Food and Drink

Happy Thanksgiving from the Beacon Hill Blog!

Vintage postcard courtesy of David Slack.
Happy Thanksgiving (a day early) and thank you for reading the Beacon Hill Blog! As has become traditional here at the BHB, here is a recipe for a Thanksgiving treat: my grandma’s pumpkin pie recipe. I’ve used this recipe many times and it is very good. If you forgot to get evaporated milk, this recipe will save the day for you—–it doesn’t use it, and you won’t miss it.

Pumpkin Pie

Start with 1 recipe pie crust. Set the uncooked shell aside. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Put 2 cups pumpkin (or one small can) into mixing bowl.

add: 2 eggs beaten slightly (Egg Beaters work just fine if you want it to be lower-fat)

add:
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla

then add:
1 c. scalded milk (skim milk works fine if you wish to use it, and so does soy milk)

Mix all together. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes, turn the heat down to 350, bake 45 minutes. It’s done when you can stick a knife in the middle and it comes out clean.

Makes 1 pie. For two pies, use a large can of pumpkin and double everything else exactly.

Enjoy!

I hope some of you will try this with a Seattle tradition: Emmett Watson’s famous Thompson Turkey, the recipe for which he used to publish every Thanksgiving in his Seattle Post-Intelligencer column (and later, in the Seattle Times). “You do not have to be a carver to eat this turkey. Speak harshly to it and it will fall apart.”

Meetings, Urban Planning

Early design guidance meeting scheduled for 12th Ave project

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The Design Review Board will gather for an early design guidance meeting on December 13 to discuss an apartment development project proposed for 1814 12th Ave. S., one block west of Beacon Hill Playground.

The proposal is to demolish the existing single-family residence on the site (which is zoned Lowrise 3) and build a four-story, 23-unit apartment building. There would be 12 underground parking spaces provided.

At an early design guidance meeting such as this one, applicants present information about the site and the project. Public comment is then allowed, and the members of the Design Review Board will give their comments and suggest guidelines for the continuation of the development project.

The meeting is on Tuesday, December 13 at 8 p.m., at the WellSpring Family Services Center community room, 1900 Rainier Ave. S. For further information, contact planner Bruce Phillip Rips, at 206-615-1392.


The site of the proposed apartment building. View a larger map at Google Maps.

Local Events

St. George’s Holiday Bazaar promises food, gifts, and music

Warm up your wallet for a local gift shopping opportunity! St. George School is hosting the Annual Holiday Bazaar on Sunday, December 4, from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. in the school’s gathering hall at 5117 13th Ave. S. They promise artists, crafters, and other vendors, as well as food and entertainment for the whole family. Admission is free.

Vendors will be there to sell handmade scarves and other knitwear, jewelry, and toys. There will also be representatives of Avon, Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, Tupperware, Theo Chocolate, Choice Teas, and more. Poinsettias donated by Georgetown’s Rosso Gardens will be available.

Food available will include a continental breakfast, Ivar’s clam chowder, and pancit.

The entertainment schedule is as follows:

  • 9:00 Bottom Line Duo (The Hoveskeland family)
  • 10:00 Roque Brothers (Filipino singers)
  • 11:00 Chuck Lind (Pianist)
  • 12:00 St. George Children’s Choir
  • 1:00 Unica Le (Pianist)

Here’s the St. George Children’s Choir performing “One Small Voice” earlier this year:

Life on the Hill

Mean cat bullies humans and cats alike

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Neighbor Kasey writes with a plea for feline peace. Is this about your cat?

There’s a cat in our part of the neighborhood (19th and Stevens) that has shown aggression toward felines and humans alike. Not a night goes by without the terrifying sounds of a cat fight alerting all of the dogs on the block. This buff-colored, medium-haired cat is small to medium in size and ruthlessly stalks indoor/outdoor kitties. My own cat has been bullied by the predator for about the last four months and I can’t seem to get it to leave him or our yard alone. He or she has also fought with our housemates’ cat as well.

I wish I had more information to share, but I would really appreciate taking the chance that the cat’s owner isn’t aware of how mean it is to other animals. I don’t want to see it end up at the Seattle Animal Shelter, but that’s my next call.

Meetings, Urban Planning

Design Review Board to discuss 25th Ave apartment project

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The Design Review Board is holding a public meeting on December 13 to discuss the development project proposed for 2715 25th Ave. S. and 2615 25th Ave. S., on the east slope of Beacon Hill just west of the Rite Aid/QFC building. (Meeting announcements are here and here.)

The project proposes the construction of two 7-story apartment buildings with a combined total of 307 units, including parking for 297 vehicles. The lots currently contain five mid-century single family homes.

See the DPD permit information here and here.

An Early Design Guidance Meeting was held on June 28 to discuss this project. Here is the project report presented by the development team at that time. You can read a summary of the meeting and the guidance from the Design Review Board here. At the December 13 meeting, the applicants will present the revised design and discuss how they have responded to the priorities and concerns brought up at the Early Design meeting. The public is invited to attend and comment.

