Brussels Sprouts Are Tasty!

I was forced to eat many gross-tasting “healthy things” as a child, but Brussels sprouts apparently isn’t in the Chinese diet, so I don’t remember ever eating them until I was much older. So I don’t have all the “blech” reaction that some people seem to have when I think of them. It’s hard to say, maybe I wouldn’t have hated them as a kid, since I didn’t hate eggplant or broccoli, and really, what’s to hate? They’re sweet little gems in the sad, bitter world of winter vegetables.

After eating out for two weeks in China and eating out most of the days since I’ve been back, I felt like it was time to start cooking today. I cooked for a few hours, hopefully making enough to get me through most of the week. After having a great Brussels sprouts and turnip dish at Tavern Law, I knew I wanted to make some. It was convenient to toss them into the pot when I was making 40 Cloves and a Chicken, but this time I felt like something not as garlic-centric. I asked the internet, and it turned up this recipe that spoke to me. It’s probably the title that did it; who can say no to “Oven-Caramelized Brussels Sprouts with Autumn Fruits”? I modified it a little to remove the pears (I wanted less fruit in proportion to the sprouts), remove the onion (it’s on my list to avoid), and use dried herbs (that’s what I had on hand). Martha Stewart also has a version of this that replaces a lot of the seasoning with red wine vinegar. I don’t think I’d do that, but I do like the instructions to cook the bacon separately.

Verdict: the recipe is a winner! The sweetness of the apple really works with the Brussels sprouts. Next time, I’d probably try cooking the bacon separately before adding it to the mix and halving the recipe so it could fit in one pan. I don’t need that much just for one person… or do I? I have a feeling these aren’t going to last too long in the fridge.

Oven-Caramelized Brussels Sprouts with Autumn Fruits, Modified (Original)

Ingredients
2 lbs Brussels sprouts
2 medium apples (I used either Gala or Pink Lady, I forget)
3 slices bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 tsp dried thyme
1 Tbsp dried sage
5 gloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/8 tsp hot red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp brown sugar
Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. Put 1-2 pans in the oven to warm up. You need enough surface area to form a single layer with all ingredients. I used 2.
3. In a big bowl, combine all ingredients. Season well with salt and pepper.
4. Pull out pan(s) and put ingredients in them, forming a single layer.
5. Bake until everything is browned and sprouts are tender, about 30-40 minutes, turning ingredients every 10 minutes.

~N

The Frugal Reader’s Guide to Cheap Books

I like to read. And I love buying books. I do buy some books at full price, but there are only so many books that I’ll shell out $16 to read. And so I’ve found other cheaper ways to get my book fix.

1. The Library

Yes, the library is the most obvious way to read books for free. But not everyone takes advantage of all the features a library offers. Here are a few that my library system offers:

• Holds – This is the #1 feature I use at my library. It’s extremely rare that a book I want to read is on the shelf at my branch. When I think of something I want to read, I can go to the website at any time of day and place a hold on the item, and it will be delivered to the branch of my choice when it’s available.
  
• E-books and other formats – There are ways to read books other than physical copies. I’ve been enjoying the newly available Kindle library lending. It’s also nice to have audio books on CD for a long road trip.
  
• Featured shelf – My library has a shelf of featured books. A lot of them are recent best sellers that would otherwise have a long hold line, but you can pick it right off of the featured shelf. I’ve found a lot of good books through this.

2. Used Books

This is my favorite way of getting cheap books because I get a book to keep, and I like the concept of reuse. Some good ways of getting used books:

• Online sellers
  
  There are many places online to buy and sell used books. Probably two of the most popular are Half.com and Amazon. I’ve bought a lot of books through Half.com. There’s a lot available for 75 cents. Shipping costs another $3.49 for paperbacks, but if you buy multiple books from one seller, it costs less for each additional book.
  
• Swapping
  
  With all the cheap books you’ll be buying, you’ll probably find that you don’t need to keep all of them once you’ve finished reading them. So… swap them! Swap your books for credits that can be used to get books on BookMooch or allow the automated system to find you items you want in exchange for items that you have on Swap.com. I really like the Swap.com system because it’s constantly looking for possible swaps for you, and you don’t have to look for them on your own. It also provides easy print-at-home mailing labels (it’s around $3.25) if you prefer not to go to the post office.
  
