Ride your bike for a good cause tonight!

For those planning on going out to dinner tonight, skip the car and ride your bike to one of 14 restaurants participating in Spoke & Food. A new event in Seattle with the goal of trying to get more residents riding their bikes instead of driving, Spoke & Food  restaurants will also be donating 15% to 20% of dining revenues to local non-profit Solid Ground's Lettuce Link program.

Two NE Seattle Restaurants, The Scarlet Tree (Roosevelt) and Fiddler's Inn (Wedgwood), will be participating. Jump on your bike and ride over to one of these tonight!

For a list of all Spoke & Food restaurants, here is a listing: http://www.viewhalloodesigns.com/spoke_restaurants.htm.

Meet-up Pictures and Thank You's

Thank you so much to all who came out to the Tax Day Meet-up last night at Black Pearl Restaurant in Wedgwood. It was great to meet so many new people from the NE Seattle neighborhoods and from as far away as the distant lands of Issaquah. It was an awesome crowd, great conversation, and everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time.

Annie at Black Pearl blew us all away by serving a seven-course sampling of their menu with wine pairing for each.  I should mention that the term "sampling" doesn't do the evening justice as it was clearly a huge meal!

My favorites of the night were definitely the Spicy Fish in Szechaun Sauce and the Mongolian Beef but the homemade Chow Mein noodles really stole the show.  I think they're the best I've had in Seattle. Oh and did I mention how delicious the pork pot stickers were? Clearly I could go on and on.

Last but most definitely not least, a huge thank you to Northwest Totem Cellars and Greenlake Wines for the incredible donation of wine for the event. The NW Totem Cellars Late Harvest Viognier was like pure honey in my glass - I wanted to drink the entire bottle! And the Randall Harris Sauvignon Blanc was so amazing I must plug that Greenlake Wines will be selling it for $5 a bottle this weekend only. I'll be stopping by there later today to pick up a few bottles.

Thanks everyone! A few pictures from the event can be found on our Flickr page.  If anyone else took some photos, feel free to add them to the pool!

Tax Day Meetup in Wedgwood Tomorrow!

For those who like to wait to the last minute, a final warning that your taxes are due tomorrow, April 15th. Get those suckers in the mail (or submitted online if you prefer like I do) and then head over to the Tax Day Meet Up being held at Black Pearl Restaurant (7347 35th Avenue NE) in Wedgwood!

I'm co-hosting the event with Kristin, of Seattle Events fame, and Annie, the general manager of Black Pearl, so it's guaranteed be a really fun time and a great way to meet new people from NE Seattle and beyond!

For more information and to RSVP for the event, click on the Come Meet Us widget on the right side of the page or go here: http://twtvite.com/4u27dc

See you tomorrow!

Yelp photo courtesy of Maria C.

Wedgwood Vision Project Meeting - Part 2

Here's a meeting notice from the Wedgwood Vision Project. If you live in the neighborhood, stop by!

Wedgwood Vision Project
2nd Community Meeting
Saturday, April 10th 9:30am~12:30pm
Wedgwood Presbyterian Church (corner of 35th & 80th)

The first community gathering in January was a great success with everyone attending contributing to the Vision Project by voicing their opinions, wishes, and concerns about our neighborhood. Building on the first meeting, and together with the results of a neighborhood-wide survey which will launch soon,we will take it up a few notches and engage our community further in creating a future vision for Wedgwood.

The event will start at 9:30AM with a bagels and hot beverage social segment. Then get right into discussions and exercises led once again by Makers, our project consultants.

We hope to see you on Saturday morning April 10th!

Seattle's First Composting Toilet - Picaloo - is Open!

The Picardo Farm P-Patch's composting toilet is now open for business...no, literally. Dedication and unveiling ceremonies for the City of Seattle's first composting toilet took place today in Wedgwood.

Despite the chilly weather, a good-sized crowd cheered as Ciscoe, local gardening celebrity, cut the toilet paper to show the public restroom was finally ready.  The naming contest winner was also announced; Picaloo won out over Clivus, ePoo, Fecaltheque and Quadra-P.

Wondering why so much attention is on a bathroom?  Susie Rantz, from the Seattle-PI In North Seattle Blog, explains:

The Picardo Farm P-Patch has 220 garden plots and multiple gardeners per plot. Many of them tend the garden year-round, but water is only on for half the year, and there are no sewage or electrical hookups for a conventional public toilet.

For years, Picardo gardeners chipped in and leased a port-a-john. Although chained down, this unit occasionally was tipped over. Also, the Honey Bucket was only leased between April and October, leaving year-round gardeners limited options during the remainder of the year. While nearby Dahl Playfield has permanent public restrooms, they are locked up in November and not re-opened until the following spring.

For more details on Picaloo, read Susie's entire article here. Also, check out the City of Seattle's Picardo P-Patch page for more information on the huge garden/farm.

Easter Egg Hunts and More This Weekend

For those in need of some last minute Easter ideas for the kiddies, here is a list of the big Easter egg hunts and other holiday happenings this weekend in NE Seattle:

The Seattle Parks Dept. is holding "Spring Egg Hunts" all across the city this Saturday at 10am. Best of all, the cost is free! NE Seattle locations include:

• Meadowbrook Community Center (Nathan Hale track - 10750 30th Ave NE)
• Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center (6335 Ravenna Ave NE)
• Laurelhurst Community Center (4554 NE 41st) 

St. Patrick's Day in NE Seattle

It's almost time to drink in celebration of your Irish ancestry (or at least pretend to) because everyone's Irish on St. Patrick's Day.  Skip heading downtown to the massive crowds; instead raise a pint at one of these neighborhood bars:

Fiddler's Inn

9219 35th Ave NE (Wedgwood)
St. Patrick's Day at the Fid is being celebrated by pints of green beer and bowls of beef stew all night long.

