Beneath All That Grey Matter

Somehow, 7 weeks ago, I found myself being {heavily} cajoled onto the Steering Committee for a major photography side-project at work.  I am still wondering how that happened.  I seem to remember that it involved Pecan Pie.  This Pecan Pie, in fact.  I am also still wondering why it happened.  But, it did, and I’m there on the team & I must say I have laughed out loud an awful lot since this whole thing got started.  They might be a bunch of techie-types but they sure have a {fantastic} sense of humor lurking beneath all that grey matter.

It’s very interesting being the token girl on a committee of male photogs.  And when you all go out to dinner & those male photogs are all watching you shoot images of your food, it gets downright scary.  Especially when you (and they) know you are committing some cardinal sins of photography, right there at the table.  At least, and probably because I am the token girl, they refrained from passing judgement out loud.  Thank you.  Hopefully they will also refrain from doing “C & C” on my images publicly in the comments section below.  Thank you.

So there we were, a week or so back, in Brix Wine Cafe in Kirkland.  We were celebrating the end of our first significant milestone.  A milestone in which, I might add, we “…blew the doors off the hinges”.  That Charlie has a way with words sometimes.  Turns out Charlie’s suggestion for the private dining room at Brix Wine Cafe was also a particularly good one.  Thanks Charlie!

This dinner was totally about connecting with each other and really nothing to do with the food, so this post will be short.  And terrified as I was to be shooting in front of the rest of the committee, I just kept myself & my gear to my two little plates & left it at that. 

I chose two appetizers instead of one entree since I needed lettuce but I wanted serious comfort food.  Enter Brix Mac & Cheese (White cheddar, pecorino, truffle oil & bacon, $9) and Roasted Beet & Arugula Salad (Hazelnuts, goat cheese & sherry vinaigrette, $8).  The menu had a bunch of stuff that I’d be happy to try at another time.  I’d call it Italian American.

We talked shop all night.  We had had a particularly sticky issue come up on email the week before which felt like it had the potential to derail us, so huddling in a room with several bottles of wine and some good food seemed like a great way to get us back on track.  Worked like a charm.

Email can be such a heartless means of communication.  Intentions are mis-understood, meanings are not clear, tone of voice is often not apparent or mis-read.  Our dinner was a different story all together.  We laughed.  A lot.  Ah, the power of friendship, food & a few jiggers of the fun stuff.  Not that I drink, but I laughed anyway.  They’re a crazy bunch. 

The private dining room at Brix is a wonderful space for 8 – 12 people.  The service is great & the food is both beautiful to look at & tasty to eat.  It is very reasonably priced & would make a great place for a casual dinner any night of the week.  It’s in a cute neighborhood & parking is free.  I will definitely be organizing some other soirees at Brix in the future.  The staff were happy to let us hang out & carry on laughing, even after the last plate had been cleared & the check paid – which Kevin & Daniel picked up – THANKS GUYS!

Good food, fantastic company.  No better way to spend a Monday night.