The meeting is on Tuesday, December 13, at 6:30 p.m. in the WellSpring Family Services community room at 1900 Rainier Ave. S.

This was one possible site plan shown at the June Early Design Guidance meeting. At the December 13 meeting, the public will be able to see how the concept has changed.
Crime

Crime notes: Neighbor reports assault by laughing, bat-wielding teenagers

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Neighbor Dayna writes about a scary situation near 13th and Snoqualmie on Tuesday night:

“While walking home from the bus at 6:45pm Tuesday night, my neighbor (40ish-something male) was jumped and beaten with a baseball bat by about a half-dozen teenage boys. The boys didn’t rob him, but laughed as they were swinging the bat at his head before jumping in a car that was waiting for them. He was only a block away from his house, which by the way is also just a few blocks from Maple park and Maple school. It has shaken up our neighborhood. We’ve also had a few home break-ins this past week, more than usual back to back, but the violence against our friend and neighbor has hit us all hard. We’re just not sure what could have been done differently in this situation… A grown man, walking home from the bus in the early evening, attacked by young men while laughing. We’re just not sure what to think about this.”

Also in crime, we’ve been hearing about a few car prowls and burglaries in the last few weeks on the neighborhood mailing lists and in emails to the Beacon Hill Blog. Neighbor Josh writes:

“I wanted to report two of our cars at [the 2000 block of] S Horton St were broken into last night [11/15]. Both driver side windows were shattered and the cars were rummaged through with no significant items taken. I can’t count how many times our cars have been broken into but it’s unfortunate. We leave nothing valuable in the car but it seems to keep happening. Just wanted to get this info out to everyone.”

Another neighbor wrote in late October:

“Prowlers broke into both of my cars. 1 car on Monday night, and came back on Tuesday for wife’s car, alarms went off both times. Nothing much taken just an empty backpack.”

Some folks in the 1900 block South Lander Street must be feeling unsafe right now. On November 12, their residence was burglarized for the second time in two months. The burglar(s) got away with four credit cards, and promptly used one of them at Nike Town ($700+) and Starbucks ($200). Anyone in the area sporting new shoes and a new espresso machine?

Getting Around, Other Neighborhoods

Airport Way South Viaduct Construction to Begin November 28

The Airport Way South Viaduct in neighboring Georgetown, just north of South Lucile Street, will be closed to all traffic beginning on November 28 for up to 14 months while the bridge is rehabilitated by the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT).

Vehicles and pedestrians will be detoured to Fourth Avenue South via South Lucile and South Industrial Way, and bicycles will be detoured all the way west to First Avenue South via South Lander Street. (Which seems like a heck of a long detour.) Denver Avenue South and South Dawson Street between Lucile and Fourth will be used as a northbound truck detour route. See a map of the detour routes here.

Crews will work from 6 a.m to 5 p.m. weekdays, as well as on some nights and weekends. Expect traffic delays in the area.

The rehabilitation project includes seismic retrofitting of the 83-year-old bridge just west of Beacon Hill and I-5. The viaduct bears 13,000 vehicles daily.

The project website is here.

BH in the News, Local Business

Hello Bicycle gets some press

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Hello Bicycle has come a long way since they opened in Fall 2008. This is what their window looked like then. Photo by Jason Simpson.
Beacon Avenue bike shop Hello Bicycle has been very visible lately in both online and on-air media.

Last month, Seattle Pulp published “Hello Bicycle, goodbye bike snobs,” a profile of the shop and bicycle mechanic Sam Lettes:

“Somewhere in Seattle, one bicycle mechanic isn’t feeling smug. He’s not leering at shop patrons as they push their mangled machines through the shop door. He’s not belittling new customers who’ve never heard the word Shimano. And he’s happy to see penniless pre-teen BMXers hovering outside the shop door.”

Then yesterday, Hello Bicycle founder Miki Nishihata was interviewed on American Public Media’s Marketplace radio show, for a story about small businesses and technology by Steve Henn. You can read the interview or listen to it here.

Hello Bicycle is located at 3067 Beacon Ave. S.

Local Business

El Centro Christmas tree sale coming soon

Photo by Chip Harlan via Creative Commons/Flickr.
El Centro de la Raza is selling locally-grown Christmas trees and wreaths again this year, supplied by a local family-owned business. Proceeds from the sale will help support El Centro’s programs.

You can pre-order a tree before November 23 to receive a discount, and then pick out your tree from the El Centro tree lot between November 25 and December 21. Prices for trees range from $21-$80 until November 23, and $25-$85 from November 25-December 21. Wreaths are $18-$28 during the discount period, and $20-$30 afterward.

The order form is here. For more information, call 206-957-4605 or email execasst@elcentrodelaraza.org.