12:00 PM – Diane Emley: The Deepest Cut
Seattle Mystery Bookshop
Pasadena cop non Vining is back, in the 3rd novel of the series: “Vining’s investigation of the gang-related murder of a minor snitch has her looking for evil in the shadows…”
[LINK]

6:30 PM – Keith Donohue: Angels of Destruction
Queen Anne Books
I think this book is about missing children. I’m not sure. It could be about angels or demons or cults, or all of the above. Go to the reading, signing, and reception to find out.
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Molly Wizenberg: A Homemade LIfe: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table
UW Bookstore, U-District
The actual meat-person behind the popular blog Orangette will read and sign the book spawned by her on-line hobby. She has also promised that she will be baking coconut macaroons with chocolate for the occasion, since today is the official release date for A Homemade Life. I LOVE coconut macaroons; I am so very bummed that I can’t go to the signing! Save me a cookie, okay?
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Samuel Green: Vertebrae: Poems 1972 – 1996 & The Grace of Necessity
SPL Central Branch, Level 1, Microsoft Auditorium
The Washington State Poet Laureaute is joined by friend and poet Kim Stafford. Stafford will read from A Thousand Friends of Rain: New & Selected Poems.
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Robert Moss: The Secret History of Dreaming
Elliott Bay Book Co.
“Nearly anything imagined, from invention, to strategy, to poetry, has its roots in dreams. Moss deftly and powerfully demonstrates that dreams are the spirit body from which this world emerges. The Secret History of Dreaming is an essential text and should be included alongside any study of human history or scientific inquiry.” – Joy Harjo
[LINK]

8:00 PM – Castalia: UW Creative Writing Reading Series
Richard Hugo House, Cabaret
David Shields, William Campanovo, Debs Gardner, Chris Mohar and Laura Vecsey read.
[LINK]

CeRo might have beat me to it (curses!), but I’m bound and determined to get my cinematography online in order to qualify for an ’09 Oscar:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg7Ht9bp5ys[/youtube]

What really strikes you about this product is the texture: it’s definitely not your father’s Folger’s Crystals. Not sure if that’s part of the secret process, or just an artifact of how much the freeze-drying process has advanced in 25 years. The actual taste of the brew seems surprisingly mild and smooth for Starbucks, which has a reputation for darker (or ‘burnt’) coffee. This definitely tastes a lot better than the stuff from your office’s never-cleaned coffee brewer, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a net win for taste stability compared to the vacuum-packed ground beans that many institutions rely upon.

remember how it snowed last week? photo by shawn [flickr] via our group pool [#]

• Some people think they know what that guy from Kirkland with the roses is going to do during the three hours of the Bachelor tonight. [seattlest]
• Oh, Fremont. First the Triangle’s up for sale and now you’re pelting cars and circuses with toilets and bricks. [fremontuniverse]
• Living in North by Northwest territory is confusing business. [phinneywood]
• Shocker: the Gates daughters don’t get iPods or iPhones even though their mother occasionally thinks the devices are kind of tempting. [dailyweekly < gizmodo]

EDITED: Because today is Monday…

7:00 PM – Kim Harrison: White Witch, Black Curse
UW Bookstore, U-District
Harrison is on tour with #7 of her Hollows series of urban fantasy novels. These books are great fun, highly recommended for fans of urban fantasy or supernatural romance.
[LINK]

7:30 PM – David Montgomery: Dirt: The Erosion of Civilization
Town Hall Seattle, Downstairs $5.00
Montgomery is a UW professor of geomorphology and winner of the MacArthur Genius Award. I think that probably qualifies him to argue that the future of agriculture, and therefore civilization, is in compost.
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Joseph Stroud & Madeline DeFrees: Of This World & Spectral Waves
Elliott Bay Book Co.
Copper Canyon Press presents two poets: Stroud, visiting from California; and our own DeFrees, nearly 90 and still writing, reading, and winning awards.
[LINK]

Today in hot stock trading action local beverage brewers Jones Soda found their shares being shifted fast and furiously: one million more shares than usual sold today, leaving the Jones Soda stockholders with a per share increase of more than 32 percent.

The Puget Sound Business Journal tells us that normally only about 228,000 shares of Jones trade hands on an average day. Today’s count was 1.26 million.

Maybe it has something to do with their new tea-juice hybrid featuring an amino acid named gamma-aminobutyric (GABA, to friends) which allegedly improves mental focus, balance and clarity.

While it bums me out a little that I never thought to add Jones Soda to my own (currently small and sad) portfolio, with all the depressing news about our local businesses it’s nice to see some good news. Let’s raise a toast to Jones for their happy day. I recommend toasting with vodka and Jones’s blue bubblegum soda.

Living in West Seattle as I do, whenever I come into the city proper, I will pass by the Starbucks Center. After 4 years plus, it stands to reason that I have passed by a LOT, which has given me ample time to idly think about what goes on inside those walls. Sometimes I wondered if there were any oompa loompas in there working away feverishly to be paid in joyous coffee beans, but I have never had occasion to actually go inside and see for myself. So this afternoon, when I finally stepped off the elevator on the 8th floor and was escorted into the office, I felt a little like Charlie Bucket stepping into Wonka’s factory. Sadly, there were no hands in the walls that grabbed my coat or lickable snozzberry wallpaper.

