aka Steve - Just another WordPress site

Bad vegetarian news: Healthy Hedon has closed. “An experience in vegetarian decadence,” Healthy Hedon offered cuisine with multi-cultural influences including Caribbean, Korean, and Thai. All dishes were 100% vegetarian, some were vegan. Healthy Hedon, located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood (across the parking lot from the Half Price Books on Belmont Ave. E), opened in June 2006 and closed apparently in October last year. I dined there a few times and always enjoyed it. Then why didn’t I eat there more often? Because Capitol Hill is outside of the neighborhoods I usually haunt, and because Healthy Hedon’s prices were kind of expensive.

Good vegan news: The fabulous, 100% vegan Pizza Pi has a new “meatball” sub sandwich. The Boyfriend (TB) tried it last night. The meatball sub is natively plain, with chopped sausage, a yummy sauce, and cheese. But you can add to it (that costs extra, of course). TB added onion, green pepper, and mushroom to his. I tried a bite, it was delicious. Tami and Colin, Pizza Pi’s owners, are also working on a Philly cheesesteak-style sandwich. I can see I have a lot of “field work” to do in the coming weeks. Pizza Pi’s Web site is still in limbo. Tami and Colin are trying to get it running again. In the meantime, you can e-mail them at PizzaPiVegan@aol.com. Pizza Pi is in the U District at 5500 University Way NE.

Other restaurant updates: Tibet First, in the U District on 12th Ave. E. (around the corner from Chaco Canyon Cafe), has also closed. Tibet First was vegetarian- and vegan-friendly. A sushi restaurant will replace it.

Jhanjay Vegetarian Thai Cuisine’s Web site is now working. Jhanjay‘s menu is 100% vegetarian with many vegan options. The staff are friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful. The chefs present the food beautifully.

This morning while The Boyfriend (TB) and I surfed the Internet at different PCs in his computer room, Beta strolled in, made himself comfortable in a box full of castoff stuff (power cords, paperwork, computer disks, etc.) and started purring. I told TB I didn’t know why somebody didn’t make a “white noise” CD of a cat purring–it’s a calming, relaxing sound. TB replied, “Maybe somebody does.” He did a Google search, and here’s what he found: Cat’s Purr CD by Chet Day.

Yeah, I’m probably going to get one.

The Boyfriend and I made vegan crepes for brunch today and, much to our surprise, this guy joined us:
[thumb:1601:l]
I don’t have a Jesus Pan, so I’m not sure who this is.
[thumb:1600:l]
Santa Claus? Albert Einstein?

Doesn’t matter. I ate him. With pumpkin butter, soy whipped cream, and a sprinkling of powdered sugar. Yum!

The good news: Pizza Pi, which seemed in danger of closing a few months ago, is still in business. New owners officially took over December 1. The menu features old favorites such as the Phoni-Pepperoni pizza and the Sausage, Grilled Onions, and Spinach calzone plus new additions such as green salad. Located at 5500 University Way NE in the U District, Pizza Pi is Seattle’s only all-vegan pizza place. (As of this writing, their Web site is down. The Boyfriend (TB) and I have talked with the new owners a couple of times; they’re working to get the site back up.)

The bad news: The Globe Cafe & Bakery (1531 14th Ave.) closes forever on December 31. This 99.9%* vegan restaurant has been around for at least 17 years. The soon-to-be-former owner has worked there all that time and owned it for the past five years. The Globe owner told TB and me that the building owner blocked a potential sale to someone who would have kept the place vegan. Instead, it will become an “all meat” Italian restaurant. The Globe owner didn’t say why he decided to close. I suspect The Globe is a casualty of the gentrification and homogenization of the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Parking in the area has always been sparse. With all the new condos that have sprung up in the past few years, the parking situation has gotten worse. Not only is it difficult to find free parking, the area has lost some pay parking lots. And while Capitol Hill used to be a bastion of “alternative” lifestyles, that seems to be changing. I think the Hill still has an active, vibrant gay community. However, the neighborhood just doesn’t feel as unique and funky as it used to. For example, the former Broadway Market had a variety of great little shops, carts, and kiosks plus a movie theater. It’s now a huge QFC grocery store.

Sad. Very sad.

* Dairy milk and butter options. Not that it matters for much longer.

