November 2010

Hot Button: How Green is Thy Lumber?

Seattle's green building community questions which wood is good enough

Say you’re an environmentally conscious consumer looking to build a new deck. You head to Dunn Lumber on Lake Union and stare at seemingly identical stacks of lumber. Which is the most eco-friendly? It’s hard to tell. Should you just buy the most expensive wood and assume it must be the greenest? What about that…

Health: Fred Hutch provides phone service

Under contract with the National Cancer Institute, Fred Hutch provides a service vital to people see

Special CallingUnder contract with the National Cancer Institute, Fred Hutch provides a service vital to people seeking communication and compassion. The calls come in from anywhere and everywhere, landing in a quiet warren of cubicles inside a South Lake Union building. “I just found out I have Stage 4 cancer in my throat,” drawls a…

Outdoors: Seattleites Cyclocross

Seattleites embrace the roughest sport on two wheels

Cross BreedingSeattleites embrace the roughest sport on two wheels Small wonder that cyclocross, a bicycle racing sport that most closely resembles BMX for grownups, is big in the bike-crazy Pacific Northwest, where riders don’t mind getting dirty in the quest for ever more challenging outdoor experiences. Also known as CX or just ’cross, the sport…

Spotlight Minis: Art, Books, & Music

Local Art That Matters

Meet Your MarkerARTIST: John Sutton of local installation art trio SuttonBeresCuller SHOW: Panoptos, for which the group has raided the Henry Art Gallery’s permanent collection, hung a selection of art salon style (floor to ceiling), and constructed a custom-made apparatus that holds a high-def camera and moves on an X/Y axis. Viewers operate the camera—either…

Spotlight: Port Authority

An inaugural literary series bridges Seattle and New Orleans through new writing about place

Picture a port city shaped by the ebb and flow of its maritime industry. A city where the local seafood is legendary, and the music scene is heralded for its influence and depth. Are you seeing the Emerald City, or the Big Easy? This month, the two cities—and coasts—are bridged via Bilocal (bilocal.org), a new,…

Tasting Notes: Jeff Smiley at Baron Brewing

Jeff Smiley of Seattle's Baron Brewing in South Park crafts one our favorite fall beers

To a beer drinker, fall can seem like a lost season. Summer’s easy-drinking, thirst-quenching hefeweizens and witbiers are still available, often colliding with the full-bodied, heavily malted beverages of winter already crowding the shelves. Aside from the traditional seasonal suspects (think pumpkin ale and Oktoberfest lager), decent autumnal offerings have a hard time getting noticed….

Food We Love: Butter Crunch at Honore Artisan

Honore Artisan is the only bakery in town that makes kouign amann

Pastry snobs from all over the city and beyond make regular pilgrimages to Honoré Artisan Bakery (Ballard, 1413 NW 70th St; 206.706.0435) to taste its kouign amann (pronounced KWEEN yah mahn), and with eminently good reason. I got my first taste of the round, buttery Breton pastry two years ago, when the handsome shop opened…

Urban Safari: Madison Park

Urban Safari: Madison Park

The best spots to Eat, Drink, Play, and Primp in Madison Park

At the foot of East Madison Street sits a tree-lined hub locals call “the village,” cherished for its family-friendly vibe and beautiful waterfront views of Lake Washington. Known for mainstays like the burgers at Bing’s, the beers at The Attic and the margaritas at Cactus, Madison Park now has a few newer spots worth heading…