My In-Laws are in town visiting, which means lots of eating together, and frequent dining out. This past Saturday we went to the Greenwood Car Show, because I had to work, and afterwards we needed to agree on a place for linner. I think this term is more common now. It is a hashtag, but for those of you out of the know, linner is like brunch but later. It's a late lunch, early dinner, usually had between 2p-4:30p. No, I don't care that Seattle thinks weekend brunch lasts until 3pm. Brunch hours end at 12pm when lunch begins. You're just hungover and eating late. You're not brunching because you're eating eggs at two in the afternoon, and calling it brunch doesn't make eating out in your PJs glamorous either.

Wow, I didn't realize until now how passionately I felt about brunch. Any at rate, My husband really wanted Indian Buffet, but both my father-in-law and mother-in-law were not terribly excited about that prospect. So,  rather than debating food choices for 30 minutes or more. I said, "I've got it," and chose a restaurant I've been meaning to try, that I knew would be a safe bet. A few miles north, and we arrived at Scott's Bar and Grill in Edmonds.

My friend Lori had recommended the place to me a few years ago, and I was very pleased when we entered the doors. The atmosphere was sophisticated and open, with beautiful wood pillars and framing. The grill was open to the dining area, so you could watch your food being prepared, and they sat us by the fireplace. The weather was in the 80s, so the fireplace wasn't going, but it was a nice central location. I tried to find the most unique item on the menu, which was difficult as Scott's menu is standard American grill fare. I found a Crab & Artichoke Sandwich.

When the plate was brought to me I was immediately disappointed by the variety of brown and beige. This plate could have benefitted from a garnish, even if it was some old-school parsley and a lemon wedge. It tasted fine, but it's exactly what it looks like. They took their Crab & Artichoke Dip (on the appetizer menu) slapped it on some crusty bread, added two slices of tomato, some cheese, and broiled it. My son, on the other hand, ordered the BBQ Pork Tacos (also an appetizer) as his entrée.

He let me have a bite, and I was impressed. The BBQ had a unique sweetness, and tasted homemade, plus there was a chipotle mayo. Who doesn't love chipotle mayo? I also tried a bite of my father-in-law's meal. He ordered the Spicy Cajun Chicken Fettuccine. It was indeed spicy and delicious.  I'll admit I was experiencing a bit of food envy. Lesson learned, sometimes you don't need to pick the most "unique" item on the menu. You just need to order what you want. I think I will give Scott's another try. Maybe I'll spring for steak next time.

This past weekend started off ordinarily enough. After my son served as an acolyte at a wedding on Saturday, I took him and his sister to Dairy Queen. This was after having to explain to my girl that, no we weren't going to stay for the reception because we weren't official invited, it's just that her brother was scheduled to "work." This lead to her yelling "I WANT WEDDING FOOD," and then to me and her embarrassed brother breaking down and letting her pick our lunch spot.

Currently Dairy Queen has a delicious concoction called the Jurassic Smash Blizzard. Of course, I purchased one of the new blizzards for each kid (knowing I was going to get to eat what they didn't finish). If you haven't tried it, it has: peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip cookie dough, peanut butter, and chocolate chunks in vanilla ice cream. Yum! Can you guess what this led to? Yes, we had to go see "Jurassic World." You may be thinking right now that I'm a total push-over, and you are partially right, but I also love spontaneity, and I love Chris Pratt. He's from Lake Stevens, WA. I think any of you reading this that live in Western Washington have an obligation to support him and this movie.

I think the best review of this movie I have seen so far came from a friend's post on Facebook. He said, "Jurassic World is the most perfectly stupid perfect stupid thing. So perfect... so stupid ‪#‎blessed" Even my son commented on how over the top the ending scene was, but we all agreed that if you just suspended your mind while viewing, it was totally fun. I've also read a lot of complaints about how this movie is a prime example of conspicuous consumption and the  problem with our sequel based movie industry. I'm not going to address that, because my blog is about food. I can add though, that I made the kids watch "Jurassic Park" later, and they did find the character development boring. *sad face*

After "Jurassic World" and before "Jurassic Park" we needed to figure out dinner. Since my daughter picked lunch, my son chose. He wanted either nachos or a 7-layer dip. Neither of these sounded like proper dinner, or much fun to make, so we turned to Pinterest and found the recipe for Layered Doritos Casserole. Now, you may be thinking "Katie, a Doritos casserole is not anymore appropriate for dinner than nachos or 7 layer dip." I have to disagree. It's a casserole. You can make a casserole with tater tots, ground beef, and canned soup and call it dinner. I know this, because Pinterest told me so. Plus, we had already  watched that most amazing cheesy piece of American pop culture, why should we balk at essentially making a Dorito based lasagna? I should also share that when my son took his first bite he said, "Holy cr**!
That's delicious." We won't discuss his language, but he obviously liked the meal. This recipe, though a "sometimes food," is a keeper.