Local Restaurant Trippin

This post is from five years ago.  WOW.  TIME FLIES, PEOPLE!!  Get out there and PLAN A ROAD TRIP!!

And, hey -- you don't necessarily have to leave town!!  I love the idea of getting your friends together once a month to try out different local restaurants.  GREAT IDEA, PAT!!

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I am the luckiest girl in the world. I've ALWAYS believed that. If you're doing it right -- life is a delicious, rich adventure. I love meeting new people -- going places and doing things. One person leads to another...

Many years ago -- my friend Mary Mulari recommended me to be a speaker at the Sewing and Stitchery Expo in Puyallup, Washington.



That's when I met Joanne Ross, the Chair of the show -- and her husband Ron. Of course, at some point in time, that led to a wonderful job doing the PR and marketing for Sew Expo -- and I cannot even begin to count the number of new friends I made... (of course, many of you are reading this blog...)



Joanne introduced me to one of her best friends -- Pat Leslie. They both worked at and retired from Extension. Joanne was the textile girl, and Pat was the Foodie. Pat LOVES to cook...in retirement, she attends cooking schools -- here and in Europe. She LOVES to travel, and she was a guest at Julia Childs' birthday parties!! So this picture of me and Pat EATING should come as no surprise...

Pat introduced me to one of her best friends, Dana. Remember last year when I blogged about her visit to Iowa? We went out to dinner at the Iowa Machine Shed and ate the biggest pork chop known to man...

Pat and Dana have a big circle of Foodie Friends in Olympia and they get together once a month to try out a different restaurant!! WHAT A GREAT IDEA...I was lucky enough to join them one night last year -- and we ate Vietnamese!!

After dinner, they go to one person's house (taking turns) to eat dessert. On this night, the desserts looked like something different than what they really were..(it is a very competitive Foodie Group)

Last year, when my sisters came to Sew Expo -- we spent one day in Olympia and Pat was an incredible tour guide. I never was able to get my pictures from that year off the darn camera card...so I only have the wonderful memories...

Pat spent the entire day with us -- taking us all over Olympia and touring her part of the world. Pat is like that. She is a GIVER. And holy cow -- is she a BUSY WOMAN. Always doing something for a neighbor or a friend...and ALWAYS cooking...she has a large family and hundreds of friends. If somebody is sick, Pat is making a casserole or baking a pie. For years, she taught cooking classes and many of my new recipes (in the last ten years) are from Pat. She babysits her 4-year old great-granddaughter once a week...Pat is a gift in many people's lives...
And her TRAVEL SCHEDULE....well -- it's amazing...