Something Amazing

It was a nice day yesterday - went for the longest bike ride in a year - and never once felt like I was about to be run over. Go Seattle.

Day 24 - Irony

While it is unfortunate that there was a loss of life in this case, it is rather ironic that an oil well exploded and sank on Earth Day.

I think back to the car commuting days in Charlotte, and the gas price spikes/shortages for a couple summers in 2005-7. It was not a major source of worry, but I was at least made more acutely aware of the absurdity of having to drive everywhere in that city. $4/gallon gas was one of the reasons I sold the V8 powered BMW in favor of a series of progressively more fuel efficient cars, then the Vespa. I still miss the scooter - it made commuting fun, and very cheap - 2 gallons of gas would last as many weeks. After the move out here, even the Vespa was an unnecessary luxury. Currently I'm vaguely looking for a non serious car for summer weekend trips. Nothing may come of this though. I have been enjoying how simple life can be without many of the modern trappings. (Luxuries or Conveniences are not the correct words it seems)

Day 21 - Asparagus

Today's inspiration for happiness and the official sign that spring has arrived: local asparagus. Drizzle with olive oil, bit of salt, bake for 20 min to soften. It's the taste of green, only sweeter.

Day 18

Today's inspiration for happiness: Capitol Hill (Seattle)

How many neighborhoods would have a block party (bands, mobile food vendors) for a new bookstore, much less the re-location of a bookstore that had already existed for a couple decades. Good show.

And it's good to see that Elliott Bay Books found a more favorable rent deal. Can't imagine what the previous landlord was thinking letting them go.

Day 16 - Bruschetta

Similar to the cappuccino the story here is about balance. It's toasted bread, rubbed with garlic, some chopped tomato, herbs and mozzarella (ok, that last one is probably an Americanization, but it works). There shouldn't be so much of any one of the ingredients that you miss out on one of the others. As with many good things in life - it's all about balance.

Day 15 - Walking by Macrina bakery on the way to work

Today's inspiration for happiness: that yeasty/buttery smell that you get when walking by a bakery in the early morning hours.

Every day when walking to work I am fortunate to have to pass by Macrina bakery: http://www.macrinabakery.com/ Even though I go to work early, they've been there for a couple hours already and are turning out beautiful breads and pastries at 6am. It's a good thing they don't open until 7, else I would probably have not lost as much weight over the last couple years.

For a city that is not particularly large, Seattle has a number of excellent bakeries. Here are links to a few of them (who make bread in addition to sweets - if I were to list dessert only or cupcake only the list would be 4-5x as long).

Macrina: http://www.macrinabakery.com/

Le Panier: http://www.lepanier.com/

Dahlia Bakery: http://tomdouglas.com/index.php/restaurants/dahlia-bakery

Essential Baking: http://www.essentialbaking.com/

Alki: http://alkibakery.com/

Grand Central: http://www.grandcentralbakery.com/

Borracchini's: http://www.nowcake.com/

Three Girls

Day 14

Not exactly an inspriation of happiness, but an enabler. Benadryl antihistamine. This post brought to you by tree pollen.

One nice thing about Seattle is that the flowering/pollen part of the year is also a part of the year where it rains frequently, which moderates the effects.

Day 12 - Water

Not drinking it - just looking at it. I've been sitting here for an hour - watching the wind form wave patterns across the sound. The ferries pass by occasionally and add their own wake V patterns to the mix. It's serene - and doesn't cost anything more than time.

Day 10 - NPR

The daily voice of reason. I subscribe to a couple dozen RSS feeds which randomly update with an assortment of economics news, automotive stuff, and culture... it is kinda a personalized list of things I'm interested in presently. However even rather large blogs lack the balance of the major news programs on NPR. I appreciate that.

Day 9 - Green Tea

Today's inspiration for happiness: green tea.

In loose leaf form - three steeping cycles per teaspoon of leaves, different flavors in every cup, low on caffeine, and in most cases inexpensive. And the routine of it, as with other things in the list so far, makes me slow down life occasionally. That may become a common idea and I'm still learning how to deal with it, but in the short term at least it's pretty nice.

Day 8 - Rhubarb pie

Thanks Allison!

Day 7

Under a week and I missed Day 6: it was a partly sunny Easter Sunday - we spent it walking around Capitol Hill. The art museum up there had a new exhibit - a collection of Japanese woodblock prints from the 17-1800's. Part of the collection was an early print of the Great Wave ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa ) - it is a beautiful print but the other more tranquil nature scenes from the same series were perhaps more interesting to me.

So, to catch up - Day 7 of things that inspire happiness: the short cappuccino.

I think at this point I've sampled this drink from every coffee shop in the greater downtown Seattle area. There are two schools of thought on the cappuccino in this city. Some coffee shops treat it as a short latte, with more actual milk mixed with the espresso than milk froth. (otherwise termed the wet cappuccino) The other is to have the espresso with only the thick layer of milk froth on top. (dry cappuccino) Either way the general idea is to have the primary taste be the espresso, with a secondary taste of the steamed milk, and not too much of either. The result is a very well balanced drink, and my favorite coffee variation.

Day 5 - Wool

Wool - it's like Polartec, but less clingy and better looking.

This post inspired by the cool and breezy day here in Seattle.

Day 4

Today's inspiration for happiness: seasonality.

Walked through Pike Place market after work today to get a couple things for the pizza planned for dinner.

While the corner grocery has a few things year round - potatoes, onions, peppers, mushrooms, carrots... it's the seasonal things that make the market special.

The asparagus has been slowly marching northward. In the winter it comes from Peru, then Mexico, now in spring we're seeing California, then shortly Oregon and then Washington toward the end of April. The local apples are also fading out. California citrus has been big lately. Berries are starting to creep northward as well.

There's something that's continually optimistic about noticing the progression of seasons through what you eat. It's impossible to be bored with food when it is only around for a few months at a time, and it helps pace life. Stock the pantry with a few staples - rice, beans, noodles... and add whatever's interesting as it shows up.

This kinda goes hand in hand with the focus thing-a-day from earlier in the week. Since moving out here and slowing life down it has been far more enjoyable.

Day 3 - Dali Atomicus

Not being an art history major, this was only a recent find, but it is one of the more fun photographs I've seen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Salvador_Dali_A_(Dali_Atomicus)_09633u.jpg

The photographer, Philippe Halsman, noted that it took 28 attempts to get the best combination of throwing 3 cats through the air, a bucket of water, and Dali jumping. What an excellent use of an afternoon.