Weekly update

Tuesday, we did not end up making enchiladas. I just cut up the leftover chicken and reheated it with a can of pinto beans and we made burritos.

Wednesday, we made the spaghetti with ham and peas. I wasn't a huge fan but I ate it, Nick ate 5-7 bites and threw his in the garbage. Guess we won't be making that again, so I won't even bother posting the recipe.

Thursday we actually ended up making cowboy casserole (our verison of tatar tot casserole). We had the leftovers from this on Friday night.

Saturday night we ended up going out for dinner with a gift certificate that I bought off of Living Social. The gift certificate we purchased was for Carmela's Bistro and Wine Bar. It's a newer place in town, has maybe been around for a year and a half. This was the first chance we had to try the place.

We started out by ordering a Reisling wine flight for $11. We finished two of the glasses of wine but not the third. The wines we sampled were Ch. Ste Michelle (from Columbia Valley, WA), Dr. Loosen "Dr. L." (from Mosel, Germany) and Eroica (from Columbia Valley, WA). Our favorite was the Dr. Loosen it had a pretty sweet finish to it. The wine we liked the least was the Eroica, which is actually a collaboration between the two wineries that make the Ch. Ste Michelle and the Dr. Loosen. We felt that the Eroica had too much of a mineral tone to it for our liking.

Along with the wine flight we ordered their Havarti and Artichoke dip. It was described as being wilted spinach with artichokes, served with artisan bread. The bread was wonderful. It was toasted but the inside of the bread was still very soft. The dip was a little more runny than I am used to but had really good flavor.

After we finished the appetizer, our waiter brought out more bread. It was a sourdough based bread that had herbs added into it. I'm unsure if they make the bread there or if they have it delivered from one of the artisan bread companies around town. My guess would be the later.

For our entrees, Nick ordered a Bleu top. It was a ten ounce sirloin served topped with bacon and bleu cheese. It was served with whipped potatoes and a vegetable medley. I did not try his steak but he said it was very good and it looked like it was cooked to the medium he requested. The vegetable medley included zucchini, carrots, red peppers, and I think maybe some broccoli. For my entree, I ordered the Dinner Cakes. The meal came with 3 Carmela's cakes, which are crab and shrimp stuffed cakes with pesto, corn, and cheese with a side of Cajun aioli. The sides were risotto and green beans. The green beans had bacon and almonds in them and were cooked very well. They were still crisp but cooked all the way through. The risotto was creamy and buttery. It was a little more runny than most risottos I have had before but it was still very good.

The service was very good at Carmela's and the atmosphere was good also. We sat in the bar area at one of the high top tables. I have a feeling we will return to Carmela's at some point. We enjoyed it.