November 2012

By Holly Brown

We have so much to be thankful for this holiday season. Thanksgiving Day itself is a wonderful gift of family, food, and friends. Here’s how we get things cooking at our place, starting with the bird. Our turkey gets the “Three B’s” at Thanksgiving. Brine, Butter, and Basting – for a moist and tasty bird every time!

Brine: combine 1 cup of sea salt to about 2 gallons of liquid. Use 1 gallon of apple cider + 1 gallon of water. Add herbs to the brine. Use rosemary, oregano, clove, etc. You really can’t hurt the brine.

Butter: separate the skin from the breast and push a softened butter mixture in between the meat and skin (you’ve got to be careful not to tear the skin) . Make a paste of softened butter, salt/pepper, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Take the remaining butter paste and smear it on the outside of the skin too.

Baste: make a baste of butter (about a pound) + a bottle of white wine + a quart of chicken stock. You’ll need more than you think. Baste every 30-40 minutes.

Jenna Richter, the dance instructor for Gildenfire Dance is teaching a very special class on Tuesday, Nov. 20. The class is FREE with 2 cans of food for ages 2-4 with parent or caregiver to benefit the West Seattle Food Bank.

The class will be 10:45am at Highland Park Improvment Club and is open to residents of West Seattle and White Center. The address is 1116 SW Holden Street.

The class is Creative Movement. Richter said, "We will do a Brain Dance Warm-Up, play some dance games like Freeze Dance and Underwater Adventure, do a Dancing Story and end with an amazing obstacle course and open play time for kids to practice their hula-hooping, somersaulting, mini-trampoline, ball skills and free dancing with scarves."

If you have questions you can contact Richter at 206.818.9105.

A fire in the basement of a home at 8506 14th SW drew what is now typically heavy response from the Seattle Fire Department just after 11pm, Saturday night, Nov. 17.

The home, on a small ridge on 14th was one block south of Thistle Street and had clearly suffered visible damage but SFD on the scene had not ascertained the cause or the extent of the damages. They did confirm that no one was hurt in the blaze.

We will update this story once more information is available.

UPDATE 1:00PM Dec. 1
The first bus load of children for the West Seattle Rotary Club's 41st Annual Christmas Shopping Spree arrived around 6:45am at the Starbucks Headquarters but volunteers had arrived long before that. In a tradition that has grown from 9 children the first year, to now 100 children, under privileged children from West Seattle area elementary schools were given warm coats, shirts and more in the event. The kids (and volunteers) were first given breakfast at the SODO Kitchen on the 3rd floor of the Starbucks Building on 1st Ave. South. Then the kids were given socks, coats and were fitted for shoes. Volunteers then took them next door to Sears where with a pre-set budget (and a special discount from Sears) they went shopping for clothes. Later photos with Santa and singing were on the program.

By Holly Brown

Celebrating Fall Harvest is a rich tradition among the viticulture community. The “crush” period begins when wine grapes start to change color in mid to late summer. Picking, de-stemming, crushing, and fermentation occur between August and November. Grape harvest in our state this year will be the largest ever according to The Washington State Wine Commission, so there’s a lot to celebrate! It’s easy and fun to throw a Harvest “Crush” Party. Just follow these steps for a great event with food, wine and friends!

Step 1 – Start with Wine Selection
Select wines that suit your taste. You can focus on locally made, boutique, or small batch wines. Or ask guests to bring their favorite varietals and do a taste test. You can even create a theme around an import like Spanish or French wine, or focus on a specific region or appellation. You can also keep it simple and ask guests to bring a bottle of wine that reflects a great experience they had discovering that particular label or vintage. There are so many ways to make wine tasting and storytelling the focus of the evening.

Step 2 – Plan Your Menu

During opening night of the independent film, "Old Goats" at the Tin Theater in Burien Nov. 17, owner Dan House took the stage and kvelled (Yiddish for 'bursted with pride, and then some') about one of the film's stars, Benita Staadecker. He then introduced her.

