Last month Caleb and I went to the walrus’ birthday at the Point Defiance Zoo. His name is E.T. And yes we have an annual pass to go see him whenever we want to. We really like walruses.

At the moment there are also two female walruses on loan from the San Diego Zoo. It’s E.T.’s harem. They are supposed to make baby walruses together, I hope they succeed this year. You have no idea how excited I will be if there are walrus pups to see. Though I’m just excited that there are three walruses at the zoo right now. There’s only about 13 or so in captivity in the U.S. Maybe even the world. They don’t really do well in captivity since they are such social animals. And it’s hard to house a herd of walruses.

Anyway. E.T.’s birthday. He was turning 38. Or 32. Something old. Walruses generally only live to be 35-40 years, so he’s an old guy. He’s been at Point Defiance since he was a pup, rescued from the waters of Alaska. His birthday party consisted of him doing a few tricks and then blowing the herring candles out on his cake. No, really, he blew them out. You should have been there.

Did I mention that we went to two of the three “parties”. We waited for 45 minutes for the second one to start so we could get front row seats. We have a problem. Is there a Walrus Lovers Anonymous?

It’s a new husband’s favorite!

Seriously, my husband said it’s the best avocado smoothie he has ever had. And he’s had his fair share. I’m sure you’ve seen avocoladas around the blogosphere, they’re pretty popular. My first encounter with an avocado in a smoothie was in bubble tea on University Way in Seattle. At first I was leery. Avocados are for guacamole and sandwiches. Not smoothies. So I thought.

After I tried my first one, I was hooked. Avocados are not very strongly flavored, so they are versatile on the savory or sweet side. And it makes such rich, creamy smoothies. Add too much ice and you have to eat it with a spoon. But I like to eat all of my smoothies with a spoon, unlike Caleb who camels it down. Yes, camels is a verb.

To Camel: To consume a beverage quickly and with gusto. Occurs often after intense exercise.

So this is my super hurried recipe for a version of an avocolada that I made up yesterday. It’s based on what I imagined it should be like. It would be better with coconut milk instead of regular milk and coconut extract, but it’s all I had.

And am I the only one who has tried to grow an avocado tree? I always start one, but then end up throwing it out after a couple of weeks. I don’t have the patience, nor the climate, for such a feat. But doesn’t it look like fun?

What happened this weekend anyway? This chilly Monday has completely erased all warm thoughts from the past few days. It’s 60 degrees right now, that’s a 30 degree drop from this weekend. My body is in shock.

So I spent the majority of the weekend outside with Caleb. We went to the Mobile Chowdown on Saturday at Seattle Center. It’s a conglomeration of a bunch of food trucks from Seattle and Portland like the Marination Mobile and Koi Fusion. They are all really, really tasty.

Caleb and I settled on Skillet, it was a choice based on what we know of the food and how long the line was. We wanted to go to Koi Fusion and Maximus/Minimus (they have an awesome pig truck), but the lines were too long and exacerbated by the heat.

It also helps that Skillet is served out of an Airstream. I love Airstreams. My family used to have one. It was a more rare one, the shorter version of Skillet’s.

We had the famous burger and fries from Skillet and a strawberry lemonade.

It was expensive for the portions, but the taste was completely worth it. Oh I can’t even describe it, really excellent all around. Loved the fries as well, and I consider myself an amateur fry connoisseur. They were thin cut, with visible potato skin still clinging on. They were seasoned with coarse sea salt and fresh rosemary. I dream about fries like these.

The rest of the day was spent at Canal St. Coffee, which has a glorious deck overlooking the canal.

There be my handsome husband. Isn’t he handsome?

We opted to sit inside right next to some very large open windows and drink Coca Cola and Hales (which, by the way, are $2 every day all day).

And enjoyed the scenery. I didn’t get a worthy photo of the canal, but I did get some photos of the beautiful foliage from around the cafe.

That evening we had BBQ at my brother-in-law’s place and watched Office Space. It’s amazing how quotable that movie is, and how often you hear it referenced in the workplace. Same with The Office.

Who knows what happened to Sunday. I think I went on a walk, tended to my balcony garden, and cleaned. Oh and I made a version of Bulgogi (Korean BBQ), though without a proper BBQ.

Hopefully the rest of this week heats up a little, because 60 isn’t going to cut it. I’d like next weekend to be just as nice as this one.

It’s nearly July and Seattle has had one day where it was over 75 degrees. One.

