eating well in seattle
Seven years ago, we packed up a U-Haul and moved 2,000 miles away from Northeastern Oklahoma (where we both grew up). Our parents (who still live in OK), have been up to visit a few times before, but with the all the remodel craziness of the last few years, they’ve been keeping tabs on our progress from afar. Now that the house is sorta done and definitely habitable, they came up for a long overdue visit. Now, we always advise that people come in July or August, when it’s bound to be perfect Seattle weather – sunny and 76 degrees. Well, that wasn’t the case this time – but considering that OK has been hit with one of the hottest summers on record, there were no complaints about 65 and cloudy.
Kyle’s parents (and his aunt and uncle!) came for four days and then the day after they left my dad and step-mom flew out for four days. We had a great time with everyone and it marked the first time that people could actually stay in our house (without being relegated to the couch). During the first stretch, Kyle and I took the loft while his parents slept in our room and his aunt and uncle on an Aerobed in the flex room. It was cozy, but it worked!
Even though the weather wasn’t fantastic, we found plenty to do. In addition to hanging out around town and at chezerbey, we also went on a few day excursions. With Kyle’s family, we went to Whidbey island, where we stumbled across an art festival and took Bailey to an off-leash beach so he could work on his driftwood fetching skills. With my parents, we headed up to Mt. Rainier, where there was still 12′ of snow at Sunrise (6,400 ft.)! We even saw a bear! But probably one of the best things we did was eat. Seriously, sometimes I forget how good we have it here (probably because dining out for us usually means hitting up the local taco truck) and having visitors in town is a great excuse to show people our favorite places while also trying a few new ones.
Now, this is the point where I would have shown you a stream of artistically shot photos of what and where we ate, but my iPhone is 3 years old (basically obsolete) and nearly crashes Instragram every time I try to use it (I am stubbornly holding out for a white iPhone 5). So instead, I’m going to talk about the places we ate and show you pictures of Bailey. Because really, I know that’s the only reason some of your read our blog.
Kyle’s parent’s flight was delayed and they were starving by the time we picked them up. Instead of risking it with a long wait, we took them to Tutta Bella in the Wallingford neighborhood. Known for their Neapolitan pizzas and amazing salads, the food is delicious and the restaurant is spacious enough that we were seated immediately. We ordered a few different pizzas, but our favorite was the Gioia; an olive oil based pie with prosciutto, arugula and a fried egg on top.
A few days later, we stopped by Bastille in Ballard for drinks and snacks before going to the nearby Tractor Tavern for a concert. (Ironically, one of the two bands playing was Other Lives, a band from Stillwater, OK. And yes, Kyle’s mom totally rocked out.) Anyhow, Bastille’s slogan is “damn good French cuisine” and it really is. The main dining room is always crazy busy and that’s why we often head straight for the back bar – a dark and cozy space with a full bar and generous menu (the steak frites are always a good choice).
For our final meal of family visit #1, we headed to Ray’s Boathouse. We like Ray’s because you get the quintessential seafood experience while avoiding the downtown waterfront land o’ tourists. Located in West Ballard, the restaurant has a panoramic view of Puget Sound and on nice days the deck is where you want to be. Sadly, the deck was not open when we were there, but we did have some amazing food nonetheless.
After a day to do laundry and recoup, my dad and step-mom arrived. It was a pleasant evening, so we took them to Cicchetti in Eastlake, where we ate outside and they marveled that we didn’t have to worry about bugs. This was actually the first time we’d been there and it did not disappoint. The small restaurant shares a patio with Serafina (same owner) and focuses on smaller, Mediterranean style dishes.
[This is Bailey’s equivalent to a kid throwing a tantrum in the middle of a store. He was not ready to go home!]
For lunch the next day, we met up with Kyle at one of our all-time favorite bakeries, Macrina. This is our go-to place for celebratory cakes. In fact, I have somehow convinced Kyle that I require a cake for my birthday, anniversary and valentine’s day. (I’m thinking about adding more holidays.) Everything I’ve had there has been delicious, so you really can’t go wrong.
That night, we went to Delancey. Located in a tiny “microhood” near our house, the restaurant is a little off the beaten path but always busy. Even though it was a Thursday, there was still a wait. (Fortunately, the bar across the street got smart and put in some outdoor seating.) We filled up on thin style pizzas, wine and raspberry pavlova. Our bellies were happy.
[Still not ready…]
On Friday night, we made reservations for Ethan Stowell’s newish restaurant, Staple & Fancy. Located in a renovated brick building on trendy Ballard Ave., the restaurant serves Italian-inspired cuisine with a Pacific Northwest influence. There are a few a la carte options on the menu (which is stapled to a cedar shingle, so Seattle), but the encouraged option is a multi-course fixed price meal. And it was worth it. For a party of four, they started us off with 6-7 small appetizers and then moved on to two pasta dishes, two main dishes and two desserts. It was a great way to try a bunch of different things without the risk of disappointment and hunger. It was our first time at Staple & Fancy and we’d definitely recommend it for a special night out.
