have three weekends because they are just that much greater than the rest of the US.

Almost anything goes at this Oktoberfest, too. It’s not like the boring Seattle one where people just get drunk and pee in the open. No, people here take it the next level. They wear lederhosen and dirndls (both fake and authentic), or random costumes like beer kegs and pirates. The more “subdued” people stick to funky hats that may or may not have anything to do with Oktoberfest, beer, or Germany. Case in point: Tyler picked up a “rice picker” hat to wear.

The six of us (Elaine, Chris, Vlad, and Lam—whom I think the Amicks have all met by now) had a lot of fun. We originally had two rooms in the same hotel, but Elaine and Chris had a bunch of crazy army guys in the room next to theirs and couldn’t sleep. So we carried their mattress complete with sheets and covers into our ridiculously huge room the second night and the six of us had one giant slumber party. Our ridiculously huge room also had a ridiculously spacious bathroom and an awesome balcony that overlooked the main street. That awesome balcony was most definitely the best spot in all of Leavenworth to watch the Saturday Oktoberfest parade that goes along Front Street and ends at the mayor’s Ceremonial Keg Tapping.

There is talk of going again next year, maybe the week after we go to the real Oktoberfest in Munich.

1. Obscene double-decker, grilled zucchini and goat cheese quesadillas topped with tomato-basil salsa from some dude named Bobby Flay.
2. The infamous cherry pizza. The awesome magazine that published this recipe folded in June, so I do have the original in case the link ever breaks.
3. And a new favorite of ours: Quinoa and Avocado Salad with dried fruit, almonds, and a lemony vinaigrette.

This site needs an update, so here are some shots of delicious foods I made in the past two weeks.

Stuffed zucchini using the zukes we swiped from Jennifer’s garden a few weeks back. The recipe is Zucchini Stuffed with Feta and Dill. It’s definitely a recipe for zucchini lovers. But my all-time favorite zucchini recipe is Zucchini alla Scapece, which is basically lightly fried zucchini slices marinated in balsamic and mint.

I also made this Cherry Pie using the awesome pie cherries the Amick parents sent home with us. I drained the cherry juice into another vessel for a day in the fridge while they thawed, and then made this pie using a teeny-tiny star cookie cutter I had laying around. I added some orange zest, but the orange we had was super-fragrant and overpowered the pie. I later mixed one part cherry juice to one part standard orange juice and drank that, which was super tasty.

Both pictures feature our insanely awesome Heath plates. We started collecting a new set of plates because the old ones Tyler bought had really stupid bowls that were not good for eating soups on your lap (very important in this household with Movie Nights at least once a month), plus the matching plates were not oven safe. Since we don’t have a microwave, being oven safe is also a huge plus. I highly recommend Heath Ceramics if you have the extra cash to spare on plates that will last you a lifetime. They’ve been around since the ‘60s and aren’t going anywhere, so it’s also easy to add new plates as they break or you decide you need more. I also just scored an an awesome vintage salad bowl made by them, but that is for another food post.

I just got back from a quick weekend in Prague with my new roommate Johannes. We had an excellent time exploring sites like Prague Castle and Charles Bridge. I’ve got a bunch of photos from the trip on my flickr, just click on the link below.

Dieter’s flickr: Prague

Your mom and I recently visited her mother and brothers outside Boston. Had a great time. Visited Kinnebunkport, Maine where we spent our honeymoon nite. Here’s a picture of the Captain Lord Mansion. We went inside and it turns out the owners we met in 1978 were still there! We were one of their first customers. I had lobster roll for lunch and your Mom and grandmother had fish and shrimp. We bought lobsters and cooked them at your grandmother’s house.
We also visited our house in Harvard, MA. Here’s a picture – pretty modern in those days. It was on about 2 acres of mosquito swamp.

Mason and Mary Lynn came up from Delaware and we visited Cape Cod.

Met up with Jonathan, Sanford, Raquel, Jonathan Jr., Anita and McKensie. Had a great brunch at a Brazillian restaurant where Jonathan has done some work. Here’s a picture of some cranberry bogs on the Cape.  Oh yeah, we had more lobster rolls at Logan airport on the way out!