Topic

Seattle

A collection of 48 issues

Modern Love rejected.

Laura and me. Seattle, 2005. In July, I submitted the following essay to the New York Times Modern Love column. Sadly, it was rejected: Dear Callie Neylan, Thank you for sending your writing to Modern Love. Although we have decided not to use your essay, we are grateful for the

On fizz and fog.

Oslo, Mies, and me. Seattle’s Discovery Park, December 2012. Only the head of a Dublin pint froths like that. Milky white density; super foam. Unless you count the merinque of that baked Alaska I made one time. One time when I was young and married and living in a

He Swims the Salish Sea.

On the water was a man, bobbing like a thread. White arm flashing rhythmically, legs watercolored shadows, scissors under the Salish Sea. Nautical, unchained. On the water was a dog. Aussie or… no, Brittany Spaniel maybe. Rusted cheek and white brow followed him on circled laps. Loyalty, unfeigned. On the

Friday, October 4th. The shoes I wore to meet the architect....

would have been these boots had I actually met him. I didn’t, though. Mark came by the house last Friday to take measurements while I was at work. Here’s what we learned: 1). Our foundation does not meet code and is basically worthless as far as this remodel

Plotting the history of food in Seattle.

Thanks to my friend Aly at NPR for recommending it and the Neiman Lab for creating it: Timeline JS. I’m using it to plot the history of food in Seattle, research for the book I’m writing.

On Seattle, hungry musicians, and the culinary arts.

Coffee, salmon, berries, kale, fennel, lavender, rosemary, hops, beer, wheat, wine, oysters, clams and Dungeness crab. These are foods and flavors of the Pacific Northwest. But in addition to things indigenous to this region, Seattle is also on the Pacific Rim, making it a great hub for Asian food. The

Tuesday, December 23. The shoes I wore to meet the architect....

weren’t worn to meet the architect at all. They were worn to meet the builder. The designs aren’t final yet, but they’re close enough to show schematic drawings to builders. So we’re interviewing builders now, meeting skilled craftsmen and professional construction managers to hear about design

On how good design makes food taste better.

I never knew I was a foodie gourmande until I didn’t have access to good food. Misery loves company, and some of my first conversations with my friend Paolo, who moved to D.C. from the West Coast about a year or so after I did, were about how