BYOW (Wine) for Board of Governors Dinner

Tom Goodenow, Jeff Rousch, Steve Huebner

Ken and I attended the Harbor Club Board of Governors Annual Presidents Dinner this week at the Seattle Harbor Club.  As usual, Manager Otto Sperka warmly greeted us upon arrival.  This was meant to be an opportunity for the board members and their spouses to get to know one another a little better.  It was a beautiful, clear evening and the birds eye view of the water and mountains from the Club was spectacular.

We were all pleased to see that Sandi Goodenow, wife of Harbor Club General Manager, Tom Goodenow was there looking healthy and glowing after recently overcoming some difficult health issues.  Board president Jeff Roush was there along with past president Steve Huebner and his wife Liz.  We sat at a long table and were seated next to board members Patti Payne and Rand Sealey and across from board member Cliff Tingley and his wife, Victoria Cobos and board member Gail Ryder.

Ken Hatch, Patti Payne

Ken and Cliff enjoyed sharing stories of some of their fascinating experiences with Teamster Union representatives of the past and we also enjoyed hearing some of Victoria's colorful stories about her quasi-children (children in whose lives she is involved though she isn't their mother).

Since Tom had asked each couple to bring a bottle of wine to share with dinner, we brought a bottle of 2005 Abeja Merlot.  Happily, Steve Huebner shared a bottle of Leonetti Reserve Red Wine from his cellar with our end of the table and Rand shared some of his Corliss Cabernet Sauvignon with us as well. 

The menu choices were inspired and beautifully produced by Executive Chef, David Thierry and his staff.  You can see the full menu below at the end of this post.  Though I loved every course, my favorite course was the Stuffed Fingerling Potato with Caviar and Creme Fraiche.  Delicious!

First Course

Stuffed Fingerling Potato, Caviar and Creme Fraiche

Second Course

Carmelized Pear on Brioche Crouton, Baby Greens, Foie Gras Vinaigrette

Third Course

Spiced Cider Sorbet

Entree

Pancetta Wrapped Tenderloin Filet, Potato Latke with Rosemary,

Oregon Blue Cheese and Walnut Butter

Dessert

Warm Bittersweet Chocolate Lava Cake, Frangelico Creme Anglaise

Grand Opening of Yogurtland in Bellevue - Yum!

Proud Yogurtland Owners, Lauren & Gregg Bennett

Tonight at the invitation of ZINO Society members and the proud owners of their new Yogurtland store, Lauren & Gregg Bennett, I went to the Yogurtland grand opening in Bellevue.  This is Lauren's and Gregg's third store. They already have others in the University District and in Wallingford and they are planning to open two additional stores in Redmond and Kent within the next two months.

The self-serve frozen yogurt concept is a Southern California franchise.  There are around 150 Yogurtland stores throughout the country with the heaviest concentration in California and Florida.

The Bellevue Yogurtland store was packed with guests celebrating the opening and trying out all the delicious yogurt and topping varieties.  I personally tried the Double Chocolate Cookies & Cream and French Vanilla yogurt with cookie dough and Butterfinger toppings.  Yum!! 

Gregg Bennett & John Otter

Cathi Hatch & Gregg Bennett

Some of the friends and celebrants at the grand opening included Bellevue Mayor Conrad Lee, Fredda & Steven Goldfarb, Doug Ebstyne, Nancy Heen, Peter Chalmers, Dino Rossi, John Otter, Toni Hoffman and a group of Bellevue Chamber of Commerce supporters including Kim Fredericks.

There was an official ribbon cutting, though we were a bit worried that Lauren was considering cutting off Gregg's head with the giant scissors!  Congratulations, Lauren and Gregg!

Leaving the Snow for a Palm Desert Get-Away

Entrance to Overlake Golf & Country Club, Medina

Seattle lay under at least 6 inches of snow and no one had dared to drive in three days when I got out our old 4-wheel drive Ford Explorer to go pick up my golf clubs at Overlake Golf & Country Club in Medina.  Because I was so excited to play golf during my upcoming weekend in Palm Desert, I was willing to risk life to get my golf clubs.  What a desolate, cold and snowy place, but Pat in the Pro Shop was right there to bring out my golf clubs since he was there working on the club remodel.  

