Employee Wall Of Fame

If you are looking to build morale within your own company consider looking toward your employees for inspiration. A local company out of Seattle called Noetix is doing just that. Noetix has taken life size images of the people that work there and created an employee wall of fame. Photos where taken at a company event and posted on one of the hallways at the company. Now when employees arrive, they are reminded how important they are to the company each and every day.

Thanksgiving Dinner From Someone Else's Kitchen Tastes Just As Good

Fabulous home-cooked feasts are a traditional part of Thanksgiving. They can also be a lot of work and a lot of stress. If you'd rather devote your energy to quality time with friends and family, dining out on Thanksgiving Day is a perfectly fine alternative. Since this has become a popular option, reservations are usually required. These resources will help you find out which Puget Sound area restaurants will be serving dinner on Thanksgiving.

• Open Table - this online restaurant reservation services has a special section devoted to restaurants that are open on Thanksgiving
• The Seattle Times - lists menu items, restaurant hours, and price range
• CitySearch Seattle - in addition to listing open restaurants, this site lists Thanksgiving catering and takeout options
• Gayot.com - this restaurant review web site provides a list of Thanksgiving dining options as well as links for reservations

Local Restaurants Serving Thanksgiving Dinner...

0/8 Seafood Grill & Twisted Cork Wine Bar
Bellevue, WA
Chef Dan is offering a Thanksgiving buffet of traditional fare as well as fresh local seafood.
Cost: $38.95/adult, $16.95/child 5-12, free for children under 5 w/ an adult
Time: Noon to 7 p.m.
Reservations highly recommended

Andaluca
Seattle in the Mayflower Park Hotel
Offering the regular menu.
Time: 3-9 p.m.
Reservation recommended.

Brasserie Margaux
Belltown
A Thanksgiving Day buffet.
Time: 1-8 p.m.
Cost: $39/adult, $14.95/child under 12). Included validated parking.

Chandler's Crabhouse
Lake Union
Offering a 4-course dinner including traditional roast turkey, herb roasted prime rib, or fresh seafood delicacies.
Cost: $44.95
Reservations Recommended

Clinkerdagger
Spokane, WA
Offering our regular dinner menu along with a featured Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner.
Time: 3:30-8 p.m.
Reservations Recommended

Cutter's Bayhouse
Seattle, WA
Offering a large variety of our most popular items as well as traditional Thanksgiving Day dinners.
Time: Noon - 8 p.m.
Reservations Recommended

Daniel's Broiler
Lake Union, Bellevue Place and Leschi Marina
Offer a delicious, 4-course dinner including traditional roast turkey or USDA Prime beef.
Cost: $49.95

Maggiano's Little Italy
Bellevue
Celebrate Thanksgiving with your family & friends! Their special menu includes roast turkey, country style ham, garlic mashed potatoes, pumpkin praline cheesecake, & more!
Cost: $34.95 per person (adults) and $16.95 per child.
Carry out and home delivery also available.

McCormick & Schmick's
Offering a limited menu, incl. a traditional turkey dinner, prime rib, salmon, crab, and lamb chops.
Reservations Recommended

Ponti Seafood Grill
Seattle, WA
Join us for a traditional 3-course menu featuring grilled salmon, prime rib, and turkey.
Cost: $39/adult, $15/child
Time: 1-8 p.m.

Toscano
Bellevue Offering a delicious Thanksgiving buffet with over 100 items!
Cost:$39/adult, $20/child 6-12

Turkey Trot 2008

Get ready for a day of turkey day gorging with the annual Turkey Trot fun walk. Proceeds from the Turkey Trot held November 16, will not only benefit your waistline, but also the Hopelink organization that provides emergency services for low-income families in east and north King County during the winter months when they faces added pressures such as higher home heating costs and additional food needs. Hopelink anticipates an increase by 20% of those visiting food banks this year, and the money raised through the Turkey Trot will go toward providing those in need with the resources they need.

Registration for the fun walk begins at Noon on the 16th at Carillon Point in Kirkland. The walk starts at 1 pm. You may also pre-register to receive a $5 discount.

Click here for more information about the Turkey Trot.

Get Inspired! So Easy To Give Thanks

Our holiday inspiration boards continue with this easy to re-create and ultra spectacular Thanksgiving board. Planning an entertaining and family-friendly turkey day has never been easy.

Theme: Giving Thanks, duh!
Colors: Stick to pale oranges, cranberry reds and sage green

Click image below to enlarge.