• Used book stores
  
  The stores are different everywhere, but there’s a good chance you’ll have at least one used book store in your area. In general, I’ve found prices at these stores to be a little better than buying new on Amazon, but it’s probably still going to run about $8 for a paperback. But even bargain bookstores have a bargain section, and I’ve managed to get books that were on my wishlist for only $1.
  
  I also have to give a special mention to my favorite bookstore in the world, Powell’s Books in Portland. If you’re ever there, it’s worth a stop. It takes up an entire city block! I’ve never stepped into Powell’s without buying something. It’s that good.
  
• Thrift shops
  
  My area’s thrift stores have a surprisingly good selection of fiction books. You may not find a specific book you’re looking for, but it’s always possible to find something good to read. Value Village’s most expensive books cost $2.99. They also do promotions. Today, I dropped off a donation and got a $3 coupon, and there was also a “buy 4 get 1 free” deal on books. So I got 5 books for less than $10!
  
• Periodic sales
  Okay, I must admit, I am generally too lazy to do this sort of thing. Garage sales fall into this category. Half Price Books, my local used bookstore chain, does a huge warehouse sale every so often. Seattle Public Library does occasional book sales, too. Lots of books for a buck or two.
  

3. Giveaways

It took me quite awhile to find out about this source of books. And it’s incredibly awesome. Books for free? Free books even before they’re released to the public? And no catch?!

Okay, I guess there is a little bit of a catch. You have to enter for each giveaway, and chances are, you won’t win. You increase your chance at winning books by entering more giveaways (which takes time). You can always increase your odds of winning by being active on the site doing the giveaways and writing reviews.

Here are the giveaway sites I’ve found so far:

• GoodReads
  
  My fave so far! I’m already active on this site because this is where I keep track of books I’ve read and books I want to read. There are a lot of reasons to use this site. Virtual book clubs and book challenges, good reviews (I find the ratings much more useful than Amazon ratings), and author Q&A sessions. New giveaways start each day. You have a better chance of winning books if you’re active on the site and review the books you’ve received. I’ve been getting a few books per month through these giveaways. Examples of authors who have advanced reader copies (ARC) given away on this site: Kristen Hannah, Philippa Gregory, and Gregory Maguire.
  
• LibraryThing
  This site is a lot like GoodReads, but I could never get into the interface. There are also limits on how many books you can add to your bookshelf unless you pay a subscription fee. They do a big batch of giveaways once a month. The books are probably similar to the ones on GoodReads. I never won anything, but I also didn’t try very hard or for very long.
  
• NetGalley
  I just found out about this one. Advanced reader copies… but e-books! You fill out your profile, then you browse the available selection and request the ones you want. The publisher decides whether to accept or reject your request. This site is strongly oriented towards book reviewers. It isn’t mandatory to review the books, but some of the publishers won’t even consider you unless you have a book review blog with frequent updates and a number of followers. Not all have those requirements, though.

Hope this is helpful for someone out there! Enjoy the cheap/free books (but save some for me =P)!

~N

Girls and a Goat

One last very overdue post about our trip to Chicago back in October! When trying to decide where to eat other than Alinea, I took a look at suggestions from my workplace’s Food & Wine mailing list. Moto was an option, but they weren’t open on Sunday nights. Another restaurant that got a lot of recommendations, if you could get a reservation, was Girl and the Goat. I saw that they had Opentable reservations (a big plus in my book!) so I did a search for Sunday night and saw one spot available at 9pm. So I took it. You know how perceived scarcity increases perceived value? Well, when I saw that there were no other weekend reservations available for many weeks out, I wanted to eat at the restaurant even more.

 

Really, I didn’t know that much about the restaurant beforehand other than the good reviews. Sandy did, though. Girl and the Goat is the restaurant of Stephanie Izard, the winner of the fourth season of Top Chef. I don’t have television service and I’ve never watched Top Chef, but Sandy watched that season and the chef impressed her enough to give her quite a bit of interest in the restaurant.

