Breakfast for Dinner
If you’re like me, some questions have been on your mind lately: How is it dark already? Will winter ever end? When the whole world seems topsy-turvy, and the sun is long gone at 4:42 p.m., why not eat breakfast for dinner? Especially when that breakfast is as good as local restaurant Coastal Kitchen. This Capitol Hill Fish House makes stand-by breakfast favorites like huevos rancheros, Dungeness crab cake benedict and gingerbread waffles. This month for their focus on French region Brittany, they’re also ladling on the Bechamel, with croque madames and Gallet — the heavenly crepe of Brittany (buckwheat crepes with granny smith apples, criminis, leeks, and gruyere cheese topped with Bechamel and served with fries). As part of this "shortest day of the year" special, expect all of their happy hour menus (the Don’t Judge Me and the Every Day Happy Hour) from 3-6 p.m. and 10-11 p.m, featuring $6 Irish coffees, $7 whiskey sours, and $1.50 shucked oysters on the half shell. Reservations recommended.
If you go: Breakfast for Dinner, Coastal Kitchen, 3 to 11 p.m. Dec. 21 (prices vary)
Seattle Obscura Society: The Life and Death of Stars
Join Seattle Obscura Society for a special night of guided stargazing and learning at the Henry Art Gallery’s Skyspace. The Skyspace, an installation by artist James Turrell, has been giving guests a unique view of the sky, and a calm place for sitting and reflecting, since it was unveiled in 2003. If you’ve never been, it’s a truly unique experience that you’ll want to drink in. At this indoor/outdoor lecture, astrophysicist and professor Dr. Anand Thirumalai will talk about the birth and the death of stars, and much in between, from stellar nurseries to white dwarf stars and other things I don’t understand.
If you go: Seattle Obscura Society: The Life and Death of Stars, Henry Art Museum, 7 p.m. Dec. 21 ($20)
Winter Celebration at the Zoo
Cartoonish, fuzzy kunekune pigs and holiday treats are what Christmas is all about (at least I think that’s what Linus concluded in "A Charlie Brown Christmas"). This week, watch Woodland Park Zoo's animals receive their own holiday gifts, in the form of holiday wreaths and trees with fruit, boughs and wrapped boxes. The greater gift, of course, is for us, who get to behold this. For the complete schedule of gifting times, visit their website. I recommend that you and you visitors, if you have them, go for an entire afternoon, and plan to sip hot chocolate and do some learning in between.
If you go: Winter Celebration at the Zoo, Woodland Park Zoo, Dec 21-23 ($9.95-14.95)
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
As part of its December after Dark series, SIFF is showing a few edgy wintry tales, in welcome contrast to the saccharine "Muppet Christmas Carols" and "It’s a Wonderful Life" films of the season. The best of the programming is "Rare Exports," the 2010 Finnish film that is part fairy tale, part horror story and part anthropological study of the bloodthirsty creature we have come to call Santa Claus. It’s dark comedy done really well — entertaining in the moment and brilliant enough to stick with you for years to come.
If you go: Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, SIFF Film Center, Dec. 21-23 ($14)
Wonderland
This winter holiday extravaganza returns to the Can Can’s intimate, historic Pike Place Market theatre-turned-winter-chalet, led by an A-list cast of dancers. Songs include homages to Willy Wonka’s “Pure Imagination,” Rufus Wainwright’s “Hallelujah,” and “Keep it Gay” from The Producers, with “dance, laughter and all the cheer of yesteryear.” Food and drink menus feature seasonal ingredients sourced right from the market. I especially recommend the weekend holiday brunch shows, which are the perfect way to start a winter morning.
If you go: Wonderland, the Can Can, through Jan. 28 ($35)