Walking into the room where we’d do the tasting, I was overwhelmed by the aroma of coffee, not unlike the pleasant chocolate aroma that overhangs Theo’s Fremont factory (tours: $5!). I wondered if being around such a fantastic smell permeates your being as it does when you are surrounded by the theobromides at(again) Theo. The great smile and enthusiasm of Starbucks’ PR representative, Sonya, is an argument that it indeed does. I immediately decided that I wouldn’t mind working there.

In any case, I, and the smattering of other “press” in attendence, was there to preview Starbucks’ latest product line: VIA. VIA, if you haven’t heard, is instant coffee. Personally, I don’t think I’ve ever had a cup of instant coffee prior to today. Sure, I’ve had some crystals in my pantry, but only to use in baking. The reputation is as such that I always felt, why bother? If I want something fast and caffeine filled, I need only brew some tea. The overview of instant coffee manufacture only reinforced that opinion. Sure, our tasting was being led by a company man, but I don’t have reason to doubt that his synopsis: low-quality coffee combined with bottom-line-improving quick and dirty techniques are what go into the average grocery store brand. Isn’t that the story of most mass-produced products on our shelves?

VIA’s story is different, we were assured. VIA was the brain child of Don Valencia [pi], former R&D executive at Starbucks, whose first instant coffee experiment is what brought him to Schultz’s attention. Almost two decades later, that same R&D department that Valencia founded has discovered (and is patenting) an entirely new method of turning brewed coffee into powder. Sadly, we weren’t let in on the top-secret scientific details. In addition to this new breakthrough, Major Cohen, our coffee experience specialist (read: guide), assured us that in order to produce VIA, Starbucks is not only using the same quality beans used in brewing operations, the same roasting and brewing process is duplicated as well. And finally, they also add microground beans to the final product. The result is an entirely new process of manufacture and, they hope, an infinitely better product and experience.

So, we brewed up our two cups of instant (Columbia and Italian roasts). And by brewed, of course I mean, poured hot water and stirred in the coffee. And I…well, I liked it. I preferred the Italian roast, but that’s just my personal coffee preference anyhow. The flavor was clean and crisp. While not a perfectly thick and slightly sweet Italian espresso, it’s not meant to be. Rather, it’s meant to duplicate a drip coffee and it does so nicely, even rounding out with French Press-y bean remnants floating around the bottom of your cup. I really hate to be all company shill-like, but I think they have a good product on their hands.

If you’re interested in trying out VIA yourself, packets for purchase ($2.99/packet of three) and home use will be available in Starbucks and select Target stores starting tomorrow in the Seattle metropolitan area (and in Illinois).

Last night the Elysian on Capitol Hill was the sight of the Winter Beer Festival. This morning, my tiny studio apartment is the sight of a massive hangover. Metblogs does the heavy lifting so you don’t have to.

It was easy to pass up the sampler of guest taps to experience six different versions of Bifrost from two different vintages. (Yes, I am talking about vintages and beer.) This was the lineup:

1) Bifrost 2008
2) Jack Frost (aged in second-use Jack Daniels barrels)
3) Oak Frost (conditioned with French Oak staves for one month)
4) Brett Frost (re-inoclulated with Brettanomyces and aged in a Cabernet barrel)
5) Bifrost 2007
6) Cask Bye-Bye Frost 2007

The Jack Frost and Oak Frost were both very good; like the judicious use of oak on a good wine, these beers had added complexity. The 2007s seemed a little faded; more of a curiosity that a good example of an age-worthy beer. (This is why you get the sampler rather than committing to just one. And this is not a metaphor for life, I am just talking about beer.)

The clear winner that was so good I had to run to the ATM and come back for a schooner (only because the Elysian would not pour a pint for liability reasons) was the Brett Frost. I am familiar with Brettanomyces (a non-spore forming genus of yeast, duh) from the world of wine and my understanding is that the Brett found in wine is at best funky and at worst disgusting. The addition of Brett to the Bifrost, however, transformed the beer into something akin to a strong Belgian farmhouse ale; it was a delicious and deadly sipper.

Now enjoy the finest in cell phone camera technology; this crap photo looks like it was taken by my poor liver, which was worked harder than a rented mule:

(Or was it the tequila and mescal-soaked karaoke at Jalisco’s in Queen Anne afterwords where the real damage took place?)

At last week’s No News is Bad News forum there was a whole lot of passion, plenty of ideas, and questions about new models for funding journalism. As Patrick from West Seattle Blog was talking about their relationship with sponsors I took a look at his site and compared it to SeattleTimes.com:

the complete ad content of two local news websites.

Ra Ra Riot in the headlining spot at Neumo’s; more pics in the photoset [flickr].

Highlights from belated set of pictures from Wednesday’s big show at Neumo’s featuring Telekinesis, Cut Off Your Hands, and Ra Ra Riot. [flickr] (more…)