Top Row: Oak leave cornucopia from Martha Stewart; Leave outdoor lanterns from Martha Stewart; Fall urn from Martha Stewart
Second Row: Fall leave piecrust cutters from Williams-Sonoma; Decorative straw turkey from Williams-Sonoma; Textured Pillar Candles Cardamom Cedar from Restoration Hardware; Vintage Monopoly game from Restoration Hardware
Third Row: Miracle on 34th Street; Fully-cooked smoked turkey from Honeybaked Ham; Homemade cranberry sauce; Sweet cinnamon pumpkin soap caddy from Bath & Body Works
Bottom Row: Pumpkin home fragrance oil from Bath & Body Works; Caterer plates at Pottery Barn; Della Robbia Topiary from Ballard Designs; Nutty Pecan martini from Rachael Ray; Giving Thanks book by M.J. Ryan



Create the look:

The Decor: We like choosing simple decor items that can also carry you into the Christmas season. So stick with fruits and vegetables and dark greens as your design backdrop.

The Food: When it comes to planning a meal for a large group, don't try to do everything yourself. Ask your guests to bring a side dish, and don't feel like you are backing out of the responsibilities by asking others to help out with the meal. Remember, it is Thanksgiving after all, so let your friends give. Of course, there is always the main staple, the infamous turkey. If you are a Tom Douglas mini-me, go ahead and try to make your own frozen/thawed turkey with all the dressings. But if you are like us, consider a catered turkey or a pre-cooked turkey from Honeybaked Ham. Add your own garnishes, and be sure to throw away any evidence of a "store bought" bird so your guests will never know. And, if nothing else, ditch the canned cranberry sauce for the real thing. It's pretty simple to make and you can gloat that you made it from scratch all night long.


The Entertainment: How often do you have all your friends and family together? Not that often right, so make the most of it. Pull out some "family fun" games and stick Miracle on 34th Street in the dvd player. (Yes, we realize this is a "Christmas" movie, but the movie starts out depicting the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, so work with us here).

The Mood: From the moment your guests step inside your welcoming home, make sure they are bombarded (that's right, we said bombarded) with the scent of the holidays. Our pick is the lovely scent of spiced pumpkin, which can also carry you right into the Christmas season. Create the scent with burning oil, candles and room sprays and add extra touches with scented soaps and lotions in the bathroom.

The Booze: Be adventurous and try out a new fall-themed cocktail like spiked hot cider, pecan martini or pomegranate mint mojito. What other time of year can you try something so festive?

On The Plane, On the Train, In A Boat, While You Float

When it comes to event planners, we are often on the go, go, go, so reading the next great novel isn't always an easy task. Until now. It's already been endorsed by Oprah as her new favorite thing, and we must admit, the new Amazon Kindle is worth all the buzz.

Utilizing a new high-resolution display technology called electronic paper, Kindle provides a crisp black-and-white screen that resembles the appearance and readability of printed paper. The screen works using ink, just like books and newspapers, but displays the ink particles electronically. It reflects light like ordinary paper and uses no backlighting, eliminating the glare associated with other electronic displays. As a result, Kindle can be read as easily in bright sunlight as in your living room.The screen never gets hot so you can comfortably read as long as you like.

The Amazon Kindle retails for $359.

Have A Spooktacular Halloween from Banquetevent.com!

Wishing you all a safe and fun Halloween!

If you like carved pumpkins but don't want to deal with the hassle of cleaning out the insides and making a mess, click here to start carving your very own pumpkin.

Check out our work below. Okay, okay, we admit it's the prettiest pumpkin of all, but give us a break!

7-Election

Last week we blogged about the sales of political Halloween masks and how their sales can often predict the winner of the presidential election. Now comes another, so-called "predictor" from 7-11 convenience stores. Let us introduce you to the 2008 7-Election, where 7-11 coffee drinkers show their support for one candidate over another by drinking from their respective choice's coffee cup.

Now you may be like us and wonder if any of these "predictors" are really accurate. Well, according to 7-11, during the 2000 7-Election, the George W. Bush cups outsold the Al Gore cups by just 1%...and we all remember how that election turned out. 7-11 also states that during the 2004 7-Election, the results tracked identically with published national election results: 51% George W. Bush and 49% for John Kerry (within a few percentage points of actual poll results in many states!).

So where does the 7-Election stand today? According to the national results tallied thus far, Barack Obama leads John McCain 60% to 40%. In Washington State, Obama also leads McCain 68% to 38%.

Can this all be true? Time will tell. Click here to track the results yourself.

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