Great Wallingford Wurst Festival

The days are getting shorter and a little chillier here in Seattle, but the outdoor festivals are still going on. Before we hole up in our homes avoiding the rain, we try to wrest every second of warm, sunny daylight out of the calendar. There's a big school fundraiser in my neighborhood that happens every fall, The Great Wallingford Wurst Festival. This benefit for St. Benedict Catholic School has been held annually for the past 30 years, and according to the school website, it attracts 10,000 visitors.

There's a lot more than wurst there, but that's what Chris and Oscar started their fair experience eating, while I opted for a grilled salmon sandwich. There are also burgers, hot dogs, ceasar salad, corn on the cob, pasta, Filipino food and a seriously giant bake sale that even includes soft serve ice cream.

It was so hard to choose what to get at the bake sale, but this cookie's packaging won me over. It tasted as good as it looks!

There are lots of jumpy-house type things and games for the kiddies, which sadly, Oscar's now too old for.

There were many, many crafts for sale. I love these dragons!

The Uncle Stinky's booth was mobbed!

Merchandise like this is obviously irresistible!

We spent a lot of money at the book sales. You can find terrific bargains in the used book room (there was a hardcover set of Collier's Children's Classics for $15), while new Scholastic books are sold in another room.

We arrived as Green Floyd, a Pink Floyd tribute band made up of the school's faculty and staff, including a priest, played selections from Dark Side of the Moon. I remember all the words to everything! I'm also a fan of the Portage Bay Big Band. There were 16 bands on the schedule for Friday and Saturday (Dudley Manlove Quartet played inside at the biergarten from 9 to midnight both nights).

This event is pretty much the best school fundraiser ever. See you next year, Wurst Festival!

'Zaw Artisan Pizza

I had surgery yesterday and can't eat solid food for a while. But that didn't stop me from buying today's Seattle Groupon deal: $15 for $30 worth of of 'Zaw pizza. When you cash in your Groupon, you get a punch card for $10 off on three pizzas, and you have to use it on three visits.

Of the pizza I've tasted in Seattle over the past year, 'Zaw is my favorite. Here's how much I love 'Zaw: My oven was broken for the entire summer, and the only reason this irritated me is that I couldn't get 'Zaw pizza, because you have to bake it at home. I recently had the oven repaired and got two 'Zaw pizzas that week.

What makes 'Zaw so good? First off, you can order it on the Internet and choose a pick-up time. Second, you could also have it delivered (they use bikes or scooters to have less negative environmental impact). Third, their produce and tomato sauce is organic, and they use local suppliers. But most importantly, their pizzas are interesting and delicious. There are so many combinations I'd like to try: Farmstand Veggie with oven-roasted summer squash, walla walla onions, large summer tomato slices, and mozzarella on ruby red sauce, finished with parmesan, basil, and fresh ground pepper; Cowardly Apricot with chicken breast, two styles of apricots, basil, and caramelized onion, with gorgonzola and mozzarella on an olive oil-painted crust; Shroom Fest with gently sautéed portabella, button, and crimini mushrooms, roasted red onion, fresh thyme, garlic, and asiago and mozzarella. But I love the Big Fat Greek (spinach, sundried tomatoes, roasted garlic, kalamata olives and free-range marinated chicken served on a base of housemade pesto, feta and mozzarella, with fresh oregano on top) so much that I keep ordering that one. And in case you were wondering, there are lots of meaty options as well.

I can't wait until I can eat 'Zaw pizza again. If you're not suffering from dietary restrictions, I urge you to order a high-end pizza today so I can eat it vicariously. And get the Groupon, because they're not cheap!

Acro-cats!

If the idea of seeing a cat walk while balanced on a ball makes you giddy, I highly recommend the Acro-cats show now playing at Stone Soup Theatre. What about a cat standing on its hind legs, holding up one paw next to a sign that says "Who's Number One?" Yep, these are the kind of insanely cute tricks performed by owner Samantha Martin's troupe of cats, ranging from adoptable kittens to old hands.

