The Salmon House

So there we were, up to our pits in boxes, boxes, boxes, prior to our impending move. How was it possible for two people to accumulate so very much? While there was more than one bout of me wailing "we'll NEVER be finished!!!", there were a couple of silver linings. One of them was Mister Man's overall excellent demeanor. When I hit the mat with stress, he stepped up to the plate and became the go-to guy. I cannot tell you how much I appreciated this, when I was frequently about T minus two minutes away from a meltdown.....

The other silver lining came in the form of a birthday gift certificate from Paully and Michele. It was a certificate to The Salmon House in West Vancouver. Now, despite the fact that my brother, the oceanographer, wouldn't be caught DEAD eating anything from the ocean, he DOES have the good sense not to reflect his freakishness on the rest of us! And so we decided that the Saturday night prior to Thursday's moving day would be a perfect time to drop everything, put on some nice duds (if we could find 'em) and head out for a lovely dinner.

We invited Susan and Diyan to join us as Mister Man and I had just spent several weeks up each other's nostrils as we packed, sorted, purged, organized, and slogged through that hellish mire known as MOVING. So having some friends along made the whole thing more festive! The view was spectacular. Check it out here over Susan G's shoulder.

As the sun melted into the horizon, so our troubles melted into oblivion.

Of course, this had NOTHING to do with the lovely cocktails.......

Or DID it? Here is the moment in which we passed our SPARE KEY to our brand new neighbors: Susan and Diyan). Yes. It's true. We now live about 12 doors away from BBQ Club Headquarters!!!! What a fabulous moment.

As each course arrived, our packing hell receded and happiness approached.

The food was delicious, and the service fine. Dinner number 6 helped us crawl over the hump and look towards the future. Thanks brother and sister-in-law! That hit the spot!!!

Dinners 4, and 5 (and humble apologies for the lapse...)

Oh dear. I just looked at the date of my last post, and I'm a tad embarrassed by the passage of time. I could lie and pretend I was having the same kind of wacky experiences they have on soap operas (coma, abducted by aliens, kidnapped by an evil twin etc. etc.), but the truth of the matter is far more bland... Mister Man and I MOVED!!! Yuppers! We moved on up to the heart of Vancouver. While we are now in a 2 bedroom, we DID have to scale back because we have a little less storage space. So this made the process of packing a little more arduous. HOWEVER, there were moments of light and joy during the dark days of moving. I can say that most of the moments of joy involved the 50 dinners. Funny how food can brighten even the darkest day....

Dinner # 4 involved the running posse and one of our old haunts, The Water Street Cafe.

Jan was in fine form!

Tamara's gift included a poem by Ogden Nash, "A Lady Who Thinks She is Thirty".

Dinner #5 was an Indonesian feast, lovingly prepared by Anthony and Shelley. It was a double celebration, as Ms. Lori is ALSO a member of the Aries club. There was much laughter.

And food that would melt even the most stressed out moving heart. Here Vanna White er Shelley K. models a plate of Bitta Balls. These little morsels are bustin' full o' flavour.

And these were fab too.

What a spread! And these were only the appies.

The tone of the evening was set with tales that were told by Anthony, of his family's travels from Indonesia to the Netherlands.

And then, it was on to the main course.

Here's what my plate looked like - overflowing with goodness.

Everyone was having such fun.

.... Until Anthony brought on the dessert. DURIAN!!! (Yes the famed fruit which is banned from airplanes. If you go to La Casa Gelato, the durian gelato is covered up for fear of offending people with it's odorous odor. It kind of smells like damp gym socks.) Lori looks on in horror. Mister Man gnaws his nails.

Anthony presents the thorny fruit.

He begins the dissection.

I have to admit, it DOES kind of resemble an alien autopsy.

I mean, I've watched season one of Fringe..... and this COULD be something in Walter's lab!

We each get "a seed".

Shayne seems.... uncertain.

Mister Man is afeared.

Lori is downright revolted!!!

I actually enjoyed mine! It was kind of like a mango with the texture of soft cheese.

Anthony is the one who clearly loved his. He licked it clean!

The evening ended with this concoction. I was uncertain at first, but it was delicious over ice!!

Two fabulous evenings during some stressful days. I have to say that we LOVE our new home and I promise photos soon.