August 2016

By Amanda Knox
 
By my weary, vacant look, you wouldn’t guess at how thrilled I am. I’m so exhausted, I forget myself. This is because all this past week, my partner Chris and I have been organizing, gathering, and boxing our separate households to move in together. We’ve been looking forward to the big day for a while, and now that it’s come, it’s easy to feel physically and emotionally overwhelmed.
 
I didn’t really realize, for instance, how much cumbersome stuff I had—and how heavy it was—until I tried to play Tetris with it. And, stuff is emotional. Packing up my belongings feels like packing up my history. As I disassemble, I’m reminded of what kind of person I am by the kinds of things that take up my personal space. By far, I have more books and clothing than any other kind of material possession. These are the things that feel most infused with my sense of self—hence my reticence to shed myself of them. Interestingly, books and clothes are also the majority of Chris’s possessions, and we’re enjoying anticipating the challenge of shared bookshelves and closets.
 

It could be said that communities like West Seattle have multiple hearts. Places and institutions that hold special meaning for people or that provide such an essential service the community would not be the same without them.

The West Seattle Senior Center is one such heart.

When the residents at Brookdale Senior Living Solutions in West Seattle heard that United Way would be cutting $60,000 in funding to the Senior Center, they decided they wanted to raise some money in order to help reduce the deficit in income they would be facing. They talked to staff there and let them know that they wanted to hold a fund raiser but not just any fund raiser. They wanted to do something very special.
Brookdale staff then met with Senior Center staff and they came up with an idea for a BBQ buffet, dancing to live music by the Haggis Brothers, a raffle, and a shuttle running throughout the evening back and forth from the Senior Center to Brookdale so that guests can park in the lot behind the Senior Center.

All for just $15, which includes a glass of Moonshine!

It could be said that communities like West Seattle have multiple hearts. Places and institutions that hold special meaning for people or that provide such an essential service the community would not be the same without them.

The West Seattle Senior Center is one such heart.

When the residents at Brookdale Senior Living Solutions in West Seattle heard that United Way would be cutting $60,000 in funding to the Senior Center, they decided they wanted to raise some money in order to help reduce the deficit in income they would be facing. They talked to staff there and let them know that they wanted to hold a fund raiser but not just any fund raiser. They wanted to do something very special.

Brookdale staff then met with Senior Center staff and they came up with an idea for a BBQ buffet, dancing to live music by the Haggis Brothers, a raffle, and a shuttle running throughout the evening back and forth from the Senior Center to Brookdale so that guests can park in the lot behind the Senior Center.

All for just $15, which includes a glass of Moonshine!

By Kathryn Kingen

I usually try to stay out of pickles. But summer brings on an annual predicament of too many of this and too many of that. Cucumbers, peppers, onions and cabbage are ripe and ready to eat, but who can possibly consume a garden all at once! Not wanting food to go to waste, grandmas and gardeners devised a brilliant brining process to get themselves out of that pickle! In fact civilizations may have survived because of the pickling process. Before the invention of the refrigerator, preservation was the name of the game so conservation by brining, smoking, spicing or drying was widely used to make food available during the sparse winter months. The earliest evidence of pickling, anthropologists have discovered, goes back more than 4,000 years to India and ancient Mesopotamia. Julius Caesar fed pickles to his army thinking that it would give them spiritual and physical strength, and Cleopatra claimed that pickles were the reason for her exceptional beauty (and perhaps her well preserved youth).

By Kathryn Kingen

I usually try to stay out of pickles. But summer brings on an annual predicament of too many of this and too many of that. Cucumbers, peppers, onions and cabbage are ripe and ready to eat, but who can possibly consume a garden all at once! Not wanting food to go to waste, grandmas and gardeners devised a brilliant brining process to get themselves out of that pickle! In fact civilizations may have survived because of the pickling process. Before the invention of the refrigerator, preservation was the name of the game so conservation by brining, smoking, spicing or drying was widely used to make food available during the sparse winter months. The earliest evidence of pickling, anthropologists have discovered, goes back more than 4,000 years to India and ancient Mesopotamia. Julius Caesar fed pickles to his army thinking that it would give them spiritual and physical strength, and Cleopatra claimed that pickles were the reason for her exceptional beauty (and perhaps her well preserved youth).

By Chef Jeremy McLachlan

The word pickle is showing up on things you never thought possible. Pickle-flavored popcorn, sunflower seeds and even beer. Pickle juice is also replacing Gatorade on the sidelines of sporting events and is a great chaser for cheap whisky. Have you ever had pickled fruit? Before you answer that question think about it for a second. Vinegar is used in many different recipes like sweet and sour chicken, your favorite beef stew, chutneys and some desserts, so why not fruit? When I spent some time in Hawaii I followed signs on the side of the road for Pickled Mangoes and discovered that plain mango was not as good as pickled.

By Chef Jeremy McLachlan

The word pickle is showing up on things you never thought possible. Pickle-flavored popcorn, sunflower seeds and even beer. Pickle juice is also replacing Gatorade on the sidelines of sporting events and is a great chaser for cheap whisky. Have you ever had pickled fruit? Before you answer that question think about it for a second. Vinegar is used in many different recipes like sweet and sour chicken, your favorite beef stew, chutneys and some desserts, so why not fruit? When I spent some time in Hawaii I followed signs on the side of the road for Pickled Mangoes and discovered that plain mango was not as good as pickled.

The groundbreaking ceremonies for a $22 million memory care facility being built by Living Care Lifestyles, was held July 27.

Called Quail Park Memory Care Residences of West Seattle it will open in the fall of 2017. According to the company it will be the only free-standing community dedicated to the care of dementia and Alzheimer’s residents in an area encompassing 35 square miles.

“We are pleased to provide the first free-standing memory care community in West Seattle so that residents who suffer from dementia or Alzheimer’s have a place to call home and are provided with the highest quality of care possible,” said Denis Bryant, CEO and president of Living Care Lifestyles.

The 46,000-square-foot community will have 48 rooms – with capacity for 66 residents – located within the West Seattle Junction Hub Urban Village along California Ave SW and SW Alaska streets. The community will employ a staff of approximately 60.

By Pat Cashman

Not so very long ago, in the restroom of a Washington State ferry where I had gone to rest, I noticed a small warning label on a hand-towel gadget. You’ve seen the kind. You pull down on a swath of dirty cloth towel ---and a new section of clean towel is exposed from the roller a few inches at a time. Then you dry your mitts and walk away leaving the dirty cloth for the next person.

Such towel dispensers are becoming rare. The kind containing actual paper towels are much more common. Sadly, some restrooms have no towel dispensers at all---just air blowers, which are fine I suppose for people with both water and time on their hands.

EXCLUSIVE BREAKING NEWS: Some people do NOT wash their hands after using the rest room. Some of them, in fact, are current prominent government officials or others running for office. Their names will be revealed in an upcoming column strategically timed for the November General Election.
But back to that warning sign.
It read: “Do Not Put Head Inside.”

Bicycle and tools taken from Ballard garage

A Ballard man is missing a number of tools and his bicycle after his detached garaged located on the 600 block of N.W. 53rd Street was burglarized on July 23. The complainant said he was in his garage the night before and thought he might have left the garage door open when he went to bed. He couldn’t remember. He reported that the next night he noticed that his Skilsaw circular saw, a Ryobi belt sander and a 1987 Panasonic bicycle were all missing from the garage. Police estimate the loss to be $44.

Bicycle theft foiled by elderly couple

A Ballard couple in their 80s foiled the plans of a young female suspect after they caught her attempting to steal a bike from their garage at their home located on the 1400 block of N.W. 83rd Street on July 18.