Westport Winery, movies and dinner

Today we decided to get the heck out of the house and do something as a family. It is the girls' parents weekend so we were free!!

Our first stop on our trip was to the movie theaters. We made the decision to see Night At The Museum starring Ben Stiller instead of the Terminator movie. I see enough tantrums at home and did not want to support a movie starring a f-bomb dropping man.

The movie theater only had 11 of us so I felt like I was the lone laughing at times. One thing I did not understand is why when there was clearly a line delivered that was to make you laugh, they went right on speaking. So, I missed part of the dialogue. Where is the comic timing in that? It happened 3 or 4 times. From the reviews, I thought it was going to be funnier, but I enjoed it nonetheless.

Hank Azaria was brilliant as Kamenda (sp?) as he is in everything he does. I still think his performance in The Bird Cage was one of the best I have ever seen! Ben Stiller was good and I loved Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart.

Next we left the theater and headed to the Westport Winery where the wine was sweet and wonderful but overpriced and the service was frosty at best. After I said that we were going to buy something, he warmed up a bit. Perhaps there could have been a bit of vini-snobbery going on as I stated immediately that I am a sweet wine person and have never been into the drier whites and reds. We purchased the Little Wild Blackberry Riesling, Red Sky At Night...can anyone say chocolate and raspberries, yummy...and the drier and stronger Message In A Bottle for my husband.

We quickly headed to the Westport Lighthouse, but alas, it was closed. I performed a wedding there on May 9th. I told the gentleman closing up shop that I performed the wedding and he told me that he tells the people visiting about that. My son and I are going to head up there tomorrow so I will let that gentleman know more details when I get there.

I had seen signs for a restaurant called Half Moon Bay Bar and Grill in Westport so I was looking forward to eating there. I am glad we did as I have been complaining that there are no good restaurants in Grays Harbor County and I am thrilled to have been proven wrong.

We started with the Crab Cake appetizer. It had an aioli sauce that was bit spicer than I expected but my palate is so vanilla that I was OK with it. For dinner I had the Lobster Stuffed Ravioli with Lobster Brandy Creme, cherry tomatoes and spinach. When I hear the word Creme, I immediately think of something soft and sweet but this had a bit of a bite. After the second bite, though, I was in heaven. I don't understand what purpose the cherry tomatoes served and the chef had cut the spinach into strips so by the time I was in the car headed home, I remembered it was spinach. Cut spinach is not attractive or appetizing, I rather fancy the loose leaves.

My son had the Halibut with Lobster Brandy Creme and Macadamia Nuts. He loved the fish (yay, he likes a fish other than trout...add that to my shopping list!) but wasn't keen on the veggies which consisted mainly of squash. My husband ordered the Seafood Alfredo which he enjoyed but complained, rightfully so, about the chef leaving the tail on. So my tip to the chef, remove the tail, it is not fun to get your hands sloppy with sauce to remove it and you end up cutting too much of the shrimp when you use a knife and fork. My dessert was the Chocolate Bundt cake with white chocolate and dark chocolate syrup. Very dense, very rich and very good. I was imagining more white chocolate when she described it but it just a squirt or two. Too bad or it would have been down right heavenly!

Our server was good, I forgot to grab her name, and the decor was a tad mission style. They had two big screen TVs, one which had college baseball and the other a Nascar truck race or something to that effect...I had my back to the screen so I didn't have to endure it. The music playing was enjoyable and I was thankful for it as I prefer to not be annoyed by professional sports in a relatively fine dining atmosphere! I highly recommend Half Moon Bay in Westport if you are headed there.

We walked on the rocks facing the ocean and climbed up an observatory platform to get a better view. It was going to be my only exercise as I knew I wouldn't get back in time to walk on the treadmill. We then headed to a gift store and bought a few lighthouse books, bracelets for the girls and a Whoopie cushion for my son...he's twelve...sigh...he proceeded to inflate it and then squish it all the way to Wal-Mart for some last minute toiletries....kids...

I had a great day and look forward to tomorrow!