We've been eating a lot more vegetables over the past few months. I used to think that a meal had to have meat for it to be a meal, but as we've become better at cooking, it's become easier to make good recipes with mostly vegetables.

The vegetable box we receive also gives us plenty of things to cook that don't have to be accompanied by meat, and I'm trying new fruits and vegetables with each box we receive.

I've made a conscious decision to try to minimize the amount of meat I eat and there are some benefits of that. For example, I may live longer by eating less meat.

A minor benefit of eating less meat is that cooking less raw meat means that there are fewer times when animal blood gets on our counter top and fewer bacteria in the kitchen.

The animal food industry has a huge impact on the environment due to all the resources it takes to feed animals so we can eat them, and also treats many animals inhumanely.

We have a couple pretty good cookbooks that we use that have many meat-free recipes. Stir-fry with vegetables and sometimes tofu is a favorite of ours. We've also found some recipes online for chili, veggie sandwich, and mushroom and potato soup.

Eating some meals without meat does take some effort to find new recipes that don't include meat, but for me it has been worthwhile and for many other people who have reasons for eating less meat.

We'd mentioned before that Seattle has 45% more dogs than children, and another study confirms that Seattle has relatively few children. In fact, of all US cities, Seattle has the second lowest rate of children living in the city limits, behind San Francisco:

Less than 20 percent of all Seattle households included children younger than 18, compared with 34 percent nationally and 33 in Washington state.

While the low rate of children here is striking, it's not especially surprising, considering the high cost of living, especially for home ownership, which prices many families out of the city and into the suburbs. And, with Seattle's city limits being smaller than sprawling cities elsewhere in the country, suburban expansion long ago filled Seattle to its edges, pushing families looking for new developments into suburbs outside of Seattle. Seattle also attracts singles and young married couples like us without children who create demand for small condos and apartments.

We've always liked looking at Christmas lights, so we went to Candy Cane Lane earlier this week. Candy Cane Lane is a short street in the Ravenna neighborhood, north of the U-District, where all the home owners put up lights and displays for everyone to enjoy during the Christmas season. It's one of the best light displays in the area with every house on the street participating. We decided to park a few streets over and walk through it as opposed to driving through like we have in past years.

I have been looking forward to our next trip, as we will be returning to Texas to spend time with family. This will be one of our longer trips back to Texas - we'll be there for 9 days - but it also feels like it's been a very long time since we've been there. Last year, we weren't able to be with family during the holidays, so I'm very excited to be able to see my parents and other relatives and friends, including our baby niece.

We traveled during the holidays our first year here, which was quite an hectic experience thanks to the snow storm that moved in before we left.

While this winter is expected to be wet and cold, right now the forecast doesn't show any snow that would impact our flight out.

I'm looking forward to satisfying my currently insatiable cravings for barbecue and Tex-Mex. Lesley and I will also be spending an evening in Dallas by ourselves and going to a hockey game with her parents.

While we'll have spent more than half of our vacation time this year to go back to Texas rather than traveling somewhere new and exciting, it's good to spend holidays with family.

So, I had another birthday recently. Seems like it comes around more and more often. I do like to take advantage of my birthday when it happens, and I was glad to be able to do all these things that I wouldn't normally do.

Lesley took good care of me for my birthday. She bought me several doughnuts from Top Pot, including my favorite: old-fashioned glazed. I love classic country music, so she got me a Patsy Cline greatest hits. She also took me out to dinner at a nearby Ethiopian restaurant that we'd never been to before. I pass by this place sometimes on my way home and have always been intrigued, but have never stopped in. I thought the place had good ambiance and despite being in an out of the way location, it got pretty busy when we were there. We shared a vegetable platter, which was a lot of food for pretty cheap. I'm not sure when we'll go back, as neither of us are huge fans of Ethiopian food, but it was nice to try this place out and go somewhere different for my birthday.

We also went out to brunch at a cafe that had opened recently just a couple blocks from our apartment and watched a film noir (The Third Man) on our Netflix queue. We also went out to a piano bar nearby and listened to a variety of songs, including work from 70s progressive artists like Kansas and the Moody Blues, ragtime tunes, and classical pieces by Beethoven.

It was fun going to several places we hadn't been to before. And it's cool that new places are opening nearby, as we didn't have to go any farther than half a mile from where we live for me to have a good birthday.

Troy and I went to my work Christmas party last night. It was held at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in downtown Seattle instead of the Hotel Andra where it was the past two years. We just barely made the bus near our apartment and arrived shortly after it started at 6 for cocktails and appetizers. They had several kinds of cheese, including Gouda, goat cheese, and aged Parmesan. They also had nuts and dried cranberries to munch on.

