Modern dance gets personal

You know those times when you haven’t traveled far from home, yet you experience something far afield from your everyday? One of those for me is the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe. Although I grew up going to the Spokane version, I guess I just hadn’t been to a fair in quite a long while because it all seemed very foreign. Amazing that just a hop, skip and a jump from my usual urban Seattle life were blue-ribbon canned vegetables, pot bellied pig races, deep fried Snickers bars and towering carnival rides. I love that this kind of thing is easily accessible and exists so close to me, if only for a couple of weeks a year.

I had another one of those experiences lately when I got to be a part of a sliver of a new work by much-acclaimed local contemporary dancer, KT Niehoff. You might recognize her name as co-founder and former director of the newly relocated Velocity Dance Center, or as Artistic Director of now 12-year-old collaborative troupe of dance professionals, Lingo. It’s through Lingo’s newest project, A Glimmer of Hope or Skin or Light, that I had a recent and very personal look into the world of contemporary dance. Glimmer, as described on her website:

“In 2006, KT began investigating the relationship between audience and artist with the primary goal of creating a more tangible intimacy between the two. This search has led her to seek out more potent environments that ask the performer and the witness to confront each other as unique individuals who bring to the exchange their personal histories and desires. A Glimmer of Hope or Skin or Light, in all its forms, is an outcropping of this search.”

Cool, huh? Especially once you learn about all of the facets of the project: a culminating performance at ACT Theatre; for those same ACT performances, pre-show (!) cocktails with a cast member; dancers as kinetic sculptures throughout the Seattle Art Museum; and something titled One Performer/One Recipient/Many Locations. It’s that last piece in which I got to participate and let me tell you, really hit the mark on the tangible intimacy described above.

In a nutshell, the Glimmer cast was tasked with creating 30 solos for individuals, to be custom-made based on interactions with each person and performed in public locations throughout the city. The process began with a questionnaire -- things like sweet or savory? what items are currently in your pocket? what is the last thing you lost? what is a Seattle location you love? -- followed by more detailed conversations to really get a sense of the person. My friend was the one who sent in the questionnaire and got to experience this whole process, and I was lucky enough to be invited along to the performance.

And the performance? Wow. It turned out that Glimmer cast member Kelly Sullivan invited us into her home for the experience, yet another step in that intimacy for which the project was striving, I thought. Her dancing was powerful, vulnerable, beautiful and spot-on given my friend’s reaction as the solo finished. I was grateful to have been included in something so unique and magical, and again, amazed that this whole world of dance exists all around me. It just happens to be a community that I’m not very familiar with, that I don’t plug into on a regular basis.

If you didn’t luck into participating in the one-to-one performances, or seeing the dancers at SAM, you still have the chance to experience the project at the culminating performance of A Glimmer of Hope or Skin or Light at ACT through May 15. Can’t wait to see what this piece of the project will look like…

One of the surprising and wonderful outcomes of Kelly’s performance was that we got to meet her boyfriend, Eli Rosenblatt, a very talented artist in his own right. Eli played the guitar as Kelly danced, and the two of them together were absolutely lovely -- and I thought that even before we were treated to tea and breakfast and great conversation. It turns out that Eli has quite a schedule of performances of his own, and I’m excited to add these to my plans to see Glimmer at ACT. Find out more about Eli and his music on his Monarch Duo website, and hear him this Wednesday night at Nectar in Fremont.

Who knew that such great connections could come out of one interaction? KT Niehoff, I suspect.

Santé

Step 1: Get in your car. Step 2: Drive east. Way east. Step 3: Screech to a halt in downtown Spokane in front of Santé, the year-and-a-half old restaurant and charcuterie attached to Auntie’s Bookstore. Auntie’s is Spokane’s fantastic independent bookstore, kindred spirit to Elliott Bay in Seattle and Powell’s in Portland. Perhaps there is a trend of talented restaurateurs running bookstore-attached cafes -- see Tamara Murphy in Elliott Bay’s former lower level space -- and if so, Chef/Owner Jeremy Hansen is an excellent example of this trend on the east side of the state.

From an interior perspective, it’s more upscale than other bookstore cafes I’ve seen. Though there aren’t a huge number of tables, the open ceiling and big windows that look onto West Main Street give the room a terrific spaciousness. The white wainscoting on two walls and dark, shiny floor contrast nicely, as do the substantial, very un-modern chairs and the distinctly modern menu. The space is well-proportioned and comfortable, but clearly much of the action is taking place out of sight.

It’s late on a Thursday night and Hansen is all energy and enthusiasm, excited to talk about his plans for Santé. He and his relatively large team will continue to produce great food out of what is a tiny kitchen for such a varied menu, while expanding into other areas of the building as the restaurant offerings evolve. The newest of these is a recently-finished space in the basement, now ground zero for their house-cured charcuterie and soon to become the same for cheese and bread production. For all of the restaurants that aspire to make everything in-house, Santé gives them a run for their money. Next up is an herb garden on the rooftop, I’ve no doubt.

