Tip of the Week: LAMB

He Said:

Lamb

Where I come from it’s a Sunday roast at mum’s. Wrap it in pita and you’ve got yourself the greatest late night alcohol absorber known to man. Sausages, chops, cutlets, breakfast, lunch and tea – Lamb is a staple found everywhere and in this diner’s opinion – bloody beautiful. State side however it isn’t so popular. Yes you can get it in a lot of restaurants but not to the same degree as found in Australia, New Zealand or England. I however still crave it constantly and lately have made it a mission to find the best lamb in the Pacific Northwest with ONE sort of surprising result.

GET IT LOCAL

This may sound stupid as obviously locally grown stuff will be better, but a lot of local 5 star restaurants and top-end super markets out there get their lamb from New Zealand and Australia. This is not the right decision. For some reason it isn’t lamby enough. I’m not sure if it’s the long trip over the Pacific or if those cheeky bastards down there are picking the best for themselves and sending over the leftovers... but I’ve found the lamb to lack that lamby flavor I’ve grown to love love.

The hot tip for lamb in the Pacific Northwest – Oregon.

Yes Oregon. If you see Oregon lamb on a menu somewhere buy it immediately! And for even more detail, check out my favorite producer at http://www.oregonlamb.com/. You won’t regret it.

Cheers,
Brett

Hello chickens! This week’s Tip is brought to you by the ever-fabulous Mr. Free Stuff.

Who is Mr. Free Stuff?

Well, I'm not entirely sure. But i do know this:

<--- He’s pretty hot.

AND, he has an AWESOME website that’s a great resource for anything Free all over the country!

So check it out!

My favorite is of course, the following article… chock-a-block full of GREAT date ideas in Seattle – and they’re all FREE!

Enjoy, and happy dating!

31 Free Things to do in Seattle

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 | Free Things To Do In

Located on the eastern shore of Puget Sound, Seattle is anything but ordinary. It’s a place where bike messengers share elevators with world-renowned researchers; where fishermen have lunch alongside top surgeons. It’s a city where the extraordinary is commonplace and commonplace is anything but. If you look closely, you’ll discover cool things are happening all over the city.

1. Seattle Art Museum
Is free on the first Thursday of each month and includes a collection of modern and contemporary art along with art from a broad array of cultures.

2. Seattle Asian Art Museum
Is free on the first Thursday and Saturday of each month and includes a broad collection of art from all over Asia.

3. Frye Art Museum
This museum has an always changing collection of art from the 19th and 20th Centuries. If you visit Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Or Saturday at 1:30pm you can have a free tour, admission to the gallery is always free.

4. Olympic Sculpture Park
This park has contemporary art work. It is free all days of the week.

Olympic Sculpture Park | Photo by coolmel

5. Lunchtime Concerts
Are held at City Hall on the first and third Thursday of each month. The genre of music varies for each but spans folk to jazz.

6. Pike Place Market
Is a local 100 year old fish market. Admission is free daily.

7. Fremont Sunday market
This Flea market has over 100 vendors and begins at 10am.

8. I heart Rummage
Is a craft and alternative fair that is on the first Sunday of each month at Belltown’s Crocodile Cafe.

9. The Center for Wooden Boats
Here you can go admire boats for free any day and on Sundays you can go on a free 1/2 boat ride.

10. Ye Olde Curiosity Shop
Visit this store to explore the unique gifts and sites that are offered.

11. Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection
Visit this location to explore a vast collection of Bonsai trees that are well maintained.

12. Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
Visit here to see some of the sites of the historic Gold Rush along with enjoying beautiful trails and the Chilkoot Trail.

13. International Fountain
Is found in the Seattle Center and is fun for kids to play in and beautiful to watch.

International Fountain | Photo by cookinghamus

14. Lavenworth National Fish Hatchery
Come and watch fish hatch and learn about hatchery’s different species it is currently breeding.

15. Wing Luke Asian Museum
Visit this unique museum thats goal is to explore the unique history of Asian Pacific Americans.