Sandy in the Take Action Dress and Bouquet of Roses Heels

The ambiance at the restaurant was decidedly different from Alinea. Things seemed more dark, earthy, and casual, reflected both in the décor and the food. But there were plenty of people who were dressed up as well. Sandy was channeling Anthro spirit with her Take Action Dress and gorgeous, hard-won Bouquet of Roses Heels.

 
left: chickpeas fritters . eggplant-tomatillo caponata . crave brother's mozzarella
right: steamed mussels . goat sausage croutons . cilantro . caesar

The best way to experience the menu at Girl at the Goat is to share as many of the small plates of food as you can fit in your stomach. We tried seven and were completely full at the end. One of the first dishes to arrive was the chickpea fritters. It definitely didn’t match what I had pictured as a chickpea fritter, but the dish was delicious, one we all agreed was probably the best of the night. The mussels themselves were just okay (I’m spoiled with Washington mussels), but their accompaniments were good.

 
left: sauteed green beans . fish sauce vinaigrette . cashews
right: roasted cauliflower . pickled peppers . pine nuts . mint

Both the green beans and the cauliflower came highly recommended by online reviews and our waitress. We loved the cauliflower, but the green beans weren’t as tasty as the typical garlic preparation we were used to from Chinese restaurants. I did like the cashews and the acidity of the vinaigrette as a nice change from the typical, but I’d still go with the garlic preparation if I had to choose.

 
left: confit goat belly . bourbon butter . lobster n' crab . fennel
right: grilled pork ribs . tomatillo-mushroom slaw . grilled scallion vinaigrette

They say to come to Girl and the Goat with an open mind. Makes sense. After all, the restaurant has “goat” in the name, pictures of a cartoon goat all over the restaurant, and a good half dozen dishes that contain goat, a meat that isn’t that standard in American cuisine. We took a “goat lite” approach, getting little tastes of it through the goat sausage with the mussels and a small portion of goat belly. It won’t say the experience elevated my love of the meat to duck and pork level, but it was still good to eat. The pork ribs smelled delicious and came easily off the bone.

wood oven roasted pig face . sunny side egg . tamarind . cilantro . potato stix

Remember the open mind thing? All over reviews on Yelp, people universally exclaimed, “Get the pig face!” Of course, we had to get the pig face. We aren’t extremely squeamish eaters, but once you hear “pig face,” it’s hard to get the image of a pig’s head staring at you out of your head. Of course, that’s not what the dish actually is. It’s just a piece of meat from the face (hidden under the egg in the picture) – a rich, sweet cut of meat. The idea behind the dish is “breakfast for dinner,” and I definitely agree that it’s a must try dish at Girl and the Goat.

 

Great dining experience, very reasonable total bill, and the good thing about the late reservation was that we got free parking! They really ARE very full. Make weekend reservations months in advance or walk in and eat at the bar. Stephanie Izard wasn’t there when we went (she actually made a stop in Seattle not long after I got back), but you can probably see her in the open kitchen if you pick a day she’s there.

~N

Waffle Dress

Okay, it’s National Novel Writing Month, so I can’t be using too many words on blogging, but a package came for me in the mail today that I thought was worth writing about.

I tried on the Noon and Night dress in Chicago last month (Jenni’s review post here). I’ve been waffling on it ever since. I really liked it, and it would be a good basic piece in my wardrobe. But was it worth $158?

 
Noon and Night Dress – $158

Earlier in the year, there was the Embossed Basket Dress, just like the Noon and Night dress, but in navy with sleeves. I missed seeing it until it had sold out of my size, and to this day, it hasn’t made it to sale. I liked the idea of sleeves because I could always wear it without a cardigan. I have enough sleeveless dresses in my wardrobe.

Embossed Basket Dress – $168

One random day, Jenni linked me to a copycat dress of Noon and Night by a different brand. I started picking out the differences that I didn’t like, and then it struck me. I never bothered searching to see if the dress was available anywhere else. Turns out, there IS something.

ASOS had a Waffle Skater Dress by Ganni (the same brand as the Anthropologie version) in black. And it was in my size. And it was on sale. And there was free shipping and free returns. And no sales tax. Too good to be true! I snagged it right away. It was cheaper than the sleeveless version at Anthro!

 
Ganni Waffle Skater Dress – $145.56 (formerly $242.60)

I still have to think about whether I want the Noon and Night, but now I’ll sit back and wait for sale. If I already have one version, I don’t need the other one so bad that I’d pay full price.

~N

Meeting Sasha

PUPPIES!!!!

Okay, I am definitely more of a cat person. I can’t seem to convince Jenni and Sandy to get cats, so I guess Sandy’s new puppy is the next best thing. We’d been oohing and aahing at all the cute puppy pics and were eager to meet Sasha in person.

   

We’d grabbed some White Castle (none on the West Coast =/) before heading over to Sandy’s, and she warned us that we should finish our food before Sasha came out. As you can see from the photo above, hungry Sasha was ready to eat anything! Including wood chips! Or a Frisbee!

