I was in Seattle

...just doing some work. Minding my own business. Thursday night I took the team out to dinner at a place that the DM recommended in Seattle's Capitol Hill District.


This place was INSANE!!!!! I've never seen a menu like this... amazing stuff. I had two "small plates" for dinner. The first one was - get this: French Fries fried in DUCK FAT with Fontina Fonduta and Veal Demi Glace WITH Foie Gras. Basically, a heart attack on a plate.



I would have happily died after eating this. I was transported... It was so good, I actually got light headed!!!!!
The second dish I had was the Braised Oxtail with Gnochi and FRIED BONE MARROW!!!!!!



the little golden nugget on the top was the bone marrow. they basically just dipped it in a light tempura batter and fried. sigh.
I'm off to pilates today... and I'll probably jump on my bike and go for a 300 mile ride. totally worth it.

ouch!

I went to my first Pilates session yesterday. Prior to showing up, I did a little googling and found my future instructors' website. She looked exactly like what I expected. Perfect body with long, straight hair pulled into two ponytails. "Great... I'm gonna have to endure some ding-ding tree hugger to achieve my goal of being built like a gay porn star." SUPER.
I imagined the long lecture about my smoking, even longer dissertations on the evils of red meat and having to endure a look of pained ecstasy in her eyes as she extolled the benefits of a strictly nuts and berries vegan lifestyle.
I was pleasantly surprised.
When I showed up, she was waiting for me in the lobby. Her body IS perfect, but she had opted against the creepy ponytails. After leading me back to the studio, we sat and chatted for a bit. We talked about the three blown out discs in my spine, my two severed achilles and the onset of my degenerative disc disease. I discovered that we had arrived on the shores of Mad-land at the same time. We bitched about the hellish winter. I told her about my new trick of stress causing weight gain (as opposed to causing weight loss in my youth). We used cuss words. I was officially at ease.
The hardest thing about it all was getting used to the breathing - in through the nose, out through the mouth and make your tummy push out the air. As a dancer, I was taught kinda' the opposite; get air into your body any way you can and NEVER let your tummy go. Don't move it out, don't move it in. Just keep it TIGHT. So THAT took some getting used to. Actually, it was kinda' freeing...
anyhow, I won't bore you with a rundown of the whole session... I'll just say that I was comfortable both physically and mentally. I actually enjoyed it.
HowEVER, this morning I feel like I was hit by a car. I've been hit by a car, so I know what I'm talking about here.

Relax. I'm going back. I paid for a 10 class series yesterday AFTER I took the first class.
Namaste all you mutha-f'ers!