Seattle Metblogs » Patricia Eddy

Dining out and saving cash

Patricia Eddy — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:16:08 +0000

Let’s face it. Most of us don’t have a lot of spare cash these days. Yet occasionally we still want to go out for dinner and have a nice meal. Here are just a few tips for dining out and while still sticking to your budget.
Use Twitter. Many of your favorite restaurants are on Twitter. Many of these same restaurants have Twitter specials. Whether it is Fuel Coffee giving you an extra shot for mentioning Twitter or Counter Burger offering a half priced appetizer, you can save on all sorts of things just by following some of your favorite restaurants.
Sign Up for Newsletters. Most restaurant newsletters are few and far between, so you won’t be cluttering up your inbox with overly frequent messages. But in return for a few kilobites here and there, you’ll get notification of happy hour times, special events, and sometimes… secret phrases or days when items are discounted.
Stick to Happy Hour Happy hours are a fantastic way to save cash. Some restaurants have up to 50% off appetizers and multiple dollars off of drinks. Granted, you’ll need to eat a little earlier (or a little later for those late shift happy hours), but if you can swing it, you can save some solid cash just by adjusting your mealtimes.

Mobile Chowdown on 10/10

Patricia Eddy — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:28:30 +0000

Seattle has turned into quite the street food center over the past few years. Granted, our street food is a little different when you have such a mix like grass fed burgers with bacon jam, spam, gourmet ice cream, and BBQ.

On October 10th, you’ll get a chance to try a wide variety of street food all in one place. Mobile Chowdown brings a bunch of Seattle’s street food vendors all to one location. The event is free (other than the food that you buy), so come bring a chair and hang out with your fellow street food aficionados.

In the lead up to Mobile Chowdown, there’s even a trivia contest on Twitter. Follow @mobilechowdown and answer their trivia questions each day for a chance to win dinner at Tilth and a night at the Sorrento Hotel (plus a subscription to Seattle Magazine). Make sure when you respond to the trivia though, that you include the hashtag #mcd in your tweet.

When: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 10
Where: 1616 W. Bertona (Interbay)

Only 2 more weeks for the Queen Anne Farmers Market

Patricia Eddy — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:23:21 +0000

Now that fall has come, some of the farmers markets in our area will start to shut down. The first of those to go is going to be the new Queen Anne Farmers Market. The Queen Anne Farmers Market broke off from the Seattle Markets organization (who runs the Ballard, Wallingford, Madrona, and Fremont markets) and started their own, independent, non-profit market. They are really a plucky little organization, having started from the ground up late last fall and they’ve put on a consistently busy and decidedly Queen Anne type of market all summer long.

Go check them out during their last two weeks. Skillet is there serving dinner, and there’s Parfait Ice Cream as well. They always have music and their chef demos have been impressive and tasty every week.

Queen Anne Farmers Market
Queen Anne Ave and West Crockett
3-7pm, Thursdays

Ballard’s The Counter Burger is now open

Patricia Eddy — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:23:16 +0000

On Monday, the much anticipated Counter Burger located in the new Ballard Blocks opened.

Counter Burger has been “previewed” several times already on several different blogs. So far, the buzz seems to be favorable.

We checked it out during one of their preview parties, and the food was excellent. I’d be interested to hear if anyone has been there in the past two days.

Be sure to follow them on Twitter as well. They often tweet specials or coupons.

The “New” Starbucks Experience: Open Thread

Patricia Eddy — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:35:00 +0000

On the heels of 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea, comes the news that Starbucks is planning another “neighborhood” coffee shop called Roy Street Coffee and Tea to open this fall.

Now, I’ll be honest. I don’t really like Starbucks’ coffee. However, I never really had a problem with the company. They have done a lot for the coffee culture in this country and I believe they are part of the reason that coffee shops (in general) have a much higher success rate as businesses than restaurants.

Plus, no matter how many Starbucks there are in this city, the small independent coffee shops are doing quite well. So I certainly don’t see them as a big evil corporation. From what I’ve read, they try to do good and working there is a pretty good experience (unless of course, you were one of the many they laid off over the past two years).