The first thing that appeared at the table that evening was an amuse-bouche, literally something that “entertains the mouth,” a single bite of some bit of wonderful that arrives unbidden from the chef. This particular version was a thin crisp of toast with apple jelly, goat cheese and a blackberry gracing the top. Just enough to get the palate ready for more.

Next came the crespella, a goat cheese and leek stuffed crêpe with tomato confit and basil gastrique. The tomato arrived intact rather than confited, which was perfectly fine with me, and the gastrique was sweet and basil-y and the perfect accompaniment to the goat cheese and crêpe.

The charcuterie plate was a rather substantial offering of salami, chicken terrine, brie, cornichons, baguette and two house-made mustards, my favorite of which was the marjoram. But for me the star of the plate was the duck prosciutto, immensely flavorful and gorgeously un-lean.

The true cod had a lovely sear on the top and was falling-apart tender and much more flavorful than I might have expected from this particular fish. No doubt it helped that the cod was paired with the creamiest root vegetable risotto, spinach, onion and beurre fondue. I’m guessing that last is a bit like beurre blanc only creamier, which likely gave the risotto the texture I loved so much. The balsamic reduction around the rim of the plate and plum and walnut chutney lent a bit of sweetness, contrasting with the salt of the gaufrette (a thinly waffled potato crisp) placed atop the dish.

We finished with this caramel apple crème brulée, paired with a granny smith apple sorbet. As with everything else we had that evening dessert was beautifully presented, but the chunks of fruit overwhelmed the crème brulée and the accompanying sorbet seemed an unnecessary addition when quite lacking in flavor. In my opinion, the only misstep in an otherwise fantastic meal.

Santé also looks to have a knock-out brunch menu, and I already have my eye on a couple of items: the duck hash (duck confit, foie gras butter, potatoes, onion, white sauce, duck egg, baguette) and the phyllo and house paneer (house-made paneer, date and walnut chutney, tofu, watercress, red wine gastrique). They’re also doing all kinds of interesting events worth checking out, including 15, a 15-course (nope, that’s not a typo) extravaganza complete with participating wineries, all benefitting Ronald McDonald House Charities of Spokane.

Clearly it’s not just Chef Hansen and the talented team in the back of the house who do great work at Santé. Kudos to our server, Eric, who did a fantastic job of pointing us toward menu items we might not have otherwise tried. He was knowledgeable, helpful and fun -- three things I very much appreciate in someone walking me through a meal. With this kind of phenomenal food and service, and engaging community events, it looks like a bright food future for Santé, without a doubt.

The (momentary) return of Tako Truk

It was a sad day when I heard that Eastlake's Tako Truk would be closing its doors, such as they were. Tako Truk operated after hours out of 14 Carrot's kitchen and served curbside some really inventive tacos like the Coco Piggy (pork belly and slaw), Beef and Fries (brisket and tiny shoestring fries) and Channaloo (chickpea and potato curry). Courtesy of Seattle Magazine online I just read that they are making another appearance on Saturday as a benefit for Haiti, and more specifically to raise money for the purchase of relief kits from ShelterBox.org.

I first heard about ShelterBox when friends from BUILD LLC and Picnic came together in early February to do much the same at the latter's fabulous food and wine boutique in Phinney, where a portion of proceeds from the weekly wine tasting when straight to fund ShelterBoxes sent to Haiti. If you're not familiar with the organization, check out the website because they provide an amazing set of relief supplies in a single package.

If you didn't make it to Picnic, be sure not to miss out on another opportunity raise money for much-needed support in Haiti.

The details:

Tacos, beer and music
Saturday, March 6
1:00 - 6:00pm (ish... and from previous experience they do mean "ish!")
4700 Ohio Ave S
$20 suggested donation

Good food coming our way

One of my favorite things about food is the anticipation. Sometimes that means the five hours and three risings it takes to make my family’s potato dough orange rolls, or all of the phyllo-buttering and chicken-braising and sauce-making required for the Moroccan Chicken Rolls, both of which routinely elicit oohs and ahs from all who try them. But that’s just it, isn’t it? Although I love seeing how all of the pieces assemble themselves into a tasty end product, the best part is the anticipation of sharing that end product with family and friends.

This won’t surprise you at all, but another one of my favorite things to do is to introduce those same people to restaurants I think are fantastic, or have some interesting element that has to be experienced, or somewhere I haven’t tried yet but want them with me to explore it. So when I see signs of new places opening, or hear tell of new restaurants and bars on the horizon, my ears are always perked. Last weekend I toured around to several of the spaces I had been hearing about, to check on progress:

My first stop was Capitol Hill, specifically Melrose between Pike and Pine. Brasa’s Tamara Murphy is apparently going small plate with her new restaurant, Terraplata. This space is in the same block as new Capitol Hill locations for both Sonic Boom and Velouria, and down the street from Chapel. There are a couple of spaces still being developed in the same building so it could also be the smaller one down the way, but I hope that it’s this cool triangular corner spot.