Samantha is a cat-lover turned trainer, and if you're all up in arms about cats being forced to perform, you should know that she rescues and fosters cats, and finds "forever" homes for them. She uses the clicker/treat reward system of training, and the "tricks" are based on normal cat behaviors. The Stone Soup Theater is quite small, so it really does feel like you're watching the show in Samantha's living room. (In fact, she told the audience that all the props and gear in the show are actually her living room furnishings.) Anyway, it's pretty hard to get a cat to do anything it doesn't want to do, so I didn't feel bad at all for them--and I hate zoos and circuses that keep animals in captivity. These domestic cats seem happy.

Back to the show: Along with the cats, there are a few rats, a couple of chickens, and a groundhog(?!) who rides in a wagon pulled by an RC car. There's also a cacophonous music segment, with cats playing guitar, keyboard, drums, chimes, cowbell, and a chicken playing tambourine and cymbals. The show's in Seattle until September 1, so go see it! A couple of insider tips: You can buy tickets at at the door no problem (at least last night), but I recommend getting there early so you can get a front-row, center seat AND so you can listen to the cat-themed music before the show ("Stray Cat Strut" by The Stray Cats, "Year of the Cat" by Al Stewart, and so on). Also, this is one place you won't be out of place wearing that cat sweatshirt your grandma gave you, or your Halloween cat ears (but if you forget them, you can buy some at the show!)

Hosting guests from Japan

Ever since I began working for a Japanese company back in San Francisco, Oscar's been quite interested in Japan, and now he's been learning the language at school. And every year his school hosts students from Tokyo's Shukutoku Sugamo Middle School, so we signed up to be a host family for a weekend. It's a good way to get a taste of hosting exchange students, and it's just a three-night commitment. Chris met our students after school on Friday, they stayed through the weekend, and went back to school with Oscar on Monday morning.

In their suits and penny loafers, Koto and Ryunosuke looked strikingly different from the rumpled T-shirt-and-jeans-wearing kids at Hamilton. They were painfully shy, didn't smile, and either were too shy to speak or just didn't know very much English at all. Uh-oh.

I'd been thinking about them a lot before they got here, and asked everyone for ideas of what to do with them. I compiled a list of activities for each day and night, along with menus. I wanted to give them a good taste of typical American life.

Over the weekend, we ate pizza, salad, hamburgers, spaghetti, bacon and eggs, pancakes, and french toast, and lots of different fruits. We made s'mores on the barbecue grill. We ate on a barge on Lake Union at Ivar's Salmon House. To their credit, they tried some of everything that was offered to them. I'm not sure if they actually liked the food or if they were just being polite, but they ate a lot more than I thought they would! Judging from portion sizes, I'd say they definitely liked the watermelon and s'mores, but I guess 14-year-old boys eat a lot no matter what. When the kids were allowed to choose their own snacks from a museum cafe, they took a long time selecting what they wanted! They both picked ice cream cones and a soda. Ryunosuke's strawberry Fanta was too sweet, and I offered to get him a new drink. He took a long time picking out another one--finally deciding on peach tea--and got some disgusting nachos with fake cheese as well. Blech.

We took the boys canoeing on Lake Union, to the Ballard Locks, to see the King Tut exhibit at the Pacific Science Center, and we rode the monorail to Gameworks arcade downtown. They fell asleep often; they were still quite tired and jet-lagged even though they had been in Seattle for a few days before we met them. The only time they really seemed like they were relaxed and having fun was when they were playing videogames together. Oscar was able to play with them, and the language barrier seemed to evaporate.

All in all, in was frustrating trying to communicate with our guests, but I feel like maybe even if my Japanese was better and their English was better, they still might've felt too awkward to have conversations. I felt victorious every time we actually exchanged information. For example, I learned that Ryunosuke had been in the U.S. two times before, once when he was very small, and once to Portland. I learned that their favorite sight in Seattle was "downtown."

Oscar enjoyed having the kids stay with us, and wants to sign up to host again next year. It seems there are plenty of opportunities to host students in Seattle. If any Seattleites are interested in hosting a Japanese student, Azumano International is looking for 50+ more families to host students this summer for one- to three-week stints. (The kids will attend ESL classes at UW or SPU in the morning and do sightseeing and cultural activities with their class in the afternoons.) If you're interested, contact Megan or Sharon at seattle.edu@azumano.com.

