Mini-reviews

A short while ago I wrote several 100- to 200-word blurbs about some of my favorite Seattle things, past and present. They didn't run where I hoped they would, so I've decided to publish them here.

Empire Ice Cream
Got a hankering for some beet sorbet? How about a little saffron ice cream? Part of Seattle’s artisanal ice cream trend, Empire, like its similarly adored competitor Molly Moon’s, is anything but plain vanilla. Several friendly guys and gals from the little company’s Queen Anne headquarters travel each week to the Ballard and University District farmers markets to hawk their delectable wares. Can’t make it to market? Queen Anne’s Paragon Restaurant & Bar has Empire’s stuff on the menu, and the neighborhood’s Eat Local food store carries it, too.

Café Razor
Stylist Mallory Fry liked working at Rudy’s University District salon, but this year she decided to strike out on her own. Razor’s punny name – it’s in the back of the U District club Café Racer, a hidden gem in its own right – reflects Fry’s playful attitude toward her work. So does the art on the walls, which evokes a bohemian French painter’s studio, or maybe just an out-of-the-way Pioneer Square gallery. The tiny salon’s sole chair offers a view of Racer’s stage, and Fry’s late weekend hours – she cuts until 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday – allow customers to take in a show while they get a trim. (Featured musical acts have included everything from New York psychedelic rock to homegrown old-timey folk.) Fry is charming and chatty, so you don’t have to sit in awkward silence. And, lest we forget, she’s excellent with hair – women’s and men’s alike. Her work at Rudy’s familiarized her with a wide variety of heads, so whether you’re yearning for a radical new look or simply maintaining an old favorite, she’s up to the task. 5828 Roosevelt Way NE, 206.428.8372.

Washington Ensemble Theatre
This is fringe theater as it was meant to be. Founded by a pack of University of Washington alums, WET has made its reputation as a place that debuts new works by up-and-coming playwrights. But it’s also a theater devoted to the strength of the ensemble, which currently includes the prodigiously talented Elise Hunt and (co-founder) Michael Place. In addition, the QTET program (Queer Teen Ensemble Theatre) gives local LGBT youth a chance to create original plays. A recent production, Titus, was a new adaptation of Shakespeare’s gory drama, with an emphasis on the play’s timely themes of political prisoners, betrayal, and torture. Even when it comes to the Bard, WET puts fresh ideas onstage.

Denny Blaine Park
Madison Beach Park is a fun summer spot, but it can get pretty crowded. If you want cool water, soft sand, and a mellower atmosphere, Madison’s little sister, Denny Blaine, might be the place for you. A small, semi-secluded Lake Washington beach tucked beside a grassy park, this underrated oasis attracts a diverse crowd: kids, couples, retirees, and tourists. It doesn’t offer the glamour of the upscale Madison Park neighborhood within stumbling distance, but sometimes all you need on a hot July afternoon is a place to take a dip and sunbathe your cares away.

Ravenna Alehouse
The “RavTav,” as it’s known among locals, used to be called the Ravenna Tavern, and folks say it was a genuine dive, seedy as they come. The Alehouse, on the other hand, is the kind of dive you actually want to go back to. It’s remarkably unpretentious for Seattle’s tony North End. Sure, there’s a digital jukebox, but there’s also pool, Taco Tuesdays, good local beer (among many other choices), and a clientele that’s always ready for a good time. And did we mention that the cook’s name is Cookie? 2258 NE 65th St, 206.729.9083.

It has benefits, just not the usual kind

Yep. I'll likely be heading down the West Coast in early June; in July, it's on to Europe; and eventually I'll say goodbye to Seattle. But you know what? For now my job is going to Madison Beach Park, as I did today, and soaking up some rays. I had a fantastic last day: a mellow six hours at work, root beer floats (organic root beer + Häagen-Dazs = awesomeness), a nice time at the beach with Sarah from work, and a festive last-day-of-work dinner at Cafe Lago with Alka. Oh, and also tea at 22 Doors with Alka and Matty, whose Dreamlets will be featured May 23 on NWsource.

Tomorrow it's off to the Seattle Cheese Festival with Reed, possibly preceded by coffee with Nichole. And Sunday is my guitar recital at Piecora's, and another edition of the writing workshop. And Monday... picnic lunch with Sarah DeWeerdt in Lake City! Very exciting. I'll hopefully also be finding some time to plan for the coming months' travels. And maybe looking into getting my car's tape player repaired?

Dueling inscriptions

Bought a copy of The Movie That Changed My Life: Great Writers on Their Favorite Films at Horizon Books on 15th Avenue East, partly for the content -- Joyce Carol Oates on Dracula! -- and partly for the fantastic inscription and counter-inscription. On a page that's a bit shorter than the others, and thus seems to have been inserted, is the following, handwritten in red pen:

D.

One might be a good bus book. The other, an interesting curiosity by one of our favorite authors.

V.

P.S. Don't leave the rat poison lying about in the garage.

This alone might have merited buying the book for a paltry $7, but wait -- there's more. "D." wrote back with a vengeance -- in fact, he or she (I have some strange intuition that it's a she) typed a response below the handwritten note from "V." And here it is:

I couldn't get into this one either. Sorry. I guess I'm just not interested in the opinions of people I don't know on movies I haven't seen. I've only seen 2 or 3 of these. I started "Bambi" but couldn't get into it, and I browsed a couple of pages in others, but didn't get anywhere. Thanks anyway.

In more than a year and a half of living on 15th, I'd never wandered into Horizon, always waiting for some excuse. Today, the friend I'd had brunch with at 22 Doors wanted to venture in, so we did. And I think it's safe to say the back-and-forth inscriptions made my day, and possibly even my week. I also picked up a 1984 Roger Ebert book, A Kiss Is Still a Kiss, that I'd previously borrowed from Michael but really wanted to own. Among the gems it contains: an interview with Woody Allen in which he, Woody, explains why women are "closer to what life's supposed to be about" than men, and a piece wherein Ebert accompanies Muhammad Ali to a screening of Rocky 2, which the legendary boxer picks apart both thoughtfully and hilariously, as is his way. Though I still love Ebert's writing, it's nice to look back at his golden years and recall how on fire he was back then.

Saw Margaret Cho at the Paramount last night and enjoyed her performance -- amazing that she can talk about sex for what feels like more than half the show and always find new angles and new absurdities. Her bits about recent political scandals, including Eliot Spitzer and Larry Craig, were also great, as was a joke about Iran. I'd try to recreate some of the best moments here, but Cho is so much about inflection, body language, and facial expressions that it'd be pointless, and probably offensive. Her delivery is what lets her get away with as much as she does; in that way she's like Sarah Silverman, though Cho's humor is more consistent, albeit with fewer big laughs. (She gets a lot of smaller ones and misses less often than Silverman, who can be positively flat or absolutely incandescent within the same minute.)

Breezed by the "Roman Art from the Louvre" exhibit at SAM last night, which I realize is heresy, but it was after 12:30 a.m. and I was tired, and the statues just looked liked... statues. I also checked out Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream yesterday afternoon, and realized a few things:

1. Molly Moon's is as hip as Wallingford is ever going to get, outside Babalu
2. Cardamom ice cream is excellent
3. A little salted caramel ice cream goes a long way
4. Lemon is not to be passed over; despite its ordinariness, it's probably one of the best flavors
5. Owner Molly Moon Neitzel's dog, Parker Posey (who appears in the shop's logo, which I've posted above), is very cute
6. Kids with chocolate ice cream smeared all over their faces are always entertaining
7. Wallingford -- the neighborhood I lived in when I first moved to Seattle, way back in January of 2002 -- can be pretty wonderful