On Friday night, John & I cashed in  The Catbird Seat gift certificate we've been sitting on for a year.  Treat yo self!  This was our first visit to Catbird Seat & I had no idea what to expect.  For those of you who haven't been, it's not a normal restaurant.  There aren't tables.  Everyone sits up at the bar & the kitchen is inside the bar, so you watch them make your meal.  There are 3 chefs & which ever one makes that specific course, brings it to you & describes what it is.  A friend had recommended we ask a lot of questions, so we did & they really seemed to appreciate it.  Plus, we learned all kinds of crazy stuff.  The chefs are awesome.


Now, the important stuff:  the food.  Having just been to San Francisco & eating better than I've ever eaten, I don't say this lightly, but my meal at Catbird Seat is the best meal I've ever had.  We had 10 courses over about 3 1/2 hours.  We also did the wine pairing, which I highly recommend.  Speaking of, take a cab.  Turns out, you can't really drive yourself home after drinking champagne, white wine, red wine, beer, bourbon & sherry for 3 1/2 hours.  You're welcome.


I was trying really hard not to be that girl Instagramming her entire meal, but I had to take a picture of this.  Y'all, that is a claw.  And I totally ate it.  One of the neat things about Catbird Seat is that they seat you 15 minutes apart, so you can look around at the people seated before you & see what's coming down the pike.  When I saw this claw served to the couple beside us, I whisper-shouted to John, "I am not eating that."

Thanks to the pairing, I was 4 or 5 drinks in by the time the claw made it to us.  The chef told us that the egg was in a little pond of brown butter & to break the egg, stir it into the browned butter & to dip the pigeon meat into the egg/browned butter.  Holy effing shizz, y'all.  That little pigeon leg BLEW MY MIND.  I've never had anything like it.  It was my favorite course.  Claw!  Who knew?!


This was kind of a banner weekend.  The morning after Catbird Seat, John bought me a bike.  Merry Christmas to me!  A few days ago, Marshall sent me a Craiglist ad for this bike, telling me to buy it.  Quick backstory, I've been riding (& racing on) John's old college mountain bike.  I needed a road bike.  And now I have one!  Hooray!  It's a 2007 Specialized Allez Elite.  It needs new pedals, but other than that, it's good to go.  I can't wait to see how fast I am on a bike that doesn't weigh more than I do.


My mom came up on Saturday & we went to Porter Flea.  It was a madhouse, but I managed to score 2 awesome purchases.  I'm obsessed with that mask from Arcade Death.  It's my new favorite thing.  And the orange critter face by Thimblepress?  Forget about it.  I love it!


I'm officially in half marathon training.  We ran 5 1/2 miles on Sunday.  Oy.  I swear, the main reason I agree to this is the coffee & breakfast bagels I allow myself afterwards.


Later on Sunday, I cruised on down to the Warby Parker bus in Hillsboro Village & tried on a crap-ton of glasses.  I haven't made a decision yet, but need to soon.  Follow-up post to follow later in the week.

If you want/need glasses, I highly recommend checking out the Warby Parker bus while it's in town.  It's parked in The Gulch December 4-9 & then it's gone.  $95 glasses, y'all!  And for every pair they sell, they provide a pair to someone in need.