Patty & Jimmy Barrier with Leisa Austin, Imago Galleries

On Friday afternoon, I boarded Barrier Air along with Patty Barrier, Lance Mueller and Carol Wright for our flight to Palm Springs looking forward to warm weather activities for the weekend.  On Saturday, we awakened to a beautiful day and with my darling friend, Patty Barrier, took a meandering walk through the The Reserve before heading to the golf course to play 18 holes.  It started a little windy and progressively got stronger so that by the 16th hole, our visors were flying down the fairway and we could hardly keep our footing.  It did wonders for our drives when the wind was going in the right direction, however.  Later we found out that the winds were only 1 mile per hour less than hurricane force winds and that there was wind damage everywhere throughout the Coachella Valley!

My favorite in the
Oben Abright collection.

On Saturday evening we attending the opening reception for glass artist Oben Abright at the Imago Galleries in Palm Desert owned by Leisa & David Austin.  His art work was fascinating and disturbing all at the same time.  By the time we arrived, all the display pieces were sold with the exception of two pieces.  My favorite had been sold and was a quarter-scale standing man with a gold coat.  There were many other artists represented at the gallery including our favorites from the Pacific Northwest; Dale Chihuly, Billy Morris, Dennis Evans and Ginny Ruffner, as well as other favorites Lino Tagliapietra, Tom Wesselman and many other fascinating artists represented as well.  I went to the party along with Patty & Jimmy Barrier and it was nice to see friends there including Esther & Walter Schoenfeld, Jan & Don Kline and Sandra & Gary Schnitzer.

Cathi Hatch and Patty Barrier with Haystack behind us.

On Sunday morning, Patty and I enjoyed a hike on the Art Smith Trail.  It was a beautiful morning and and though we had a medical emergency (broken fingernail), our hike was a treat.  It was a beautiful 2-1/2 mile trail with switchbacks up the side of the canyon led by The Reserve Golf Pro and Fitness Center Director, Lisa Miller along with her assistant, Kristina Zenone.  Following the hike, we did find time to stop for a latte and then to visit the street fair to find a couple of bargains.

And then on Sunday evening, Patty & Jimmy and I went to Carol Wright's home for a cocktail party and it was great to see many Seattle friends including Becky Benaroya, Mark Levine, Vicki & Ed Rauscher, Gladys Rubenstein, Shelley & Doug Swerland, Tina & Stuart Mandel, Esther & Walter Schoenfeld, Jerry Olson and his partner, Raymond and several others.  Though Carol claimed that she hasn't cooked since she was 20 years old, the hors d'oeuvres were fantastic and she was completely organized and it was a great party.

On Monday morning, Patty and I were off to a great Pilates mat class followed by the Liberty Lunch which I detailed in my previous post.  And then sadly, my glorious respite came to an end, though my trip home was delightful on luxurious Barrier Air with Jimmy Barrier and Mick Schreck.

It was truly a delightful weekend which felt like a real get-away and the really good news was that the snow was melted by the time I got home on Monday.

Liberty Lunch in Palm Desert

Lindsey Sangalli & Patty Barrier, coveting Lindsey's crown.

Today my good friend, Patty Barrier and I went to a ladies’ luncheon at Augusta Restaurant in Palm Desert hosted by owner, Denise Roberge.  This was a luncheon to learn more about Liberty Lunch, a women’s group established in Nebraska specifically to create a network of well-informed, motivated women who are engaged in promoting patriotism and conservative ideals and supporting our military and their families.  They also plan a monthly educational forum providing speakers on a broad spectrum of current issues facing America today.  Their focus is on policy and issues.  They are non-partisan and not aligned with any group.  Therefore, they don't endorse candidates or fundraise at their meetings.

Founders Kathleen Allan, Liz Varvel, Debra Evnen

Of the approximately 25 women attending, In addition to Patty, there were several friends from The Reserve in attendance including Gail Cottle, Kathleen Allan, Amy Adams, Cathryn Palmieri, Anne Marie Cullen and Lucy Danis.   Gail organized the group get-together in order to hear more from LIberty Lunch Founders from Lincoln, Nebraska, Kathleen Allan, Liz Varvel and Debra Evnen.  Denise greeted and welcomed us and shared her passion about what she believes needs to happen over the next nine months before the presidential election.  The founders then took turns talking about how they have brought together a group of 200 conservative women in Lincoln to focus on educating and expanding their knowledge about the primary issues facing our country today.   

Gail Cottle organizing Palm Desert group

Associated as part of the Liberty Lunch group is the Liberty Lunch Book Club and we received a reading list of the 12 books they have read on a monthly basis over the past year.  Liz Varvel, who serves as the lead on the book club, shared that three of the favorites of the past year included The Roots of Obama's Rage by Dinesh D'Souza, The Shadow Party by David Horowitz and the book we received as a gift at the luncheon courtesy of Denise, The New Road to Serfdom by Daniel Hannan.

