Luke Judge

Feb 2, 2012 No Comments ›› LaVoix

Over 15,000 children are on the National Free Lunch Program in the little Rock area, counting the 1100 in the UAMS Head start program and those enrolled in the Little Rock School District, and these children are caught in an exploitative corporate deal of which the majority of parents are probably unaware.  When news that the Comcast “Internet Essentials” program wasn’t working for these low-income families broke in Arkansas, comments on the press release in the Arkansas Times ranged from “redistribution” to “corporate welfare”.  Before anyone starts screaming entitlements and redistribution on this website, we wish to remind everyone that the children and families that get the National Free Lunch Program did not go begging the FCC to cut this deal.   the FCC “mandated” that Comcast provide the low-cost internet service!  The Comcast/NBC merger boils down to corporate welfare by creation of a “$30 Billion Dollar Behemoth” in a deal that went down in January of 2011.   Comcast now “controls not just how television shows and movies are made but how they are delivered to people’s homes.”    Here is the services page for Comcast…look closely to see if it speaks of a $9.95 internet program or a $149 laptop?

Arkansas Times first broke the news of community organizations taking on the “$30 Billion Dollar Behemoth” on January 12, 2012.  Click the date to see the video reaction of the little Rock Comcast representative…January 12, 2012 when he was told that our low-income children weren’t able to access the Internet Essentials Program for various reasons. more then likely families couldn’t even find the website to get the phone number even if they had internet connection as the website is carefully excluded from the main Comcast website:

Wow!  Note the $149.99 computer!  Wow!  Where are the computers coming from?  According to the Comcast report:

“Discounted Computers: As part of Internet Essentials, Comcast has partnered with Dell and Acer to offer eligible families the opportunity to purchase a full-service, Internet-capable computer for under $150, substantially below retail. Working with our partners, including microsoft, we offer fully loaded computers with Internet Explorer and productivity software. We also provide the Norton™ security suite, a $160 value, at no additional charge to ensure that Internet Essentials users have a secure online experience.”

Razorback scat!  Read on!

The actions of Local 100 United Labor Unions along with ACTION United, a Community Voice, Arkansas Community Organizations stirred up Comcast into a Shakespearean  position of “protest too much”.  Now that Comcast controls the media for millions of Americans, I want to remind folks of what was said in the Reuters story when this deal went through last year:

” the Philadelphia-based company hopes to take advantage of an evolving media world as viewing habits change and audiences expect to find their favorite entertainment on the TV set as well as the PC, tablet and smartphone.”

Do we see a “Faux News” propaganda machine in the making or is this just a case of using “free-lunch children” as a way to capitalism’s finest day?  Comcast isn’t just taking advantage of viewing habits.  They are stacking and have been stacking the deck on both sides of the political divide for years.  Even before the Citizens United ruling, Comcast PAC feathered their abilities to negotiate their “behemoth” by contributing to both sides of the aisle in D.C.  Check their donations at Open Secrets and you’ll find some Arkansas names listed in Congress.  We’ll just wait to see who is getting greased like a stuck pig in this situation.

Latest update in the Arkansas Times with a reprint of of the press release from Local 100 United Labor Unions and their community allies below:

Local 100 and Community Allies Slam Comcast’s Lack of Effort on Digital Divide!

In response to Local 100 United Labor Unions and our community partners ACTION United, Arkansas Community Organizations, a Community Voice, ACORN International, and others and direct actions and meetings in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Houston, little Rock and Shreveport over the past 2 weeks, Comcast this week issued a report about the first five months of the Internet Essentials Program.  the report claims to be satisfied that nationally more than 40,000 of the 3,000,000 people that Comcast had declared eligible were enrolled in the program, according to their unaudited or witnessed surveys.

The results reported by Comcast are very disappointing: slightly over 2000 in Harris County; not even 450 in Philadelphia where Comcast is headquartered: slightly more than 1000 in all of Louisiana; and so few in Arkansas the number was not included in the “Launch Report” issued by VP David Cohen.  Surveys done by ACTION United in Philadelphia found not one family enrolled out of over 100 contacted.  a similar survey conducted among eligible Head start workers and HISD workers also produced no enrollments in over 100 surveyed by Local 100 in Houston.

Meetings with Comcast representatives in Philadelphia, Houston, and elsewhere have been very disappointing because Comcast has up until this report resisted any demands for transparency or accountability, insisting that there were no numerical goals despite the coalition’s entreaties that Comcast set specific benchmarks and work with community partners to reach substantive performance goals to lower the digital divide.  In a 9-point program the coalition has been demanding for months that Comcast lower the barriers and obstacles to participation and stop using “internet essentials” as a marketing program and begin implementing a serious program get access to lower income families.  the coalition was in fact pleased that Comcast announced some reforms of the program including an expansion of the number of eligible families past just free school lunch eligible.

In calls to enroll families to Comcast’s program this week, Local 100 has continued to find almost total resistance.  Calls to 713 numbers are answered in Florida.  Callers are told the $9.95 program for access does not exist.  When inquiring about the $150 computers, callers are routed to Dell Computer in Austin, which informed several families that Comcast had cancelled the program and that only $400 computers are available!  furthermore, Comcast and its suppliers are insisting that all payments for computers be made in cash or on credit (?!?) cards by lower income families rather than through their Comcast building.

Local 100 and its allies are demanding a wholesale overhaul because the program, especially its outreach largely through overtaxed schools, who are hardly in the business of selling Comcast services, are feeble and inadequate.  meanwhile Cohen for Comcast insisted this

week that the company still did not need goals for the program but instead wanted applause for taking some initiative.