From there it was a short hop to the new Marjorie on E Union near 14th. It’s just beyond the area where most of the restaurants on this end of Capitol Hill are clustered, but if you’ve made it as far as Spinasse or Poco Wine Room you’re nearly there. This interesting space -- which may well be much further along in the week since I took this photo -- is the new incarnation of Donna Moodie’s former restaurant of the same name in Belltown, though older Seattleites might also remember her from Marco’s Supper Club.



Up to 34th Ave in Madrona and home of the former Cremant, down the block from overcrowded brunch favorite Hi Spot Cafe, and the less crowded and breakfast-fabulous Café Soleil. The owners of Queen Anne’s Portage are opening another restaurant in this space that has been vacant for some time, which I hear will be more Vietnamese-influenced than French-focused Portage.



Over to Madison Park, specifically where Martin Luther King Jr Way runs into Madison. The sign for Luc, on a corner space up the street from Café Flora, has been up for ages. Opening Spring 2010, we’re told, so I suspect that chef and owner Thierry Rautureau has been able to take his time with this new venture just doors away from his flagship restaurant, Rover’s.



Home to Queen Anne, which seems to be a-buzz with new restaurants. The addition of Emmer & Rye was particularly good news, and now I see that Tenoch Mexican Grill will be moving into the spot at the north end of Queen Anne Ave formerly occupied by Vincenzo’s. Tenoch is currently in the International District so I assume that this is an additional location, but don’t know about that one. Let’s just hope that it fares better than the last Mexican restaurant to move into Queen Anne, the ill-fated Gorditos that occupied what is now Betty on the opposite end of the string of businesses and restaurants on the top of the hill.



Nancy Leson is my frequent source for these tidbits of information, probably because she seems to find as interesting as I do all of the relationships between people and who is doing what, where. Because of her long career as a food critic of she has access to all sorts of information and I love to hear what she hears. Though I haven’t seen anything on her blog about what’s moving into this spot on Queen Anne Ave at Blaine. Tiny space, though I see posted an application for a liquor license: the sign of much promise.



What better combination: The anticipation of interesting new restaurants with the anticipation of good times spent investigating these places with friends, new and old. Can’t wait!

Swap-a-Thon: The video

Remember when I wrote about the November Sit+Sip home accessories swap at the Phinney Neighborhood Center? It turns out that KIROTV.com's Penny LeGate was there and has posted as part of her “Green Scene” series a video about that event, so here is your chance to see it in action.

Interested in participating in the next one? One of the event’s organizers, Sara Eizen, tells me that their next Sit+Sip event will be a collaboration with the Seattle Art Museum in early March. No date announced yet, but check back on their website in mid-January for the details. Or if you want to be totally in the know, sign up there to receive updates via email the second news is available.

Party it up at Equinox Studios

Georgetown does its “Art Attack” art walk the second Saturday of each month, and the biggest arts venue in the neighborhood is hosting a Very Open House on the December date.

Equinox Studios is one of those great industrial buildings in Georgetown that has been converted into studio space, and houses some fantastic artists and their work. Over 45 of them, in fact. I like it because it offers a huge variety of disciplines: blacksmiths, steel and wood workers, photographers, painters and graphic designers, screen printers, sculptors and metal fabricators.

It’s hard to top having access to all of that creativity in one location. And on this particular occasion there will also be live music, food and beverages so really, no reason to miss it.

The details:

Equinox Studios Very Open House
Saturday, December 12
6:00 - 9:00pm
6555 5th Avenue South, Seattle (one block south of Michigan Street)

[Photo courtesy of the artist, Stacy Rosevear.]

Mapplethorpe writ small

You probably know artist Robert Mapplethorpe for his very large, mostly stylized and often sexually explicit photographs all produced between the late 1970’s and his death in 1989. The show currently at the Henry Art Gallery, Polaroids: Mapplethorpe, in contrast, comes from an earlier period in the artist’s life and is a selection of some 1,500 photographs made with Polaroid materials between 1970 and 1975. Although not the work for which he’s famous, it’s interesting when viewed as an illustration of how he got from here to there, and as part of the journey in Mapplethorpe’s evolution as a photographer.

These pieces are on a much smaller scale than those other works as, indeed, they are Polaroids. There are also a few still lifes among the photographs, as well as the portraits and nudes that are clear precursors to what will become his more famous work. I was lucky enough to see the exhibit with my cousin, who has a professional artist’s perspective on light and composition and sees things differently than I might. I especially liked how she pointed out Mapplethorpe’s juxtaposition of the hard and the soft (an elevator’s metal gate against curves of flesh) and his ability to capture the vulnerability of relationship, in whatever form (two lovers in a series of four snapshots).

Not all of the photographs are exceptional, but as a body of work and when viewed in the context of Robert Mapplethorpe’s larger career, I think that the show is definitely worth a look. The Henry is the last stop on an international tour, so be sure to catch the exhibit before it leaves town on January 31, 2010.

