Flickr junkie turned photojournalist
I'm on Now Public* as a contributing photographer again. This time, someone requested the use of some of my pictures of salmon at and from the Pike Place Market in Seattle. I don't know much about salmon supplies and how they affect people, but this may be a year to learn. The story claims British Columbia's First Nations people are facing a salmon shortage.
* Now Public is a participatory news network. Learn more here.
Oysters!
I had oysters for lunch today; woot! I visited Emmet Watson's Oyster Bar in Pike Place and had Hunter, Penn Cove, and Fanny Bay oysters. Oysters are salty and slippery and yummy and wonderful, and I'm very glad to have so many reasonably priced raw bar options here in Seattle. Emmet's was a nice place to start, and half a dozen little buggers set me back only $9.50. Hear that, Zingerman's Roadhouse? ($9.50 might get you three at my oyster spot in Ann Arbor.) Here's a peak at my tasty lunch:
Dessert came across the street at a fruit stand in Pike Place Market. White peaches are ripe and ridiculously juicy. I got peach juice all over my arm, but man, that was a fine fruit.
More poker, please
I arrived safely in Seattle yesterday and am settling in to my summer city. I tend to be a bit restless right after moves like this one, so I took myself to a very calming place last night - a poker room. Washington State has relatively liberal gaming laws that allow small (~10 table games, no slots) casinos, and some of those casinos have added poker rooms now that Texas Hold 'Em is booming. I checked online before I got here, and was led astray. Don't bother relying on the information you get by searching Yahoo! or Google for "seattle poker rooms." There is no poker room at the Riverside Casino in Tukwila. There is across the street at the Golden Nugget though. (Don't bother searching for Washington's gambling laws either; they don't make much sense. Bottom line, gambling's around.)
The Golden Nugget had two games running - $3/6 limit and $4/8 limit. I play both games in the Detroit casinos every once in awhile, but I generally start low until I know more about the place and its players. This place was nice enough - it's a poker room, afterall. It's players, however, not so much. I was playing from seat 2, not a bad spot to see the cards and everyone playing. The woman in seat 3 was completely uninterested in talking to anyone she didn't know (she knew one of the dealers and her husband across the table). She spent most of her time playing crazy tight poker and slurping barbecued pork chow mein. No, I've never been to a casino that brings Chinese food to you at the table. None of the players were chatty, which is odd for a poker table. Of course, we were playing almost 40 hands a hour, so maybe we just didn't have time to chat.
Near the end of the night, the guy who always folds a hand that would have one (if you ever play poker, you know this guy), sat down next to me. I'd rather not talk at all than listen to "What? jack, deuce? I had jack, three. That woulda been my pot," when two pair - jacks and twos - win, and "Man, if I hadn't folded my 3-6" when the flop comes 3-King-6. If he were ever telling the truth, I'd care what he had to say because then I'd know more about how to play him. But, since he announces every single hand that he had a better one and folded it, no information is gained, but I get annoyed.
You know what's a good cure for annoying, though? $1.25 ice cold drafts of Miller Genuine Draft. I kid you not. $1.25. That was a nice glass to end a very long day.
365 Beers wrap up
A year has come and gone. My "365 beers in 365 days" adventure officially ended in April, and now I can go back to drinking what I like when I want it. I learned to appreciate the biting hops in an IPA, the crisp drinkability of a Pilsner, and the room temperature smoothness of a nice ESB. Those three varieties top my list of favorites, and I'm glad I've gotten to know them better. I didn't quite make the half-way point on my adventure; I recorded only 158 different beers from 101 different brewers.
Brew pubs made my life a little easier with their sampler flights and snacks - Stone, Grizzly Peak, dillon DAM, and Leopold Bros. were the four brew pubs I visited. Well, "brew pub" isn't quite the word. They brew beer, and they serve food. Stone, especially, has really, really good food. You'll notice Arbor Brewing is not on that list, even though they're right here in Ann Arbor. I really don't like their beer, and their food makes me sad. I managed to avoid them all year, save a University of Chicago alumni event and an "Alt" with my Haab's fried chicken. I appreciate all the work the Greffs do for our communities, but I won't be visiting Arbor or Corner much more often. Now that Leopold Bros. is closed, I won't have to make any more excuses to go to my Ann Arbor favorite - Grizzly Peak.
My favorites beers were brewed by Stone Brewing Co. in Escondido, CA and Lagunitas Brewing Co. in Petaluma, CA. Stone gets bonus points for their environmentally-friendly practices (including serving locally, sustainably grown food and biodiesel work crew fleets). New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, CO tries to be environmentally friendly too, and their Springboard beer is the only remotely blonde one I liked.
I'll be buying Stone beers for home when I know I'll be doing some drinking. Beers like Arrogant Bastard and Ruination IPA are not for the faint of heart, nor the "about to drive." They're so tasty and strong though, that they have a spot in my fridge. The Pilsner from Laguitas is one of the most drinkable beers I tried, and I'll keep it around for occasional, spontaneous consumption. It's great with burgers, oysters, to celebrate turning in a conference submission, playing Wii, watching the Cubs beat the Brewers 19-5, whatever. Both breweries' beers (and most of the ones I've tried) are available at Super Liquor IV in Ann Arbor. Super Liquor is the best liquor store around, despite their B+ from Beer Advocate.
For those of you who may consider my beer adventure a failure because I didn't reach 365 different beers, consider this - I spent over $500 to get this far. For a grad student who prefers Coca-Cola, that's a serious investment. Summer's almost here, and I may try some sort of Washington beer quest while I'm in Seattle. I'll let you know. Until then, drink responsibly and try something new every once in a while.
New-ish and Useful: Seafood Selector
I like a Patagonia tooth fish (a.k.a. Chilean sea bass) as much as the next girl, maybe even more, but it's time for me to be more responsible with my seafood selections. Luckily, the Environmental Defense Fund makes that ridiculously easy by providing both a PDF and a mobile-web viewable version of their Seafood Selector (get both versions here). I didn't manage to completely avoid farmed salmon when I had sushi yesterday, but I promise to do better. A story on Fresh Air last week reminded me that EDF provides these pocket guides. You can still listen to the story.
Stick to small fish that grow back easily (sardines, anyone?). You can still eat salmon as long as it's wild caught. Yum!