This past Saturday we went to a later yoga class and when we got done at noon we were quite hungry. On the spur of the moment we decided to stop at Coffee Messiah for brunch. A hand written note on the door warned that they were only taking cash payment (Bad Sign #1), but after rifling through our pockets we determined that we had enough money between us to eat. We started looking over the menu, but the barrista told us they might be out of some things because they were having “food issues” (Bad Sign #2). We discussed our options with the cook and ended up ordering tofu scramble, S.O.S., and a side of biscuits and gravy. (Like I said, we were really hungry after all that yoga.) Meanwhile, the barrista was engaged in a whispered conversation with a friend, clearly about difficulties the shop was having (Bad Sign #3). Despite the pervasive air of impending doom, our food was delicious and we ate every bite before waddling home.

Not too surprisingly, we learned on Monday that Coffee Messiah has closed its doors, apparently for good. It had been obvious that they were struggling for quite a while — I date the start of their decline from the day that the PeeWee Herman doll disappeared from the large crucifix behind the counter — so I can’t say that this comes as much of a surprise.

Whatever you might say about Coffee Messiah, it sure wasn’t Starbucks. It served as a home away from home for some of Capitol Hill’s freakier residents, but its barristas could also make a mean cup of coffee when they wanted to. I’m hesitant to interpret this closing as a sign of anything more than inept management, but it still saddens me to see the place gone.

Just after the sun set, I looked out the window and saw the Christmas lights on the Space Needle all lit up against an indigo blue sky.

It seems freakishly warm outside, after several weeks of clear, dry, and (for temperate Seattle) cold weather. The rain has returned, and we’ve got cloudy skies and wet streets. This is my sixth Christmas in Seattle, and this feels just about right.

A good night for curling up on the sofa with my boyfriend, my cat, and a good bottle of scotch to watch A Christmas Story.

Seattle’s first Diva Dash — a women’s and girls 5k fun run/walk (and 1k “Little Diva” walk/run) — will be taking place on December 3rd at Seward Park. Registration and t-shirt pickup opens at 7:30AM on the 3rd, with the walk beginning at 8:30 and the run at 9:00. The dash is a benefit event for Girls on the Run, a national after-school program promoting healthy exercise for girls between the ages of 8 and 11. Today is the last day to register with the guarantee of getting a groovy Diva Dash t-shirt.

Costumes are encouraged, but not required. A $20 registration fee gets you a t-shirt. If you want to contribute something more ($35-$65), you can register as a “Fairy Godmother” and get a tiara and/or magic wand (!). [Does this event have Drag Queen written all over it or what? I am so hoping the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence make an appearance.]

I promised a friend that I would go, and she just emailed to remind me that I need to register. Since I’m observing Buy Nothing Day, I decided I’ll live without the t-shirt and register tomorrow.

Wallace Stevens, Sunday Morning

Without fasting, where’s the pleasure in feasting? As compared with so much of the rest of the world, we Americans live in a perpetual state of feasting, eating too much, buying too much, working more and more hours so that we may consume more and more stuff, and then dedicating our ever scarcer leisure time to buying more or caring for the things that we own (and that increasingly seem to own us). How many of us can truly say that our closets are empty or our cupboards bare?

Which is why I always feel a certain ambivalence about Thanksgiving. I am by no means anti-holiday — I love holiday rituals and the way that holiday observances punctuate the yearly cycle of seasons — but this particular holiday often seems more like a celebration of gluttony than a genuine expression of thankfulness for plenty. If anything, I personally think we would be much better off with a national day of fasting. But instead, each year we are encouraged to stuff ourselves silly on Thursday and then rise out of bed on Black Friday with full bellies, only to head to the malls and food courts to buy more things and eat more food.

Buy Nothing Day, observed on the Friday after Thanksgiving in North America and on the last Saturday in November in the rest of the world, is a response to the over-commercialization of the winter holidays. It was created by our Canadian friends at Adbusters magazine (their servers seem a bit overburdened today, so you might have trouble with this URL

Seen on the corner of Melrose and Pine, through the window of Bauhaus while waiting in line for a chai latte this morning.

