Holiday Celebrations on a Friday Afternoon

The final countdown to Christmas is on. This means parties, never ending lunches and a lot less time #inthecube. 😄

Yesterday was our work holiday lunch.

I say lunch because we left the office at 11:30am and never went back!

^{Ivar’s Salmon House}

This year’s lunch was held at Ivar’s Salmon House, an iconic Seattle restaurant located on the north shore of Lake Union. The Salmon House, which opened in 1969, was the brainchild of local legend Ivar Haglund. Haglund’s first fish and chips shops opened in 1938 along the Seattle waterfront. Since then Ivar’s has expanded fo include several restaurants and take out establishments.

^{The main entrance.}

Ivar’s Salmon House was designed by architect John W. Adams to resemble a Northwest Native American Tlingit longhouse. The building was constructed from cedar and student’s studying under Bill Holm, a curator at the University of Washington's Burke Museum, created the building’s interior and exterior. Historical photos and native artworks completed the design.

^{The lobby.}

According to the Ivar’s website:

Ivar’s Salmon House is a beautiful cedar replica of a Northwest Native American Longhouse, complete with an open-pit Native American-style barbecue for preparing succulent alder-smoked dishes. Here, in a dining setting filled with Northwest native art, décor and historical photographs, you'll enjoy memorable meals surrounded by spectacular views of boats cruising Lake Union and Seattle’s skyline.

^{Views across Lake Union towards downtown Seattle.}

We started our meal with ALL of the appetizers. Literally my boss ordered every appetizer on the menu. I don’t usually eat seafood, but since it was free I tried every item I have marked here with a star. The fajita style shrimp were actually delicious. The mussels were the only thing that made me gag a little.

• ⭐️Weathervane Scallops & Jumbo Shrimp Satay
  Alder grilled fajita-style seasoned scallop and shrimp skewers with pineapple. Served with mango, sweet chili and sambal dipping sauce
• Sesame Seared Rare Ahi Tuna
  Soy-ginger sauce, wasabi-marin creme, pickled ginger, seaweed salad
• ⭐️Crispy Calamari
  Seasoned rice flour, house-made chipotle-lime aioli, crispy spinach leaves
• ⭐️Dungeness Crab and Goat Cheese Dip
  Parmesan and goat cheeses, toasted Essential Bakery baguette
• ⭐️Coconut Crusted Shrimp
  Orange marmalade dipping sauce
• ⭐️Fresh Penn Cove Mussels
  Spicy tomato oil, white wine, fresh basil, crispy shallots
• ⭐️Fresh Sauteed Manila Clams
  Local Manila clams, garlic broth, shallots, carrots, celery, onions, wine, butter
• Mini Crab Cakes
  Golden seared Dungeness crab cakes, traditional coleslaw, chipotle aioli dipping sauce

^{Mussels... meh.😐}

^{For my main meal I skipped the seafood and went for a steak salad.}

^{The restaurant was decorated for the holidays and felt incredibly warm and cozy.}

^{The cozy atmosphere complimented our team’s white elephant gift exchange.}

Aside from food, the main event of the day is our team’s white elephant gift exchange. Basically, everyone buys a gift valued at $25 or less. The gifts are of questionable quality at best and everyone draws numbers to determine the order of gift picking. I ended up with a cute cookie press. Some others were not so lucky.

^{People of Walmart Coloring Book.}

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Here are a few more photos of our lunchtime shenanigans.

^{A sick nanny meant we had a young guest at lunch.}

^{Happy people all freed from #thecube.}

^{Mommy cuddles and gift selection.}

^{Last view across Lake Union from lunch.}

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Eventually lunch ended, but the party continued!

For our post lunch party, six of us continued on to a spot called Pablo y Pablo

^{Signage is on point.}

As the name suggests, Pablo y Pablo is a Mexican cantina. One of my co-workers (who missed the lunch) suggested this as a next stop due to the restaurant’s rep for tasty food and beverages. It was a great choice.

^{THE BAR!!!}

Both Ivar’s Salmon House and Pablo y Pablo are located in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood. The area is close to the University of Washington and it’s craftsman style homes are some of the most coveted in the city. The area is really the heart of north Seattle.

^{A chicken taco with an EYE DROPPER of hot sauce, plus my go to alcoholic beverage.... the Lemon Drop. 🍋 🍸}

Everything was delish!

^{The happy factor amongst my co-workers increased as the night continued.}

The night wrapped up as a wind storm descended upon the city. I scurried back to my car as trees swayed and leaves swirled through the streets. Before heading home I caught a glimpse of the city skyline and holiday Christmas Ship in the distance.

^{My hometown.}

All in all a great day at work. 😄

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All photos by @dfinney. Taken 12/14 on an iPhone 7.

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