Lunch with Mom

My Mom & I grabbed lunch this week, and spent the afternoon together at the Wood Working Show at the Seattle Center's Exhibition Hall. Given it's location, and that both of us are fans of the chain, McMenamins ended up being the perfect choice.



When I was little, I tasted rye bread and didn't like it, tasted sauerkraut and didn't like it, tasted corned beef and didn't like it - so I got it stuck in my mind that I wouldn't like a Reuben sandwich. But as I was looking over the menu, trying to decide what to have for lunch, it struck me that I now like sauerkraut and corned beef... and that I haven't tried rye bread for at least a decade. So I chose the adventurous path and ordered the Reuben.



I was glad I did. It was salty and sour and messy and really, really good. The Russian dressing seemed like overkill, but I still gobbled it down. My Mom went with the Maria's Masterpiece - a turkey, bacon, and swiss sandwich on a French roll that is one of my McMenamins favorites.

After lunch, we walked over to the Wood Working show, which was very loud but a great way to spend the afternoon together. My Mom is an avid wood turner (making things like pens, bowls, and pepper mills using a huge lathe), and it was great to share that passion with her at the show. She explained what people were doing, we chatted with some of the artisans, watched a couple demos, and I even sat down and used a really user-friendly scroll saw with the help of a really nice woman at the Dewalt booth. It was definitely a lot of fun.



My Mom also told me more about their recent cruise to the Caribbean and down the Amazon river - as I'd spent the morning looking through hundreds of photos she and my Dad took and posted online. She made sure to take lots of pictures of the food they ate on the cruise ship, as she knew I'd enjoy seeing it. One picture of a crawfish, in particular, caught my attention, so I had her share it with me so I could share it here.