As is often the case, my birthday week had several parts. First came the party.

This was mostly my father’s birthday party, but my aunt and I each got a share in it (our birthdays are all a few days apart). There was grilled chicken and corn, two big pans of gooey brownies, and music around the campfire.

A couple days later was my birthday proper. We made our favorite special-day dinner of buckwheat crepes, topped with caramelized onions, mushrooms, prosciutto and gruyere, with a bottle of Quinta Cruz wine.

Then, just because it never feels like my birthday unless I make mac and cheese for myself, the next day I made a big vat of mac and cheese stuffed full of fresh Dungeness crab. I may have gone a little overboard, but we did eventually eat all of it.

Finally, the following weekend we were able to make an excursion into the city. It was free museum day, so we checked out the EMP (…interesting, but glad I didn’t have to pay for it). We rode the monorail, got soaking wet in the monsoon that was passing through Puget Sound that day, and washed up in Radiator Whiskey for a couple of cocktails before dinner.

I don’t think I had ridden the monorail since I was about five. It’s pretty cool.

Radiator Whiskey is pretty awesome. We got two of their signature cocktails, the Renegade and the Showgirl, and liked them a lot. I loved the vibe of the bar, we’ll definitely have to come back here.

Dinner was a quiet affair at Place Pigalle, a little French bistro tucked back behind the fish throwing place, hanging over the edge of the Pike Place Market. Our table looked out onto the water and we watched ferries come and go while we ate.

The calamari was particularly wonderful, sauteed and served with a creamy mustard sauce and mushrooms. I’ve always thought that Casey at Nell Thorn made the best sauteed squid in the world but this was just as good.

Green Goddess salad wasn’t really Green Goddess – more of a lettuce salad dressed with tarragon vinaigrette and topped with a crispy swirl of bacon. Nice, but not quite what we were expecting.

For our mains, Jon had a hefty plate of beef ribs with mashed potatoes, and I had some huge tender scallops in a coconut sambal sauce with lots of vegetables. Very good, and really generous portions. We had hoped to stop back by Radiator for their dessert of warm chocolate chip cookes and a shot, but we were too full. Oh well, next time.

By the time we headed back to our car the rain had mostly stopped and the waterfront was lit up like Christmas.