Saturday, September 27, 2008

Madeira Heritage Day

Back in June, I blogged about having a booth at the Dia de Portugal Festival. Thru that festival, I found a group called the San Pedro Association. They are a group near Sacramento, Calfornia who is dedicated to the preservation of the Madeiran Portuguese culture and history. Since both of my parents were born in Madeira, I knew I had to join. A lot of the Portuguese groups and festas here in the Bay Area are centered around those with ties to the Azores Islands (where hubby's family is from), so it was nice to find a group with heritage from Madeira. I was with my peeps! lol
Today they had Madeiran Heritage Day, which they hold every other year at a small park they Association owns called San Pedro Park - a small park located on a residential street.
Here are some photos of the chapel in the park:





Today we took a slight detour from the shakes and ate some Carne de Espeto (cubes of top-grade beef spiced with coarse salt, bay leaves and garlic and grilled over a pit. Here is a photo of two of the cooks tending to the meat:




A view of the pit afterwards:





There were also folcloric dancers performing dances representing various parts of Portugal.



The striped skirt costumes represent Madeira. Ever since I was a child I recognized those costumes from photos and my trip there when I was 12 years old. My parents took me there for 3 weeks that summer. I still want those boots....lol.
This is a group posing by the Santana house. Does it look familiar? It's my 'house' from the Dia de Portugal Festival. Hubby's dad made it from my father's 90th birthday in 2005. The director's of the Association requested that I bring it. Glad we did!

This is a photo of the leaves off of a huge bay leaf tree/bush in the park. A lot of Portuguese recipes used bay leaves. I remember my mother had a lot of this in the cupboard!

There was also silent and live auctions of gift baskets and other items. I donated a Madeira ornament that I sell on http://www.celestial-creations.com for the live auction. The woman who won the bid is also going to buy more as Christmas gifts!

I really had fun today and I hope to be able to participate in more of their events. I only wish my parents were both still here to have found this club!

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Family Reunion 2008

Hubby and I belong to an online Seahawks fan forum where we call each other Family. Each year a Family Reunion weekend is planned on the weekend of a home game - usually the home opener. This year's Reunion was last weekend in Seattle - with the game vs. the SF Forty Niners.

On the Friday night, we met at King Street Bar and Oven for a Kick-Off Party, where our friend's band, Soulfish, played. This was our final weekend of "regular" food before the Cleanse started on Tuesday so I decided to have my blue drinks. But there are 2 types of blue drinks - the evil blue drink and the not-so-evil blue drink. I prefer the second one which is the Blue Hawaiian. The first one is called the Hawk Island Iced Tea - think Long Island but with 'stuff' to make it blue. I think I tried one last year and could not make it thru one! There was also the yearly rendition of "Sweet Caroline" played for yours truly.

On Saturday we went to the races! We went to Emerald Downs in Auburn, WA. Our group had part of a banquet-type room reserved, where we were able to have a buffet lunch and enjoy a view of the races. Hubby placed a couple of $2 bets and I think we won 50 cents! Someone in our group won $80 on a $5 bet.

View of the track from our area

Horse walking by


View of Mt. Rainier

We stayed there until about 6:00 pm and then headed back to our hotel in Seattle.

Sunday was Game Day! We headed to the King Street bar and Oven at 8:30 am (yes - AM) and hung out there with our friends for a while. Qwest Field does not have much for tailgating at the Stadium - pretty much a no-no. A couple of us headed over to the Team Store and looked for goodies. After that, we went around the corner to The Hawks Nest - a new bar and grille that just opened up by a friend of ours. It was packed! I am so happy for her - her dream of a Seahawks-only bar/grille had become a reality.

The game was a good one - was decided in OT by a field goal.....and we were not the winners...sigh. The worst part is that the loss was to the Niners and we had to come back home to Niner-land and hear all about it....lol.