After about an hour we all sat down at our assigned tables and had salad, dinner, and dessert. I really liked the salad, which had thin pear slices, cheese, walnuts, and bibb lettuce with a nice vinaigrette dressing. I had a steak with mashed potatoes and green beans while Troy had a cheese ravioli pasta dish with asparagus. My steak was cooked just right, but it didn't have a very good flavor. For dessert we had a chocolate Swiss roll with cream filling and raspberries. We also had some red and white wine throughout the night.

The Fairmont is a really nice hotel and the ceilings were really high compared to the low ceilings at the Hotel Andra, which made it easier to hear people talk. We also had a live group of carolers, which is always a nice touch.

This party was a little different from the last two, not just because it was in a different hotel, but because my former boss is retiring at the end of this year. A few people said a few words and gave short speeches. She really likes Elvis, so we had an Elvis impersonator put on a show. It was a big surprise for her and pretty unexpected. He sang to several ladies, but thankfully I managed to avoid him. It probably helped that we were at a table in the very back corner of the room, although I didn't like feeling so far away from everyone else.

Overall, it was an interesting night. I liked the nice hotel, but didn't care much for the steak or where our table was located. I got tired of standing on my feet, which hurt my heel. We also had to wait in the bus terminal for quite a while to get home, which was slightly inconvenient. I'll take free food and drinks though any day.

A couple of weeks ago we went to a housewarming party for some friends of ours that moved to Kirkland. We were driving around and exploring the area a little bit when we came across a gigantic bonfire, probably 10 feet wide! It was on a beach close to Lake Washington. We decided to stop and check it out. There were lots of other people standing around it, keeping warm. It was cold outside, but the fire was pretty hot, even standing about 10 feet from it! Unfortunately we didn't have our cameras with us, so Troy just took a picture with his cell phone camera, which doesn't really do it justice. I'd never seen anything like it, pretty cool.

Seattle City Light sends out a newsletter bimonthly with news and tips for saving energy and recycling electronics among other things. This issue detailed where our electricity comes from:

• Hydro - 91.2%


• Nuclear - 4.4%


• Wind - 2.3%


• Coal - 1.4%


• Other - 0.7%

I haven't bought a new game system since I bought my PS2 from my sister 4 years ago. I've been playing my old games quite a bit recently and have run out of ones I want to play for the 100th time. I mentioned I was interested in getting a Wii and one of my coworkers told me she would sell hers to me at a discount. She included the following items with her offer:

• Wii system


• 4 Wii remotes


• 2 nunchucks


• 2 controllers


• 2 wheels


• Wii bat/tennis racket/golf club

Games:

• Mario Kart


• Mario Party 8


• Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games


• Wii Play


• Wii Sports

She was willing to take $250 for all of those items, so I quickly accepted! I think it was a pretty sweet deal considering all of that stuff brand new would cost a lot more than that. Now I also want to buy other games, including Zelda, Donkey Kong Returns, New Super Mario Bros, and Mario Galaxy 1 & 2. Early Merry Christmas to me! :)

We moved to Seattle largely for the walkable urban environment that is missing from our hometown of Fort Worth. So, I have been following with interest the study in Fort Worth to determine the feasibility of adding a streetcar line there.

We have a streetcar running in our neighborhood, which was controversial when it was installed. However, in the few years since it's been installed, ridership has grown significantly as has the neighborhood. Developers have responded to the streetcar investment Seattle made in this long-neglected area and the neighborhood surrounding the streetcar is the fastest growing part of the city. Like Portland's streetcar did, Seattle's streetcar has been a catalyst for the development of a good urban neighborhood.

Fort Worth has also neglected areas near its downtown and a streetcar there would have sparked private development toward creating a significant urban center city area - the studies so far had predicted millions of dollars in growth. However, Fort Worth's city council decided to stop the studies and abandon the streetcar project. Stopping the streetcar study points to a lack of vision on behalf of Fort Worth's leaders and established interests.

There has been some resistance in Seattle to the investments in Seattle's urban areas and public transportation, but Seattle has been successful at creating urban areas that people want to live in. Fort Worth hasn't and apparently doesn't care to. Consequently, the town of Fort Worth will see more people like myself who prefer walkable urban areas over drivable suburban areas leaving for cities like Seattle.

I had my MRI Monday morning and that went ok. I didn't know they were going to inject dye into my right arm at the elbow, so that wasn't very fun. I had my normal reaction of feeling nauseous and close to fainting. The MRI was really loud, so I had to wear ear plugs and I also had music to listen with headphones. They did short 2-3 minute tests and the machine would make all kinds of noise. I was glad when the whole thing was over, it took about an hour.