Swap-a-Thon

It’s that time again, time for another home accessories swap hosted by the nice folks at Sit+Sip. The event gives green-focused retailers and vendors exposure to the local audience, and up to 100 participants the chance to swap their own things for something new to them. It’s a great way to refresh your space without spending money, and at the same time saving unwanted items from hitting the landfill.

How does it work? Each person pays $10 and comes with three or more items in good condition. Think rugs, framed prints, candle holders, vases. There are a couple of rounds of swapping where everyone gets to peruse the loot and pick out two things they want to take home for FREE, then additional rounds occur until everyone is swapped out. Anything left at the end can either go home with its original owner or will be donated to Children’s Hospital Thrift Stores. Another reason to feel good about participating: 20% of profits made from that $10 per person is donated to Children’s Hospital. Excellent!

The details:

Holiday Home Accessories Swap
Saturday, November 21
Phinney Neighborhood Center - 6532 Phinney Avenue N, Seattle
10:00am - noon

Speaking of sprucing up with great design… I want to thank Colleen Ando and 2e Design for my fabulous new blog header and color scheme. Thanks, Colleen, for my mod new look!

Honeybees -- who knew?

I went to a fantastic event this week downtown at the Palace Ballroom, part of “The Good Life” series from Kim Ricketts and interviewer extraordinaire, Warren Etheredge. The series features authors who have created for themselves this kind of life, and share with the rest of us how to do the same. Tuesday’s special guest was C. Marina Marchese, author of Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper and owner of Connecticut's Red Bee Artisanal Honey. I haven’t had a chance yet to read the book, but a couple of things from the conversation stuck out for me.

One is the concept of flower constancy and how it relates to flavors of honey. Apparently honeybees have a traveling radius of 2-3 miles, so that’s the area in which they seek out various flowers. And within that radius they return to the same flower time after time. It’s this pattern that allows beekeepers to produce honey with a consistent flavor profile. In order maintain that consistency, they track what is blooming at a particular time and stop harvesting the honey that their bees are producing 2-3 weeks after that flower stops blooming. And voila, you have lavender honey or wild raspberry honey or blueberry blossom honey, whatever is in season and within the honeybees’ nectar-gathering radius.

The second has to do with the traveling radius of a honeybee as well, but as it relates to what’s an organic product and what’s not. Because bees leave the hive and collect nectar from flowers within this 2-3 mile radius, it’s tough for a beekeeper to guarantee that nothing the bees come into contact with contains pesticides or other nasties, thus making the organic stamp of approval very difficult to attain. The good news is that if it’s challenging to buy organic honey, it’s really easy to buy honey blessed with our other current favorite stamp of approval: “produced locally.” And even better, eating this honey means that you’re ingesting allergens local to your particular environment, thus you’re less likely to suffer the effects of these same allergens when you breathe them in their flowering form. What a deal!

I’ve been meaning to attend a Kim Ricketts event for a while, and now that I’ve been to this one I’m looking forward to the Cooks and Books visiting chef series, particularly. Who wouldn’t love the pairing of interesting venue, fantastic food and entertaining personality?

[Photo courtesy of Red Bee Artisanal Honey]

On the blogs: Manhattan tree house, paper chandeliers, Blue C Sushi, healthcare reform

Like many of you, there are several blogs that I return to day after day (or subscribe to, or RSS, or whatever method you choose) to see what’s happening and what interesting things are on the radar. On my blog I’ve listed several of my favorites, but here are a few recent posts that I’ve enjoyed and think that you should check out as well:

The team at BUILD LLC posted photos of their recent Manhattan Tree House Pavilion, designed by BUILD in Seattle and constructed onsite for a Microsoft product launch in NYC. A fantastically modern interpretation of the traditional tree house.

Paper chandeliers? What the heck? It’s wacky ideas like this that make me check back regularly and see what’s new and inspiring on design*sponge.

In “Outpost”, Seattle Metropolitan’s Steve Wiecking gives us a very cleverly-written look into what’s happening in the cultural life of the city. I particularly his weekly Met Picks, a snapshot of all of the cool things coming up that we should check out.

Nancy Leson’s “All You Can Eat” is a must-read for me because in addition to sharing a recipe from time to time she talks about food from all different angles: Her travels around the Seattle area and often further afield; who is opening new restaurants and what makes them and the restaurant interesting (Blue C Sushi downtown -- excellent!); and happenings like this upcoming event at Town Hall about the politics of food.

On Rebekah Denn’s “Eat All About It” she recently talked about the future of restaurant criticism which as you might imagine hit close to home, given that I’m one of those who simply likes food but has no professional credentials. But dining and posting responsibly, I hope…

I don’t know if Margaret and Helen really ARE two grandmothers, but I choose to believe it so that I can really enjoy an introductory paragraph like this one from their recent post about healthcare reform: “Margaret, I know it has been a few years since we last made the trip across the pond, but I was wondering if anyone is still alive in Europe? I watched a little bit of Fox News this weekend and I’m afraid everyone in Europe might have died from lack of access to healthcare. What a shame. They had such delicious food and beautiful art.”