Sasha reluctantly agreed not to eat us (see fake instagram hipster photo above). Instead, she settled for playfully running around the yard, stopping every once in awhile to jump up and say hi to each one of us. Sandy’s family says Sasha reminds them of a deer, and we totally saw that. Very light, graceful, and sweet.

 

One of the traits I’ll grudgingly give to dogs over cats is loyalty. My cat might like me a little better than other people because I feed him and he sees me all the time, but it’s not the same as doggie loyalty. Sandy went in the house to get something, and Jenni snapped some photos of Sasha in the meantime. Sasha had been playful and attentive to all of us while Sandy was there, but once she left, Sasha stood by the door, waiting for her owner to come back. In the second picture above, you can see the reaction when Sandy came back – head and tail eagerly pointed upwards. And when we left, we could see Sasha’s face in Sandy’s bedroom window, watching sadly as her owner went away.

 

Sasha’s still in doggie school for obedience or whatever they teach them, but she’s starting to learn some voice commands, which Sandy demonstrated for us. Sit, down, stay, etc. In the middle of this, Sasha gave Sandy a high-five. We’ll pretend she does that on command because it’s just so cool. =)

In the end, I’m still very firmly a cat person. But I’m glad I have a cute, friendly puppy I can visit in Chicago!

~N (pictures from all three of our cameras)

Horsin’ Around in Chicago

While I do wish that more of my friends from college lived near me, one of the fun things about having friends spread out around the country is that we can travel to see each other! Time becomes more of a scarce resource as we get older, but the three of us have tried to meet up at least once a year. Sandy has made the trek over to the West Coast many times, so this time Jenni and I flew back to Chicago for a weekend of gourmet feasting.

 
(Wildberry and tiramisu pancakes from Wildberry Café)

We’re splitting up the posts about this trip, and if you’re into food, you should eagerly anticipate some of the upcoming posts. The weekend was a mesh of gourmet eats and cheap college favorites. Jenni and I got in close to midnight, so our first meal was a 24-hour Steak and Shake. Frisco melt! The next morning, we went to the nearby Wildberry Café, where we had some very yummy pancakes and French toast.

 
(left: banana bread French toast, right: horses at Chain O’ Lakes State Park)

Afterwards, we made our way to Chain O’ Lakes State Park to do some trail riding. It was a little chilly as we waited for horses to become available, but it warmed up and ended up being a nice day. Jenni was probably missing her warm California weather, but the blue skies were a welcome change from the continuous September-to-June Seattle rain. It was very peaceful to ride through big, stereotypically Midwest cornfields, and the park felt like a pretty retreat from the suburban area we were staying in.

 
(cornfields and grass fields in Chain O’ Lakes State Park)

Much to my dismay, there was a sign saying that all trail rides were at a walking pace only. However, this and my 20+ year old horse did not stop me from trying to trot. The horse really wasn’t interested in exerting himself (I can relate), but I did figure out that when he was very willing to trot when going uphill, probably to get it over with quicker. Of course, as soon as my horse trotted, the horses behind mind followed suit. I’m guessing the ride leader wasn’t very amused. Next time we’ll have to find a place that gives us a little more slack. We’ve ridden near Seattle and near Chicago, so that leaves San Francisco… They were strict with their horses, too. Some of them had buckets over their mouths to keep them from eating!

 
(riding in a line)

We had an early dinner that day, so after riding, we had a really small lunch. White Castle! :D It’s funny what we end up missing when we move to other areas of the country, isn’t it?

~N (pictures are from all three of our cameras)

Creamy Polenta with Fresh Leeks and Corn

I’ve been cooking a lot again this summer, thanks to the weekly supply of veggies from my CSA. But I haven’t been all that great about posting about it because most of what I’ve been making has been really simple. For example, tonight, I fixed some Rice-a-Roni, but I added half a can of cannelloni beans and two shredded zucchinis. Actually looks like real food, but I can’t write a whole post about it.

About a week ago, I felt like doing something that was a little more involved than steaming vegetables or making a chopped salad. I’d eyed the summer issue of 30 Minute Suppers by Cook’s Illustrated / America’s Test Kitchen after seeing it in an airport or something, but I couldn’t bring myself to pay $8 for it. With 40% off at one of the Borders closing sales, though, I snapped it right up. I’m actually a terrible fit for America’s Test Kitchen because they go to all this effort to find the perfect recipe, and I never follow recipes exactly and these days I don’t even bother measuring most things. But whatever, I liked the pictures in this magazine.

