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OK, this is the grail of chocolate in Seattle. Maybe even the west coast, or the U.S. Exquisitely perfect, obviously created by people for whom the preparation of chocolate is the highest and best...
OK, this is the grail of chocolate in Seattle. Maybe even the west coast, or the U.S. Exquisitely perfect, obviously created by people for whom the preparation of chocolate is the highest and best purpose to which they can dedicate their lives. Yes, it's expensive... but it's supposed to be, dammit! Such ecstatic taste experiences should not come to us by the pound, but by the (irresistible, addictive) morsel. Don't leave without trying their smoked salt caramels... they won some kind of international award in New York, and they defy description. Knowing that this chocolate exists, you really can't give your lover any other kind.
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Bailey-Coy Books is a small bookstore done really well. I've spent long spells in there, reading whole bunches of little cards with staff recommendations, and being guided by them down avenues I...
Bailey-Coy Books is a small bookstore done really well. I've spent long spells in there, reading whole bunches of little cards with staff recommendations, and being guided by them down avenues I wouldn't otherwise have found. Who'd have thought that in a gay/lesbian-accented Capitol Hill bookstore I would have followed a staff person's high praise and left with a novel (Gilead) about an aging midwestern minister's gentle reflections on his life? Bailey-Coy also has some beautiful local artists' notecards for sale.
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This is the perfect place to hole up on a rainy late afternoon and have a bowl of spectacular home-made soup. The Hopvine has the usual good offerings of microbrews, and a nice wine selection as...
This is the perfect place to hole up on a rainy late afternoon and have a bowl of spectacular home-made soup. The Hopvine has the usual good offerings of microbrews, and a nice wine selection as well. But it's the music and open mike, the skilled kitchen and general air of coziness which draw me there. Their chef wrote a cookbook in which he collected all his soup recipes -- ( you can buy it there at the pub -- which I did ) -- and all the food is thoughtfully put together. Service is easygoing and friendly. Overall, a comfortable neighborhood hangout.
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Maybe that's really the bottom line. A school is a huge thing to review, but I recall my attempt to penetrate all the reviews and directories when we were trying to pick out schools, so maybe I can...
Maybe that's really the bottom line. A school is a huge thing to review, but I recall my attempt to penetrate all the reviews and directories when we were trying to pick out schools, so maybe I can offer just a little bit of inside info for parents who are obsessing about the right place for their kids. My kid went to SAAS for all 4 years of high school. I'm attempting anonymity here, so I'm just going to refer to the child in question as "Z". We received a considerable amount of financial aid, or it wouldn't have been possible. My impression was that SAAS has a bit less money than Northwest, and certainly less than Lakeside, to hand out for financial aid -- but we were relatively low-income and Z was a good enough student that they were extremely generous. We still paid about 3000 dollars a year, but that meant that we were getting a scholarship for the other 14,000 dollars per year! These prices are embarrassing, because most families even in upscale Seattle can't imagine paying money like this just for high school, and it's weird to be in an environment surrounded by people who don't think this is embarrassing or even out of the ordinary. I never quite came to terms with that, in all the parent meetings and performances and so on. I would look around and wonder what was going on in these people's minds.
However, when we went to visit schools, when Z was still in 8th grade at a public school, we noticed that the SAAS kids seemed HAPPY. None of the other private schools we visited had this quality. And in the 4 years that followed, I'd say that was an accurate perception. The students do honestly feel a genuine fondness for the place, and for each other. SAAS is a mixed bag, but a school takes a lot of its flavor from the director, and Jean Orvis is an honest, intelligent, caring, idealistic human being.
Now, SAAS has a few stunningly stinky teachers, who appear to draw salaries just for breathing. It also has a few lifelong inspiring ones, whom the students adore and come back to visit and for whom the students rise to absolutely breakthrough levels of production. And it has a lot of good, bright, conscientious ones who fall somewhere in the middle. Maybe this is true of all schools, but I was kind of shocked to discover that bad teachers still get hired by places that charge this much money. If your kid gets one of the lemons, all I can suggest is make noise. It has limited effect in the short term, but eventually enough complaints will result in the person being fired.
One of the greatest virtues of SAAS is that a kid interested in an extracurricular activity will be invited to do it. Period. And furthermore, even if they truly aren't very good at the activity, the other kids will wholeheartedly cheer for them. If they want to sing, they can be in one of the vocal groups. If they want to play a sport, they can be on a team. If they want to act, they'll get a part in any play they audition for. This open door, and the generous reception they can rely on from other students, gives kids the courage to try something they would never even contemplate in a bigger school. It actually does lead to something like what the school likes to hype when it talks about building confidence.
The academics are solid, and the honors classes are mostly really high level. Extracurricular commitments can collide with homework and you'll see your kid staying up til 3 am sometimes, trying to finish a project, after getting home from singing in a concert til midnight. And then being too sick and exhausted to go to school the next day, but having a total stressed-out meltdown until you agree to drive the completed paper to the school so it won't be late.
The college counseling is supportive and steady, although the parent still has to make sure all the deadlines are met. There's drinking and drugs and sex, like there is anywhere, although the school does its best to pretend to potential applicants that this doesn't happen at SAAS. Among the private schools, the kids say that SAAS is known as the "druggie school". However, I didn't get the impression that it's a pervasive school culture. Most of these kids have better things to do with most of their time, or at least they keep their illicit activities relatively discreet, so the scandals are intermittent. Again, it comes down partly to a social class thing: the kids who attend SAAS have parents who keep track of them, and who won't let them go too far over the edge without intervening.