Finn MacCools

4217 University Way NE (U District)
Finn's will be loaded with free St. Paddy's Day swag to give out and serving up the traditional corned beef and cabbage for their food special.  They'll be charging a small cover between 5-7pm to cover the cost of live bands playing all night long.

Galway Arms

5257 University Way NE (U District)
Galway Arms caters mostly to the Punk scene but with a name like that, they've got to be serving up a few Irish drink specials for the holidays.

Roosevelt Alehouse
8824 Roosevelt Way NE (Maple Leaf)
The Ralehouse is serving up corned beef and cabbage, fish and chips, Shepard's pie and really loud music all night long.

And if drinking isn't your favorite way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, then head over to Trophy Cupcakes and eat a few of their Chocolate Guinness Stout cupcakes with Bailey's Buttercream frosting.

Know of any events or bars celebrating the luck of Irish tomorrow? Email me at northesea@gmail.com and I'll add them to the list.

Photo courtesy of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/spiros2004/ / CC BY 2.0

Body Found in Wedgwood This Morning

SeattleCrime is reporting a woman was found dead this morning in the 9100 block of 27th Ave NE:

Seattle Police Department spokeswoman Renee Witt says a couple were out walking their dog at about 6:30 this morning when they came across a white female in her 30s or 40s laying on the ground...Witt says there were no obvious signs of trauma or foul play.

So far no further information has been released but the body should be identified soon.  I will update as I hear more.

Drink a Beer to Benefit North Helpline

Danae, from Lake City Live, posted a great event happening at The Beer Authority this weekend. On Saturday they'll be collecting non-perishable food for North Helpline, Lake City's food bank, emergency services, and health clinic.

LCL mentions another added benefit, thanks to the Wedgwood Alehouse:

From Barry at The Beer Authority: A big shout out goes to our friends at the Wedgwood Alehouse for helping us get the word to the masses. When you get a chance check out their pub. As a token of our appreciation, anybody who says "the Wedgwood sent me" gets an additional 5% off their bottle beer to go purchase this Saturday. Cheers!

Wedgwood Community Survey - What Do You Think?

Some of you may remember my previous post about The Wedgwood Vision Project and their plan to facilitate growth and development within the neighborhood, starting with a kick-off community meeting.  They seem like a dedicated group very interested in learning what the community thinks and would like done.

The Project is asking for more feedback, this time in the form of their online survey.  They are hoping to receive more input from Wedgwood residents to put towards building the future Wedgwood Vision Plan. 

For those interested, please take a few minutes and complete the survey: http://wedgwoodcc.org/survey/.

NE Seattle Treasure Hunt Tomorrow!

Sustainable NE Seattle is promoting a Local Treasure Hunt to seek out "those assets that help in our effort toward resiliance."  The group is asking those interested to find unique "items" such as an edible garden, an unknown green space and beekeepers and bring the information to their monthly meeting at 6:30pm on Thursday.   Sustainable NE describes the goal of the hunt:

Who lives in our NE Seattle area and has skills we need to know about, or a company we can support? Perhaps land they want to farm? Take a look around your neighborhood. Talk to your friends. Bring the information - better yet, the found treasure - to our February meeting so we can start mapping our assets, discovering our local treasures. Part of becoming resilient is understanding what local products, skills and assets we already have so we can determine what we are lacking to live life fully.

The event sounds like a fun way to compile useful resource lists while meeting new people in NE Seattle neighborhoods.  For a complete list of all treasure hunt items, go here.

Sustainable NE Seattle's monthly meetings are held at Wedgwood Presbyterian Church located at 8008 35th Avenue NE.

Oh Wedgwood Broiler, You So Crazy

I ♥ the Wedgwood Broiler - or the WB, as it's affectionately known to my friends - even more after seeing this photo in the NE Seattle Life flickr group.  Many thanks to Benjamin Lukoff for taking it and adding it to the pool!

Taking a cue from the Wedgwood Broiler: Check out NE Seattle Life on Facebook and become a fan here!

Wedgwood Bank Robbery This Morning

According to the Seattle Police Department, officers responded to an armed bank robbery call in the 8200 block of 35th Avenue NE at 10:10am this morning. The male suspect was carrying a semi-automatic handgun and backpack when he approached a teller.  After the robbery, he was last seen leaving the scene, by foot, on 82nd Avenue NE headed eastbound.  The amount of money stolen has not yet been released.

The suspect is described as a white male, about 5'7" in height with a medium build. He appears to be in his late 20's to early 30's and was wearing a navy knit cap and green camouflage jacket over a gray hooded sweatshirt.

Anyone with information on the crime or suspect is urge to call to the Seattle Police Department or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). 

How do you envision Wedgwood?

I recently found The Wedgwood Vision Project blog and was impressed by the community-building taking place on this site.  Funded by a $15,000 grant from the City of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, its purpose is to facilitate growth and development within Wedgwood for one year.

I'm disappointed that I will miss the kick-off meeting on January 14th because this project has the potential to bring new ideas and change to the neighborhood.  Here's the meeting details so you can attend and tell me what I missed!


Wedgwood Vision Project
Thursday, January 14th
Wedgwood Presbyterian Church
(corner of 80th & 35th)
6:30 - 9:00pm