March/April 2025
Discovering the Hidden Treasures of Languedoc
For expert guidance to this magical corner of France, begin the journey at a wine shop in South Park
Last fall we attended a wine party in Quarante, a charming hamlet in the Languedoc region of southern France. The village was tiny. The house was anything but, with three stories, six bedrooms, a pool, and an old barn. A centuries-old olive tree observed the revelry from the interior courtyard, the wine flowed like water…
Where Function Meets Finesse
Without the use of a single brick, Little House turns the tables on the Big Bad Wolf.
Texas residents John and Julie Connor had spent many summers visiting family near Seabeck, an unincorporated waterfront village and former mill town in Kitsap County. They loved the wildness of the southern Hood Canal and imagined a small retreat here of their own, so they purchased a large lot with lush second-growth trees on a…
Clarity: Back to Where it All Began
Seattle is different than it once was. That doesn’t mean it’s worse.
I like to tell people that sports brought me to Seattle. This is technically correct: My first trip to the city was to watch a college basketball game. This was back in 1987, and I was 12 years old. The truth is that generosity is what got me here, though. My family lived in Southern…
Sandy Sanctuary
Mercer Island couple find bliss with a cabana on the beach
With 8,000 lakes, fifth most in the country, Washington is a happy hunting ground for waterfront lots. Highly popular Lake Chelan, the third-deepest lake in the United States, is not on the top of the list of affordable freshwater options, at least not anywhere near Chelan, where scarce waterfront residential lots start at $2 million….
Nature Rx
Rediscover your health through these increasingly popular outdoor wellness hacks
It could have been the fact that I was lounging in a comfy recliner, staring out of the open-air room at the Four Seasons Resort Maui, in Hawaii, listening to birds chirping, surrounded by exotic plants and palm trees. Perhaps it was the calming outrigger canoe ride I had taken from the shores of Wailea…
Prairie Townhome Companions
Couple remakes Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired property
Place two architects, a hedgehog, and more than $100,000 under house arrest, and watch the magic unfold. Sandy Wolf founded Seattle’s Office of Ordinary Architecture in the belief that beauty is found in everyday objects. She and her husband — fellow architect Daniel Ash — were not disappointed in that regard in their long search…
Tide and True
How Dilip Wagle and Darshana Shanbhag found their dream second home on Bainbridge Island
By May 2022, Dilip Wagle and Darshana Shanbhag’s dream of retiring on the beach was dead in the water. The Bellevue couple had spent years searching the west-facing waterfront corridor from Bellingham to Oregon, but always found themselves a step behind the pandemic-induced buying frenzy. They were about to give up when they noticed a…
Grand Openings, Great Eats
New restaurants brings the flavor
While it’s true that Seattle’s restaurant-scape is still sleepily waking up from its long pandemic nap, exciting things are happening in the city’s culinary scene. These days, we’re seeing new tantalizing restaurant openings and food events pretty much every week. Here’s a heads-up on seven restaurant openings to load up your dining calendar. Ringo Curry…
Heartbeat: I Have My Escape. What’s Yours?
My post-election trauma has me seeking solace in anything but the news
I am in a cycle that certain people are going through after the presidential election. It’s a classic case of grief, refusal, some level of acceptance, and hopefully renewal. I don’t know if just avoidance and escape are part of the model, but they certainly are for me. My reaction? The morning news was part…
Rethinking the Residency
Community-focused Actualize provides space and support to artists
One night in December 2023, industrial designer Kate Bailey sat down to dinner with philanthropists and art supporters Shari D. Behnke and Edie Adams. It was a routine get-together at Adams’ house — the three women, each deeply involved in Seattle’s creative community, had grown close, bonding over their love of art. Adams and Bailey…
A Recipe for Romance
Three celebrity chef couples discuss the ultimate taste test
Many chefs and restaurateurs in the Seattle area have their own take on the popular axiom “Eat, Drink and Be Married.” They work together. They live together. They’re life partners. They share a passion for hospitality, endure long hours and intense schedules, and rely on teamwork and collaboration for emotional support in a close-knit work…
Dollars & Sense
Youth Finance University helps kids think logically about money
Princeton Lock likes to tell the story of a third grader who learned money management through Youth Finance University, a free, student-led financial literacy program created by three 16-year-old students at Bellevue’s Newport High School. “(She) successfully saved for her first major purchase instead of spending on impulse buys, exactly the kind of behavioral change…