So, yes, it's a good education. So are Garfield and Roosevelt. But a big part of what you're buying with your tuition money is a peer group for your child. A peer group which almost universally expects to successfully complete high school and go to a good college and graduate. A peer group which is actually pretty gentle and kind, if only because they've mostly grown up sheltered from hardship.
There's too much to write. But if you can afford it, and if your kid is accepted, you could certainly do worse. Your kid will likely end up feeling like high school was a pretty fun time in their life.
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First, the food: excellent, authentic, fresh-from-the-oven NY style bagels. Well-designed, satisfying sandwiches which always exceed my expectations. Killer deals on breakfast combos, where you...
First, the food: excellent, authentic, fresh-from-the-oven NY style bagels. Well-designed, satisfying sandwiches which always exceed my expectations. Killer deals on breakfast combos, where you get some sort of egg-bagel arrangement and coffee for a very low price. This place opens at some ungodly hour of the morning (6 or 6:30) and if you have to get an early start on a long morning, there's no better place to grab a hot bagel sandwich for road food. They also have a sunny, open dining area which is popular with the local lunch crowd, and they carry the usual required side stuff: a cooler of juices, a rack of chip bags, big cookies, and so on. They also sell their own blends of (pricy) flavored cream cheeses.
The staff is young and sweet, but always a little foggy. Maybe it's the early mornings. The line can be 5 deep, and there'll be 4 people behind the counter, and everything still moves at an unperturbed crawl. Order an espresso drink and it's like putting glue in the gears. And you may get the wrong change, but they'll be really nice about fixing it when you point it out.
It's worth it for the great food -- just don't be in a flaming hurry, and you'll be glad you came.
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Tilden
Category:
Gift Shops
401 15th Ave E
Seattle, Washington 98112
(206) 323-7526
I haven't figured out who shops here. It doesn't match the flavor of businesses or street traffic on 15th, and there are rarely many customers inside, but it just seems to stay there year after...
I haven't figured out who shops here. It doesn't match the flavor of businesses or street traffic on 15th, and there are rarely many customers inside, but it just seems to stay there year after year. It's a somewhat fussily arranged collection of china, candles, soap, artificial flowers, shawls which look like hand-woven silk but which turn out to be made of acrylic, and a few pieces of jewelry. They also have quite a few greeting cards, although the selection is mostly uninspired unless your taste runs to the very flowery. You could find the perfect present for a standard-issue grandma here, although I think those are becoming an endangered species.
I did buy a piggy bank here of blue-flowered Asian ceramic in the shape of a frog, which I'm very attached to. So I guess you just never know. Maybe lots of people go in and just find one thing that is exactly right.
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This place is like a nest built by some creature who needs only books in order to survive the long dark winter. It's in an old house in between storefronts on 15th E, and you wander from one small...
This place is like a nest built by some creature who needs only books in order to survive the long dark winter. It's in an old house in between storefronts on 15th E, and you wander from one small room to another and randomly move from one genre to another. The folks who work here are willing to be helpful, but sometimes you have to wait to get their attention because they'll be deep in conversation with a customer or co-worker about the obscure reaches of some particular author's work. The selection isn't as compelling as Twice Sold Tales, (some things are just plain too old, like travel and how-to stuff that doesn't age well), and the environment too cramped to invite lingering, but it's worth a visit because places like this need to stay in business. Good collection of sci-fi paperbacks.
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Jamjuree
Category:
Thai Restaurants
509 15th Ave E
Seattle, Washington 98112
(206) 323-4255
In addition to vibrant food, Jamjuree has warm, hospitable servers and a pleasing interior which encourages lingering conversation. The level of light always seems just right: you can see your...
In addition to vibrant food, Jamjuree has warm, hospitable servers and a pleasing interior which encourages lingering conversation. The level of light always seems just right: you can see your menu, but the candlelit tables make you want to settle in and stay awhile. My favorite dishes include the Larb Gai (spicy green salad) with squid, because I've had inedible versions of this at other Thai restaurants and Jamjuree's is addictively delicious. And they have a bathing Rama (peanut sauce and spinach on noodles) which is also deeply satisfying. I've never had a dish here that seems routinely slapped together, and yet their service is prompt and their prices very good. They are also very gracious about preparing to-go orders, and they have a steady stream of neighborhood folk who come in and order dinner to bring home.
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This is the best possible retreat from the kind of morning at home where no one can find the permission slip for today's field trip and the printer runs out of ink before the homework can get...
This is the best possible retreat from the kind of morning at home where no one can find the permission slip for today's field trip and the printer runs out of ink before the homework can get printed out. Grab a few dollars and escape out the door and go have a blessedly peaceful cup of coffee at a table where you can read today's paper and eat something buttery and fruity and just sweet enough, and be surrounded with an atmosphere of quiet simplicity. The women who run this place move back and forth smoothly between the baking area and the front counter, and the food couldn't be fresher.
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This is a small, cozy neighborhood video place with a much nicer feel than one of the big chain outlets. They have an exceptional selection, given their size, with cult oddities and director...
This is a small, cozy neighborhood video place with a much nicer feel than one of the big chain outlets. They have an exceptional selection, given their size, with cult oddities and director collections and indie films and tv series. The folks who work there are young and laid back, and it all has a very personal atmosphere. Parking can be a nuisance, but you can usually find something if you're patient.
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