When my daughter was born, getting to the nearest La Leche League group involved a haul up to Fremont.

Fortunately, La Leche League of South Seattle has arrived for mother-to-mother support for breastfeeding, with monthly meetings, phone and email help. All these services are free.

The group meets 10:15 a.m. the 2nd Wednesday of every month at Neighborhood House in New Rainier Vista.

They’ve also got an informal Breastfeeding Cafe that meets 1–3 p.m. the 3rd Thursday of every month at My Coffee House in Madison Valley.

If “Breastfeeding Cafe” sounds awfully tempting, it’s because  Momma’s milk is still the best.

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I waited a full week to go to the Spice Room, the new, hotly-anticipated Thai restaurant in Columbia City.

And guess what? I loved it.

I’m going to hold off on a full review (because I think there are a half-dozen things on the menu I really need to go back and sample—you know, for science), but here’s what I will say: The service was prompt, the waiters were friendly, and the food was some of the best in the neighborhood.

Spice Room has ambition. The dishes aren’t as baroque as, say, Wild Ginger’s, but they are dressed-up versions of Thai classics. An entree described only as “red curry” ($10-$12) was far more elegant than its name implied, ditching the usual runny coconut-milk-and-curry-paste combo for a complex mix of spices, al dente vegetables, and just enough coconut milk to bind it all together. The  rice noodles and rare beef in spicy broth was tangy, rich, fiery, and studded with just-cooked shreds of rare beef—next to pho, the perfect antidote to the cold night outside. Although the filling for the “crab wontons” was a little mayonnaise- and cream cheese-heavy for my blood, and the teacup-size cucumber salad was a bit of an upsell at $3, those were minor blemishes on what was otherwise an extraordinary meal.

via Publicola » Blog Archive » Jubilation in Columbia City.

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Ema Morgan, 13-weeks

Jennifer Morgan, 28

Columbia City is reeling.

Renee Morgan came home yesterday morning, three days before Christmas, and found her family shot dead. Her daughter, Jennifer Morgan, was 28. Her granddaughter, Ema Morgan, was only 13-weeks old. The family lived together on Beacon Hill, a short walk from McPherson’s Fruit & Produce. Renee is well-known in Columbia City neighborhood from her work at Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizza since 2004, when the restaurant opened.

Ema’s dad, Daniel Thomas Hicks, is considered armed and dangerous.

Here are two things that neighbors can do to help.

The community is gathering at a candlelight vigil in support of Renee Morgan. It’ll start at 5:30 p.m., Christmas Eve, at the 1300 Block of S Ferdinand ST.

The family has also set up a memorial fund for Ema and Jennifer. Times are tight, but the contribution you make will make a difference. Here is the address:

Jennifer and Ema Morgan Memorial Fund
Washington Federal Savings Bank
4800 Rainier Avenue South
Seattle, WA 98118

No family deserves this.

UPDATE: Daniel Hicks was arrested December 28 in Northern California. (h/t Seattle Times’ The Blotter)

more coverage:

• Shootings near 13th & Ferdinand | Beacon Hill Blog
• Manhunt in slaying of mother, child on Beacon Hill | Seattle Times
• Mom, baby killed in Beacon Hill identified | Kiro TV
• Victims in Seattle killings identified | KOMO News

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Can you tell me a little more about the food you made at Villa Victoria? You were known for things like putting collard greens in burritos. Well, first of all, burritos are not anything you will find in Mexico. Mexicans are dainty eaters, they don't want to eat big, honkin' things. Only Americans want to do that. But people wanted burritos, so I made them, and instead I put in black beans and collard greens, as a syncretism honoring my parents.

What was your favorite meal as a child? Albondigas, or meatball soup. The meatballs have ground beef, garlic cloves, onion, and little mint, plus egg and rice. You bring water to a violent bowl and put in the meatballs, one by one. Meanwhile, you make a sofrito of garlic, onion, green pepper, and tomatoes, and let that cook down. You add it to the water when the meatballs are done. In 15 minutes you have an instant feast.

