I did it without trying (day 64)

I was only planning on updating my #5 my walking status  and #9  my soda status today.  As I was scrolling down my list getting ready to edit, I noticed #88 (try 10 new restaurants).

I excitedly blurted out "Ohhh, ohhh, I've done this one".  The rest of the Croom clan all had something to say.  Brent, who was playing a video game, commented with  "MmmHmm".  Ben who was engrossed in Brent's game and anxiously waiting for him to die so that it would be his turn said  "um...what?... anyway".  Micah was my last hope for an acceptable reaction.  He started off strong by jumping up excitedly, but he quickly ran off  to see what was happening on the boob tube without knowing what he was jumping for.  So I am hoping that you, my dear blogging audience, will take a little more interest in my fun find than my immediate family did. 

I love finding new and interesting restaurants.  My favorites are the ones that look like they are nothing more than a hole in the wall and turn out to be an amazing undiscovered gem.  I love atmosphere but more importantly, I LOVE food.  A good restaurant is the kind that makes you look around to see if anyone would notice if you licked your plate.

While my family was in town, we did a lot of eating.  This worked for me :)  We took them to a few  great spots.  One of my favorites is the 'Hangar Cafe'.  It is a tiny eclectic house at the end of Boeing runway.  They have amazing crepes, if you ever want to go out for a not so quick bite to eat then this is the place to go, please invite me to join you.  It is NOT big group friendly, 13 people pretty much fills up their inside eating area.

How is it that my post turned into a restaurant review?

While the family was in town we visited two new to me restaurants.  The first was 'The Crab Pot'.  My boys were excited to go because they had seen it on 'Man vs. Food' (a  TV show).   It was..... an experience. 

We are not much of a seafood family. OK I take that back, Brent, Micah and I are not crazy about seafood, Ben on the other hand, must have gotten a recessive seafood loving gene.  The extended family on both sides really likes the stuff.  I always thought they were a little fishy :)
Anyway, our idea of a seafood restaurant is Skippers or Ivars, which we visit on average less than 3 times a year.  Brent and Micah usually will order chicken which even for me, a non-fishy person, is weird.

Brent and I shared a chicken dish (OK, it seemed like a good idea at the time, there was only REAL fish and sea creatures on the menu) Micah ordered a kids chicken tenders and Ben ordered a cheeseburger but was  invited to share in the... experience.  I know, I know, get to the point already!

The experience that I keep talking about was the large stainless bowl filled to the brim with Nemo, Sebastian, Dory and numerous other adorable Disney characters. The staff begin to bring our orders out. The plates of food are delivered to the hungry recipients, all except for those bowls.  They are dumped out into the middle of the table in a steaming heap.  Now here comes the kicker, they hand out mallets  Yup, my 10 year old, not so coordinated son, was sitting next to my 20 year old amazing, but also not so coordinated sister  Guess who was sitting right next to them.....
An hour later, my dad had a glass of ice water dumped in his lap, my little sister had a sticky substance (I can't remember if it was BBQ sauce, root beer or both) dumped into her purse and I had nothing dumped on me but I had been, hit with a mallet several times, pegged in the face arm and generally my entire left side with, shrimp that still had faces, clam shells, mussel innards & outards, and butter covered crab legs.  It was fantastic! We were all laughing and really enjoying the "experience". 

The second new restaurant was not nearly as memorable, it was a small Asian Pho place.  The boys and I went over to visit family at a wonderful little cabin on Whidbey Island.  The trip was very memorable.  Dad, Paulette, Mikki, Ben, Micah and I (Janae stayed back because she wasn't feeling well) walked down to the beach.  The boys, big and small, had fun attempting to fish,  Mikki fell in the water and I thoroughly enjoyed just watching it all and talking to Paulette. 
When we got back from the walk we went to the 'Basil Cafe'.  It was decent food and great company.  The highlight of the restaurant was the live outdoor chef who does fun things with food and fire. We were not actually able to watch him because he wasn't actually there at the time, but they did have a previously taped video playing on the TV behind my head.

So there you go, two new restaurants, The Crab Pot and The Basil Cafe.  So much for just switching my numbers real quick.