One of Patty’s desert friends whom she had invited to join her at the luncheon was Lindsey Sangalli, who won her local pageant and is the reigning  “Mrs.Texas Conservative Woman of 2012”, who arrived wearing her tiara and a banner announcing her title.  Patty couldn’t wait to try on her tiara! 

Denise Roberge, our luncheon host

There was general agreement by the women attending the luncheon that they want to develop a similar women's group for Palm Desert under the name of Liberty Lunch and for their next luncheon to plan a speaker who can discuss the healthcare bill and educate the group on the pros and cons of "Obama Care".

In trying to research a little more about aboiut the Liberty Lunch group, I found a link to a group in Salt Lake City (http://www.libertylunch.org/ ), also called Liberty Lunch, which seems to share many of the same ideas and goals of the Lincoln group.  It looks like this kind of thinking may have a ground swell of support from different corners of the nation.

Glimmers of Hope at enterpriseSeattle 40th Economic Forecast Conference

enterpriseSeattle 40th Annual Economic Forecast Conference

On Thursday, on behalf of ZINO Society, Mary Holmes and I attended the 40th Annual Economic Forecast Conference presented by enterpriseSeattle as guests of The Regence Group Vice President and fellow enterpriseSeattle Board member, Cary Badger.  The day was kicked off by Jeff Marcell, President and CEO of enterpriseSeattle, with greetings also from Board member, David Allen of McKinstry, who is leading the new enterpriseSeattle Campaign. 

An economic forecast for 2012 was provided by a panel of three economists; Dick Conway of Puget Sound Economic Forecaster, Michael Dueker of Russell Investments and Ken Goldstein of The Conference Board.  Though Ken Goldstein was more pessimistic than the other two economists, they all shared glimmers of hope and projected small growth in 2012.

Next was an Aerospace Student Showcase and remarks by Dow Constantine, King County Executive and then a panel discussion on "The Future of Aerospace in the Region" moderated by Glenn Farley of KING 5 TV.

Governor Chris Gregoire

The conference concluded with a Keynote lunch featuring two awards.  First, the Puget Sound Business Journal Executive of the Year Award was presented to Jeff Raikes of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the enterpriseSeattle Economic Development Champion Award was presented to J. Tayloe Washburn of the Washington Aerospace Partnership & Foster Pepper PLLC.

Keynote remarks were provided by both Governor Chris Gregoire and Bill Ayer, Chairman and CEO of Alaska Airlines.

Governor Gregoire urged the attendees to put pressure on their legislators to get the budget passed ASAP and pass her 1/2 cent sales tax increase proposal to help decrease the deficit and then focus on education and transportation issues.

Bill Ayer

Bill Ayer shared four principles to live by of which I can remember only three which are definitely worth remembering:
* Don't buy things you can't afford.
* Don't borrow what you can't pay back.
* Don't do deals that you don't understand.

Then he also shared the eight guidelines to run a successful company that he uses at Alaska Airlines.  These are great guidelines that I can use at ZINO Society!

* Be customer focused.
* Get the right people on the team and be both realistic and optimistic.
* Instill a sense of urgency to do the right thing.
* Recognize that what you measure gets done.
* Focus on what you can control.
* Work on only one or two big ideas at a time.
* Develop strategic partnerships to increase relevance.
* Be adaptable and ready to capitalize on opportunities that arise.

Women of Valor Brunch

Today, I went to Senator Maria Cantwell's home in Edmonds for brunch.  She invited the women who have received the Women of Valor awards over the past few years to join her.  Maria has been making these awards to selected women in various business and non-profit leadership positions since 2006 to help recognize the diverse roles of women leaders in our society.  Maria's mom, Rose and Maria's good friend and head of her Finance Committee, Karen Gamoran, who was actually the creator of the Women of Valor awards concept, were also at the brunch to welcome the awardees.

