Image by Jeanine Anderson

When my mother was in town from Florida a few weeks ago, she mentioned that there were $50 gas caps at the pumps, and above that you’d have to go inside to pay. I wasn’t sure if that was happening here, since I don’t drive and therefore have little cause to go to gas stations, but Jeanine Anderson dropped this into our photo pool, so I guess that it is.

Are you noticing this at your local gas stations, Metroblogging readers? Is it everywhere? Does it take more than $75 to fill up your car these days?

Back when Stix first opened in South Lake Union I went over and took a look and decided it wasn’t my scene [mb]. It went through a bit of a remodel and tried on a few new looks, but given a choice for where to go for an after-work drink, I will always pick the Mars Bar over anywhere else in the neighborhood.

It looks like I wasn’t the only one who never warmed up to the place, because The Southlake is pointing out that the joint is for sale. From the listing:

“BUSINESS CLOSED, SELLER MOTIVATED!!!! Rare opportunity to aquire a first class restaurant and billiards club facility, located on the shore of South Lake Union near downtown Seattle. Built out brand new just 2 years ago, this facility is located next to the south end station of the new South Lake Union Trolly line, and across from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center….The facility includes a full kitchen, multiple pool tables, a private room with deck, and a very large and contemperary bar. A new owner can easily convert to a full service restaurant, club, catering facility, or ??????.”

So I guess if you’re in the market for a pool hall with a view, this is your chance. I wish someone would come in and make it something that doesn’t match Joey’s and Chandler’s and all of those. Bonus points to the buyer if they sell piroshkis or turn it into a Chik-Fil-A franchise filled with pool tables. If you do that I will visit you all of the time.

_{photo courtesy of Metroblogging’s own Slightlynorth / Shawn [flickr]}

The New York Times published a short travel essay on Georgetown a couple days ago [nyt]. In it they describe the appeal of a neighborhood Fantagraphics curator Larry Reid calls the “last outpost of any blue-collar, bohemian arts culture in Seattle.” When put that way, the appeal is self-explanatory. For those reasons and more, I really enjoy Georgetown. There’s an authenticity (grittiness?) to it that is missing from many other Seattle neighborhoods. Lunch at Jules Mae’s Saloon is easily turned into a Seattle history lesson and a short walk along Airport Way always leaves me feeling fortunate that Georgetown exists (however precariously) and sentimental for a different Seattle.

And so, thanks to the TNT’s Grit City, the Tacoma comparison begins. Noting that among other things Tacoma (like Georgetown) has its own glass blowers, artists on scooters, and cheap rent, Grit City proudly declares that Tacoma is the new Seattle. Here I thought Portland was the new Seattle. Or Omaha. And if those cities are the new Seattle, what’s Seattle? Once again, an Internet poll comes to our rescue.

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Update: I just noticed that Grit City is not claiming Tacoma is the new Seattle. They’re claiming Seattle is the new Tacoma. All the sudden this meme became a lot more more sinister.

The article in today’s PI about urban gardening [PI] talks about something I’ve been thinking about a lot myself, recently. (The PI is reading my mind.) I live in an apartment with a fairly large balcony that gets afternoon sunlight, so I’ve been experimenting with a balcony container garden because I got tired of waiting for a P-Patch. Right now I’ve got a bunch of flowers, edible and not so edible, tomatoes, herbs, and an adorable columnar apple tree. It’s all fertilized by the leavings of the worms that survived the winter in the worm box I built in November [mb]. We’ll see how it goes, of course, but all of the new things–I’ve had the herbs and apple tree since last year–have been planted for about a month and are growing and flowering like gangbusters. Because it’s all in containers there’s little danger of weeds, so the time investment is small, and I’m learning a lot. I went to the University District farmer’s market to buy the plants, and the vendors were enthusiastic and helpful and incredibly knowledgeable.

The success is starting to go to my head, and I’ve been eying the large shaded dirt patch in front of my apartment building a lot recently. But it looks like I’m not the only one–people all over town are trying to reclaim nooks and crannies of dirt to grow food. People with backyards and no time to mow are handing the space off to neighbors who want to grow produce. It all seems like a good way to foster community relations, and relieve a tiny bit of anxiety about food shortages. Maybe we should all start farming in the city while it’s still fun, not a necessity.

