June 2011
As an author who writes books about science and nature, West Seattleite Lyanda Haupt relies on sharp binoculars, a clean hand lens and a pair of sturdy walking shoes. A less likely tool? Her backyard fire pit. “I love it!” she says.
Issue
June 2011
From this Issue
Click links for locations and maps.
The Saint’s freshly muddled classic house margarita is just right: tart and refreshing with both fresh lemon and lime juice. $6.50
I’ve never been to Montreal, so I can’t tell you whether Eltana’s Montreal-style bagels are the real deal. But even if they’re not, these are great bagels.
They’ve stacked the decks at this Carillon Point newcomer, which opened last December. Owned by Ted Furst, who, together with Peter Lewis, opened Campagne in 1985—and with Scott Emerick of Madrona’s once-grand Cremant at the stoves—it would only be surprising if this roomy bistro wasn’t a hit. And I’m here to tell you, it is.
Open since last summer, open-air, wine-centric Bar Ferd’nand (1531 Melrose Ave.; 206.623.5882; ferdinandthebar.com) blends casual with romantic.
In June, the Pike Place Market comes fully alive: Vendors’ tables are crowded with grassy snap peas, ruby red and golden beets, and bundles of fragrant sweet pea flowers (just $5). And, of course, there’s that one item you’ve been waiting for all year: chubby early-season wild salmon, glistening on ice at every one of the fishmonger stands.
Almost a year ago, Jacob Wiegner left Spanish-romantic Olivar on Capitol Hill to open his own place in a revolving-door storefront at the West Seattle Junction (in four years it’s been five different restaurants).
Ed Marquand’s new gift and paper shop, Paper Hammer (downtown, 1400 Second Ave.; 206.682.3820; paper-hammer.com), is the realization of a dream project built over the past six years.
About two and a half hours east of Seattle, Tieton (pronounced TY-uh-tun) was once a prosperous apple town with a railroad link, a bowling alley, a dance hall, a billiards parlor and a soda fountain where folks gathered to shoot the breeze. Even aliens from outer space are said to have visited Tieton.
It’s a sunny Saturday in early March. Nearly 150 media, tech and business professionals, academics and students are squeezed into a meeting room at Adobe’s Fremont campus. The crowd quietly sips bottles of specialty ginger beer and listens intently, many taking notes, as author Eric Liu discusses citizenship and leadership with the host of the afternoon discussion, Hanson Hosein.
There are two typical realities in Seattle this time of year: Either we are still wearing our rubber boots, going to T-ball games under umbrellas and wrapped in fleece blankets—or, it’s shorts and tank- tops all weekend.
THE MOD SQUAD - family portraits
Thanks to Groupon’s booming success, daily-deal companies are sprouting up all over. In the last year, several seattle websites have put a niche spin on the popular online discount model.
The shabby chicken coops of Old McDonald’s farm might look out of place in the city, but thanks to architect Traci Fontyn, owner and founder of Bothell’s Kippen House chicken coops (kippenhouse.com), urban dwellers can still enjoy fresh, organic eggs from their own small lots.
NAME: Kim Beckett
OCCUPATION: Seattle Gaels camogie team manager
DAY JOBS: Works with retirees, both human and greyhound
CAMOGIE POSITION: Defense, halfback and fullback
ON THE OUTFIT: “We wear a skort on the field. It’s an old standard we’ve embraced as a team.”
Hop on your mountain banshee, plug in your braid and fly to the Science Fiction Museum, where an extensive new exhibit offers a look behind the scenes of James Cameron’s latest fictional universe.
ARTIST: Jennifer Borges Foster, seattle poet and chief editor of filter, a limited edition, hand-bound literary journal
Charlie and Benita Staadecker should come with a warning label: Contact with contents may result in channeling all your discretionary income into funding artistic projects.
We take pride in it: Our state regularly earns top honors as one of the most livable in the country, thanks to our old-growth forests, vast waterways, and our literary and recreational lifestyles. But Washington state also tops a few not-so-pleasant lists: We outpace the nation in debilitating, and sometimes deadly, diseases.
It wasn’t a native tree. It wasn’t what most would call pretty. And it was so big it dwarfed the little cottage it had grown beside for the past 60 or more years. But the spiky, Seussian monkey puzzle tree that was cut down last January in Ballard by the home’s new owners had been like a fellow neighbor to many local residents. Some cried, and others got angry.
Just when you thought cyclocross was the most badass recreational sport to take root in the Northwest, along comes an entire new category of events for the endurance-obsessed, adrenaline-junkie mud lovers among us: obstacle courses.
Going on wine-tasting treks is one of the joys of living in the Northwest. There is no greater find than driving past vineyards and discovering a sweet little tasting room off the beaten path. But even though I don’t often have the days—or the cash—to spend weekends across the mountains, my love of wine and wine touring doesn’t wane.
Skagit Sun owner Don Kruse can describe his Shuksan strawberries in just one word: sensational. And since he’s provided the Northwest with sweet and juicy berries for 32 years, we’ll take his word for it.
The year 1985 was a big one for music: USA for Africa’s “We Are the World” raised $70 million, David Lee Roth left Van Halen for a solo career, and Madonna embarked on her first tour—The Virgin Tour, which kicked off in Seattle. But of much greater import locally, Gerard Schwarz took the position of music director for the Seattle Symphony.
If you listen to people like Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, “Left Coast” cities like Seattle are so far out of the mainstream that we’re on the outer banks of reality. It’s true that we’re an antiwar kind of place, having been at the forefront of opposition to nuclear submarines, and wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Central America and Vietnam.