It’s especially effective when it’s flashing right before the light changes. (The bit of strategically placed tape is actually less visible when you see it live.)

I’m sure this isn’t the first time someone’s done this, but it gave everyone in the coffee queue a chuckle.

This year, the Men’s Chorus will be featuring Ann Wilson (of Heart!) as a guest performer on December 4 and 5.

I’ve been going to the Men’s Chorus holiday show for the last several years and have really enjoyed it. The singing is lovely, the musical selections are alternately amusing and sincerely touching — and Benaroya Hall is always a great place to see a show.

The Herzog screenings are not a retrospective but a “tribute” and feature four newer films, including The Wild Blue Yonder, a science-fiction/science-fact “existential mystery” that has received favorable attention at a number of recent film festivals. Herzog first came to notice in the 1970s as one of the pre-eminent German New Wave directors and was known for his fantastic, lyrical treatments of outsiders and visionaries. Aguirre, Wrath of God, arguably his masterpiece, featured a dazzling performance by Klaus Kinski as a conquistador desperately searching for El Dorado in the South American jungle and sliding ever deeper into madness. Herzog’s films have always tended to include a documentary component — as hallucinatory and bizarre as Aguirre may seem, for example, the story is based in historical fact, and the lengths to which Herzog went to film it on location are now the stuff of legend. In recent years Herzog has become better known for his documentaries than his fictions. Grizzly Man, an account of the life and death of bear fancier/fanatic Timothy Treadwell, was very well received at SIFF last year and enjoyed almost universally positive reviews.

The Wild Blue Yonder will be playing at the Seattle Art Museum on Tuesday, November 8 at 7:30PM, followed by its “sister film”, Lessons of Darkness at 9:15. On Wednesday, November 9th, Wheel of Time, documenting a Tibetan Buddhist initiation ritual in India, shows at 7:30 and The White Diamond, another study of an impossible journey, this time in the Guyanan rain forest, will be screened at 9:15 (also at SAM). Herzog will be inattendance and will introduce each film. [Werner Herzog Series]

David Cronenberg has not received as much respect from the critics as Herzog has, but he is probably better known to North American film-goers for cult classics such as Videodrome, Existenz, and (my personal favorite) Naked Lunch. Long considered little more than a shockmeister with a taste for the perverse, Cronenberg’s reputation has improved greatly in recent years — in part because the critics have finally caught up with him, in part because his “mature” work deals more subtly with the disturbing themes that have always intrigued him. Spider, released in 2002 and featuring a strong performance by Ralph Fiennes was (at least by Cronenberg’s standards) an understated and moving consideration of an emotionally damaged man’s relapse into madness. A History of Violence, currently playing in local theaters, has received strong reviews and is enjoying more popular success than any Cronenberg film since The Fly.

SIFF’s Deeply Creepy: A History of Cronenberg is a retrospective and features ten of Cronenberg’s best films. The series runs from Friday, November 11th, through Sunday, November 13th, and is also being held at SAM. [schedule]

Yep, more frightening
Halloween costume ideas …

So, you know that Display & Costume and Champion Party Supply have a big selection of ready-made Halloween costumes — but where can you go if you don’t want to spend a lot of money and/or you want to do something original and creative? One option is to check out your local Value Village.

Each October, Value Village brings in a large variety of new (and some used) Halloween costumes and accessories — this year the Halloween store is called “Dr. Frankenfrugal’s Halloween Factory”. Although the quality isn’t what you would find at a place like Display & Costume, the selection is good and the prices even better. I had been looking for a curly blonde wig at Display and Costume, but couldn’t find the right style — and certainly didn’t want to spend $26.99 or more for it. This past Saturday, I checked out Value Village’s Halloween wigs and discovered tons of different styles, all at very reasonably prices. Of course they’re hideously tacky and not very well made, but I’m guessing the one I bought will survive one or two nights of partying — and at $5.98 I’m not going to care if it falls apart shortly thereafter.

