Monthly Archives: February 2011

A tasty way to eat healthy~

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The city of Tacoma is blessed to have Tacoma Boys as our homegrown produce stand and meat market. I have never been disappointed with anything I’ve purchased there and its one of the few places that when they tell me my total bill, I feel like I’ve gotten a good value.

http://www.tacomaboys.com/

The Center for Disease Control says “Almost Everyone Needs to Eat More Fruits and Vegetables”. By going to Tacoma Boys and buying fresh produce, often in season and local grown I am making the CDC happy and supporting my community. It makes me smile!

http://www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov/benefits/index.html

Yikes! Jack In The Box now has the calorie count

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I try not to go to fast food restaurants very often, but I was taking a class today and only had an hour for lunch and there was travel time involved. So, Jack in the Box it is! Oh my, they are putting the number of calories next to each menu item! Yikes! So, I guess the bacon ultimate cheeseburger (920 calories), curly fries (280 calories) and a large mint oreo cookie shake (1,310 calories) are out!

I must say that Jack In The Box does have a pretty amusing website!
http://www.jackinthebox.com/

The one I went to is at 3402 E Pacific Hwy, Fife, WA 98424

Hello, Cupcake

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It’s my dear daughter’s birthday and instead of a cake she wanted a cupcake from Hello, Cupcake in the University of Washington, Tacoma area. They have the best cupcakes that any of us have ever had! Dear daughter prefers the red velvet, I like the vanilla on vanilla and my husband likes the carrot cake version. But, really, you can’t go wrong!

They are located at 1740 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma, WA 98405. A single cupcake, which is large enough to share, costs $2.55.

Their website is here
http://www.hello-cupcake.com/

Hello, Cupcake is located in a building owned by the University of Washington. The property had originally been known as the Birmingham Hay & Seed Co. Warehouse and was constructed in 1903.

15th Street Cleaners, Five Stars

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There are many dry cleaners in Tacoma, but only three have been awarded five stars (the highest) by the Tacoma Pierce County Health Department for their environmental stewardship and their outreach and education. A more complete write up can be found here:

http://www.tpchd.org/files/library/ac6f1e99e7983eff.pdf

The 15th Street Cleaners is located at 1352 South Fawcett Avenue, Tacoma, WA.

The Tacoma Public Library has this cryptic note about the property that was there prior to the current building. TNT (Tacoma News Tribune) 11/10/1948 p.1 Asphyxiated in his office (apt. of Wm. H. Holloway).

Ford Building and Crescent Ballroom

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Originally uploaded by Gexydaf

 

The Ford Building and Crescent Ballroom have always been a mystery to me. They are located on the edge of downtown, but not on a main drag and have been beautifully restored. According to the Tacoma Public Library the Ford Building portion of the structure was built in 1918 with E.J. Bresemann as the architect. The building originally housed the Manley-Thompson Ford Agency.

The Auditorium (that was its original name) had opened January 11, 1922. The Gothic structure was designed by Roland Borhek. It was the home to many dances, as well as appearances by such diverse performers as Rudolph Valentino, Duke Ellington, Paul Revere and The Raiders, Soundgarden and Nirvana. In 1931, the two buildings were remodeled, combined and renamed the Crescent Ballroom. This part of the property now functions as a warehouse. The mirrored ball from the original ballroom has been restored and now hangs in the South Park Community Center.

The importance of the Crescent Ballroom can be gleaned here.
http://pnwbands.com/crescent.html

TRA Medical Imaging purchased the property in 2007 for $2,500,000, and after considerable renovation opened it as their administrative office in July 2008.

Clouds, thinking about snow

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Today’s new place is the sky! We had such lovely colors in the clouds as evening approached that I just had to take a few photographs! They say it might snow tonight, so I guess they are snow clouds.

One of my favorite cloud blogs (OK the only one I know about!) can be found here. http://www.clouds365.com/year2/

I’ve also included a photo from the last full moon, which also features some amazingly lovely clouds!  And, while I’m at it, one more of a lovely sunset sky. 

  

McMenamins Grand Lodge

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There are eight McMenamins hotels and last night we stayed at the Grand Lodge in Forest Grove, Oregon.

http://www.mcmenamins.com/426-grand-lodge-home

This lodge features a full restaurant, a movie theater where food and drink from the restaurant are offered, a soaking pool, small bars and 77 European style guest rooms. The building was constructed in 1922 as an Masonic and Eastern Star home. In 2000 the building was renovated and opened as a McMenamins. The history of the building can be seen in the historic photos and original art hanging on the walls.

We checked into the Lodge around 4:00 and had dinner, watched the most recent Harry Potter movie (yes, it is that dark) and enjoyed the soaking pool. This morning there was a Continental breakfast. All in all, a delightful, relaxing time away.

This morning I was traipsing around taking photographs and the desk clerk noticed me. He asked if I had a shot of the theater and I said kind of (I took a cell phone photo during the movie, really it was an awful photo!). He said it was much better to take a photo during the day with the lights on and then he took me upstairs and unlocked the theater for me! How nice is that!

Powell’s City of Books

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With word that Borders Books is restructuring and one of my favorite smaller Seattle bookstores is closing, I wasn’t sure what to expect during my visit to Powell’s City of Books in Portland. I was pleased to see that it was very, very busy! Everywhere I looked there were folks perusing books.

Powell’s main store is located at 1005 W Burnside, Portland OR and is one of the world’s largest bookstores. The building contains 73,000 square feet of retail space and more than 3,000 people visit day. Their stores feature more than 1.5 million books, of which 65% are used (they buy 5,000 used books each day).

http://www.powells.com/

 

Hilltop Mural

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At 1012 South 11th Street in Tacoma’s Hilltop area there is a mural of four individuals against the background of Mt. Rainier. Per the Tacoma-Pierce County Public Art Tour website (Taylor.http://wspdsmap.ci.tacoma.wa.us/website/Art2/viewer.htm), “This mural memorializes key contributors to the Hilltop Community. Including, Alberta Canada, Ernest E. Brazil, Frank Russell, and Virginia Taylor”. It was created in 2004 by Bob Henry, who has other mural around town.

The artist’s website can be found here:

http://www.muralmastersnw.com/index.html

   

Freighthouse Art Gallery

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Originally uploaded by Gexydaf

The Art Gallery at Freighthouse Square has some lovely Northwest art. We have purchased several pieces here and appreciate that we can have some original art at a doable price. It is located on the upper level of Freighthouse Square beyond the food court. It is run as an artist cooperative and usually at least one of the artists is on site.

602 East 25th Street, Suite 60
253-383-9765

http://www.freighthousesquare.com/

http://www.freighthousesquare.com/Merchants/Freighthouse_Art_Gallery.html