[My attempts at stern parenting were blatantly ignored.]
Are you hungry yet? We also managed to cook at home a few times, grilling salmon and halibut (on the deck!) that Kyle caught on his sea-faring adventures a few months ago. (C’mon – you know how he is around the house, is it any surprise that he would DIY our dinner too?)
So there you have it – no new progress on the house, but instead we took some time off to actually live in it. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that that’s the whole point of this adventure.
summertime
We spent the long holiday weekend at a friend’s lakeside cabin in eastern Washington, just south of the Canadian border. It was a perfect combination of hot weather (85 degrees!), good friends, cold drinks and delicious food.
Even Abe Lincoln joined in, watching over the festivities and keeping everyone, well…honest. (Although, it was hard to take him too seriously with all that bling.)
Naturally, Bailey (along with our friend’s dog, Baby) were the life of the party. In fact, he is still recovering from 3 days of swimming, snuggling, sunning and numerous outfit changes.
Unfortunately, the deck did not build itself while we were gone.
Kyle resumed ipe installation yesterday and even though it’s not quite finished, it’s very close. With family in town (starting today!) progress will be delayed for a bit, but we’ve still got plenty of time. For Pacific Northwesterners, summertime has just begun.
deck progress: week three
With the framing complete, we were finally able to start the deck boards last week. And you know what? It is taking forever. So we don’t have a completed deck to show you just yet, but we do have ample Bailey photos so we hope that will help fill the void. Metaphorically speaking of course, it’s not like Bailey actually helped fill any voids in our deck. As usual, his home improvement skills are seriously lacking.
For the decking material, we chose ipe (a Brazilian hardwood, pronounced “e-pay” ). Ipe is a good choice for a deck because it is durable, naturally resistant to rot and never has to be refinished (unless you want to). We used the same wood for our front stoop and have been really happy with it. The downside of course is that because it is so tough, every single hole must be pre-drilled and having quality drill bits is key.
So last weekend, Kyle and Anton started with the upper two platforms that lead from the back door down to the main deck. We knew these smaller, more fussy parts would take longer and we were not disappointed.
Fortunately, Bailey and his buddy Chase kept themselves entertained on the make-shift plank walk that was temporarily installed to access the upper deck levels.
Y’know, the ONE point of access to get from the yard to the back door.
See what I mean? Lazy and obtrusive golden…
We bought our ipe (via Craigslist) from East Teak in Sultan, WA. Like most quality decking, ipe is not cheap, so we were intrigued to find that East Teak was selling their stock of non-perfect boards for about half the price. These boards were advertised as having imperfections in the wood (like splits, knots, etc.) as well as some bowing. Concerned about the appearance of the wood (and that it would be a total nightmare to install) Kyle drove over to Sultan a few weeks ago to check the goods out in person. The verdict? The flaws were minor and definitely worth the 50% savings.
Progress was slow over the weekend and Bailey finally got bored and retreated to the side of the house for a little afternoon snooze by the trash can.
On Tuesday night, the first of the main deck boards were installed! After laying out the first row of boards, we snapped a chalk line at each joist location to mark where to pre-drill the holes and told Bailey not to walk on the loose boards. Apparently, he likes to live on the edge.
Since some of the boards are bowed, Kyle is using this fancy BoWrench tool (that he picked up at a local hardware store) to straighten out the boards. Basically, one end of the wrench has a saddle that sits over the joist and uses it as a brace to bend the deck board straight. Once the boards are screwed in (we used 316 grade stainless steel, 6-lobe screws for extra durability – we’ll show more detail photos in the next post), the wrench is removed and voila – straight boards! Also, instead of butting the boards together, Kyle is using a piece of 1/8″ steel as a spacer (providing a small gap between boards allows water to flow through but isn’t big enough to be a tripping hazard).
Here’s a look at the corner detail for one of the landings at the back door. The edge boards were installed to be flush with the top of the horizontal boards. This protects the end grain of the flat boards and also helps serve as a guide during installation. I’m a little worried about pine needles and other stuff collecting in this slightly wider gap, but in general we think it looks good and will be worth the trade-offs.
The color of the ipe really varies with how the sun is hitting it (and of course, if it’s wet). After everything is installed, we plan on sanding the wood and putting a protective finish on it. It’s not a routine that would have to be maintained (like cedar, ipe grays out a bit over time), but the process usually brightens the wood and brings out the reddish-brown hues that ipe is known for.
The cut ends of the boards are coated with paraffin wax as extra protection (you can see the still-wet evidence in the photo above).
By dusk on Wednesday, about half of the deck boards were down and either screwed in or at least pre-drilled. To create a smooth border at the deck edge (on the left in the photo above) Kyle just ran the boards a little long and then snapped a chalk line and zipped the skillsaw across to create a clean edge. (We’ll eventually have a planter box on this end to hide the exposed framing.)
And here are a few shots of the current status:
(As a reminder, the deck was specifically designed this way to avoid guardrails and handrails that would otherwise be required by the building code.)