Dinner as capital E Experience

You probably know by now that I find food endlessly fascinating, particularly the trends that nudge us happy consumers of the dining out experience in one direction or another. As I read blogs, articles and tweets that come my way, and talk with like-minded friends, I see a couple of interesting things happening. One is flourishing as a result of our revived interest -- especially is this neck of the woods -- in eating food that comes as directly from the producer as possible. The second seems to be a combination of the cult of personality and the mish-mash of different entertainment elements into one Mega Experience.

I’ve raved about Kurtwood Farms in a previous post and I think that it’s an outstanding example of this first genre of food experience. Hosting at his farm on Vashon Island, Kurt Timmermeister does an extraordinary job of connecting city types (some of us who don’t even have an urban garden -- gasp!) with where our food comes from and producing a simply delicious meal while he’s at it. Another in this vein is Outstanding in the Field, which I’ve not done but would like to the next time it comes to the Seattle area. The OitF folks pick a location, usually a farm so it really is farm-to-table, and partner with a local chef. Last summer they did two dinners in Carnation, at Full Circle Farm and Oxbow Farm, as well as an event onsite to benefit the Seattle Youth Garden Works at the University of Washington Botanic Gardens.

Interestingly, it’s a short hop from farm-to-table to the second genre of food experience I’m seeing, as both leverage the cult of personality that can form around a talented chef. Look no further than Wolfgang Puck, Mario Batali, Anthony Bourdain or even the beloved Julia Child. As food lovers we eat at their restaurants, buy their cookbooks and watch their television shows because these are easy and accessible ways to tap into a little bit of that talent and personality.

In Seattle we certainly have our version of the celebrity chef, Tom Douglas and Ethan Stowell among the most visible of the empire-builders. Or one of the chefs who connects the farm-to-table and cult of personality genres for me, Matthew Dillon of The Corson Building and Sitka and Spruce. Dillon was the guest chef at OinF’s Seattle Youth Garden Works dinner, and he’s also participating in Hope Grocery’s New Guard. As described by Lorna Yee at Seattle Magazine, New Guard is “a new underground dinner club that combines a love for good food, art and music. Monthly dinners feature chefs from Springhill, Cantinetta and The Corson Building cooking up casual, family-style meals. Art pieces curated from new, local artists are featured, and the evening ends with live music from a rotating list of talented bands.” How cool, right? And here is where that other piece of the genre comes in, the act of combining several different elements into one totally fabulous experience centered around food.

Now, New Guard sounds a lot like another interesting occurrence, Songs for Eating and Drinking, a collaborative effort brought to us by foodie Michael Hebb at One Pot and the incredibly talented Seattle-based photographer, Chase Jarvis. Their dinner experience also involves art but rather than the visual variety, Songs for Eating and Drinking is well, all about the music. And I have to say I love their description of the meal as “sturdy drinking food.” In thinking about this evening somehow the word “raucous” comes to mind…

In what are somewhat precarious financial times, it seems as though people want more of a bang for their buck, more “experience” from their dining experience. But if you’re not up for the big stuff, now is also an excellent time to check out the other end of the spectrum, which is flourishing as a result of the current economy. One example at that more affordable end of the spectrum is mobile food, something big in Seattle right now. For a chance to sample the wares of a bunch of good purveyors all in one place check out next weekend’s Mobile Food Chowdown.

Who knows what the next trend will be and from whence it will come? You can bet that I’ll be on the lookout for it, for sure.

Yellow Terror beckons at Wing Luke

Today I took advantage of free admission at the Wing Luke Asian Museum in the International District, my first visit since they opened the new space in May 2008. I came specifically to see the new exhibit that opened last week, Yellow Terror: The Collections and Paintings of Roger Shimomura.

Some big and some small, all of Shimomura’s paintings are eye-catching. They are done in a brightly colored pop art style and explore Asian and Asian American stereotypes and our perception of the Other, set in the context of World War II. He looks at how Japanese nationals were depicted during this time in American history, and how the stereotypes of yellow skin, buck teeth and slanted eyes were visually exaggerated to encourage normative Americans (as he names them) to relegate an entire group of people to subhuman status. Shimomura uses himself as the primary subject in several of the pieces, intending to juxtapose images traditionally associated with Japanese identity and his own self-confessed non-Asian-American appearance. I especially like how he employs color, heavy on the use of bright yellow when depicting Japanese or Japanese Americans, and often pink or beige for the faces of normative Americans. Some of my favorite pieces are part of the “Mixing & Matching” series that depicts several couples mixed and matched into multiple color combinations.