Within your study of Mexican cuisine, do you find you there's a region that you have a particular affinity for? The state of Veracruz is very easy to love. It is so varied: You've got low plains, high mountains, and the coast. There's actually a place in Veracruz -- Perote -- where they grow truffles. They grow truffles, hunt them out, and then they send them to Japan. If you take the bus from Mexico City to Veracruz, you'll see all the different layers. You come down from the mountains and all of a sudden you're in a valley, like Switzerland, with cows and meadows. Further down, you get into the steamy tropical area, where there's coffee growing and lots of fish and vegetables. It's just beautiful.

Do you have a favorite ingredient? Well, right now I am heavy into coconut oil. Coconut milk, too. I've been cooking my rice in coconut milk. And the other day, at a store down by Ikea, I found a half-gallon of coconut oil for just $15. I'm also really in love with lard right now. I just rendered my own lard from Kurobuta pork and I am loving that. My favorite meat right now is pork! I am coming around to it. I understand it now. It was always a mystery to me.

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4. Both Full Tilt locations look like neighborhood ice cream parlors, not would-be franchise operations. The menu is hand-written in non-ironic, precocious kid-hand. And theres plenty of room inside both locations to sit down and get comfortable; you dont have to hustle out the door to make room for the people waiting in a line that snakes out the door.

5. The flavors, oh mai oui, the flavors. Mexican Chocolate. Raspberry Ripple. Thai Tea. Bourbon Caramel. Horchata. Stout Chocolate Chip, infused with stout beer from Big Al Brewing. Blue Moon, which tastes like the marshmallow treats in Lucky Charms. They’re completely without pretense or ego. This is ice cream made by people who love to eat ice cream, and its only a Link ride away.

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Now a local entrepreneur has proposed a 2009 version [of the Northwest Bookfest]. Paul Doyle, director of Columbia City Cinema, says he’s recruiting authors and booksellers for a neighborhood book festival: If plans firm up, Columbia City’s 2009 Seattle Bookfest will be both a book festival and a fundraiser for the cinema, an independently owned neighborhood theater.

Doyle said he was motivated by “a combination of things: one, I missed the old fair, and two, we were looking for a signature event for the community and a fundraiser for the cinema.”

The Columbia City event is planned for the weekend of Oct. 24–25. Doyle says he’s already signed up local authors Garth Stein (“The Art of Racing in the Rain”); Nancy Rawles (“My Jim”); Jennie Shortridge (“Love and Biology at the Center of the Universe”); Michael Gruber (“The Forgery of Venus”) and Jerome Gold (“Paranoia and Heartbreak: Fifteen Years in a Juvenile Facility”). The event would be held at the Columbia City Event Center, a historic school building at 3526 S. Edmunds, a block off Rainier and a block from the Columbia City Light Rail Station.

via Books | New prospects for the return of Bookfest | Seattle Times Newspaper.

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SLOG’s Bethany Jean Clement says this about Gert’s: “OH MY GOODNESS Gert’s barbecue is GREAT—the perfect balance of smokey/salty/sweet. They’re calling it Seattle-style; I’m going to go ahead and call it the best in the city.”

What can we say? I’m down with any Columbia City BBQ option that rolls in on a truck, OK?

Soft launch, the Lot at Bank of America, 6–10 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights.

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Othello Partners recently announced that they would break ground on The Station at Othello Park—the building on the right side of the image—in early July, but it looks like the the train opening is going to just barely beat them to the punch. The project is a big one, 420,000 total square feet, with 350 rental apartments and 40,000 square feet of retail. Key to the feasibility of the project was the City’s Multifamily Tax Exemption program.

The building in the left side of the rendering is Othello Partners’ follow-on mixed-use project with 342 apartments and 18,000 square feet of retail. The project recently passed through Seattle’s Design Review process, but the start date is contingent on the future economic climate.

Together the two Othello projects will put about 700 new units of housing at the station. That translates to 1000 or more new people living in the station area. That is awesome. Transformative.

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Tomorrow is Link Light Rail’s inaugural weekend. Everyone expects huge, happy throngs to converge. Columbia City is ready. Bring it on.