Yesterday we met with the doctor and went over the MRI results, which were negative. He didn't find any tumor, cyst, or bursitis. He said it is just chronic plantar fasciitis, so he told me to keep doing what I've been doing - stretching, wearing my night splint, icing my heel, and wearing shoes all the time. He also gave me some silicone 3/4 shoe inserts that should give me more padding than my harder orthotics. I got another coritsone shot too. Hopefully these new inserts help. He said plantar fasciitis normally goes away for most people after about a year, no matter what measures have been taken to cure it. Not exactly what I wanted to hear, but I guess it's better than unnecessary surgery and having to use crutches.

Our apartment had their annual holiday party this past week and we decided to go. There were some finger foods and drinks, however we showed up late, so some of the food was cold or already eaten. There was also a raffle for several prizes that were donated by local businesses. There were quite a lot of other people there, but Lesley and me were each lucky enough to win a prize.

I won a free pizza from Tutta Bella and Lesley won two free tickets to the Cinerama.

We had our free pizza with a calzone this weekend and we had been wanting to go to the Cinerama since it was remodeled, so we're looking forward to seeing a movie there sometime soon.

We've mentioned Top Pot a few times before, but it definitely deserves its own post. We woke up pretty early this morning for some reason, so I suggested we walk to Top Pot to get some doughnuts before the Conference USA championship game between SMU and UCF. I usually get them for free at work all the time, since it's only a few blocks from my office and people bring in a couple dozen almost every week it seems like. I used to only eat the apple fritter, but lately I've been trying different ones like the cinnamon sugar covered blueberry cake doughnut.

We got four doughnuts this morning. Troy got a regular and a chocolate old fashioned glazed and I got a peppermint snowdrift and a chocolate bar. I was barely able to finish the chocolate bar. Top Pot definitely has the best doughnuts I've ever had. Troy likes them more than Krispy Kreme now. I wonder if we'll ever try them all...

I had my follow up appointment with my podiatrist the day before Thanksgiving. My foot had not improved at all since my second coritsone shot (now 5 weeks ago). In fact it got considerably worse, probably the worst it's ever felt. He said it seemed that my plantar fasciitis had gone away, but that another mass had gotten bigger in a different spot on my heel. He thought it might be neuroma or bursitis. The podiatrist recommended either an MRI or surgery because he wasn't sure what was wrong. He made an MRI sound like it wouldn't really give us much information about what it is, so I was leaning toward just doing the surgery.

After talking to several people, I decided to get a second opinion, this time from an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in foot and ankle problems. He was highly recommended to me too. He said I should definitely get an MRI because it actually does give you a lot of information about your muscles and fatty tissues in the heel. It would pinpoint exactly where my pain is and what is there so that if surgery is necessary, they know exactly where to cut.

So, I decided to go with this new doctor who seems to have a lot more experience with this type of surgery. My MRI is scheduled for next Monday at 8:00am and my follow up appointment to talk about the results is Tuesday at 3:45pm.

I can't wait to hear what the doctor says about the results and what we can do from here. This problem has gone on way too long and I'm ready to get back to my normal life of walking and hiking.

Thanksgiving kind of snuck up on me this year and I didn't really think about it as much as the last two years. Still, we bought everything by last weekend and I started cooking last night. I watched Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast on TV while I made the pumpkin pie, pecan pie, turkey brine, and cornbread for the dressing. It was fun watching those classic Disney movies, which are two of my favorites.

The last time I made a pecan pie it didn't turn out too well, but I decided to try to make one again for Thanksgiving. We actually had to buy a new pie plate because I only had one and that was for the pumpkin pie. I followed a recipe online and it turned out really good! I arranged the pecans on top in circles and it looked so pretty I almost didn't want to cut into it.

Then this morning, I made the green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, and the rest of the dressing. The 3 pound turkey only had to cook for 90 minutes. We also had cranberry sauce, rolls, and white wine. Everything tasted really good, especially the brined turkey. Makes me wonder why we don't cook this kind of food at other times throughout the year.

We'll probably go for a walk later after the football game and maybe watch a movie or play some games tonight. I have to work tomorrow, but we'll probably get out at 2, so that won't be so bad. Then this weekend we'll be putting up our Christmas tree! Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

We've had some very cold weather the last several days, which has brought snow and ice to the area. It was really windy, with gusts up to 30 miles per hour last night, which blew the snow everywhere and made roads worse. Some of my coworkers who ride the bus to work said it took them anywhere from 3 to 8 hours to get home last night.