A cool art installation or a half-finished deck? You decide.
(Note: we put a lot of thought and research into the type of decking we chose and its environmental impact. I was going to talk about those decisions here, but thought it might worth an entire post. Stay tuned.)
to-do list: update
Prompted by a series of upcoming house guests, last month we made an overzealous to-do list. I don’t know if we’ll be able to complete everything on the list (in um, the next week!), but we’ve definitely made some progress:
1. Move remaining tools and remodel supplies out of basement. Done!
2. Take pile of stuff to Goodwill. Done!
3. Clean and reorganize basement o’ shame. Done! (Photographs coming!)
4. Hang curtain at bottom of basement stairs. Done!
5. Clean out and reorganize garage/shop. Done! (but hey, it’s messy again!)
6. Finish loft. Done!
7. Weed raised veggie garden and buy plants. Done!
I confess, I am ashamed of this year’s veggie garden. I missed the Seattle Tilth edible plant sale in May and was too busy/lazy to go to a proper nursery, so I finally picked up a couple of tomato plants, some herbs and a bag of compost from my neighborhood grocery store a few weeks ago. On a whim, I also grabbed a couple of seed packets of arugula, bell peppers and zucchini (and to my surprise, they’ve all sprouted!). We’ll see what happens. Maybe I won’t suspend our CSA subscription just yet…
8. Weed front yard o’ shame. Done!
I know, it’s pretty sad that I spent most of Saturday in the front yard with the solitary goal of removing all plant life shorter than 6″. But at least it looks like we’re maybe sorta kinda getting ready to plant things. And you know we love brown!
Nevermind that pile of concrete rubble…hey look, the dogwood is in bloom!
Oh crap, we’re those neighbors! (Seriously though, sometimes I want to put a sign in the yard that says, “but you should see the inside!”.) Oh well…you can envision nice plants and some large-scale pavers, right?
Rounding out the list…
9. Sand and refinish patio furniture. In progress…
10. Apply a new coat of Penofin to front stoop.
11. Design and detail backyard deck. Done!
12. Build backyard deck. In progress…I can hear the buzz of the drill as I type this.
Thankfully, it’s still in the upper 60’s to low 70’s so at least we don’t have to worry about working outside in the blistering heat. Y’know…like 80 degrees.
deck progress: week two
So let’s rewind to last Thursday – Kyle and I came home early to unload the decking that arrived on a truck from Eastern Washington (more on that later). With warm(ish) temperatures and hours of daylight left we decided to put on our grubby clothes and get to it. With the footings complete, the next step was to prep the area that would soon be covered by the deck.
First we leveled out the soil that was still in clumps and piles from the previous weekend of hole-digging. (It sucked.) Then we laid down filter fabric to keep weeds at bay. We’re actually not big fans of filter fabric and don’t plan on using it in other parts of the yard, but since this area will be more or less inaccessible, we thought it was worth the expense and effort. To keep the fabric in place, we covered it with a thin layer of pea gravel.
It rained on Saturday morning which delayed framing, but fortunately concrete doesn’t give a crap if it’s raining.
So – stair footing! (The above photo just shows the rebar and formwork, apparently I failed to photograph the actual concrete pour.)
We tried to minimize the amount of new concrete pours as much as possible, but the small stair leading to the basement needed a proper support (as seen in the sketch below).
By Sunday, the pressure-treated lumber had dried out enough so that Kyle could resume framing. First he covered the top of the beams with Grace Vycor sticky flashing, which adds extra protection against wood rot and will extend the life of the deck.
Next, he installed the joist hangers, which are deep enough to support both the main deck joists as well as the framing for the step along the east side. In order to avoid yet another large and annoying footing, we decided to cantilever that framing out, backspanning the members and bracing them against the joists above.
The joists hang off the outboard beam and ledger (at the wall of the house) and sit on the beam at the mid-span.
Kyle used his palm nailer to install the joists, which sped things up considerably.
Most of the PT (pressure-treated) members had to be cut, which meant we needed to treat the exposed edges with a wolmanizing agent (it’s basically a solution that gets brushed on to any freshly cut ends). We didn’t want Bailey to get too curious, so we kept him inside where he maintained a close eye on the progress.
And yes, he always lays like this.
On Monday night our friend Anton came over to help. He was probably expecting to do something manly like pour concrete or operate power tools, but instead Kyle gave him a roll of sticky flashing. But by the end of the evening, he was indeed a Master Taper.
After the joists were installed, blocking was added in the perpendicular direction to further brace the structure.
A rim joist was added to the front of the east step and all of a sudden it started to look a lot more like a deck. As an added bonus, we’re right at the solstice so it doesn’t get dark till about 10:00 p.m. More light = more work!
Kyle powered through and worked on Tuesday night as well, finishing the framing for the steps that lead up to the back door. Woohoo!
We still need to finish the framing for the north steps (on the right side of the photo above), as well as the stair to the basement, but then it will be decking time!
All in all, I think it’s going to be real swell.
