The Argonaut - Decked out for the Holidays!

This past Saturday night we decided to play tourist in our own town, San Francisco.  (I LOVE living here!)  Hoping to see lighted boats in the harbor, and holiday decorations, we left our car at home and rode the CalTrain into the city, and then navigated all around the Embarcadero and down to Fisherman's Wharf on the historic trolleys.

It was great fun.  Christmas shopping (and people watching!)  on Pier 39, stopping for holiday Irish coffee warm-ups, after having a good laugh at the sea lions fighting for dock space.   Although they are slightly stinky, and a little loud, they are pretty cute! 

Then onto dinner with a view of the bay and decorated boats,  at the world famous Franciscan Crab Restaurant.  It was hard to capture this picture right, but I think you can get the idea. They have the most fantastic etched mermaid mirror behind the cocktail bar!

Yes, those clams were my dinner!  Totally delish.   Oh.... and my wine was pretty good too.

After dinner, we decided to wander down Fisherman's Wharf window shopping and then the Argonaut Hotel.  It's right on the corner of Jefferson at the end of Fisherman's Wharf, by the cable cars and Hyde Pier.  The hotel enjoys a really unique partnership with the San Francisco National Maritime museum, setting aside over 9000 square feet "dedicated to the West Coast maritime history and the story of Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco".  We've been to the museum several times - great history lessons about the Goldrush and the ship wrecks just at the mouth of the San Francisco Bay.  

Kinda went crazy taking pictures in their lobby.  Everything was so beautiful, and so Coastal!

Close up photos of the tree decorations - loads of real starfish, shells, silver accents, elegant ribbon and coral-like decorations.  Absolutely stunning!

And now for a few shots of their fireplace and mantel...

Maybe next year I can talk Tom into staying here for the weekend?  

Maybe if I ask really nice, and promise to be good all year long?

$100 Giveaway from NauticalCottageBlog.com!

Have you entered yet?  

We are giving away a $100.00 shopping spree at CaronsBeachHouse.com - hosted by NauticalCottageBlog.com during their 24 days of Coastal Christmas.  Hurry,  giveaway ends on Thursday, December 15!

There are several ways to enter - complete rules can be found at NauticalCottageBlog.com, but here's a preview: (Remember to go back and leave your comments on NauticalCottageBlog.com)

Six Easy Ways to Enter to Win $100 Gift Card

1.  Visit Caron’s Beach House Store

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Happy Holidays Blogging Friends - Good Luck! 

Dungeness

Please don't be mad, I just can't write about anything to do with the holidays today.   I have taken about 100 pictures of my tiny coastal Christmas tree in my bedroom and nothing looks right!  Pictures are blurry, lighting isn't right,  it's just is not working.  So I give up on a coastal  holiday decorating post for today...

See, I am already wishing for next summer, and crabbing season with my family on the Kitsap Peninsula. Maybe it's because I miss my kids, maybe it's the dungeness crabs that I am craving?

Maybe it's because I am planning out our Seven Fishes dinner for Christmas Eve?  Thinking about paella... or cioppino...

Last summer when we were up visiting our families in Seattle and Portland we had the best time taking out the crab pots in the "Gypsy Miss" dinghy on a stunningly gorgeous Puget Sound late July day. Check out the Cute boyfriend; getting ready to dump the crab pots in the bay!

(I just take the pictures, and let everyone else touch the crabs!)

Here's Tom and my brother Jeff, heading out to check our haul of dungeness in the crab pots!

It's imperative to throw back the non-keepers; girl crabs and crabs that are less than 6.25" have to go back in the sound.  Rock crabs do not fall into the same category, but we throw back the non-keepers of those too.

Looks like we caught some crabby keepers!

Kristy is so brave!   Here's one big guy before he goes in the pot for cooking....

And now for the cooking!  Everybody gets a turn.

