Hot on the heels of Metroblogging Paris comes singapore.metblogs.com. Head on over and say hello! (I’ve always wanted to go to Singapore, so I’m pretty excited about this one.)

While I’m spreading the love, did you check out the transit strike action happening over at Metroblogging NYC? If you missed it while the strike was still going on, now’s a good time to read through and catch up.

My friends and I have been exchanging Yule greetings, and one of them posted this technical info:

Sun data for Wednesday, December 21, 2005:

Sunrise 7:55 am
Sunset 4:20 pm

Sun data for Thursday, December 22, 2005:

Sunrise 7:55 am
Sunset 4:21 pm

Yes, it’s true, folks! We had one more moment of sunlight today than we did yesterday. If you had any doubts, you can now be assured: spring is just around the corner. (And I haven’t managed to get out on the slopes even once, yet.)

I forget that not everyone gets to enjoy/hate the fact that we get down to under eight and a half hours of sunlight per day – it seemed so normal to me until I spent a year in Arizona (where they don’t even use Daylight Saving Time). Now I appreciate these moments, even if they sometimes seem inconvenient.

Joyous Yule, everyone.

On the 11o’clock news last night, it was pretty interesting to see how far King TV’s prioritization of news deviated from my own. They decided to go with:

1. NEAR MISS — a Washington State Ferry (MV Wenatchee to be exact) nearly hits a cargo ship, but doesn’t!
   
2. Car crash — truck hits car; driver in the hospital (Seriously — doesn’t this happen once a day?)
   
3. Toddler death — baby swallows two magnets; shuts down intestines
   

Now, I would have totally reported the toddler death first, because at least someone died and this could happen to you. But to be superseded by a near miss (1500 feet) and your everyday car crash?

DON’T EAT MAGNETS, PEOPLE.

Just in time for those of you schlepping your holiday visitors (and yourself!) to and from the airport, the Port of Seattle has released a feature for real time flight information. Now you can hang out at home and drink coffee when flights are delayed or canceled, rather than sitting in those uncomfortable chairs by baggage claim, listening to lots of noisy kids and grumpy adults.

We could have called it, “Bad Food In Kirkland.” We thought we’d have our holiday splurge at the Third Floor Fish Cafe in Kirkland. We had a great table with a beautiful view of the marina. The ambience was comfortable and the company was good. There was a Polish businessman trying to sell Polish food and alcohol to an attractive couple at the next table. The service was friendly and the menu looked really interesting. For appetizers, we ordered the calamari, the tuna tartare, and foie gras. The calamari was standard and lukewarm. The tuna was good, but not cold enough. The foie gras was weird. It seemed like the kind you get from a can, but it was sauteed – kind warm on the outside and cold on the inside. Our main fish courses had interesting flavors, but they were, you guessed it, lukewarm. I should have listened to Tony Bourdain, author of Kitchen Confidential, who warned me not to eat out on Sundays when the food is left over and the staff is exhausted. Maybe we should have eaten in the U District.

One good thing, though, we did taste some interesting wines. The Viento Syrah was fruit-first like so many Washington State Syrahs, but not jammy and in your face. It had good backbone and was structured more like a Bordeaux blend – good wine. The Januik Red was a blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc. The only grape missing was Petite Verdot. Maybe it all went into Mike Januik’s separate Petite Verdot bottling. The wine was big, fruity, and rich with lots of chocolate tones in a very popular style that , in fact, goes great with chocolate truffles. I prefer the more classic straightforward flavors of Mike’s Januik Merlot.

I’ve probably shaved a year or two off my life with too many lunches on the Ave. Last week, I went just a few blocks farther to Chaco Canyon Cafe at 50th & Brooklyn, and voila! an antidote to the usual sodium and grease.

Remember when people just said ‘health food’? Now, of course, you need to be more specific: organic, vegan, locally produced, free range … But I digress. Chaco Canyon’s the place to go when you need something wholesome in your belly. My vegan pesto melt was quite good, and came with a big pile of fresh greens. I was a bit leery of the raw foods menu, but the raw pumpkin pie was pretty tasty.

It’s a small place, but the tables are roomy and there’s free wifi. Maybe I’ll go back sometime and linger over a fresh organic juice. It’ll have to wait until January 3rd, though — they’re closed until then for remodeling.

Do you have any other recommendations for healthy eateries in the U District?

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