3 posts tagged “downtown living”

We have two inexpensive torchere-style lamps that the bases of fluorescent bulbs simply would not fit into - the wide part (ballast maybe?) of the compact fluorescents are just too wide for the way the lamps are made.  I was buying compostable Bio-bags on Gaiam and spotted these socket extenders.  They arrived today and work perfectly, allowing enough clearance that I can put those CF bulbs to use and ditch the incandescents.  You can probably find these at a local hardware store too.

By the way, if you live in an area that collects compostable garbage separately (as we do - Cleanscapes has special, less expensive, bright orange bags for it), or if you have a compost pile but want to collect a few days worth of scraps, the 3-gallon sized Bio-bags are terrific.  We drink a lot of tea and so have quantities of wet leaves (in addition to all the greasy cardboard pizza boxes and paper sandwich wrappers and various food waste) - they are collected in a Bio-bag lined covered dump bucket and removed to the special orange bag in the chest freezer every few days.  Once the bag is full, it's hauled out to the alley for pickup.

I know I keep saying this: I love living downtown.  Love love love love it.  After work last night - what should we do for dinner?  Order pizza?  Oh, we also need soap.  Let's go up to the market, maybe Soapbox is still open.  We can eat there too, at the brewery maybe?

And so we go.  Catch the bus across the street (any of them will do, and it's still Free Ride time).  As we lurch up 1st Ave, a ginormous parade of bicyclists come straight at us!  Is it the Dead Babies????  Is our favorite bicycling guy Tion among them???  R. thinks he spots him, right up front, but isn't certain.  The bicyclists keep coming, the entire block is filled with people on bikes.  They are stopped at a light - oh, not Dead Babies then?  No, they are far too many, a veritable swarm.  Several in costume - a handful of bunny ears are spotted, a zombie, others.  It was delightful, from our bus-borne perspective.

The Soapbox is closed when we get there just after 6.  We walk down to the brewery, past shops closed and closing.  Dinner is served by a bald giant with a booming voice and a theatrical bent, and the place is just loud loud loud.  The food is fine: braised brat with garlic mashed and apple sauerkraut for me, spicy chicken sandwich for R.  No beers for us though, just a diet soda and a rum and cola.  When we leave at 7:30, free bus rides are over for the night, so we walk the slightly downhill mile to home.  Life's pretty good here.

I had to be gone to the LA area for 9 days for work, and was so glad to return to cool, damp Seattle.  Things I love about our new neighborhood:  all kinds of food availability a few steps from our front door and Elliott Bay Books just across the street.  We had lunch yesterday at a pho shop (next to Marcus's Martini Heaven) - so terrific having a tasty soup restaurant just down the block, especially in the fall and winter.  Good fresh rolls too.

Last night we went to hear Harry Shearer (the voice of Montgomery Burns and others on the Simpsons, and the bass player from Spinal Tap) read from his novel Not Enough Indians downstairs at Elliott Bay Books.  His talk was interesting, especially his comments about New Orleans, and the questions that followed from the crowd were lucid and not too gushy-fanboy.  I have a feeling the book may be funnier to listen to than to read, but bought a text version anyway.  Things were over by 9 pm, and we stood in the signing line for a little while.  But I was too hungry to stay, so we bailed and wandered out into the early part of a Pioneer Square Saturday night.

There are huge crowds in our blocks of 1st Avenue South most evenings, but moreso on Friday and Saturday nights.  20-somethings surge out of the J&M and Central Tavern and the dance club south of Washington, jostling, smoking, posturing, playing rough, on the sidewalks.  Indian food sounded good, and we walked up to Flavor of India, which worries me because it is almost always empty and I want it to stay in business so I can get my curry fix sated at will.  The A-board outside said they were open until 10, but it lied.  At 9:15, they decided to be closed.  The Longhorn barbecue outpost next door was also closed.  The Taco del Mar was open, but well, no.  Thanks anyway, not tonight.  So we headed to our favorite new old standby, Trattoria Michelli, which is open until 4 am on Friday and Saturdays.  Bless them.  We shared a hot loaf of bread, drizzled with pesto and filled with thick creamy goat cheese, drank several glasses of the Michelli red (it is just brilliant that we can just stumble walk home!), and some tasty pasta dishes.  I had calamari added to my penne puttanesca, and it arrived with a giant pile of battered and fried goodness on top.  Mr. Jaq had something creamy and chickeny and sprinkled with toasted hazelnuts on fettucine.  Our waitress was dealing with what sounded like a wild crowd from Snohomish county in the next room, who were really whooping it up (they kept yelling at each other "INSIDE VOICE!!!  INSIDE VOICE!!!"), at least until their food arrived.

Today, there's a 1 pm Seahawks game, so it will be mayhem outside from 9 am (when the bars open) until about noon.  It's quiet in our apartment though, since our windows are on the alley side of the building.  We are definitely happy to be here.