It was also kind of dumb because most of the recipes in the magazine involved a lot of meat, and I’ve basically stopped cooking non-seafood meat at home. But when I saw the recipe for polenta with leeks and corn, I knew I had to make it. I love polenta. I love leeks. I LOVE corn. I even had leeks from my box. And if it were last year, I’d have corn, but for some reason it’s really late in the boxes this year.

Steamboat Rock

A few years ago, I went to Eastern Washington and camped at Sun Lakes State Park, looking for a good place to see the Perseid meteor showers. We only spent one day out there, and we ended up driving down a forest road and parking illegally (after being shooed away by a ranger at a more visible spot) to watch the stars. While driving up Banks Lake, we found a campground and turned in, looking for a convenience store. It was such a gorgeously situated place that I said to myself, “I have to come back and camp here.”

(driving by Grand Coulee)

Easier said than done. First of all, this area is far away. On our first trip, we camped near Wenatchee on the first night to split up the drive, and the drive home seemed to take forever. So it was a bit of an ordeal to make the drive to a campground that was even further from Seattle than Sun Lakes. After camping for a few years in Western Washington, last year when I was doing my annual campsite booking, I decided that it was time to go to Steamboat Rock. Washington State Parks reservations open up exactly 9 months before the start date of the reservation you want. So I went to the site exactly 9 months before a July Friday and… nothing was available. The next week, I woke up at 6:50am to hit the website exactly at 7am, when the reservations opened up. There were two sites available when I loaded the page, and when I tried to grab one exactly at 7am, it was gone. Same thing happened the next week. I was getting pretty tired of waking up so early to get nothing, so I was ready to give the whole thing up and find another option. But as luck would have it, I checked a few weekends back, just out of curiosity… and there was a site open for the weekend after the 4th of July! Someone must have booked it and canceled. MINE!

Summer Quiche

Last year, I was all about throwing things together in a pot to make risotto. So far this summer, my obsession has been quiches. Quiches aren’t new to me – I’ve been making this Chard Tofu Quiche for years. But for some reason, I’d only think about making a quiche when I had chard I needed to use, which meant I always made the same one over and over again.

This year, I was reading my CSA’s weekly newsletter and saw a recipe for asparagus quiche. Coincidentally, I had a bunch of asparagus in my fridge and many of the ingredients I needed to make a quiche, so I did it! I feel really guilty making an egg-only quiche because of the number of eggs that go in it. Tofu-only quiches don’t hold together as well as they should. So I compromise by using half eggs, half tofu, and it has worked out well.

(quiche with duck eggs, cheddar cheese, spinach, onion,
asparagus, and shiitake mushrooms)

I’m not really big on measuring things or following recipes, so admittedly some of my quiches have been a little too watery or not watery enough (in that case, I end up with veggies at the bottom and a solid tofu-egg mixture at the top). Still, it has been a great way to use up a bunch of whatever is in my box that week, and I’ve been doing quite a few weekly quiches. For reasons I can’t explain, stir-fried vegetables don’t sound like an appropriate breakfast, but vegetables in a quiche are just fine. So it’s a great way to get veggies in three meals a day.

One particularly interesting week, I had a bunch of basil, some grape tomatoes, and a few zucchini. So I shredded the zucchini and made a caprese-inspired quiche, perfect with some aged balsamic vinegar drizzled on top!

(quiche with basil, zucchini, tomato, garlic, cheddar
cheese, and mozzarella cheese)

My extremely approximate quiche recipe

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• Half package extra firm tofu (~7 oz), chopped into 1 inch blocks
• Storebought pie crust
• Shredded cheddar
• Milk
• Assortment of vegetables (spinach, asparagus, tomato, mushrooms, peas, etc.)
• Spices/salt/pepper

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350. Prebake the crust as instructed on the package.
2. Cook the vegetables as needed – this is different depending on what you’re using. You should season appropriately as well.
3. Using a food processor or immersion blender, blend the tofu, eggs, some milk, and spices/salt/pepper.
4. Put the veggies in the prebaked pie crust and pour the tofu/egg mixture over it.
5. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until firm.

