A Wonderful Birthday Dinner at Harbor Lights

Well, it certainly pays to have a birthday! Especially a landmark birthday.

Don and I had treated ourselves to a meal at Harbor Lights about a month ago. We each had a great meal and great service. When we arrived, we didn’t know that they had the October Early Bird Special. It’s been so long since we had gone out for seafood, we had forgotten how prevalent Early Bird dinners can be.

That night, we each had the trout dinner. While we were sitting at our table, a man at the table across the aisle gave the waitress, Nancy, an amethyst bracelet. She promptly turned around and put it on my wrist. Wow, jewelry, too!

For my birthday, we went back. Again, I ordered trout and Don had silver salmon. Don mentioned that I may like scallops but it was not on the menu. Casey, our waitress, said, “Well, scallops are on the regular dinner menu.” We looked and, indeed, there was a scallop appetizer. So, needless to say, we had that! It was sooooo good. The scallops were prepared in the normal wonderful way but they were served with a crumbled bacon and a white sauce. We practically licked the plate!

It’s huckleberry season so the dessert specialty is, surprise: Huckleberries! I had the slump, a favorite from my Anthony’s days, served with a giant scoop of luscious vanilla ice cream. Don had the huckleberry sorbet. We shared, some, and each really enjoyed. When we were ordering, Casey asked if we had a birthday coupon for 20% off. When Harbor Lights was bought by Anthony’s the coupons are an advantage there, too. I said we used to get them in our email but we hadn’t been getting them. Casey said she’d see if we could get the same offer. Actually, you have to go online at Anthony’s to get them but the manager said she’d see if we could get the coupon, too. What service, what wonderful people! The manager, Michele came over and wished me a happy birthday and brought me an amethyst rock in its raw stage. I don’t know what that’s called, but it’s beautiful. The man who had given our previous waitress Nancy the amethyst bracelet is her supplier. When the bill came, they had honored my birthday with the discount. I love that place!

We’ve been to Lobster Shop, Pacific Grill and Anthony’s at Point Defiance many times and my favorite entre´ is the fabulous weathervane scallops that Pacific Grill used to have, then salmon, or trout, or oysters, or shrimp or some other seafood. We’d go there for my birthday or Don’s birthday or our anniversary or any other reason I could think up. I almost always had seafood; however, for a while, Anthony’s didn’t have trout, then the Pacific Grill closed and Covid-19 severely curtailed our eating out. The world must have made a happy turn, because Anthony’s bought Harbor Lights and they now have TROUT and silver salmon on the Early Bird menu.

My fondness for trout or any seafood goes back many, many years to my childhood. My dad, Ike Harrington, used to love to go fishing – lots of trout and occasionally salmon. He grew up in Eastern Oregon so trout was a taste memory for him as well other fish we don’t have here. Since we were Catholic, it was a special Friday dinner, especially during Lent and Advent. Dad fried the fish and we ate it. I was such an easy sale that I even still have a soft spot for fish sticks. I didn’t like tartar sauce as a kid; ketchup was my sauce then. I have recovered from that. Safeway now has a salmon sauce that’s pretty good, too.

When I was a high school junior, a boy I met at a St. Martin’s dance and corresponded with asked me to go to a St. Martin’s College Prom with him. I was so surprised. He was so funny, I said yes. He took me to Harbor Lights for dinner. I had scallops and really enjoyed them. Still love them. And, when my parents (the aforementioned Ike and Rita) had their 40th Anniversary, they took all seven of us and spouses there. It was a great party in the back room. By January 10th of the next year, they had both died, of different diseases; Dad in the VA hospital and Mom in Madigan. Harbor Lights gave us such a sweet memory of their Anniversary.

Now, Don and I eat mostly fish for dinner: tilapia, salmon, salmon croquettes (homemade of course), etc. We haven’t had a roast beef in years, or fried chicken, or a pork chop. I think wistfully of pork chops sometimes but fish is healthier.