So my man and I decided to roll with it and go somewhere that is always a little chilly so our expectations would not be let down—the San Juan Islands.

The irony is that it turned out to be quite sunny and warm (high 60s). I even got a sunburn, first of the season. Hush now, I was expecting clouds and showers. And the sunblock was buried in my backpack somewhere that I did not desire to seek out.

The Juans were gorgeous, as always. They’re breathtaking rain or shine, clouds or not.

Caleb shot this photo right before we left the ferry back in Anacortes.

And they are home to all manner of fluffy, cute, frolicking creatures–which I am very sorry I didn’t catch any pictures of. We had numerous deer sleep in the field next to our tent and in the morning we drank coffee watching the sheep and the bunnies play.

We left early in the morning on a Saturday, driving up to Anacortes and grabbing some Old Rasputin stout on the way (for camping, not for driving).

I am going to build a castle on this island and live there forever.

We parked in the lot way up on the hill, pieced our bikes back together since we had to remove the front wheels to fit both bikes in our little car (a task easier said than done). And sped down the hill and onto the ferry.

Our little trip started on Lopez Island. Where we discovered that Caleb’s bike tire was flat. And town was 5 miles from the ferry terminal. Uh-huh. I see.

The Husband without, and with, enough coffee at the Lopez terminal.

So we began our trek in the heat into town, trying to catch a ride. It’s amazing how many trucks with empty beds sped by. Finally an old van with a bumper sticker on the back reading I love my Eagle Scouts pulled over to the side. Ah! Someone with the scout’s honor! And indeed it was an Eagle Scout to our rescue. He took my husband and his bike into town and I just rode the rest of the way in on my bike.

~

The secret writing on the wall, is there more?

The secret writing is here because the CSS is being weird. In the mean time, congratulate yourself.

Caleb and I stayed the night after riding our rears off all over the island at the Lopez Farm Cottages and Campground. We opted for the Camp Nest, a carpeted tent with a futon and comforter already set up for you. And no, we’re not lazy. We just didn’t want to haul in the camping supplies for our one nighter on bicycles.

The campground was empty, it was all ours. Just to share with the gentle creatures of the forest. It’s a very peaceful camp, I highly recommend it. The perfect change of pace from the city. Not that Seattle is all that wild, but it is compared to a meadow full of bunnies.

The rest of the weekend was spent on our bikes visiting Spencer Spit, walking on the beach, beckoning the bleating sheep, delighting on espresso over homemade ice cream, and whale watching.

P.S. No photos of me because all of them turned out awful. Somehow the husband looks good even after a day of bike riding in the wind.

Places we ate at:
Bucky’s on Lopez (average but good burger, excellent fries)
Isabel’s Espresso on Lopez (we had the ice cream with espresso, highly recommended)
The Crab House in Friday Harbor (really fresh seafood, naturally, but sorry we spent the money as it wasn’t very good despite the freshness)
The Hungry Clam in Friday Harbor (read my review here)
The Doctor’s Office in Friday Harbor (just got coffee, it was alright)

Verdict: The only repeatables were the fries at Bucky’s, the espresso float at Isabel’s, and the burger at The Hungry Clam.

…is what I will say within the next 5 years. With some luck. And a patient husband.

The night I met my husband, I was but a freshman in college. In fact I met him on the third day after I moved to Seattle before classes even started. And he was a senior. Can you say awe-struck 18 year old? Then the punches started.

And by punches I mean the impressive things he told me. On retrospect they weren’t as big and grand as I thought then, but remember I just moved for the first time in my life and hadn’t even attended my first day of college. I was little.

He hit me with, “I just got back from living in Israel for a year” to “I was in a 60 mph car crash with a drunk”. Then came “I speak ancient Greek and Hebrew, oh yeah and Arabic. Toss in some Chinese for good measure. And I have a twin.”

So that’s super paraphrased, since that is not at all how he said it. He said it in the most nonchalant, humble way. Be still my then 18 year old heart.

To make a long and winding story short, he has inspired me to learn Arabic. It’d be nice to join in the conversations he has with his Arabic-speaking friends. By the way, my husband is the least Arabic-looking person ever. He’s as Aryan as they come.

I hope to speak Russian some day as well, mostly to fuel my love for figure skating. Hebrew wouldn’t be half bad either, I can already say “I love you”! *applaud my meager language skills*

So if any of you happen to speak Arabic or Russian out there, ring me up. I’ll be the one puzzling over how to read from right to left. And upside down and backwards.

(Photo by FontFont)