Elliot and Oliver's Year in Review: 2012

2012 has come and gone, and Elliot and Oliver wanted to talk about their favorite experiences of the year! We've eaten at so many great places an had so many great experiences, so we are going to try and narrow the list down to the most memorable. We put together some categories:

Oliver:

Best Video game of 2012-

Minecraft is the best video game because you can pretty much make anything. I once built a giant castle with twelve rooms, and my own private bedroom with a set of armor. I also grew coffee beans and wheat to make beer. 

Best Movie of 2012- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

Best Meal of 2012- The Pho and chicken wings at Monkey Bridge. THE BEST!

Best Obsession of 2012- Minecraft (DUH!)

Best T.V. Show of 2012- Family night watching Wipeout. 

Best Book of 2012- Shiloh.

Elliot:

Best Video game of 2012-

Assassins Creed III because it's got a great story line, you get to be a assassin and it is a historically accurate game , but you can mess with and change history.

Best Movie of 2012- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

Best Meal of 2012- Shilo, you grill your own meat!! 

Best Obsession of 2012- Skyrim. So Brutal.

Best T.V. Show of 2012- Wipeout.

Best Book of 2012- Fablehaven. Hope they make the books into movies!

Revel: Mother's Day Edition!!!

Okay, so we have fallen off this blog thing, but Spring is here and we are back! And what better way to  renew our blogging than with our experience on Mother's day at Revel....

Mom: What did you think about the restaurant when we first walked in?

Elliot: I was impressed. There were SO many people and it smelled great. The paintings on the walls were interesting. 

Mom: What about the food?

Elliot: The food was delicious. I ate the Kalbi burger. It was AMAZING. The beef was sort of strange BUT amazing. It's less exotic than some of the other food. The PB&J donuts are so good. One thing I did not like was that the wait time for our food was way too long. Also, it's kind of smoky inside the restaurant but the balcony is perfect.  (Mom: To be fair it was Mother's Day and we did not have reservations and were lucky to get a table at all!). 

 Ollie: Okay so it's a brunch restaurant, at least when we went. They have SO MANY different choices of food. I had a hard time picking what I wanted. The thing I recommend is the PB&J donuts! My parents loved the monkey bread, it had bread and bacon and jalapenos, very sweet and a little spicy. I ordered the ramen bowl. I only liked it a little bit, it had a weird texture and the eggs in it tasted funny. Oh and I ordered a bloody mary with no alcohol. I'm not sure I like the way they make it there. The Bloody Mary at Linda's Tavern are way better.  

A very Zoidberg Halloween

So what, you might ask is the dream Halloween costume of a non-practicing Jewish kid living in the Pacific Northwest? Well, you probably won't ask, but I'm gonna tell you. Every year both Elliot and Oliver come up with creative and sometimes seemingly impossible costume ideas. Happily this year we were able to pull Oliver's dream of being Dr. Zoidberg off with much success! The best part? Oliver staying in character the entire night, and responding to people's questions about why he was dressed like a lobster with the response, "Why hello, I'm Doctor Zoidberg, could you spare a piece of candy?". I've included some of the best costumes Ollie has worn. Ideas have always been totally his....

Wub Wub Wub!

Gives me my precious (candy)!

Ollie-Zombie 2010

Ballard Seafood Festival: Saturday July 14th, 2012

Ballard culture, food and fun

Oliver eating his fried Alligator. "The inside tastes exactly like chicken..."

Mom: After perusing the many food stations and trucks, Oliver decided on the fried Alligator from New Orleans Cookery. He had been talking about eating Alligator since our visit to Florida a few weeks ago, and he made a bee-line directly for it. Here's his account of the experience.

Oliver: (While nibbling on his skewer of fried Alligator) There are two different flavors. The first is the outside fried part. It has a strong taste,  and it's very chewy! The inside tastes exactly like chicken but a little different. I can't really explain. It's just a little spicy. Now that I've had fried alligator I like it more than chicken.
Five thumbs up!

            Elliot showing off his precious Crab Cakes. 