In addition to his paintings, Shimomura also shares his collection of ephemera from that time period. It was so interesting to see how the xenophobia of the age was cultivated through an enormous array of materials. There were the more extreme examples like Jap hunting club cards, but it’s the everyday objects that seem somehow more jarring. The caricatured depictions of Japanese nationals in everything from salt and pepper shakers, to the bottoms of ashtrays, to cookie jars, not to mention postcards, buttons, envelopes and greeting cards, all underscore the insidiousness of this brand of racism. Add to what’s apparent in these physical objects, their portrayal in the movies, books, cartoons and comics of the era, you can clearly see “the ease with which stereotypes moved from the public sphere to private consumption.” Frightening stuff.

The exhibit opened last week and continues through April 18, 2010 but I encourage you not to wait that long to see it. Take note that admission to Wing Luke is free on the first Thursday and third Saturday of each month, with extended evening hours on both days. In a time when our recent history includes terrorist playing cards and an immigration debate with its own heavy undertones of xenophobia, the history of 70 years ago suddenly doesn’t seem quite so distant. What’s that again about history and being doomed to repeat it…?

Fairest of the Fairs

It’s fair season, that magical time of year of blue-ribbon canned vegetables, barnyard animals, rides galore and sugar-heavy elephant ears fresh out of the fryer. Of course the mack daddy of this variety is the Puyallup Fair, the biggest, craziest spectacle for miles around. I personally prefer one that’s slightly smaller and feels a bit more like it has a sense of place, and on this side of the state that’s the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe.

Maybe it’s because I grew up going to the Spokane County Interstate Fair, but I’m a complete sucker for all of the traditional fair stuff. I love going through the rooms and rooms of all kinds of things vying for blue ribbons: sewing projects, vegetable creations in the shapes of animals, canned fruits galore, floral arrangements and baked goods. The live, non-vegetable animals are always a favorite, particularly when they’ve been raised under the auspices of 4-H or Future Farmers of America. And who doesn’t love pygmy goats? I was never a big fan of the rides -- something about being turned upside down and flung around that never really appealed to me -- but fair food is a definite yes. Elephant ears, deep fried Snickers bars and Fisher’s Famous Scones all figure prominently in the fair experience for me.

Today, though, I got to enjoy a fair of a very different kind, Seattle Tilth’s Harvest Fair. It is a single day event, unlike those mentioned above, and given Seattle Tilth’s commitment to “support local food systems in order to cultivate a healthy urban environment and community,” it has a distinctly crunchy/city feel. The chance to meet urban livestock, stock up on compost, get ideas from PCC chefs and buy extra produce to donate to the Solid Ground meal programs all show that it isn’t a fair of the Puyallup variety.

In addition to educational programs like Demystifying Organic Fertilizers, Lawns to Lettuce and Harvest the Rain with a Cistern, there were a bunch of activities, including a station where you could craft your very own herb crown.




No fair worth its salt would lack entertainment, and the Harvest Fair was no different. On the stage while we were there was a duo in grass skirts, clearly a big hit with the kids, singing a very educational song about worms at the ladybug picnic.




We couldn’t leave without a stroll through the farmers market section of the fair, the bounty of late summer/early fall fruits and vegetables on full display. Check out this stunning array of peppers!

Light rail comes to Seattle

I was excited for my first trip on Seattle’s new foray into public transportation: Sound Transit’s light rail. With ORCA card in hand -- which debits the amount of your fare on various forms of transport including train, bus, and ferry -- and armed with a bunch of information gathered from the web, I felt ready for my journey. I first checked OneBusAway.org to get an exact GPS-provided arrival time at my stop then rode the bus from home downtown to Westlake Center, one of the end points of the current “central link” of the light rail system. (Future service is slated for the University of Washington and points north, and SeaTac Airport and points south.)

The first thing I thought when I went downstairs into the transit tunnel at Westlake Center -- where buses and trains run on the same surface, incidentally -- was that it looked very big city. Like an honest to God train station. With its signs to trains, buses, and monorail (ahem) as well as to multiple street exits and shopping, it actually reminded me of subway experiences in London, Paris, and Washington, DC. The mouth agape wanderings-around of many of the riders, though, demonstrated that at a week old, light rail is still at the novelty stage.

At all of the stations through Saturday of this week they have helpful staff people providing information and pointing folks in the right direction. One of them said to me that her most frequent question was about how to pay, not surprising given the fact that there are no turnstiles either at the station or on the trains, just ticket kiosks. Which means that we’re basically operating on the honor system, with what I understand will be regular checks by ticket enforcement staff to ensure that we are all behaving as we should.

The other thing my helpful Sound Transit guide mentioned was the public art in and around the stations, and she even had a brochure that described everything on display. After my recent amble around downtown Seattle to check out the public art there, it was terrific to see so much more happening around the region. All of the pieces are a part of the STart Public Art Program, funded by Sound Transit's 1% allocation of all project construction costs. Bravo! Read more about the project and link to all of the pieces here.

If all goes as planned, light rail trains will become a regular way for people to travel: the Stadium stop for Mariners games; the Columbia City stop for the Wednesday Farmer’s Market; and at the end of 2009, the SeaTac Airport stop for points further afield. Certainly the fact that the trains run on a dependable schedule and aren’t subject to traffic, unlike buses, makes this form of transportation particularly appealing. I have to admit that I was positively gleeful whizzing past cars inching along, and imagine that it is especially satisfying to parallel I-5 at rush hour and see all the cars nearly at a standstill as far as the eye can see.

