Strange Advertising in Seattle

Any idea what to make of this? I saw it painted on the wall of a building in Capitol Hill today. It is a cool vintage ad from Dewars appealing to the people of the Pacific NW who often reside within the relative proximity of volcanos (e.g. Mt Rainier).

 I guess the slogan on the mural "Success is not always at the Summit" is a reference to moderation?

Sent from my iPhone

Lil' Mt. Si back in February

We went hiking back in February and in a feeble attempt to preserve temporal consistency, I thought I'd post the pics now before I post all the Brazil pics. Mt. Si and Little Mt. Si (what we hiked) are located in North Bend WA, twenty minutes east of Seattle. North Bend is where they shot Twin Peaks and we had cherry pie at the diner in town just like they did in the show.

Yppah

That's H-a-p-p-y spelled backwards for you slower ones.  I heard this guy(Joe Corrales Jr)'s music playing in Sonic Boom Records in Capital Hill during my last visit to Seattle, and I quickly realized it was really great stuff.  I find electronic music is appealing to me more and more.  Maybe I am evolving into 21st Century Man (Digitosapian). 

Anyway, check it out.  These two tracks are from his first album, You Are Beautiful All The Time.  It's kinda like Radiohead for kids too young to know about Radiohead (minus all the singing, of course). 

(whoa, that was deep... dude, quick talking and pass the bong)

Great eats in Seattle this weekend

This weekend I was back in Seattle, visiting my super special lady and I have to say, I ate really well this time.  I am going to share these places and thank the people who recommended them.  If you are in Seattle, you should definitely consider some of these spots.

1. Oddfellows Cafe
This is a new Capitol Hill bar/cafe by Linda Derschang (um... remember Smith, King's and of course.. Linda's?).  My good buddy, Will (pictured below with the saucy mustache) recommended it.  He says it is great for dinner and drinks at night but Saturday afternoon was his first time going there to brunch.  His avocado BLT was apparently pretty bomb.  I had to get the "Oddfellow" which is their take on the standard grilled ham and cheese (add pickled red onions, Gruyere, spicy mustard).  So good.  I also enjoyed the orange/currant scone with my coffee.

2. Tamarind Tree
Tamarind is the elite Vietnamese dinner restaurant in Seattle and one of my friend, Damian's favorites.  Saturday night was our second time there.  Tamarind is nice because they have the room for your large group (we had about 14 fools from the old Microsoft crew), they have good meat AND vegetarian (important for special lady) and finally, they are very consistent about the quality of their dishes.  The cocktails like my pomegranate martini aren't bad either.

3. The Continental
Taso's, as my lady lovingly calls it, may be my favorite breakfast place in Seattle.  I've posted about this place before and I have probably been there five times since.  This Sunday, we got the same thing we always get: the tomato pesto omelette for me and the spinach mushroom feta omelette for her.  They were great just like they were the last time we got them.

4. Poppy
So the Herb Farm's ex-chef, Jerry Traunfeld just opened this place at the north end of Broadway, in Capitol Hill.  We pass it on the way to see Slumdog Millionaire at the Harvard Exit Theatre and my girlfriend says she's heard great things so we tell Will and Manish to meet us after the movie.  After the movie is over, we roll up, scope the menu and see there is only one option.  It's called a thali and its a collection of 10 small dishes + a choice of two proteins.  Our group thought Traunfeld went 9 for 10 with this thali.  I especially liked the muscovy duck leg, the carrot soup and the swiss chard gratin with gruyere.  The main thing we didn't like was the mashed cauliflower but its hard to complain when there are 9 other things on your plate that taste great. 

So those are the spots I enjoyed this weekend.  The pictures below are of us eating at Tamarand Tree and Poppy.

Ladamian's Housewarming

Ladamian finally got his new crib in Capital Hill up to the standards of [theLifestyle(tm)] so he decided to throw himself a little bit of housewarming party last weekend.  All the usual suspects showed up.  I managed to make it from NYC and take these pics.  It was pretty solid, though I ended up a bit jettlagged/drunk/drunklagged.

David Byrne & Brian Eno Collaboration

Before hitting up yogatown today, I thought I'd share a sick new cut I just heard from Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, the new David Byrne (Talking Heads frontman) and Brian Eno collaboration.  The song is called "Strange Overtones" and like most of the music I stumble upon, I heard this on a KEXP morning show from the week that I am only now streaming over the internets.

Best part?  David Byrne and Brian Eno will let you download this nasty little track fo' free!   Check it.