A few city officials are looking to inventory public land to find spots in parks and other places that could be taken over to grow food. Some architects are looking at planning buildings with gardens on top, buildings that collect and recycle rainwater, and possible all of the above for buildings made of recycled shipping containers. The City Council passed a local-food resolution, to research incentives for developers that include space for food gardens. It all seems like the right direction, at any rate, although the housing situation in this town still gives me the vapors.

Would you do it, Metroblogging readers? Is farming with your neighbors a worthwhile proposition? What would you grow?

What follows after the jump may include some inside baseball, and if you’re not into comic books you might not catch all of it. What is important though is that today was the first day of this year’s Emerald City Comic Convention. Comic creators, fans and press gathered in the Washington State Convention & Trade Center to celebrate this thing we call comics books.

The first thing that a non-comics person would notice when stepping onto the convention floor is the complete range of totally inappropriate style choices for facial hair. We are not as a people a fashionable lot, and while I think most everyone can agree that a t-shirt and jeans is a fine casual clothing option when you start replacing that with a pair of too small shorts and shirt that barely covers the belly button then there are issues, at least when that’s on a guy.

This is not for the faint of heart, I’m glad that I left my fiancee at home, she can deal with me enjoying comics as a hobby, but I don’t know if she could deal with the full force of comic fandom. Can you?

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One thing about most film festivals, whether they’re large or small or whether they focus on revivals or entirely new programming is that inevitably some of the films are excellent and some of them are, well, less so.

Sometimes, though, you get lucky and a film festival will contain nothing but excellence.  Such is the case for SIFF Cinema’s United Artists Series.

Way back in 1919, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffiths banded together to form United Artists, a film studio designed to present the movie-going audience with films in which artistic merit would be at least as important as any of the other factors that went into making a movie.  Then, even as now, movie studio heads were generally more concerned with making a buck than making art; the founding of UA was meant to counter that attitude by presenting the idea that profit could be made by making films that really mattered.

Over the years, UA managed to make an awful lot of movies that mattered.  From April 30th’s screening of The Thomas Crown Affair through March 21’s screening of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, SIFF is presenting a fine selection of those films.   As it happens, over the years I have seen every single of the films in this series.  I have my favorites, of course, but there’s not a bowser in the bunch.  There’s timeless comedy:  the sometimes goofy, sometimes provocative humor of Some Like It Hot remains as relevant today as it ever was.  There’s stinging social commentary in the form of Midnight Cowboy and In the Heat of the Night.  There’s action, adventure, suspense, horror, romance–just about anything you’d want from a film is represented in this series.

You don’t have to take my word for it, though–SIFF and Metroblogging Seattle are giving you a chance to win tickets to see some of the great films in this series.  We’re giving away a pair of tickets to three different films: 

• Marty, on May 6, stars Ernest Borgnine in a stunning, Oscar-winning performance as a socially awkward man who finds the courage to break out of his rut and pursue a real, meaningful love
• Some Like It Hot, on May 11, is deservedly one of the best-known film comedies of all time, starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, and Marilyn Monroe
• Last Tango in Paris is an intense drama about a widower (Marlon Brando) who has a passionate affair with young woman (Maria Schneider) who is about to be married.

To see a great film, go see any of the movies in this series; to win free tickets, please send your first and last name and the name of the film you’d like to see to seattle.metblogs@gmail.com by the end of the day on April 30.

Sonek321 dropped this intriguing photo into the Metroblogging Seattle Flickr Pool. I bet you have a few gems to contribute too.

We’re back! Yes, that’s right. Meet Your Farmers Market Vendors is back! This week’s interview is Anne from Trevani Truffles.

I’ve been enjoying Anne’s truffles for several months now. She has interesting flavors like Grand Marnier, Pear Ginger, Blackberry, an Espresso Mocha, and of course, rich, decadent chocolate (among others).

I contacted Anne the other day and I’ll let her tell you about her business in her own words.