What will have to improve, though, is the connecting public transportation. Park and ride lots, and parking in general, were intentionally eliminated from station plans in an effort to encourage riders to use other forms of public transportation to get to and from the train. Bikes, for example: As well as bicycle lockers available at several stations, the trains also have these cool racks where you bring your bike on board and hang it up by the front wheel. Buses are another obvious option, but I didn’t have much luck with my first attempt: It was easy enough for me to bus from home downtown to the Westlake Center station, but when I contemplated taking the train south for a meeting in Renton, Metro Transit’s online trip planner was stymied by my request to find a bus that would get me from the train station to my meeting location.

The Puget Sound area doesn’t have the integrated web of public transportation that makes it easy to travel around without a car, but I’m hoping that is in our future. I’ll be supporting the use of light rail as a functional way to get around town and I encourage others to do the same. This is just one step toward real big city public transportation, but as far as I can tell it's a step in the right direction.

[All photos courtesy of Lee LeFevre]

A summer's worth of fun to be had in downtown Seattle parks

The other day I picked up my mail and what should I see but a brochure from Seattle Parks & Recreation. Normally I recycle immediately anything addressed to “Postal Customer” but something about this one made me look twice. It must have been the fact this brochure promised all sorts of information about great summer (mostly) free events downtown in our center city parks. Count me in! There are a whole slew of activities scheduled, but here are a select few that I plan to check out:

Of course you can always do the Fremont Outdoor Cinema thing, but for a change of pace try out the downtown version: Center City Cinema. The two where you might see me are Bride and Prejudice on Saturday, August 15 and Shall We Dance on Friday, September 3. All movies begin at dusk, naturally.

There are a bunch of different musical opportunities including First Thursdays Evening Concert Series in Occidental Square, in conjunction with the art walk that happens in Pioneer Square once a month. Or check out the Thursday noon concerts at City Hall, where I might be on July 16 for world fusion with Children of the Revolution or on September 3 for improv musical theater with An Unexpected Musical.

Dancing ‘Til Dusk gives you the chance to get a lesson in before you are let loose on the portable dance floors at Occidental and Freeway Parks. There will be all sorts of styles of music throughout the summer, everything from salsa, to rhythm and blues, to swing. If you’re not so much interested in participating and would rather watch the professionals, check out the Inside Out Dance Company in the same parks performing ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, and modern dance Thursdays on July 9, July 23, and August 20.

I just love the concept of drop-in anything, because you never quite know who is going to be there and how it will go. Two such opportunities for you to experience the adventure of it all are drop-in bocce daily at Occidental Square and drop in tai chi classes Thursdays at noon in Denny Park.

Last but not least, for the times that you still need to be productive but want to take advantage of our few months of incredible weather, check out the wi-fi hot spots in Freeway, Occidental, Westlake, and Victor Steinbrueck Parks. Get a little sun, do a little work, and try not to be distracted by the incredible people-watching to be had in each of these locations.

[Photo of Freeway Park courtesy of ken mccown]

Silent Movie Mondays: been there, done that

I was excited to have the chance to experience Silent Movie Mondays at the Paramount after writing about them a couple of weeks ago. I went last night to see 1929’s The Godless Girl, a hate-turns-to-love story between the atheist rabble-rouser high school girl and the God-fearing student body president boy. They make their way through a series of perils, including a riot that breaks out between the opposing sides, neighboring reform schools for the two of them (featuring a grisly stigmata scene), escape, and return to the reform school culminating in a fire to end all fires. There is lust, piety, and an overabundance of over-acting -- necessary, I suppose, when you don’t have sound to rely on to communicate emotion.

I was surprised to see a healthy number of the young and hip contingent in the crowd, thinking (as referenced by Seattle Metropolitan’s fantastic Steve Wiecking in his blog post) that the average age of the audience member would be about 77. I was also amazed by how engaging the story was, due in no small part to the live organ accompaniment. Though it wasn’t Dennis James behind the organ -- the protestors outside and the fliers they were handing out an indicator that this was an unexpected and unwelcome development -- his replacement was phenomenal. Kudos to anyone who can play with that much skill and enthusiasm for nearly two hours straight.

I heartily recommend that if you have the chance to catch the last movie of the summer series, do it. It’s one heck of a unique experience. The remaining performance:

Monday, June 29 at 7:00pm: Seventh Heaven

Silent Movie Mondays

Going to see a fabulous old silent movie at the Paramount, complete with live Wurlitzer organ accompaniment, sounds like such a cool thing to do doesn’t it? For four consecutive weeks this month the Seattle Theatre Group, with series sponsor Trader Joe’s, hosts Silent Movie Mondays at the Paramount. It’s a great opportunity to see wonderful old films, experience what I’ve heard is a magnificent organ, and lucky you, the first one in the series is free.