However, this whole rebranding just doesn’t sit well with me. It feels like they are trying to be something they aren’t. I’m all for their baristas pulling shots by hand again and trying new things (like the pour over brew), but why not just embrace the fact that they’re Stabucks? They are the big giant coffee shop with the green sign and the modest siren on the door. They are the ubiquitous coffee shop. The one I can find in every town I visit, and I can always expect pretty much the same thing.

I know when I go to Dallas for a trade show, without a car, that I can find predictable coffee in the Starbucks in the hotel. I know that I will pay a reasonable amount for it, and that I will get what I expect.

I guess I just wish they would stick to what made them popular in the first place.

But that’s just me. What do you think?

Urgent: NWFF Donation Drive

Patricia Eddy — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:32:19 +0000

Do you have an extra $10?

I know, very few of us have a lot of extra money these days, but consider $10. It is the cost of one movie ticket.

The Northwest Film Forum reports that their income is off by about 30% this year (much like a lot of other organizations) and their existence is in danger. Their email plea went out to 10,000 people the other day and it sounds pretty dire.

…while we remain scrappy and imaginative in tough
spots, this time is different.

We are looking at real changes at the Film Forum unless you say yes
and support us. We need to reach a goal of $70,000 by August 15.
Please walk it in, mail it in, or click here to make your donation.

The NWFF is a pretty special place. They hold classes, rent equipment and space, and offer up a wide variety of film programming. Please consider donating today. You don’t even have to get up out of your chair.

Seattle Department of Transportation gets a makeover

Patricia Eddy — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:23:43 +0000

The Seattle Department of Transportation unveiled a brand-spanking new website this morning.

Perhaps taking a cue from the Washington State Department of Transportation, the Seattle DOT has a Twitter account and a Facebook page. Where the two seem to differ (at least on the surface) is that the WSDOT follows all of their followers back in order to provide real time traffic updates and incident reports via direct message.

The Seattle Department of Transportation’s website doesn’t work well in Google Chrome, but it plays well with IE and Firefox.

What do you think about your city and state departments going all social these days?

Attention drivers! Saturday road closures.

Patricia Eddy — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:50:42 +0000

Tomorrow is the inaugural Seattle Rock-N-Roll marathon and there will be a lot of road closures between 6am and 3pm.

I’ll be running the marathon and have a 3am wakeup call, but before I sign off, here’s a link for road closure information.

Archie McPhee moves to Wallingford

Patricia Eddy — Sat, 30 May 2009 04:24:49 +0000

Mr. Bacon

As of 5pm yesterday, Archie McPhee was no longer a Ballard business. Due to leasing issues (the owner of the Ballard buildings reportedly wouldn’t let them sign a new long-term lease, instead only offering a very short term deal), they had to find a new location.

The move was insane. According to an employee, they weren’t even sure they’d be able to remain in the Seattle proper area there for a while. They were looking north and south. Can you imagine Archie McPhee in Renton? I can’t.

Archie McPhee's Homemade Rocket Ship

Finally though, they found their new location on Stone Way and N 45th. They’ve taken over the old liquor store and they’ve turned it into their own. Gone is any semblance of a ‘normal’ paint job. The outside of the building is fire engine red with a screaming yellow awning. Inside, the paint job is just as bright.

The new space has a very quirky feel to it. There are twists and turns and walls and posts and merchandise literally EVERYWHERE! The Wallingford store is about the same size as the main building in Ballard, so they had to get rid of a few of their larger items. I asked them what one of their biggest regrets was regarding merchandise they needed to sell and their answer was the handmade rocket. But don’t fear. The rocket went to a very good cause – 826 Seattle! It fits in perfectly with their Greenwood Space Travel Supply Company.

Archie McPhee opens in their new location on Monday. So spend your weekend browsing their website or Flickr pool if you need your Archie McPhee fix. Here are a few photos of their new location.

Archie McPhee's Devil

The End of an Era…

Patricia Eddy — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:19:22 +0000

The Ballard location of Archie McPhee will be closing forever at 5pm today. We’ll have a tour of their new Wallingford location later this evening, but in the meantime, get down to Ballard before 5 for one last look at the now mostly empty store. (Word is there’s free stuff outside the Ballard store too.)