Boiling actual clean saltwater really is the best. Throw the crabs in the pot of boiling water, and then cook for 15 minutes. Flush with cold water rinse immediately. We use a garden hose in the backyard - much easier and less messy than in your kitchen.

(This is my dad's secret crab success, other crabbers may have different ideas)

Alex

Allison

Dad

Tom

Done. Ready for cleaning and eating - get out the crab crackers!

I have lived at the beach for most of my life, growing up crabbing, clamming, beachcombing, but had not realized that we had not taught Allison the finer arts of cleaning crab.  Until today.

She was pretty darn funny, and took this job with all seriousness...

Kristy, giving Allison a few tips and lessons.

Now, for the hard (gross) part...

She eventually got the hang of it and  between she and my mom, they cleaned our haul of crabs for the day! 

(Geez, now she thinks she's Crab Queen.)

All in all, a pretty fabulous day. Salmon on the barbeque, courtesy of my dad and Tom (with a martini or two!)  and tons of dungeness crab.  A veritable Pacific Northwest feast.

All topped off with s'mores and a lovely beachfire....

Well, that was fun, now I had better get back to shipping and ordering for our customers at Caron's.  

Sure was great though to relive our summer day!

The Trees Must be Cold in Seattle...

Just kidding!  Well, kinda kidding...

I flew up to Seattle last week to spend Thanksgiving with my kids, it was cold, and wet, and damp, and windy.... (can you hear me whining?)  In spite of the not-so-great weather, I had a wonderful  time hanging out with them.










Allison, my daughter,  is living quite the urban-girl life in downtown just upstairs from the Uwajimaya "Emporium" store, (Fabulous place to visit!)  in the International District.

We ate at fun new restaurants, went to the movies, walked all over downtown Seattle to window shop, and down to the waterfront.  After a day of exploring in the heart of downtown for black Friday and picking up some fun gifts for Tom at the Pike Place market, Allison and I took a short side trip through Occidental Park in Pioneer Square on our way home.

The trees and the light poles were wearing brightly knit striped sweaters!

(Allison is in the picture, tweeting out the sweater tree pics too!)

From the Seattle PI blog:  "The Alliance for Pioneer Square and Center City Parks have teamed up with artist Suzanne Tidwell to re-decorate the park and mall for the holidays."

Personally, I think this was just simply fabulous.  What a great way to end our day,  stumbling upon these bright shots of color on a gray, damp afternoon.

Love this shot of the historic Smith Tower, next to the Columbia Tower, just at the beginnings of twilight. 

 Maybe Seattle isn't so gray after all.....

For some more information and details about this art project, check the Pioneer Square.org website!  

Friday Beach House Photo - Christmas at the Coast #1

I am spending the day in Seattle with my daughter, and surprise, surprise the sun is actually shining!  There has been a steady downpour for most of the time that I have been here.  We are skipping the whole Black Friday thing, but are headed into downtown Seattle via the lightrail to do a little window shopping at some of my favorite haunts... Anthropoligie, Sur La Table, Watson Kennedy, Pike Place Market, Urban Outfitters.... will post the pics on my Facebook page if we see something that Allison thinks is Facebook worthy!

On my list: new oyster glove for Tom, maybe even a special salmon tool that he has been requesting, snarky t-shirts for Alex, Fran's salted caramels for me, (hey, maybe they're on sale!) ... cute things for Allison apartment.

Enjoyed spending the last few days with my kids, hanging out, stuffing ourselves silly with Thanksgiving, and watching a lot of bad movies. Needless to say it's been good to be a little off-the-grid. Mainly because I didn't bring my own computer. And then, just before the big "black Friday" the Caron's website crashed big-time yesterday.   All fixed now, but was a little panic yesterday.

Also because I am computer challenged this week, it's a little difficult to do my usual Beach House Friday posts.  So, am simply posting a couple of my photos that I have been collecting at Pinterest.

Have a great weekend, hope you are enjoying friends and family and are not getting trampled at the mall!