It seems to get this cold once or twice a year, and then the rest of the winter is more mild. Here's a few numbers from our unseasonal cold and snow, which originally appeared on Ballard Komo News:

2.7" – That’s how much snowfall we received in Seattle Monday. Not a huge snowstorm, but enough for a daily record and the most snow we’ve had in the city before Thanksgiving since 1985.

89 – The number of consecutive hours that we will stay at/below freezing in Seattle. We started on Sunday evening and we won’t get above freezing until noon on Thursday.

32, 28, 30 – The high temperature from Monday, followed by the forecast for today and tomorrow. Longest cold snap in Seattle in November since mid 80s.

1985 – The last time we were this cold and snowy in mid-November. It has been a generation since we’ve seen something like this.

15 – That’s how cold we will be Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. This will likely set a new daily record for Seattle.

15" – The highest snow total I’ve seen so far. That’s from Snoqualmie Pass.

41 – The forecast high for Thanksgiving, the first day above 40 degrees since Saturday.

0 – The number of meteorologists, myself included, that saw this exact chain of events coming in advance.

Here's a video of the snow falling:

Snowing in Seattle! on Vimeo.

The last three weeks we've tried two new restaurants. Unfortunately we didn't have our camera with us either time, so you'll have to imagine what the food looked like.

I bought a Groupon for $25 of food at Araya's, a Thai food restaurant in the U-District. There were a lot of people there since it was a Friday night. We saw several other people with the same Groupon. The service was really slow, but I liked the nice romantic atmosphere and the food was really good. We shared some fried spring veggie rolls and I had the pad thai. Troy got the green curry, which was a little spicy but good. I'd like to go back and maybe get a curry or something.

Then this last Saturday night we went out for dinner to La Isla, a Puerto Rican restaurant in Ballard. It was similar to real Mexican food. There were a lot of seafood items on the menu and some interesting appetizers. I got a Mai Tai, which was really good at first, but seemed to get too strong the more I drank it. We shared an empanadilla and had the ropa vieja which is shredded beef in abodo sauce, peppers, and onions. It came with some tostones, avocado, beans, and rice. The food wasn't as hot (as in temperature) as it could have been. We also had a yummy dessert called "Guayabitas Vivian". It was a torte with mango filling and cream cheese topping served with vanilla ice cream sprinkled with cinnamon. It was good, but a little expensive and the service was a little slow. We'd like to go back though and try more different dishes.

We're getting our third produce box today and it will include these items:

• Red Potatoes, Organic - 1.5 pounds
  Full Circle Farm, Carnation, Washington


• Treviso Radicchio, Organic - 1 each
  Full Circle Farm, Carnation, Washington


• Green Kale, Organic - 1 bunch
  Full Circle Farm, Carnation, Washington


• Baby White Turnips, Organic - 1 bunch
  Full Circle Farm, Carnation, Washington


• Green Beans, Organic - 0.75 pound
  California Growers, California


• Celery, Organic - 1 each
  California Growers, California


• Red Leaf Lettuce, Organic - 1 bunch
  Lakeside Organic Gardens, Watsonville, California


• Bunched Carrots, Organic - 1 bunch
  Cal-Organics, Lamont, California


• Valencia Oranges, Organic - 3 each
  California Growers, California


• Fuyu Persimmons, Organic - 2 each
  Wild River Ranch, Marysville, California


• Pomegranates, Organic - 1 each
  Twin Girls Farm, San Francisco, California


• Gala Apples, Organic - 3 each
  Earth Conscious Organics, Brewster, Washington

We were scheduled to get more pears, but I don't care for them much and I think Troy was getting tired of them too, so we substituted them for a pomegranate. I'm looking forward to getting more oranges and apples. The celery will be useful for making dressing for Thanksgiving next week. I think we have a few recipes in mind to use the turnip, radicchio, and kale. I'm also interested in trying the persimmons since I've never had one before.

I was asked last year to join the finance committee at the church we attend. I declined because I wasn't sure if I wanted to be that involved. But then I was asked again this year to serve on it and I accepted. The term generally lasts for three years, but isn't set in stone. They meet for a couple of hours on the third Wednesday of every month, which I've been going to since July. Meetings start at 7 and normally end around 9.

Most of the time is spent reviewing the budget and or working on the annual stewardship campaign. Since I studied accounting and finance in college, I can easily understand what they're talking about when reviewing reports or budgets, which I think is pretty valuable. I'm more interested in investing, but unfortunately the church doesn't really have much in the way of stored up reserves. It's been an interesting experience and I'm glad that I'm able to lend a hand.

Note: This walking route through Seattle's neighborhood of Wedgwood comes from Walking in Seattle.

This quiet residential neighborhood in Northeast Seattle is home to a large glacial boulder and the city’s first P-patch.



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