This is so Washington

NYT article on the newest trend in laundry: hang-drying your clothes! How chic.

Of course, the trend's #1 photo op (besides an archive pic of an NYC tenement) is a Washington resident hanging up clothes in their yard. It's actually pretty cool. Check it out.

...And Another Thing!

I will never understand: What is the point of a "loft" if it is in suburbia? Lofts are urban and industrial. That's why they're chic.

If it has berber carpeting: not a loft.
If it has walls: not a loft.
If it is surrounded by trees: NOT A LOFT...just a regular apartment in a bedroom community.

Evil real estate brokers. Will they stop at nothing to offload crap apartments? (no)

Seattle Housing Prices Continue to Drop

Here's a building I noticed a few months ago and decided to look into further. Initial prices for a 1-bdrm, according to the website: $1,450 to $1,725.

And now? A quick search on Craigslist, and 1-bdrms are going for $1,325-$1,525, with free parking, and a security deposit of only $99 (I'm thinking they'll waive even that). Some places are giving away 2 months free rent! Ridic.

Holy EFF, I Am Moving to the Coolest Place Ever

Not just Laser Floyd, but Laser Sublime, Laser Beatles, and Laser Daft Punk. Laser Daft Punk!!! I am too overwhelmed to comment.

O Fortuna

Condos may not be great to own, but they sure are wonderful to rent.

As a renter for more than a decade, I've always been completely bummed out by the lack of interesting details and, frankly, attention to quality that you get in an apartment that's been built to rent.

Well, after my years of jealously eyeing my friends' condos, it seems that fate, like an overzealous Labrador, has laid a dead squirrel at my feet in the form of the housing bust.

Condo owners, beset by burgeoning maintenance fees that only grow larger as banks foreclose on their neighbors, are renting out their hardwood-floored, granite-countertopped, cathedral-ceilinged aeries.

The prices are not out of line with those of the built-to-rent market. Are condo owners, who might care only to cover their nut and are not looking to operate a rental business, comfortable with lower profits than rental-builders?

There's a corporate finance case to be written on this, and I would do it, were it not for the fact that I already spent 3 frustrating hours on an M&A case because I couldn't get my cell references to copy and paste.

Anyway, here's a few pics of my new current fave: http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/apa/1064605381.html

Sigh...if only I could move to Seattle in April. But I guess everyone takes their turn on the wheel.

I caught a fish. I named him Fred.

Here is me with Fred, the Coho salmon I caught while fishing on Lake Washington on Sunday.

Fred weighed between 8-12 pounds, was rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, and was the result of about 4 hours of time on a chartered boat with a guy named Carl and 5 of my friends.

When I held him like this, Fred had been knocked over the head with a blackjack until he was immobile, but not dead: I could feel his tiny heart beating.

It was gross, but I got over it in time to eat Fred filets, which were delicious.

Why is the Seattle Public Library so sexist?

The results of a recent search:


Okay, economics and HOME economics are NOT the same.

Food for the lazy shopper

Having learned how to cook has made me extremely lazy about buying groceries. The fact is, there's probably always something lying around your place that you can make into food.

Case in point: Today, the BF and I decide on take-out. He's in training for a marathon, so he goes out for an hour-long run. I have some work to do, so the job of locating delivery is mine. His only criteria: "surprise me!"

The problem: Seattle has no delivery restaurants!! Or at least, very few in the downtown area that deliver after 5pm and are not Thai (our fall-back and therefore, not a surprise).

So, I check out the pantry. We have a package of whole-wheat pasta (ugh), frozen peas, some aging garlic stalks and basil, 4 lemons, salt, olive oil and cream cheese. I present to you: A recipe that is actually good:

Andrea's Faux-Alfredo

Cooking time: approx. 1/2 hour

Boil a couple handfuls of crappygross pasta that you bought on a health kick in salty water.

At the same time, defrost like 3 cups of peas in the microwave.

While that is going on, line a large pan with olive oil and put on medium flame. Slice garlic and garlic stalks and toss in. When garlic stalks turn bright green, whisk in cream cheese as best you can (it will clump).

Take off fire and add water until a cream-like consistency is reached. Add defrosted frozen peas and mix to coat.

When pasta is al dente, take off flame and dump into colander (which should be in the sink). Run cold water over pasta.

Put sauce in pot you just cooked pasta in. Heat a little, then add pasta & stir. Put about a tablespoon of salt on the whole thing.

Then chop up whatever basil you can salvage with scissors (for some reason, the basil flavor goes away if you cut it with a knife. Take pasta off heat and mix in basil.

Cut a lemon in half and squirt a little juice over dinner. Use the rest to make lemonade.

When boyfriend arrives at home, try to pass sauce off as old family recipe (note: this will not work).

Enjoy!

Cheap Eats and the Quote of the Day

Seattle Weekly has a great article on how to pack up a great little picnic lunch for 6...for under $60.

Besides being a catalog of all the cheap-o food outlet stores--a shopping category on which Seattle seems to have cornered the market--it also features today's money quote:

"The days of finding Turkish breakfast cereals may be over, but you'll always be able to pick up some off-brand canned tomatoes."

Wait wait wait...There are on-brand canned tomatoes?