Free massages, sabbaticals, and Xbox make for successful companies? Interesting.
(“Best Places to Work in Seattle 2013: 17 Habits of Highly Successful Companies,” January 2013)
Megan Nelson @mNseattle via Twitter

When One Door Closes…
But I just moved three blocks away (“Easy Street Records Queen Anne to Close,” Culture Fiend, January 2, 2013). Nooo!
Shaz @Shastified via Twitter 

 

…Another Door Opens
Cool beans! Gold Van Records store on wheels hit Seattle’s streets (“Meet the Shopkeepers: Gold Van Records,” Shop Talk, December 31, 2012). 
Melinda Fox @FoxMelinda via Twitter 

 

Resolved
Looking good! On to all the beautiful local things to happen in 2013 (“2012: A Year of Seattle Style in Review,” Shop Talk, December 31, 2012).
hana.wilson.7 via seattlemet.com

  

Great Minds
These are pretty much all of my New Year’s resolutions wrapped up in one article (“Bar and Restaurant Openings We Await in 2013,” Nosh Pit, December 28, 2012). Thanks, Seattle Met.
Ariel Dos Santos @agds via Twitter

 

Food for Thor
I totally agree that we need great Nordic food here (“Five Restaurants Seattle Needs in 2013,” Nosh Pit, December 27, 2012). I was in Copenhagen last month and tried some incredible local food, including plenty of new Nordic cuisine and smørrebrød. Lately I’ve had an intense craving for that thick rye bread layered with soft butter and artfully stacked ingredients, mmm-MMMM... I recently tried Copper Gate in Ballard. Tasty, but decidedly not the same. The smørrebrød came not on the dish’s signature dark, dense, and grainy rugbrød, but on a bread so thin and white that it more resembled Danes than Danish food. The dish is small, and the bread is what’s supposed to fill you up. The bread is non-negotiable. I’m still bugging my friend Trine to send me her recipe for rugbrød. Maybe when I master it and save a bit of cash, I’ll start a restaurant here to give Noma a run for its money. 
jeremydowning via seattlemet.com

 

An August Opening
Thrilled to see a new after-work-cocktail establishment in Fremont (“The Augustus Opens This Week in Fremont,” Sauced, December 13, 2012). It’s sorely needed.
kenfucious via seattlemet.com

 

A Vote for Poppy
I’m still scratching my head over the fact that Poppy wasn’t included in this list (“Ooops, There’s One More Best Restaurant of 2012!,” Nosh Pit, November 5, 2012). Admittedly, it’s got to be hard to be the one to choose these great restaurants, and many will be left out. But to your point about restaurants that define Seattle, that just wouldn’t be the same outside of our great city—I think Poppy, for sure, epitomizes a creative use of Pacific Northwest ingredients in a totally unique setting.
bselengut via seattlemet.com

 

McGinn’s Challengers
The best thing about 2013 mayoral candidate Peter Steinbrueck is he is not any of the other guys (“One Question for Nick Licata,” PubliCola, December 20, 2012). That he is just a beat slower to fall to his knees when a rich man demands he do so.
Jason McDowel via seattlemet.com

 

Political Heroes
Let’s not forget that the 2006 passage of basic civil rights for LGBT Washingtonians took 29 years of hard, often thankless, work by Ed Murray (“The Education of Ed Murray,” January 2013) and so many people. My former senator Bill Finkbeiner remains a hero to me for knowing he was ending his senate career by casting the final vote against the wishes of his party’s caucus.
nikielenbaas via seattlemet.com 

 

Yes Yes Yesssssss.
(“Kedai Makan Taking Over Taco Gringos on Olive Way,” Nosh Pit, December 24, 2012)
red alder @cardooons via Twitter

 

New Coinage
Councilmanically is my new favorite adverb (“Extra Fizz: Constantine, McGinn Call for Eight Cents Gas Tax Increase,” PubliCola, December 21, 2012). 
Lincoln via seattlemet.com

 

Word of the Month
Councilmanically means behind closed doors, without public involvement (“Extra Fizz: Constantine, McGinn Call for Eight Cents Gas Tax Increase,” PubliCola, December 21, 2012). In other words, people have no say.
Coleman via seattlemet.com

 

Say What?
Crisis, it’s a crisis (“Extra Fizz: Constantine, McGinn Call for Eight Cents Gas Tax Increase,” PubliCola, December 21, 2012). If you want to raise taxes again, just shout, “CRISIS.”
Posted by Jimb via seattlemet.com

 

Reasonable Believer
Bob Seidensticker publicly admits he wants to convert people and cause them to reevaluate their beliefs just before complaining that Christians bring their beliefs into society (“Reasonable Doubter,” December 2012). I find that atheists are as likely as Christians to sermonize and may be the most fervent proselytizers among my friends. I’m not a fundamentalist nor a creationist. I believe in evolution, which I was taught in Catholic school. Doubt exists among believers, but is overwhelmed by personal experience. I don’t believe in God as a bet; my conversion didn’t require a worldwide dream miracle as a “starter.” Incidentally, my believing friends and I never collectively encountered a superior being who could have been an alien, as Seidensticker offers for a potential God delusion. I’m quite certain I’m not crazy, as reasonable as any atheist, and focused on this life.
Heather Jones, Seattle

 

Published: February 2013