~N

Hiking in Seattle’s Backyard

West Tiger 3
6 miles, 2100 ft elevation gain

I’ve done a lot of hiking over the last two years, but people are often surprised to hear that I haven’t done the popular hikes closer to Seattle, like Rattlesnake Ridge, Mount Si, and until this weekend, Tiger Mountain. Instead, I’ll drive an hour or more to go hike elsewhere.

Why? Mainly because what I get to see is more spectacular when I hike in the Cascades, and the hikes closer to Seattle tend to be extremely crowded due to their convenience.

But this time, Mike and I wanted to take a hike before going to the Seattle International Beerfest, and all the hikes I’d normally consider were buried in snow except one in Eastern Washington. So we went for the most popular hike on Tiger Mountain, West Tiger 3 – a short but challenging hike to one of the three summits of West Tiger Mountain.

The convenience of hiking close to home can’t be denied. As you can see from the map above, West Tiger is just minutes away from Seattle’s East side suburbs. A short drive + a short hike = time to do other things that day. It was a quick 1.5 hours up to the summit and about 1 hour coming down, with stops.

Seattle aMUSEment

Summer’s the best time to visit Seattle, and when one of our mutual friends mentioned that she wanted to make a trip in June to run the Seattle Rock ‘n Roll Marathon, Sandy decided to come along. Instead of running, we had fun visiting lots of Anthro stores! But we did get some exercise – inspired by JG, we did several days of Jillian Michaels's 30 Day Shred. I don’t think we’re shredded, but maybe it helped combat some of the eating we did over the weekend!

butterfly at the Pacific Science Center butterfly room

SIFF

Summer’s approaching, which means I’m not being a very good Anthro girl, and things are starting to get busy. The CSA box starts soon, but in the meantime, there’s the Seattle International Film Festival, or SIFF. One of my co-workers organized groups to see some films back in 2005, the first SIFF I was in Seattle for, and I’ve been going ever since. I’d typically just catch a handful of films, but last year I really amped it up, seeing about 18 films and volunteering with SIFF for the first time. This year is shaping up to be like that as well.

(Hipsters, a Russian musical – SIFF 2010)

I feel incredibly lucky to have SIFF here in town – in fact, one of the venues is in my suburb. It’s the largest film festival in the United States, showing more that 400 films during this year’s 25 day festival. But unlike the more “elite” film festivals like Cannes and SXSW, SIFF is a film festival for regular people. The tickets cost about as much as regular movie tickets, but you get to see some films way earlier than other people, see some films that no one else you know will ever get to see, and participate in Q&A sessions with directors and other film guests that attend some of the screenings.

(volunteering at a screening of Kung Fu Panda 2)

One of the great things about an event like this is the immersion. The really dedicated people buy passes and prepare their butts to be in theater seats for three weeks straight. But many people will see 10-20 films each year, with a “I wish I could have seen it” list of 30 other films in their heads. As soon as you step near a SIFF venue, there’s a conversation waiting for you if you want it. And one of the great ways to meet other cinephiles is through volunteering, which also earns you ticket vouchers! Until I started talking to other people, I didn’t know that this year’s festival had a documentary about the guy who does Elmo’s voice. Or a German pirate movie. Or a Blair Witch Project – except with trolls! – movie.

 
(Eve and the Fire Horse – SIFF 2006)

Even if you don’t live in or near Seattle, there are film festivals in places all over the country. Even with SIFF here, we have various other smaller, more focused festivals, like the Seattle Polish Film Festival, the Seattle True Independent Film Festival, the Seattle Jewish Film Festival, and much more. While looking for reviews of SIFF films this year, I found that many of them had screened at other cities’ film festivals already, places like San Francisco, Vancouver, and Denver. So chances are, you’ve got the opportunity to see some films that never get shown outside the festival circuit, things that are refreshingly different from the things Hollywood keeps throwing at us, eye-opening documentaries, and who knows, maybe your next favorite film.

What’s on my agenda?

Mysteries of Lisbon – Okay, how often do you get to see a 270 minute epic period piece in the theater?

Seattle Stories – Short films are so much fun, and there aren’t many opportunities to see them. Even better that they’re all by Seattle filmmakers because a lot of the settings will be familiar.

The White Meadows – A haunting, otherworldly looking film about a guy who goes around collecting people’s tears. But there’s more to the film than that because Iran got pissed and threw the directors in prison.

Marathon Boy – A documentary about Budhia Singh, a kid from the slums of India who got really famous by doing long distance runs at the age of 4.

…and much more!

~N