16. Music Project and Science Fiction Museum
This museum offers state of the art exhibits exploring the joining of music and science fiction.

17. Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture
This museum offers natural history exhibits with a variety of different exhibits throughout the year.

18. Lakeview Cemetary
Come to the cemetary to visit the graves of both Brandon and Bruce Lee.

19. Jimi Hendrix Memorial
Visit this memorial which celebrates the life of Jimi Hendrix for free.

20. Arboretum at the University of Washington
Come here to experience all the beautiful green space in urban Seattle.

21. Lakewood Park Disc Golf Course
Bring your discs and enjoy a round of disc golf for free while experiencing Lakewood Park.

22. Hiram M. Chittenden Locks
Visit these locks and learn about the many purposes they serve spanning from maintaining Lake Washington to preventing the mixing of sea water and fresh water.

24. Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve
This is the first historical reserve that was created to protect the Central Whidbey Island. This is a great place to visit if you are interested in history and national parks.

25. Green Lake
This park has paths so you can bring a bike and go for a ride or a long walk. There are also lots of areas perfect for a pic-nic.

26. Alki Beach Park
Is a 2.5 Mile long path for those who want to get some exercise in along the ocean along with plenty of spots for tanning and laying out in the sun.

27. Fremont Troll
This is a fun visit for children. Come visit the troll who lives under the Aurora Bridge.

Fremont Troll | Photo by cnorse

28. MaryMoor Park
This is a 640 acre park with attractions spanning from Rock climbing on a wall (bouldering for those who have no experience) and fields to play sports like cricket.

29. Boehm’s Chocolates
Offers free tours of its Candy Factory in July until September. You must call in advance to reserve a sport on a tour.

30. Darigold Dairy Farm
Here you can go on a self-guided tour of the Dairy and learn about how cheese is made in Washington.

31.Liberty Orchards (Aplets & Cotlets)
Here you can see how the famous candy is made with free tours and samples every 20 minutes.

Thanks for the great ideas, Mr. Free Stuff!

Mr Free Stuff is one member of a "family" of money-saving websites, The Frugals, that also includes Coupon Sherpa, Mrs. Sweepstakes and Gift Card Granny. To see all of them, head over to TheFrugals.com.

Tip of the Week!

Strapped for ideas on how to spend your next Date Night? Fear not!

Center’d To THE RESCUE!

What is Center’d, you ask?

It’s a FABULOUS resource available for most major US cities… a website that gives you the option to search for fun stuff to do according to city, style (kid-friendly, group-friendly, romantic, recession-buster, outdoor, and popular), and of course, what it is you’re looking to do (restaurant, attraction, event, shopping).

It really takes the leg-work out of trying to get creative… especially after a long work-week when all you want to do is order some take-out and watch SNL!

According to their website, “[Center’d] has been thinking about how to solve the challenges that exist in making plans. From the smallest get together, where you just can’t decide on where to eat and oh-my-goodness-I-can’t-take-it-anymore-maybe-I’ll-just-stay-home-and-wash-my-cat, to the large fundraisers and school activities that require signups and hundreds of emails and weeks of meticulous planning, one thing is clear: We can help you spend less time planning, and more time enjoying yourself.”

Read more here!

Oh! And be sure to get the iPhone app, putting the convenience of fast-planning right at your fingertips!

AND, for ‘deal of the hour’, follow them on Twitter here! They’ll post different deals around Seattle that you can take advantage of, much like Groupon, Living Social, and Emerald Eats.

Enjoy, and Happy Dating!

She Said: Okay kids, it's the age-old question: “Do I bring her flowers on our date? Old-fashioned or old-school romantic?”

Is it a good idea to bring flowers to a date? Whether to bring flowers to dates depends on what you think about the date (and what type of signal you want to send to her): who she is, where you’re going, and whether or not you really like her; if you want to play it cool, you might not want to bring flowers because it's a bit old fashioned (or if you’re planning an uber-casual date), albeit thoughtful. If you think your lady is into being pampered, you might want to take some, regardless of whether or not it’s casual.