From today’s (Nov. 29, 2007) New York Times: “Laptops, digital cameras and MP3 music players are among the hottest gift items this year. For preschoolers.” (You might need to be “a registered member of NYTimes.com” to access this article. If so, it’s free, it’s easy, and they won’t e-mail anything to you unless you allow them to.)

The kitties have been living with The Boyfriend for a little more than year now.

October of last year:
[thumb:1599:l]

Last weekend:
[thumb:1596:l]

As you can see, both kitties have grown a lot.
[thumb:1598:l][thumb:1597:l]

They’ve settled in quite well—they no longer hide behind the toilet. Probably because they can no longer fit in that little space—not at the same time, anyway. Alpha no longer hisses for no reason. Beta meows almost nonstop. (We think he’s bored, in spite of the million or so kitty toys scattered around the house.) And both kitties have developed a sophisticated method for dealing with their humans: if we chase after them (for example, to get them to stop chewing on the houseplants), they start to run away, then plop down on their sides on the floor. And then we pet them. Quite an effective defense mechanism, don’t you think?

As the saying goes: The cats aren’t spoiled, their humans are just well-trained.

I spotted this bike during a recent meander in Ballard:
[thumb:1589:l]
These photos are from 20/20 Cycle (2020 East Union, in Seattle’s Central neighborhood), which The Boyfriend (TB) and I visited last weekend:
[thumb:1588:l][thumb:1590:l][thumb:1591:l]
20/20 has cool bikes and friendly, knowledgeable staff.

TB and I walked a few blocks down 21st Ave., just around the corner from the bike shop, and I spotted TB’s favorite kind of car: a Mini.
[thumb:1595:l]
This particular one is a Rover Mini. (Sorry about the blurriness. I was aiming to blur just the license plate, but this is the best I could do.)

Back in Ballard, we saw this 1958 Morris Minor pickup.
[thumb:1594:l][thumb:1593:l][thumb:1592:l]

The Minor brings back memories. About 30 years ago, my dad had a friend who owned a Morris Minor Traveller, which looked like this (except painted brown).

Wandering around the neighborhood this afternoon, I noticed a number of “bad thing indicator” lights flashing near the Ballard Bridge. And absolutely no traffic going onto or coming off of the bridge. I asked a local businessdude if he knew what was going on. He replied, “No, but it’s been this way for a couple of hours.”

[album:266,0:c]

Back home, I hopped on the Internet to research the situation. What happened? The bridge opened at about 12:45 this afternoon to allow shipping traffic to continue up and/or down the canal. And got stuck. (Thank you, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, via Yahoo! News-Local.) This happens occasionally though, in my experience, not for such a long time.

When I saw it around 2:45, it didn’t look like the bridge decks were stuck in the “up” position. Maybe the bridge closed only mostly—not all of—the way, or maybe it wasn’t fully or reliably operational when I was there.

I thought maybe there had been an accident on the bridge following a brief but intense hail storm around noon:30. The hail was the size of peas. I live on the top (fourth) floor of my apartment building, and with the hail hitting the roof and my stove vent pipe, it was noisy!

[thumb:1586:l][thumb:1587:l]

(Second photo: Popcorn kernel on the left, for size comparison.)

[thumb:1581:l]

Vehicle lights and streetlights reflected on an aluminum door (Scott Galvanizing, 1520 NW Leary Way, Seattle).

[thumb:1580:l]

“You are domestically inclined and will be happily married.”

After eating lunch yesterday at Bamboo Garden, I cracked open my fortune cookie. (I don’t eat them—they aren’t vegan, the ingredients include eggs—I just like to read the fortune.)

I laughed out loud when I read this.

I am most definitely not “domestically inclined.” Unless that means that I like hanging out at home and/or napping.

As for the marriage part—I was married once, briefly, long ago, and the last year or so was very unhappy. Not surprisingly, it ended in divorce. I have no desire to get married again; between the failed marriage* and a subsequent bad roommate situation, I’ve learned I’m not good at living with someone else. And for me, you’re either in love and committed to the other person or you’re not, and an “official” piece of paper doesn’t make a difference.

The [never married] Boyfriend (TB) doesn’t want to get married, either; it’s one of those “important in a relationship” things we have in common. As TB says, “Marriage is a fine institution. But I don’t want to be institutionalized.”

* The divorce is quite successful.