House explained how he met Benita, 65. "Two weeks ago at the Uptown Cinema I came in with my wife, and there were only two seats left, in the very back row, and I look over and start talking to Benita and Charlie." Charlie is her husband. "She asked me, 'Do you have a theater? You do? You should show my movie, "Old Goats.'" I go, 'We're showing it in two weeks.'"

Benita and Dan hit it off. When introduced, she told Dan and the audience, which included Dan's mother, Chirlee, "You should all be proud with what you have done with the theater, the restaurant next door, with Burien."

She said, "This has been an experience that is almost out-of-body. It has led to a path that I never thought I would see, and I have to say I don't come on for 37 minutes but I am worth waiting for. My name (in the film) is Cynthia Reilly and I play a wealthy widow."

The first round of holiday open houses in West Seattle saw brave West Seattlites out in the junction despite the wind and rain to visit Junction True Value Hardware, Northwest Art and Frame, JF Henry, and Carmilia's (celebrating ten years!) as they hosted visitors with an array of goodies and special bargains.

These retailers got an early start on the season but more are coming up in the next few weeks of course. The Husky Deli open house, always an annual favorite, is set for Nov. 30 and Capers is Dec, 1st and 2nd 10 to 6 on Saturday and 11 to 5 on Sunday.

UPDATE: 12 Noon 12/1
The 66th annual West Seattle Kiwanis club Pancake breakfast was marked by a huge turnout, with the parking lot and adjacent streets full, and people inside all chowing down on pancakes, juice, coffee and ham supplied by the Husky Deli. Councilmember and mayoral hopeful Tim Burgess showed up to work an hour on the pancake grill and Boy Scout Troop 284 was there helping serve the juice and coffee. Hi-Yu Royalty showed up to sell their very special Christmas ornament ($20 at www.hiyu.com) and the Marines were in attendance to get draw more attention to Toys for Tots.

Original post
Members of Kiwanis West Seattle are selling tickets for the 66th annual West Seattle Community Pancake Breakfast, scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 1 at the Alki Masonic Building, located at 4736 40th Ave. S.W. The pancakes will be hot off the griddle from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. accompanied by orange juice, coffee and a slice of the Husky Delicatessen’s premier Canadian ham. As always, the proceeds go toward funding the club’s community service activities, especially those focused on children and local teens.

The amazing animated light display at the Helmstetler House got their final tune up this past week and are now ready to rock. The West Seattle Herald was given an exclusive first look at this years show and it's going to be remarkable.

The house is located at 3908 SW Charlestown.

Photographers David Rosen and Patrick Robinson were shown a full song from the 2012 show that lighting Choreographer Jim Winder has set up. "Once There Was A Snowman" by Insideout A Capella is a hilarious take on the snowman song that uses parody versions of famous songs all revolving around a snowman theme. See the video for the full effect.

The display starts up on Thanksgiving night but the real opening is set for Saturday, Nov. 24 at 7pm. The previous coverage on the light display is here. and for more information check the site http://www.westseattlelights.com . The show will run from 5pm to 9pm Thanksgiving night and Friday night. The Saturday night show starts at 7pm and features recording artist Judy Pancoast in an exclusive concert.

Full story, updated 5:30 p.m.:

Don Farquharson is the name of the homeless man who was found dead Saturday morning, Nov. 17, in the Ballard Commons Park, according to a man named Byron, who said he was friends with him for about thirty years.

According to Byron, Farquharson was in his fifties and was Eskimo and Tlingit. Farquharson was from Alaska, having grown up in Juneau and lived in Anchorage before coming down to Seattle. Before he became homeless, he was a longshoreman, Byron said. Farquharson has one son, DJ, who is 15 and lives in South Seattle, Byron said.

Byron said he was drinking alcohol with Farquharson last night, the night before he was found dead. Byron had left Farquharson at about 9:00 p.m., he said, and told Farquharson that he would come back. However, Byron said he had ran into a party and did not come back until the next morning, when he found the park taped off by police. It was then that Byron learned his friend had died sometime during the night.

"I said, 'What do you mean he's dead? I just saw him last night!" Byron said.