Elliot he went straight for the Crab Cakes at one of the many seafood booths:
Elliot: (While digging into the fried, golden disks of crab)These crab cakes are nice and crunchy on the outside. The inside meat is thick and creamy, and excellent with tarter sauce. It's savory and a little sweet. Five thumbs up!


Mom: What do you guys think about the Ballard Seafood Festival?


Elliot: It's a great way to show Ballard culture. Since we live on the sound we get lots of seafood.


Ollie: Very fun, very crowded. Delish food! *Oliver has decided next year he wants to Hula Hoop as a Ballard Seafood Fest street performer! Sweet. :)


http://www.seafoodfest.org/ 

Meet the bloggers; a short interview with the kids.

OLIVER

What is your favorite food? Least favorite?

Oliver: "That's easy mom, it's steak. Don't you remember all the steak I ate in Florida?"

Mom: "Yeah, I remember. You wanted it for every meal."

Oliver: "Um, I really hate liver. Yuck. And chocolate croissants."

Mom: "Okay, kind of random there, but I agree with you about liver."

What's fun about eating out?

Oliver: "I think restaurants (that we go to) are pretty fancy, and I love when I get to eat a lot of food and special drinks."

What's good about eating at home?

Oliver: "My mom makes really good food. I like her smoothies, and she knows my taste. I love hot sauce and we always have some at home."

If you could eat out anywhere, where would you choose? 

Oliver: "CANALIS! My mom says it's really expensive so I'm saving my money so someday I can eat a delicious steak there!"

ELLIOT

What is your favorite food? Least favorite?

Elliot: "My favorite food has to be pepperoni pizza, especially from Ballard Pizza Company. The slices are HUGE, and I like the pizza oven flavor. The food I hate the most is squash. I especially don't like zucchini. My taste buds hate zucchini. Seriously."

Mom: "It's true, I can't get these kids to eat squash at all!"

What's fun about eating out?

Elliot: "You get to go out to eat, and you experience different stuff like different cultures."

Mom: "What do you mean by that?"

Elliot: "I mean if you go to a mexican restaurant like Michoacan, there is artwork on the building and inside, and of course the food. It teaches you about what kind of food people eat in Mexico."

Mom: "Ah, I see."

What's good about eating at home?

Elliot: "You can relax, it's quiet and you don't have to pay a bunch of money for what you're eating. It's also good to have family time at home. I like mom's style of cooking, she always cooks it just the way I like it... unless it has zucchini in it."

If you could eat out anywhere, where would you choose? 

Elliot: "I want to go to Canalis, but since Oliver already picked that I'd have to say Olive Garden! I think it's really fancy, because they make good food, the service is great and it looks like an Italian or Roman place. If you go there, I suggest getting the Ravioli. Yum!"

http://www.ballardpizzacompany.com/

                                            http://restaurantemichoacanseattle.com/index.htm
                                                      http://www.canalisrestaurant.com/

Full Tilt: Awesome

Elliot: Full Tilt is awesome because it doesn't only have really good ice cream. They have different video games like Metal Slug and tons of pinball games. The prices are good from what my mom tells

me. Two words about the ice cream, good AND nicely frozen. Flavors I have tried:

Rocky Road- Sweet chocolaty flavor with two extra ingredients that really make it stand out; marshmallows AND nuts. 

Chocolate- Well, it's chocolate. Yum.

I haven't tried all of the flavors yet, but I want to! The fruit loop flavored one (I can't remember the name) looks especially tasty! If I could I'd give this place six out of five thumbs up!

Mom's note: For adults they have beer, as well as ice cream and video games. That's called a win/win folks!

Oliver: This place has SO MUCH pinball! Lord of the Rings is my favorite game and I think I'm pretty great at it. Favorite flavor ice cream is Rocky Road, but I have also tried Mexican Chocolate and Horchata. The Horchata was so delicious and SWEET! Good for kids and their parents. Five thumbs up!

http://fulltilticecream.com/full_tilt/Full_Tilt_Ice_Cream.html