December 2010

Grey Matters: Space Case

Grey Matters: Space Case

If Boeing's spaceship had to be built to Seattle standards

Seattle writer Sam Howe Verhovek has a fascinating new book out called Jet Age: The Comet, the 707, and the Race to Shrink the World. It tells the story of how the Boeing Company conquered commercial jet aviation. While we take Boeing jet travel for granted today, it was no sure thing that the 707…

Entertaining: Kelley Moore Shows Her Appreciation

Entertaining: Kelley Moore Shows Her Appreciation

Holiday gifts that won't collapse your budget

’Tis the season of giving, and after exhausting your creativity on gift ideas for those nearest and dearest, trying to find simple, cute gifts for coworkers, your child’s teachers, party hosts and others in your life can make even the most intrepid shopper head down the dreaded fruitcake path. Well, step away from the cake:…

Luxury Bathtub Ideas

Luxury Bathtub Ideas

The top shops in Seattle to spruce up your bathroom.

At the Inform Interiors store in the Denny Triangle, there are nose prints on the window. But not in front of the cowhide recliner, or the angular Bellini chairs. The lustful smudges are reserved for the spot where passers-by can ogle an ovoid ice princess of a bathtub called the Agape Spoon XL. At $15,236,…

Shopping Around: December's Finds

Shopping Around: December’s Finds

Jeans for the Seattle dude, recycling a bean bag, and what's old is cool again

Denim Devotion Ballard’s Gabriela Reyes often catches herself checking out the male species, though not for their stellar good looks. Instead, the recent New York Fashion Academy grad is analyzing men’s jeans, studying up on the perfect fit. By next summer, the 23-year-old expects to launch her Reyes Apparel menswear line, focusing on classic-cut, fitted…

Styled: Lei Ann Shiramizu

Styled: Lei Ann Shiramizu

WHY WE LOVE HER STYLE: Shiramizu, the owner of Momo boutique in the International District, has a very short style icon: her 7-year-old niece. So she often looks to girlhood’s flowy skirts and comfortable fabrics to pull together her easygoing style. “My style is a mix of Tinkerbell and Morticia from The Addams Family,” the…

Health: Sexual Healing

Health: Sexual Healing

A Seattle clinic helps families deal with disorders of sexual development

 Picture this: you’ve just learned that your newborn has internal organs that seem to indicate maleness and external organs that seem to indicate femaleness. It’s not as uncommon as it sounds, but it is an issue fraught with complexity and social trauma.  If it’s one your family is facing, you have a world-class resource in…

Must List: December

Must List: December

Our top to-do's for the month

Get a Whiff1. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in Smell-O-Vision See the classic 1971 film the way it was meant to be experienced: in Smell-O-Vision. Courtesy of kooky film-enhancement team The Action Pack, the treats on screen leap to life in the form of goodie bags filled with aromatic, edible sweets, while an audience…

Urban Safari: Green Lake

Urban Safari: Green Lake

This waterfront neighborhood is most often associated with summer strolls, but don’t let the colder

This waterfront neighborhood is most often associated with summer strolls, but don’t let the colder months keep you away. December brings the magical Pathway of Lights, a luminaria-lit holiday walk around the lake (12/11; 4:30–7:30 p.m.). And with a recent influx of new restaurants and shops, you may want to plan your next daycation on…

Parental Guidance: December

Parental Guidance: December

Virtual bedtime stories, cool kids' duds, and keeping the little ones amused on road trips

Travel: Sketch Books Wondering how to occupy the little ones during holiday travel? Greenwood-based John Skewes (best known for children’s books Larry Gets Lost in Seattle and Seattle ABC) introduces the clever Washington Doodles ($12.95, Sasquatch Books), which will keep their little minds and fingers busy on the airplane or during the “Are we there…

Nerd Report: The Mongoliad

Nerd Report: The Mongoliad

Local author Neal Stephenson crafts avant-garde science-fiction sagas

While pundits ponder the future of the novel, Seattle author Neal Stephenson has lodged it securely in the past. Stephenson (Snow Crash; Cryptonomicon), whose avant-garde science-fiction sagas explore cryptography, math and philosophy, recently released the first installment of his latest work, The Mongoliad, a parallel-world version of the Mongol invasion of Europe co-authored by several…

Scoop: Dining in the Dark Ages

Scoop: Dining in the Dark Ages

Restaurants with those "hard to tell" names

When How to Cook a Wolf opened on Queen Anne in 2008, locals couldn’t stop remarking on the restaurant’s obscure name (it’s the title of a book by the legendary food writer M.F.K. Fisher). But in the past year, multiple restaurants have opened under names that make it hard to tell whether you’re going out…

Road Trip: Portland, Oregon

Road Trip: Portland, Oregon

Portland says come on down and have a beer

Where: Portland, Oregon, for the 2010 Holiday Ale Festival (12/1–12/5; $20-$25; holidayale.com) in Pioneer Courthouse Square. Why: To clink beer mugs in a microbrew mecca, where 45 breweries from the Northwest and beyond—including Widmer Bros. Brewing Co., Cascade Brewing and Alaskan Brewing Co.—offer tastes of holiday hops accented with wintry whiffs of cranberries, raspberries and…