Tilth

Mother's Day is probably the one of the most popular days to eat out at a nice restaurant. Count me in! I got a reservation for an early dinner (brunch was booked, alas!) at Tilth, a neighborhood place featuring organic, locally sourced food. Besides having delicious cuisine, it's a super cute place, located in a green Craftsman house with a lovely outdoor eating area and excellent service. According to the restaurant's website, Tilth was voted one of the best new restaurants in the country in 2008. Its executive chef and owner, Maria Hines, is a James Beard Award winner for Best Chef of the Northwest, as well as one of Food & Wine Magazine’s 10 Best New Chefs of 2005.

Luckily, it was a beautiful sunny day, so we got to eat outside. We opted to get the five-course tasting menu; I got the vegetarian version and Chris and Oscar got the carnivore version. The first course, savory apple soup with a gruyere and caramelized onion-topped crouton, was Chris and Oscar's favorite. My favorite was the second course, roasted garlic flan with cauliflower, green onion, and caper. I also had carnaroli risotto with firm chunks of carrot, stinging nettle, and pine nuts and house-made potato gnocchi with English peas, morel mushrooms, and lemon thyme. (Oscar and Chris had sablefish and hangar steak for the last two courses.) For dessert, we got chocolate ganache cake with cocoa cream and a salt-topped chocolate cookie the size of a pencil eraser. It was a great meal, and even Oscar ate most everything, and at least tried everything.

Tilth's menu changes monthly, which makes me think it might be a good idea to visit at least seasonally! I'm still determined to eat brunch there one of these days. I need a special occasion. Or a visitor! Anyone?!

Free Comic Book Day

Today is the first Saturday in May, which is one of my favorite holidays: Free Comic Book Day! It's such a fun way to preview the latest comics from all types of publishers. The best contain complete stories; some have previews of a few pages of several titles the publisher is promoting. There's even a full-cover hardcover freebie anthology of Mouse Guard this year. There's a huge array of samples, but the stores I've been to set limits on the number you can take. Last year at our local Oakland, California store the limit was three; at our neighborhood store in Seattle today the limit is six, but either way if you bring several family members, you can get a good supply of reading material for free! Be careful of flip comics or you might pick up the same comic twice like I did: Even though it was clearly labeled as a flip comic on both sides, I didn't realize that Anna & Froga and Moomin Valley Turns Jungle were two sides of the same comic. I was too excited by the Anna & Froga artwork (check out the pic of the worm, cat and frog below). So pretty!

Our local comic book seller, Comics Dungeon, was mobbed when Oscar and I arrived at 11 a.m. Besides shelves of free comics, the store has marked down its kids' comics by 35% and its graphic novels and trade paperbacks by 25%; T-shirts and toys are also on sale. Like most of the crowd in Comics Dungeon, we took advantage of the lowered prices. (The cashier told me Free Comic Book Day is by far the busiest day of the year!) I got a hardcover Nancy book by one of my favorite old-school artists, John Stanley; Oscar bought a Skullboy Army comic. In terms of comics, I gravitate to the all the kids' comics, and my favorites consistently come from Fantagraphics and Drawn & Quarterly. I also love Bongo, Top Shelf, and Kaboom! And I should mention the Voltron Force comic that my friend Traci at VIZ Media edited is in Free Comic Book Day preview form as well. (I don't know anything about Voltron Force and generally avoid the superhero-type action stuff, but I know if Traci worked on it, it's awesome!)

Anyway, free comic book day goes on all day long, so be sure to hit up your local shop!

Teacher love at Kidd Valley

It's hard to be a non-meat-eater in a meat-loving family, so I'm always looking for options that we'll all like. Since I also try not to eat fried foods (i.e., the fish sandwich is usually not a good option for me), it can be difficult in an on-the-run situation to find anything that I want to eat. My favorite fast-food place in Wallingford is Kidd Valley for one reason: It serves genuine, original-style Garden Burger-brand garden burgers, which I find infinitely superior to the dreaded Boca burgers, and most other veggie or black bean burgers. Kidd Valley's hamburgers, fries, and onion rings are also Oscar- and Chris-approved, and their shakes -- hand-mixed with seasonal fruit, chocolate, or vanilla -- are reknowned.