Here’s my story:  My little Trevani Truffles business began only last summer at the urging of my children.
 For several years the family and close friends were the sole recipients of these chocolates.  But my son, especially, kept bugging me to “DO something with these!”.  The opportunity came when, seeing that my sweet old momie was going to be living with us and needed some serious care, and that I couldn’t take care of her and work outside of the home, too.  I needed to scramble and get SOMETHING going.
I made a phone call to the Renton Farmer’s Market people to get info on how to start at the outdoor markets.  After an initial rejection because I don’t GROW the truffles and the market is an agricultural one, I was informed that 5% of the vendors could be not farmers as long as they were local.  I live in Renton so I was IN!
Now I have two year-round markets, University District on Saturdays and West Seattle on Sundays.  I’m looking to get into the Ballard Market and have Broadway and Renton this summer.

I use Venezuelan chocolate, 58% cocoa mass for the ganache and 73% for the shell.  Only DARK chocolates here!   I like the earthy quality of the Venezuelan chocolate.  It seems more raw.  I use local ingredients when I can.  Like the “CreamyDreamy Pear Ginger”,  the pear is from the Booth Orchards in Twisp. They sell at the Seattle farmer’s markets.  And the hazelnuts, too, are local market vendors. Chili peppers, local. Also organic ingredients when possible.  So ,yes, some of the flavor combinations are seasonal.  Local sweet wines and Whidbey’s Port are ingredients also used. I made a porter beer truffle last week.  And of course coffee!

As for how do I choose and decide what favors?  It  is a constant and  quite unscientific experimentation.  Just think of a thing delicious to you and if it sounds good dipped in chocolate!  Well, there you are.  A new experiment!  And a possible HIT!
My favorite part of the market scene is meeting the people and chatting with them.. Folks have a way of inspiring me to continue with this venture.  When their faces light up from (surprise?) tasting their 1st bite…OH! I want to take their pictures!  And the little kids who favor dark- not- sweet- chocolate!  who knew !?
Right now the outdoor markets are my “store”.  It has been a cold wet winter!  One day soon I’ll find a perfect little shop, like in the movie, CHOCOLAT.    ‘Til then, pray for beautiful cool sunshine!

–

Till next time, shop local, cook local, and if you find a new vendor because of this series, please tell them that you read about them on Seattle Metroblogging!

clash photomontage via st. vincent [myspace]

• Us, wonderful us. It’s our rescheduled monthly Metroblogging super fun drinky times. Tonight at Bimbo’s. We’ll be pouring over the latest in the Tournament of Blogs showdown over margaritas and nachos. Drop by to say hello, influence the polling, protest the results, or just sit quietly and observe from the bar. And yes, there will be snacks. 6:30 pm [facebook]
• Ignite, part the fifth. Another sure-to-be crowded parade of breakneck paced PowerPoint presentations about topics deserving of more time. For instance: Dick Carlson on “Bad Powerpoint! Bad! Bad!”, Mónica Guzmán on “How to be an awesome news story commenter”, Justin Martenstein on “the six hour startup”. So much excitement jam-packed into so little time. 8 pm, Capitol Hill Arts Center [igniteseattle]
• Charles Muedede, Kathy Fennessy, and Jay Kuehner face off at the Northwest Film Forum on the topic of whether film criticism is still relevant now that everyone has a ‘blog. $3/5, 8pm [nwff]
• Grand Archives begin their world-conquering record rollout campaign today. Their almost self-titled release (the Grand Archives) from Sub Pop hit finer record stores across the country this morning. They’ll be on KEXP today at three, KNDD tomorrow Thursday, and playing a double-header at the Triple Door tomorrow. Tonight, you’ll find them playing a free in-store at Sonic Boom in Ballard. If you thought the four song demo EP was nice, just wait until you hear the album. It is excessively full, rich, and gorgeously produced: old Carissa’s Weird pals Sarah Stoddard, Jenn Ghetto, and Sera Cahoone show up all over the place and one song even has a Flugelhorn! [myspace]
• St. Vincent is the band configuration of sometimes Polyphonic Spreester, occasional Illinoisemaker, and always incredible Annie Clark. Aside from being spooky, dreamy, and lovely, her latest album (Marry Me) is named after a running joke on Arrested Development. With Foreign Born. $12, 8pm. [neumos]