SV Cascadia

Intro Don't Skimp Dough Recipe Fillings Pizza Sauce Recipe Roll Rectangle Dough Construction Stromboli are hard to find in Seattle. Sometimes we'll be lured by a menu listing stromboli only to discover a calzone or sandwich in its place.  So far we've only found one reliable option to quell our stromboli desires: Anita's Place at Boston's in Bremerton.  We've eaten many delicious meat pockets there, but they changed hands a few months ago. Wayne read some unfavorable reviews of the new menu, but we have found that restaurant reviews in Bremerton don't generally agree with our tastes. We decided that empirical testing was required. Previously, I'd never felt the slightest urge to linger. The remodeled space is inviting, with more comfortable chairs and cloth napkins on the tables.  There are books on the windowsills next to the tables. We leafed through  Lonely Planet's  Epic Bike Rides of the World  while we waited for our take ...

The beloved belt.  Wayne bought a burner belt three years ago. He has worn it almost daily, and this puzzle box of pockets carries all of his essential stuff. Last summer he lamented its impending demise. The linings of several pockets had worn through, and his fixes with gear repair tape wore out quickly. As soon as we bought a sewing machine, he suggested that I might be able to repair it. I added it to the long list of sewing projects and promptly forgot about it. The calendar turned to spring, and like magic the sun returned. "I miss my burner belt," he said. All winter he has worn a hoodie with a million pockets , designed for the nerd on the go. Seriously, this thing can carry a full-sized ipad, and it manages to not look weird and lumpy. For winter, it's impressive. In summer, it will be oppressive. In April, I decided to tackle reproducing this beloved bag. I spent an hour or two sketching out the layers, trying to figure out where all those flaps and zip...

The last Saturday in April is Independent Bookstore Day across the United States. In Seattle, it is also Seattle Bookstore Day , home to the Seattle Bookstore Challenge. Each of the past four years I have taken the challenge and visited each of the participating stores, passport in hand. The first year (2015) there were 17 stores on the list (two requiring 30-minute ferry rides), and my colleagues and I thought a handful of people might actually be crazy enough to finish the whole thing. Surely the only people out there would be book industry people. Who else would spend an entire Saturday visiting bookstores? Katie, our intrepid Penguin Random House sales rep, offered to drive at the last minute, when we heard that a couple of booksellers from New Jersey were flying out to participate. We couldn't let them show us up! Thus a tradition was born. I lost my wallet in 2015, so my collection is sadly incomplete.  "...in our first year, we weren't sure if a...

The old sail cover had seen better days and many patches.  As our month of house-sitting came to a close, we finally started the sail cover project. The old one had been patched so many times I had not realized what a simple pattern it was until I watched the Sailrite video . With a week left in a large space, we were eager to finish before time ran out. It was clear after working on the cockpit cover that doing canvas work of this size would be incredibly difficult on the boat. After some research, we measured the boom and mast ordered a sail cover kit from Sailrite.  This included a 5'x21' roll of blue Sunbrella with a cutting pattern already drawn on it. Excited to start this project. Cutting the Sunbrella with the hot knife. This would have been really hard to do on the boat.  The assembly was pretty straightforward, especially with the cockpit cover repairs under our belts.  It had a few long seams, which we marked,  taped , and cr...