In my personal opinion, you can never go wrong with flowers! It shows that you took some time out to stop at a store, think about the posies she'd like, and purchase them. Adorable. The best, too, is when they’re unexpected.

What kind of flowers should I bring on a date? The classical notion of bringing flowers to an event is sort of a European thing; one would bring a small bouquet that is hand tied. But really, anything goes. Even just a single rose, although sometimes that shows an even stronger signal than an entire bouquet of Gerber daisies. Get personal: try to find her personality in the flora you choose.

A cute alternative to flowers? Bring her a potted plant or posy. They last longer than flowers and are a bit unusual, unexpected, and silly. Go for a cactus!

Ladies: What do you think? Flowers? No? Cheesy?

Date Night Tip of the Week

She Said: Hello everybody!

This Tip of the Week is to let you all know of three really great sites that Brett and I use ALL THE TIME, and you will too, if you like to find a great deal.

Groupon, Living Social, and Emerald City Eats are all 'daily deal' sites that, when you subscribe by signing up with your email address, you are sent a daily deal, either to a restaurant, spa, fun day-time event like trapeze classes, cooking classes, dance classes, or even food tours around Seattle!

One deal a day. And be sure you buy AFTER the "deal is on" (if not enough people sign up, the deal is off... which almost never happens, and they don't charge you if you miss the deal, so fear not!)

Basically, not only does it give you discounts up to 90% off some great local area restaurants and activities, it gives you great ideas for where you can go on your next date night!

So sign up and start saving!

xo

Mandy

Date Night Tip of the Week!

He Said:

Here's a tip for the lads:

I'm a sports fan. Just like most men I know, I always have been and always will be. Being a sports fan in a foreign country though does present its challenges. I mean I still clearly follow all of the sports I used to growing up in Australia but am now a big fan of all the great local sports. Chuck in the fact that some of my good mates over here are poms, it's become a full time job just keeping track of the latest and greatest. Just last Autumn I was simultaneously following rugby league, super 14s, tri-nations, baseball, college football, NFL, AFL, EPL, MLS and the Australian/Enland cricket series. I barely have enough time to scratch my backside let alone plan a decent date night.

That was until I found one of the greatest iPhone application out there, Urbanspoon. Also online at www.urbanspoon.com.

Urban spoon does all the leg work for you. Put in where you want to eat or let it use your current location, choose the theme and price or let it chose for you, give it a shake and away you go. It'll even tell you what reservations are open and give you a phone number to call. Bloody little ripper if you ask me.

Cheers, Brett

Got Dater's Block? Great Dating Resource!

Hello lovely readers!

Over the next few weeks we will be tweaking our Date Nights a bit, as we have friends in from Australia until the end of August! so we will be spending the next couple of Thursday nights with them! We may hit up some fabo restaurants, though, and if that's the case, you will get a FULL REPORT from us!

In the meantime, if you are itching for creative inspiration, look no further than The Nest.

This site offers COUNTLESS innovative ideas for date nights categorized by price (cheap, moderate, or splurge), by mood (sporty, romantic, sexy, off-beat, or low-key), and time of day (daytime, night time, going out, staying at home, indoor dates, outdoor dates). Really, there are so many ideas here, you will never have to visit our site again! (but please do! we love our readers!)

There is also a special section offering 50 dates for under $50, 20 dates for under $20, and other wallet-friendly options for you and your honey to partake in.

The best part? Regardless of where you live – whether it’s sunny Seattle, laid back Los Angeles, or glamorous New York, you can adapt these date ideas to your area. They are not geographically specific! And yes, some of the ideas are waaaaay cheesy, but again, you can make any of them your own just by adding a little flair (email me if you want some tips)!

So enjoy this last full month of summer (as the days are starting to get shorter, sad!) with your special someone in a new and creative way! Mix it up... and never take your number one for granted (that is the best tip i can give!).

Happy dating!

xo

B&M