Since it's spring break week here in Seattle, it's an excellent time to visit Kidd Valley with the kids, and while you're there, make sure you have them nominate their favorite Washington teacher for Kidd Valley Teacher of the Year. (Entries must be received by May 20, and you can also enter online, mail them in, or submit them at any Kidd Valley restaurant.) The winning teacher will get a $500 gift card for school supplies, and the student who nominated him or her will get a Kidd Valley Burger Party. My kid hates to write, and especially hates essays, but evidently he really loves his Japanese teacher because he immediately took an entry form -- unprompted -- and filled it out, including specific examples of why his teacher is the best. Good luck, Ms. McDonald!

Vintage book: The First Book of Words

I love vintage stuff in general, but I think my favorite vintage thing to collect is children's books. The First Book of Words: Their Family Histories is vintage at its anachronistic best, a window to its publication year of 1954. But a lot of this information is still relevant and is a great introduction to word history, covering English's Indo-European roots, the Norman conquest, Latin and Greek roots, the history of writing and printing, names and surnames, word evolution in the U.S. and words borrowed from other languages, and words formed from brand names, onomatopeia, prefixes and suffixes and slang. It's written in a very engaging way and I expect kids would learn a lot from it. I especially love the two-color art by Hungarian artist Laszlo Roth.

There's always stuff in old children's books that would never fly today, and this book is no exception.

Gotta love the '50s, when women were always pictured cooking, talking on the phone, or being a nurse.

I can just see the letters to the publisher about this entry for assassin.

My kid's elementary school in Oakland, California was always discarding books like this to make room for more politically correct and modern fare, so I "rescued" a lot of them. But this book is from Alphabet Soup in Wallingford.

Happy Pi Day!

Today is Pi Day -- 3.14! If you're thinking "We never had Pi Day when I was a kid," you're right, because it was created in 1988 by a San Francisco Exploratorium physicist and was recognized by the U.S. House of Representatives as a holiday in 2009. Last year, Oscar's 5th grade class celebrated by eating a bunch of parent-supplied pies.

I'm gonna take this opportunity to mention my favorite Wallingford cafe, Irwin's, which has couches and armchairs to curl up on on this cold, rainy day, as well as great sandwiches, pizza, and quiche, but above all else, amazing pie. Specifically, marionberry pie, served warm with fresh whipped cream. It's heavenly. There are three Irwin's locations in Seattle, so if you live near one, I suggest you celebrate Pi Day there.

Issian: Japanese stone grill

It's hard to believe, but I think it's true: I hadn't had sushi since I moved from San Francisco in JUNE. This past weekend, one of Chris's friends told him that the very best and most authentic izakaya in Seattle was right in our own neighborhood, so last night we tried it for ourselves. Issian is now Chris's favorite Seattle restaurant thus far.

We got there during Happy Hour (4:30-6:30), when you can order yakitori (grilled chicken) and yakiton (grilled pork) for $1 a skewer, gyoza for $3, edamame for $2 -- which is what we started with -- but they also have a bunch of other small plates (seaweed salad, fries with wasabi mayo, crispy chicken wings, agedashi tofu, korokke (croquettes) ...). Obviously you could make a whole meal out of these appetizers, but I really wanted sushi, so we also had some of that (sadly, not at Happy Hour prices). The stone grill method of cooking kept the meat juicy and tender. Yum!

There's a big menu of saki and beer, but I wanted to try something new, so I ordered Takara Plum Wine. It comes on the rocks, and I LOVE it -- and truthfully, I was actually expecting to hate it. The taste reminded me of a Shirley Temple (though it's not fizzy), and while it's definitely sweet, I didn't think it was overly sweet. Oscar had a Ramune, a lemon-lime soft drink that comes in a glass bottle stopped with a marble. Anyway, every scrap of food was consumed. Oishii -- delicious! We will definitely be back!