Maria asked each woman to take a few minutes to introduce herself to the group and explain why she had been selected as a Woman of Valor.  The women were fascinating and talented and could have received their awards for multiple reasons.  A few of the women at the brunch today included Nancy Nordhoff for her founding of Hedgebrook for aspiring women writers, Megan Karch for her work as CEO of FareStart, Janis Avery for her passionate efforts on behalf of foster children in our state and her work as Executive Director of Treehouse, Jerilyn Brusseau for her founding of PeaceTrees Vietnam to renew relationships with the Vietnamese people and remove land mines and unexploded ordinance shells, Patrice Auld for her work on behalf of conservation efforts with Nature's Conservancy, Assunta Ng, founder and publisher of the NW Asian Weekly and the Seattle Chinese Post, Alma Plancich, who organizes the annual 4th of July swearing-in ceremony for new American citizens at the Seattle Center each year and a dozen or so more additional women awardees who are all passionate about what they are doing.  Eric LeVine of Cellartracker was there on behalf of his wife who was also an awardee, who was in Washington D.C. for a business meeting.

As each woman told her story, you could feel the energy and determination and passion that each one brings to fulfilling the work that she has chosen.  I was proud to share my story of what ZINO Society is accomplishing as a community of angel investors, entrepreneurs and connectors working together to propel emerging and start-up businesses to success through active angel investing and mentoring.

It was an inspiring morning being surrounded by so many extraordinary women.  I look forward to meeting the next group that will receive the Women of Valor awards on February 22nd at the annual luncheon.

Bubbles, Bites & Good Cheer to Toast the Coming Year

Sue Bianco and Cathi Hatch

It was a crisp and clear night last evening as we arrived at the Bianco's home for their festive New Year's Eve party.  We were greeted with an icy cold "Bianco-tini" which Jim had created that included Ultra Jewel of Russia vodka, Grand Marnier, Meyer lemon juice and cranberry juice which was steeped for 5 minutes on ice in a cocktail shaker along with 2 cloves and half a cinnamon stick  The drink was then vigourously shaken, strained and served in a large martini glass and was a rosy pink color.  Delicious!

Jim Bianco and John Bauer

Sue & Jim Bianco are the most gracious hosts and each looked fantastic; Jim in an elegant dark blue evening jacket and Sue in a sleek and sexy silver Armani sheath over ankle-length leggings and towering sandals.  Sue was also wearing her gorgeous new tourmaline, diamond, sapphire and citrine earrings that had been Jim's Christmas gift to her.  The spectacular architectural dangling earrings are only two of a kind designed by Marina, the granddaughter of the founder of Bulgari Jewelry, who was the jewelry designer for Bulgari from the 1950's through the 1980's.  She introduced the multicolored semi-precious stone necklaces that became so popular in the 50's.  Since Bulgari was recently sold to LVMH, she is not allowed to use the Bulgari name anymore so her designs are now under the label, Marina B.

Giulio, Sue and Gianni Bianco

Mike Kunath arranged for spiritual advisor Dawn Stansfield, to join the party and provide readings for several of the people including Ken, Sue Bianco, Jeff Roe, Debbie Peppa and Maryel Duzan.  Some of the other guests attending the party were Bianco home architect, Mark Elster and his wife Nancy Ellen, CTI board member John Bauer, the Bianco sons Gianni and Giulio, CTI Sr. VP and Director of Corporate Communications Dan Eramian and his wife, Louise.   Louise wore a stunning white jacket of her own design that included thousands of tufts of silver thread.

Ken Hatch, Jeff Roe,
 Mike Kunath

Dawn Stansfield and Sue Bianco

Jason Wilson's Crush was the caterer for the evening and passed small bites that were tiny works of art.  Each could be eaten in only one bite.  My personal favorite was the 48 Hour Braised Beef Short Ribs from Painted Hills Farms with Horseradish Potato Cake and Caramelized Onion.  See complete list of the featured hors d'oeuvres at the end of this blog posting.  In addition to the Bianco-tinis, the featured bubbles and wine included Bollinger Brut Cuvee, Rombauer Chardonnay and Darioush Cabernet Sauvignon.

Sue & Jim Bianco

Cathi & Ken Hatch, Sue Bianco

Ken Hatch, Debbie Peppa,
Mike Kunath, Jeff Roe

Hors d'Oeuvres Menu

Truffled Pecorino Filled Gougeres

Ahi Tuna Crudo with Pomegranate

Vadouvan Curried Spot Prawns with Harissa

Black Trumpet Mushroom and Chevre Tartines

Maine Lobster Salad with Hearts of Palm and Blood Orange

Sue Bianco and Louise Eramian

Dan Eramian, Sue & Jim Bianco, John Bauer

48 Hour Braised Beef Short Ribs from Painted Hills Farms

Horseradish Potato Cake, Caramelized Onion

Vahlrona Chocolate Bouchons

Assorted Caramels, Truffles and Chocolates

Meyer Lemon Meringue Tartlets