June 2012

by Cate White
Director Tox-Ick.org
Member of Sustainable West Seattle

West Seattle resident Laura James has been nominated as a Cox Conservation Hero. Votes for the finalist are being accepted at http://www.kirotv.com/s/heroes/ June 18 through July 16, 2012. If she wins, a $10,000 award will be given to her nonprofit of choice, Sustainable West Seattle.

The Cox Conservation Hero Award, organized by KIRO 7 Eyewitness News and The Trust for Public Land, has nominated Laura as a conservation hero for her efforts to restore Puget Sound.

This past year, Laura organized a diving team that removed over 1,000 lbs of discarded marine and automotive batteries from a West Seattle scuba diving site. It is for this effort that she was honored with the hero nomination.

Seattle Lutheran High School is holding a Bowling Fundraiser in support of the sports teams Saturday June 23rd from 3pm to 5pm at West Seattle Bowl.

The cost is $20 per person and they are working toward 6 players per team, with the complete goal of 90 people on 6 lanes.

2 games of bowling, pizza and soft drinks are included.

www.seattlelutheranfootball.com

A friend of mine is getting chemotherapy for cancer and I have been cooking weekly for her. That’s made me think a lot about food safety. Foodborne illnesses can be harmful for anyone, but the risk is higher for chemotherapy patients, the elderly, young children, pregnant women and transplant patients, among others.

Experts estimate that we could avoid 85 percent of all cases of food poisoning if people handled food properly. From shopping at the grocery to storing and cooking food at home, here are a dozen tips to zap germs:

• If your supermarket has wipes for the grocery cart handle, use them. Hands transfer germs.

• Shop first for meat, fish and poultry, and put each item in a separate plastic bag at the bottom of the cart. Set boxed or packaged items on top of the meats. This method keeps your bananas from rubbing up against someone else’s raw chicken drippings.

• Head for the fresh produce last and place them on top of other foods, since you often eat these foods raw, and you want them clean. Avoid pre-cut fruit and its higher risk of contamination, and bag everything you buy.

A loud cannon blast and a gunpowder smoke cloud causes the kids to shriek in terror and delight. The parade is nearing its end and here come the men most kids have been waiting for. Dragging their swords and axes, the Seafair Pirates are the highlight of hundreds of events each year.

A Seattle icon, the Seafair Pirates have been a Seafair favorite since the 1950's. Originally members of the Washington State Press Club's Ale & Quail Society, the Pirates banded together to promote Seattle and Seafair while having fun and serving the community.

"Basically, they needed a gimmick, a stunt and that was us," explained Captain-Elect Lance "Clapeye" English.

But since then the organization has become much more than just a stunt or gimmick, they are a well-respected non-profit organization that, in addition to their many parade appearances, make hundreds of visits to hospitals, nursing homes and wide range of charity functions. They also support the Seafair Pirates Holiday Treasure Chest. a non-profit which gives away over 20,000 toys each year and has served thousands of families with clothing, food and gifts at Christmas.

The White Center Lion's Club commissioned artist Xavier Lopez Jr. to create a mural, joining the others put in place during the community Spring Clean event at the end of May. This work is going up on the wall of the building just adjacent to Walt's Mufflers on Roxbury Street and 17th s.w.

Lopez presented his design, a series of circles in vertical stacks flanking two lions in front of Mt. Rainier.

He anticipates the work will be done before the end of June.

"I'm working from the bottom up," said Lopez," who's father is also a muralist and whose work graces walls all over Los Angeles.

by Kaelyn Sayles

The Pac-West Pirates beat the South Highline National Dodgers 12-0 in the fifth inning Sunday.

The two teams were playing for the title of the 2012 District 7 Juniors Tournament of Champions

To make it to the championship, South Highline National (SHN) beat West Seattle 10-3. Pac-West knocked out Renton.

Despite the loss to the Pirates, Dodgers head coach Jeff Gibbs remained positive, acknowledging their talented opponent and the mistakes made by his team.

Before the game, Gibbs gave the team a pep talk that included referencing the 1980 Olympics hockey game between the U.S. and Russia, known to many as the “Miracle on Ice.”

“It was the same kind of position for us, David versus Goliath, and nine out of 10 times they’re going to beat us, but maybe that one time we’re going to beat them,” Gibbs said. “Unfortunately, during the game we just made errors and it cost us the game.”

In this case, Goliath was the undefeated Pirates, who scored five runs in the second inning, giving the team momentum that the Dodgers struggled to shut down.

by Greg McCorkle

Full of pent up anticipation the 2012 class from Chief Sealth International High School let everything out at memorial Stadium today. With laughter, and some high jinks, students and teachers poked at each other in that friendly way that only people who know each other well can do.

After years of hard work and growth, students reflected on their time at Sealth and their eminent futures. This is their time and they know it.

Doolie’s Hot HOT Sauce LLC, started up by 24-year-old Abdul “Doolie” Mohamud of West Seattle at the onset of 2012, is gaining traction as the young entrepreneur crafts, bottles and labels each container by himself, slowly building the brand with a growing army of customers and resellers willing to give his product a chance on their shelves.

It is not, however, your everyday hot sauce. Mohamud, born in Somalia, is creating his grandmother’s East African recipe for the masses, fusing chili peppers, lime, garlic, chunks of coconut and the secret Somali spice blend that introduces something entirely new to most palates.

Mohamud describes Doolie’s as a jack-of-all-sauces, equally at home as a fresh dip, topping, marinade or cooking sauce, thanks in large part to its origin in a flourishing maritime trade hub going far back into human history.

“The thing about Somalian cooking,” he said, “is it is Indian to Italian to Middle Eastern all jumbled into one because we are right on the coast of Africa, so we get a lot of influences.”

The journey

While the weather on Saturday, June 16 was cloudy that didn't stop hundreds of West Seattleites from crowding into the Westwood Village shopping center for their annual street fair.

The event featured a lot of facets from series of information booths to fashion shows, pet competitions, slides and bouncy houses from Clowns Unlimited to food and live music.

The School of Rock was well represented with numerous performances by a series of different bands, each up and done quickly on the stage near Bed, Bath and Beyond.

New this year was the beer garden.

Musical acts included Gunn and the Damage Done, NW Rivals featuring Steve Pearson of 80's Seattle favorite The Heats and Jim Basnight of the Moberly's.

Looking for inspiration? Or growing tips, planting strategies or answers to your perplexing questions?

Sustainable Ballard’s 4th annual Edible Garden Tour is coming up on Saturday, June 23, with this year focused on the northeast segment of greater Ballard.

This annual walking/ biking tour is a fundraiser for Sustainable Ballard’s community projects, but it’s a benefit for all of us in the bigger scheme of things. And this is your chance to enjoy backyard sanctuaries and private spaces not usually available to the public.

Take the tour, and see how neighbors use containers, parking strips and raised beds, see bee houses and chicken coops and gather ideas for your own, and explore possibilities with fruit trees and berries. Gardeners will be on hand to answer your questions at the dozen-plus sites.

Details:
Date: June 23, 2012
Time: 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Cost: $10 per person (adult; kids are free)
Where: NE Ballard (65th St. north to 85th, 15th Ave. NW east to 8th Ave.)
How: Get your tickets and map the day of the tour at Whittier Elementary School, 1320 NW 75th