The first film of the month is Monday, June 8 at 7:00pm: Flesh and the Devil featuring Lars Hanson, John Gilbert, and Greta Garbo, originally released in 1926. The film looks to be romance- and action-packed, including unrequited love, an exile to Africa, and multiple duels and almost-duels.

The other films in the series:

June 15 at 7:00pm: Romola

June 22 at 7:00pm: The Godless Girl

June 29 at 7:00pm: Seventh Heaven

Fantastical celebrations of the new moon

Lucia Neare’s Theatrical Wonders is one of those happenings about which a friend says to you, “Hey, have you ever heard of…?” And once she did (thanks, Angela!) I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t seen mention of it before. The aforementioned Wonders are site-specific theatrical works on large scale that occur outdoors and include dozens of performers, live music and dance, huge mobile set pieces, and stunning costumes. When I first checked out the website and saw all of the photos, the performances struck me as kind of an outsized Alice in Wonderland-style fantasy, and of course now I’m dying to see one in person.

I’m a big fan of art that surprises me, and appears when I’m least expecting it. Neare's newest creation, Lullaby Moon, delivers in a big way. She describes it as “a year-long invitation to Seattle to explore a world of dream. A celebration of the night sky, the series of performance events brings bedtime whimsy and wonder to parks and other public spaces throughout the city, enlivening and enlightening the dark time of each month. Performances take place on each new moon for an entire lunar year beginning in October 2008.”

You know when the performances happen given the lunar schedule. Remaining dates, all in 2009, include: May 24, June 22, July 22, Aug 20, September 18, and September 19. What you don’t know is where, and that’s where the surprise comes in. If you’re near the selected site on the new moon you might be handed a card that says something like “Please join us this evening for a performance vignette just south of the Bathhouse Theater beginning around 8:30pm.” And if not, you’ll just have to check back on the website to see what you missed…

[Photo of the January 2009 performance at Occidental Park in Pioneer Square courtesy of Violetta de la Luna]

Tax-free shopping without going all the way to Oregon

This Saturday, April 25th, head to West Seattle for The Junction Rebellion, your chance to shop a slew of fantastic West Seattle businesses without the sting of that pesky sales tax. If you already know and love the Junction (the downtown area stretching out from the intersection of California and Alaska streets) then this is another, more heavily discounted, chance to visit the neighborhood. But if this is one of those parts of Seattle you know about and always mean to explore but haven’t yet, the time is now!

A few of my favorites, all of which are participating in Saturday’s festivities:

Shoofly Pie Company offers fantastic sweet pies like banana cream (yum!) as well as their savory cousins, including a carmelized onion galette and a ham gruyere scallion quiche.

If you’re looking for interesting shoes that can’t be found just anywhere, Clementine is worth a visit. It’s one of several shoe boutiques around town that offers a unique selection of footwear, but I go there because they are always incredibly friendly and helpful. Why not spend your money where people are actually nice, I say.

Swee Swee Paperie’s name may sound a bit precious, but I’m a sucker for lovely and well made paper goods and they have some of the best. I especially like their selection of letterpress notecards. Who wouldn’t want to receive one of these beauties?

Ah, Bakery Nouveau… They offer a dizzying selection of mouthwatering breakfast pastries (twice baked chocolate croissants and the like), breads, sandwiches (roast beef on brioche, anyone?), pizza, and quiche, but you absolutely must try the cakes, tarts, and desserts. A small sampling: chocolate mocha cheese cake, praline dream mousse, black currant panna cotta, salt caramel apple tart, and pot de crème.

[Thanks to Daily Candy for the tip on The Junction Rebellion]

Public art... where?

Last weekend I took in some amazing art, not by visiting the Seattle Art Museum or any other of our wonderful established local venues, but by driving around the city. I first read about the Listen 4Culture program in the December issue of Seattle magazine. Although it took me a couple of months to check it out for myself, I’m glad that I finally did. It’s a terrific program that makes audio snippets about various pieces of public art available via phone, so while you’re taking in a specific work you can call on your cell phone and hear a little bit about it. Sometimes the audio is contributed by the artist herself, or it’s the artist’s daughter, or in the case of the Jacob Lawrence piece, the man who did the enamel work on it. I printed out the map and list of works before I left home, and trotted around to see a few in SoDo and in the International District.

My first stop was Christian Moeller’s Newsreaders, 50,000 plastic discs snapped on to chain link fencing depicting people reading. Nope, not obvious at first glance.



Just across the street on a four-story parking structure is Bloom, by Susan Zoccola. It’s an enormous construction of concrete, aluminum, fiberglass, and steel and I thought that it was fabulous.



I didn’t have time to see all 23 works today, but I did get to one last piece: Heaven, Man, Earth by Seattle painter and sculptor, George Tsutakawa.



My favorite thing about this outing is that it has me on the lookout for less official but just as readily available public art. I might just start with the Wave Rave Cave, those oddly lit wave-like things under the viaduct in Belltown…