April 2010

The new, 150-passenger catamaran, the Rachel Marie, captained by Tara Rochester, left Seacrest Park's new water taxi dock on Alki for Pier 50 in downtown Seattle at about 1pm, Sunday, April 11.

The ship was filled and had to turn away passengers. King County Executive Dow Constantine and others spoke at a celebration to open the season for the service. He hopes this will be the "last season opening" of the taxi and that it will operate year-round.

The Rachel Marie is a 77-foot catamaran that has capacity for 150 passengers with a crew of three. The vessel can carry 18 bicycles. With a cruising speed of 24 knots, the Rachel Marie crosses between West Seattle and downtown Seattle in about 10 mintues.

The vessel’s interior features a combination of theater-style seating, bench seats with tables, and facing seats. Some outdoor seating is available on the upper deck. The Rachel Marie has an air conditioning/heating system and restrooms.

The vessel has two 900-horsepower propulsion engines that meet Tier 1 pollution standards and is equipped with two radar systems, a GPS plotter, a depth sounder, and an automated information system transponder.

Water Taxi Celebration

Location: 1660 Harbor Ave. S.W.
Date: Sunday, April 11, 2010 - 12:00pm - 2:00pm
Family fun activities include live entertainment, giveaways and snacks. A short program will begin
at 12:30 p.m. and water taxi rides will be free all day!

Honk! Fest West Music Festival
Location: West Seattle Junction
California & Alaska Street
Date: Sunday, April 11, 2010 - 12:00pm - 6:00pm
Honk Fest West is presenting their 3rd annual festival of acoustic, mobile street bands from across North America.
We have 5 stages in the heart of West Seattle! The street will be closed to cars, but open to FUN!

These events are free to the public!

Donations will be gladly accepted to cover the costs and ensure that the festival can go on.
Let's have a huge Honk! thank you for our sponsors!

In honor of its 100th year of nonprofit service, Swedish Medical Center wants to recognize some of its patients through a search for photos of babies born at any birthing center now part of Swedish Health Services, including Swedish Hospital (Swedish First Hill, Swedish Ballard and Swedish Cherry Hill), Doctors Hospital, Seattle General Hospital, Ballard General Hospital, Ballard Community Hospital and Providence Seattle Medical Center.

Since opening its doors in 1910, more than 200,000 babies have been born at Swedish Medical Center. Last year alone, there were more than 7,400 babies born at Swedish’s First Hill and Ballard campuses.

“Swedish is iconic in the community as a place to have your baby,” Cal Knight, president and chief operating officer at Swedish Medical Center, said in a press release. “We often meet people in the community who are proud to tell us they were born at Swedish or had their children here.”

How to Enter the “I’m a Swedish Baby” Photo Contest

Entries for the cutest Swedish baby photo contest will be accepted online through June 1.

The Ballard High School boys soccer team earned its first win of the season in impressive fashion, shutting out Blanchet 5-0 in a nonconference match April 10.

Brent Cambell got things started with a goal off a Conner Jarvie assist in the 24th minute.

Cambell finished the game with three goals and an assist.

Sofien El-Mehrik added two assists and a goal.

Adal Tedla rounded out the scoring for the Beavers with a goal of his own.

Before this match, Ballard had scored a total of five goals in seven matches this season.

Keeper Mel Hernandez kept Blanchet (2-5) from scoring, despite an open-goal scare in the first half.

Ballard is now 0-2-2 in KingCo and 1-4-3 overall.

The Beavers' next match is against Issaquah at 7:30 p.m. on April 13 at Issaquah High School.

Seattle Chinese Garden at 6000 16th Ave. SW just at the north side of South Seattle Community College held a site tour and presentation on chinese gardens on April, 10. These free docent-led tours of the Garden are held on the second Saturday of each month, March through October at 10 am. To arrange a special docent-led program or hardhat tour of the construction site for your group of eight or more or call the office (206-764-5219) . Check their website for updates on construction, events, tours, and other programs.

The 4.5-acre garden site, and Song Mei Pavilion are under construction now and progress is being made on the first major courtyard. Plants native to China are now in the SSCC Arboretum. The tour began with a slide presentation on the cultural significance of Chinese Gardens.

The project will be completed in several phases, likely over at least several years, as funding becomes available.

West Seattle Nursery at 5275 California Avenue S.W. held it's 27th annual Spring open house on April 10th. The breezy but bright day brought hundreds of people to the scene to enjoy free appetizers, espressso and hear speakers on gardening, sustainability and permaculture.


Michael Ryan, Dean of South Seattle Community College’s Horticulture Department talked about SSCC’s new Permaculture Department and showed how to optimize sustainability in your garden

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE A SLIDESHOW OF THE EVENT


Karen Connelly of Squareganics.com spoke about the Square Foot Gardening Method which enables a high yield of vegetables and flowers from a very limited space.

West Seattle Nursery's Connie Wurm gave a presentation on how to Raise Chickens in the City and had some chickens on hand for the purpose. Lee Ried of Coop du Jour showed off her custom made chicken coops and Joe Grienauer from Emerald City Orchids showed how to grow orchids.

Also on hand for the event were the West Seattle Wildlife Habitat Project, Sustainable West Seattle, and West Seattle Cool Moms there to talk about community building projects.

West Seattle High School "Grad Night" for seniors is an effort to provide a safe alternative for those graduating from high school, to the frequent and well known use of alcohol during that time. A car wash was held on April 10, to support the effort.

Cathy DeVore, mother of Chris, a West Seattle High student said, "After they graduate at 5pm, June 16, they meet here at the parking lot, and get on charter bus and get taken around all of Seattle. It's a lot of fun."

Animals First Foundation (AFF) came to Pet Elements at 6701 California Avenue SW on Saturday April 10 joining and Teri Ensley of Furry Faces Foundation to bring more attention to the issue of animal adoption. AFF is a West Seattle based animal rescue group. They accept many of the dogs with special needs, giving them everything they need until finding the perfect home.

CLICK THE PHOTO TO SEE TWO MORE IMAGES

Cafe Osita at 7349 35th Ave. SW is holding it's grand opening April 10 and 11. Owner Andrea Ramirez said "We're very excited to be here...we've added some outdoor and indoor seating as well with some really beautiful custom woodwork that was done by Michael Clowney renovations. We're really excited to be part of the neighborhood and help build up the HighPoint area. "

Despite being new and in a location that does not get a lot of foot traffic, "Business is really good," said Ramirez, "We've had a lot of great neighborhood support."

The grand opening features $2 8 oz lattes and 50 cent drip coffee through Sunday.

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR ONE MORE PHOTO

Eggs have gotten a bad reputation the last 20 years. Now, the American Heart Association says it's okay to have three to four eggs a week.

Eggs are a great, inexpensive source of protein. If you are watching your budget, a dozen eggs gives you as much protein as 1.5 pounds of steak for about a dollar a pound, or one-tenth the cost of steak.

Spring is the time when chickens biologically start working overtime making eggs, and you can often find great buys on them this time of year.

The yellow yolk of the egg is often referred to as the gold, so win your own "gold" medal by trying these easy, low-salt egg recipes.

Simple Hard-Cooked Eggs

Warm eggs before cooking by rinsing with hot tap water. Put eggs in a pan in a single layer and cover with cold water. Heat the water to a boil, remove pan from heat right away and cover the pot with a lid. Let the eggs sit in the water for about 15 to 20 minutes to cook. Drain eggs in a sieve and rinse with cold water to cool quickly. Refrigerate.

Egg Salad Sandwich Filling

• 3 hard-cooked eggs, cooled
• ¼ cup mayonnaise
• 1 stalk celery, diced