February 2021
Top Chef Seattle Stinks!
Hey, Top Chef! How about you pack up your knives and go home? Really, I’m over it, aren’t you? This season, shot last summer in Seattle, is a big bust. It hurts my eyeballs to watch and stabs at my civic pride. It’s not just the usual trumped up drama or the lame challenges. It’s…
A Win for Skin
A new local skin-care line takes a minimalist approach.
If a slew of late-night holiday parties has left your complexion feeling less than sparkling, you may find salvation in newly launched Harman London skin care. Based in Olympia, Harman London (the name combines founder Ross MacQuarrie’s middle name and hometown) takes a minimalist approach to skin care, with products free of parabens, sulfates and…
She She Pop’s Testament
A German performance group tests the bonds between dads and daughters.
Imagine having a frank conversation with your elderly father about familial guilt, parental love and impending death. For some, that prospect is terrifying enough. Now imagine having that discussion in front of a couple of hundred people. Further imagine that at some point during this conversation, your septuagenarian father is stripped to his underwear. The…
A Whole New Take on Cinderella
Rossini’s take on Cinderella offers a riotous musical ride.
To be clear: This is not the Disney-fied version of Cinderella. There are no glass slippers, no mouse-drawn coaches, no fairy godmother or evil stepmother—Cinderella isn’t even our heroine’s name; she’s called Angelina. But the differences in Gioachino Rossini’s operatic take, La Cenerentola, are all the more reason to see it. First performed in Rome…
Fashion at the Opera: La Cenerentola
I took my six year-old daughter, Ruby, to Seattle Opera’s rendition of Rossini’s La Cenerentola (Cinderella) last week and we were both totally blown away by the costumes, which were bright, bold, graphic and totally over the top. Set and costume designer Joan Guillén did a great job communicating the hilarious buffoonery of the stepsisters—the…
Spend a Day in La Conner
Washington’s quaint waterfront town exudes charm and warmth despite the winter chill.
BrowsePeruse one-of-a-kind consignment furnishings at Re-Feather Your Nest (623 Morris St.; 360.399.1057; re-featheryournest.com). Antique birdcages that double as outdoor candleholders, anyone? A few stores down, score some relics at Nasty Jack’s Antiques (103 Morris St.; 360.466.3209; nastyjacksantiques.com). Take a left on First Street and stop in The Wood Merchant (709 First St.; 360.466.4741; woodmerchant.com) for…
In a Winter Cooking Slump? Amy Pennington’s Fresh Pantry to the Rescue (+Recipe!)
Eating seasonally, locally and supporting farmers come deep wintertime equates to shivering trips to one of the few year-round farmers markets, where tables are piled high with a dozen varieties of potatoes, gnobbly carrots, turnips, beets and a few sorts of sturdy winter greens. It’s good stuff, tasty, a welcome shift in our menus when,…
True Beauty Box: Natural Makeup in your Mailbox
Like looking forward to a little special beauty prezzie in your mailbox every month? Kirkland’s Love True Natural, the American distributor of several popular lines of 100 percent natural German organic beauty products, is launching a monthly True Beauty Box, which delivers just that to customers’ mailboxes on the regular, and completely customized. Customers begin…
See Hedwig, Drink Chocolate and Other Weekend Musts
MUST MARITIMEJohn Grade: Salvaging the WawonaThursday (1/24) — Find out how (and why) local sculptor John Grade built a 56-feet tall sculpture resembling a historic ship’s mast in the middle of MOHAI’s new home. Named “Wawona,” after the disassembled ship from which Grade sourced the wood, the visually arresting spire pierces both the roof and…
Living in Style event hits The Bellevue Collection
If interior design is your jam, head to The Bellevue Collection between now and February 10 for Living in Style, daily shelter inspiration courtesy of Collection shops, ranging from traditional to modern, with displays from BoConcept, Crate and Barrel, Elements Gallery, Gunnar Nordstrom Gallery, Henredon & Schoener, JCPenny, Macy’s Home Store, Thomasville Home Furnishings &…
Five Hot Drinks for Cold Winter Nights
In need of a winter warmer? Use these cocktail recipes from A.J. Rathbun.
In winter, hot drinks take the chill off the body and buttress the soul. And while a few hot drinks were highlighted in my Cocktail Home Remedies post recently, there are so many heated imbibable hits that I thought a full post was needed. Winter’s TwilightThis drink not only warms you up inside, it also…
Seattle’s New Drinking Chocolate Tour
Hundreds of years before it became a confectionary bar, chocolate was a popular savory drink. Legend has it that Aztec emperor Montezuma flavored it with orange and chilies and used it like a pre-cursor to Red Bull, consuming up to 50 cups a day for its energizing effects. On the Tour De Haut Chocolate tour…