If you’re looking for fake blood or vampire fangs or a “sexy” bunny suit, you’ll probably be able to find it here. But the really great thing about Value Village for Halloween is all the other stuff they sell on a daily basis. This year, I’m making my boyfriend’s and my own costume from the ground up and I’ve been hunting all over town for a long shopping list of necessary supplies. I was happy to find the wig I needed at the Halloween store, but went to Value Village looking more for several critical pieces of raw material. Most importantly, I needed a particular style of sandal, one that could be modified as necessary, but would be sturdy and comfortable to walk in. The thrift store gods smiled upon me and directed me to an almost brand new pair of Adrienne Vittadinis (!) for $6.99. (They’re not at all a style I would normally wear, but I’m almost going to feel bad about covering them with vinyl and spray painting them bronze.) I also needed a thick, brown man’s belt and a small plastic toy ball, both of which I found for less than $1.

Although Value Village specializes in used clothing, they also carry used drapes, tablecloths, bedspreads, blankets, pillows, fabric remnants, and odds and ends of craft supplies. While a lot of this stuff is utter junk, some of it is quite fabulous. In the Capitol Hill housewares basement, I saw (among many other things): a nice piece of red fake fur, a large emerald green velvet curtain panel, and several sets of children’s cartoon character bed sets. I don’t know what kind of a costume you could make with any one of these items, but I’m sure a creative mind could find some use for them. (If all else fails, put eyeholes in a Mighty Morphin Power Rangers or Scooby Doo twin sheet and come as “The Ghost of Saturday Mornings Past”.)

[The Value Village Halloween Factory website has a cute Create Your Own Costume flash utility that kids might enjoy. There's also a silly little Costume Idea Generator.]

Display & Costume’s “Barista Babe”
Scariest Halloween costume ever?
I don’t know about you, but this one
is going to give me nightmares.

There are only a few short weeks between now and Halloween, and hopefully you’ve already started working on that fabulous, clever outfit you’re going to be wearing to all of those wonderful masquerade balls you’ve been invited to.

Have you got the perfect costume idea — but no idea where to acquire seven yards of magenta fake fur, 10″ pimp daddy platforms, and large fake ears? Or has your costume muse abandoned you, leaving you with nothing but a rising sense of dread and the fear that you’ll wear the plastic fangs and cheap satin cape again this year? In either case, Seattle boasts many fine purveyors of Halloween accoutrements who are eager to help you find everything you need or to give your creativity a kick in the butt.

Let’s start with the most popular Seattle Halloween supplier: Display & Costume in Northgate (11201 Roosevelt Way NE, with an additional location in Everett). Display & Costume has been around since 1952 and prides itself as a “one stop party destination”. They have a huge, newly-renovated Christmas display room and sell all sorts of wedding and party supplies. Come October, they bring in an amazing assortment of Halloween costumes, d

If you’re only familiar with oatmeal made from rolled oats, steel cut oats can come as a surprise. Although they would seem to be an almost identical foodstuff, they’re worlds apart in terms of taste and texture. I’m fond enough of rolled oats, but steel cut oats are fabulous, with a firm, chewy texture and a rich, nutty flavor.

The problem with steel cut oats — and the reason most of us get our oatmeal from little packets of quick cooking oats — is that they can take a very long time to cook. Prepared traditionally on a stovetop, you’re talking almost 45 minutes. Microwaving is much faster, of course, but the results can be disappointing. One trick is to soak the oats in water overnight. Another is to use a rice cooker, which is what I’ve been doing. (It’s really hard to find instructions on how to do this, so I’m including a recipe after the cut.)

You can buy steel cut oats in most grocery stores. McCann’s Irish Oatmeal is the standard, although it’s a bit pricey. Trader Joe’s sells a certified organic version, which I really like.

Cooking Steel Cut Oats in a Rice Cooker

Warning: Do not try this with quick cooking or rolled oats. It will most likely explode into a horrible, gummy mess all over your kitchen!

In the evening, put 1 part steel cut oats and 3 parts water in the rice cooker. (A full cup of oats will make three medium or two large servings.) Soaking overnight makes the oats cook more quickly and it also minimizes the risk of boiling over. Set the timer on the rice cooker, selecting the “porridge” setting if your rice cooker has one. Wake up to a yummy, warm breakfast. (If your boyfriend serves it to you in bed with a big cup of strong coffee you really are the girl with the most cake!)