(Photo by rutlo, available under an Attribution-NonCommercial Creative Commons license)

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In time for Thanksgiving, The New York Times boils Seattle down and serves us up in their latest travel piece, 36 Hours in Seattle. This is one to clip for your out-of-town guests. The itinerary’s solid, check it out. It begins at the waterfront on day one, explores all parts core-ward on day two, and parachutes into Columbia City on day three. Now can I really blame them if they want to save the best for last?

Big love for Columbia City Bakery, BikeWorks, Columbia City Gallery, and Karla Esquivel’s own “crowded closet” at Andaluz!

From 36 Hours in Seattle:

Sunday 9 a.m. 10) DISCOVER COLUMBIA

Condo developers have carved many of Seattle’s quirky neighborhoods into bland real estate listings. But Columbia City still feels like a microcosm of the city itself, a gumbo of art galleries, bike shops, yoga studios and butchers where it’s easier to find homemade tamales or good pulled pork sandwich than a macchiato. Start your tour of the south side neighborhood with a coffee and bostok ($3) — Eastern European toast with orange and almond cream at — at Columbia City Bakery (4865 Rainier Avenue South, 206–723-6023) to fuel your foot-powered tour.

Serious velophiles will enjoy sorting through the bins of bike parts at Bike Works (3709 South Ferdinand Street, 206–725-9408; www.bikeworks.org) while their less gear-inclined counterparts head to the Columbia City Gallery (4864 Rainier Avenue South, 206–760-9843; www.columbiacitygallery.com), a mixed-media cooperative that offers works from local artists like the glassmaker Mark Ditzler. For local goods, head to Andaluz (4908 Rainier Ave South, 206–760-1900; www.andaluzseattle.com), which feels like a crowded closet stuffed with eccentric bric-a-brac like cashmere wrist warmers ($28) and bike chain bracelets ($10). You might find a vintage Space Needle postcard. Heh, he said “velophile.” Wait. Did The Times really just forget the “City” in Columbia City? Anyway, thanks to Karla at Andaluz for the tip!

(Photo by puja, available under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Creative Commons license)

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See “Quantum of Solace” at Seattle’s Coolest Neighborhood Theater (of which more here).

I’ll be honest, I’ve been waiting for this one all summer. I’m in the “Daniel Craig is the best Bond ever” camp. Too bad tonight’s midnight showing has sold out.

Columbia City Cinema | 4816 Rainier Ave S 98118, (206) 721‑3156 Showtimes

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Weather this rainy and cold demands comfort food and lots of it. Like Macaroni and Cheese. Chicken Pot Pie. Kick Butt Chili. Yup. And let’s not forget that bottle of wine.

Tonight, between 7:00–9:00 p.m., eat anything from the dinner menu at Geraldine’s Counter and they’ll donate a portion of the proceeds to SEEDArts’ Annual Fund.

SEEDArts is a local non-profit that funds stuff we love, like—you may not have known this—the Rainier Valley Cultural Center, Public Art Program, Columbia City Gallery, and Rainier Valley Youth Theater.

More wine, please!

Geraldine’s Counter | 4872 Rainier Ave S 98118, (206) 723‑2080

[geomashupmap] (Photo courtesy Nikchik)

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It’s Halloween today! Are you stopping by Columbia City to trick-or-treat in the business district between 3–6 pm?

Well bring the kids by Gather to see Jeremy Bert’s neon installation “A to Z.” The whole alphabet is vibrating in Day-Glo colors and kids love it.

Jenn and Josie take pictures. If you stand your kids next to their favorite letters for a picture, you get to download the pictures later from Flickr for free.

Missed it? The show run through November 22nd.

Gather | 4863 Rainier Ave S 98118

(Photos by Columbia City Blog, available under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Creative Commons license)

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So the big election's just a week away. Here are four posters from Design for Obama for you to print out and paste up. Just click through and download the size you want. Then fire up your color printer.

Here are my favorite yard signs. They're from down the block. My neighbors painted these one-of-a-kind signs by hand and propped them up on their houses. They're full of love.

If you know of any awesome, hand-painted signs in Columbia City, send them in and I'll post them. Only a week to go! Are you going to vote?

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