Cohen’s spin for Comcast does not align with the facts or history. the Internet Essentials program was required by the 2011 Memorandum Opinion and Order from the FCC regarding the merger of Comcast and NBC Universal. In the agreement, FCC requires that Comcast “substantially increase broadband adoption in low income homes throughout Comcast’s service area” (pg. 143).

It raises red flags for the coalition that the program has no goals and without any metrics to measure success, they can claim at every step they are successful without making substantial strides to close the digital divide.  David Cohen claims that Comcast’s “goal is to do better,” but in the absence of clear goals, the program has no teeth and is merely a commitment to PR rather than digital inclusion.  Local 100 and its allies are assisting families unable to access the program in filing formal complaints with the FCC for Comcast’s “deceptive advertising” of the program without a real program in evidence.

In all of our surveys, outreach was identified as one of the biggest barriers to receiving the program.  Comcast’s report cites low digital literacy and acknowledgement of relevancy of internet as a huge barrier to enrollment.  We believe that comprehensive active outreach, as opposed to passive flyers, haphazardly distributed through school children, is essential to increased enrollment.  We are concerned that the first recipients are often the low-hanging fruit and families who are most responsive to opportunities.   Comcast’s claims its plan moving forward is to work more closely with local community organizations, libraries, school districts and faith-based organizations.  By relying on our cash-strapped community institutions, Comcast is putting the real work of the program on institutions that are struggling to provide essential services to our communities in these tough economic times without accepting its own responsibility in the community or its promises and enrichments won through the FCC process federally.

The coalition has been pushing Comcast to adopt goals of up to 50% access in the next three years and certainly no less than 25% access of eligible low income families.  Comcast has continued to respond that it is unwilling to set goals.  In Philadelphia for example even 20% would add 30,000 families.  In Harris County the number would be more than double at even 20%.  the current Comcast effort is simply unacceptable.

Local 100 United Labor Unions, ACTION United, a Community Voice, Arkansas Community Organizations and other allies across the country call on Comcast to set real goals and make them matter.

I must ask this question of our readers.  Is this a case of exploitation by Comcast using the image of the low-income child on the National Free Lunch Program to get the FCC to approve their “$30 Billion Dollar Behemoth”?  Bloggers are a curious, nosy breed and those at the Blue Arkansas Blog like to see justice served….so here is the suggestion of action.  If you are a parent or guardian of a child that is on the reduced lunch or National Free Lunch Program, or know a neighbor or family member that is…check out the requirements.

1.  Child is on the National Free Lunch Program (or reduced lunch according to Comcast press release).

2. Family home does not have Comcast “internet” services” and has not had it for at least 90 days.

3. Family does not currently owe Comcast any unpaid balances or prior debt.

Get them to call or you call the Internet Essentials number of 1-855-846-8376 to request an application.

Then have them call or you call Dell to inquire about the $149.99  laptop computer that was advertised on Internet Essentials website:  1-800-289-3355.   If Dell tells them they are no longer available or that they cost more then the $149…contact one of the two numbers below to file an FCC complaint for false advertising:

Arkansas Community Organizations:  501-376-7151

Local 100 United Labor Unions Arkansas Office: 501-801-0563

UPDATE:  A call to Dell Computer has us in a circle…Dell workers are now claiming that we must call Comcast to get the computer!  …and if you hook up the internet service you will then receive a voucher in the mail to call in and make a purchase of a netbook!  Sight unseen computer purchase over the phone for a refurbished that you don’t get to see before you buy! What a rip!  A new netbook can be had for roughly $179.00! and Comcast wants low-income customers to buy a refurbished for $149.99! (That is if they have a spare $149.99)   here is the latest phone number to try:  1-888-710-4156  Let us know if anyone in the little Rock area ever gets the package!

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Natural childbirth advocates are apparently desperate to demonstrate that “good mothers” don’t get epidurals for pain relief in labor. Unfortunately for them, the scientific literature, including the Torvaldsen study, fail to demonstrate that epidurals interfere with breastfeeding.

The Torvaldsen study looked at breastfeeding rates at 8, 16, and 24 weeks postpartum. at one week postpartum 93% of women were breastfeeding or partially breastfeeding. the investigators divided women into those who did any breastfeeding at all, regardless of how little, and those who had completely stopped breastfeeding. Strangely, the investigators never asked women about their breastfeeding plans. in other words, they ASSUMED (wrongly, no doubt) that all women planned to breastfeed for 6 months regardless of personal beliefs and regardless of employment status.

The data showed that the rate of breastfeeding dropped in each progressive week in ALL groups. at 24 weeks 52% of women who had received epidurals were still breastfeeding, compared to 72% who had received no pharmacological pain relief. but what percentage of women who stopped breastfeeding had never intended to continue until 24 weeks? we don’t know, because the authors never asked. they simply ASSUMED that anyone who stopped breastfeeding before 24 weeks did so involuntarily.

The investigators looked at many factors that were associated with duration of breastfeeding and of those, three had strong associations with duration of breast feeding. Of those three, pain relief had the WEAKEST association with breastfeeding rates. A stronger association was found with maternal education level, and the strongest association was found with maternal age. Women over 30 reported a longer duration of breastfeeding and women with a university degree had the best rate of extended breastfeeding in the entire study.

It is interesting therefore, that lactivists claim that this study indicates that women risk harming the breastfeeding relationship by choosing an epidural. by their “reasoning,” lack of a university degree has an even higher risk of harming the breastfeeding relationship, yet, curiously, they do not recommend that women shouldn’t have children until they have a university degree.

It is obvious that young age does not “cause” a decrease in extended breastfeeding and failure to obtain a college degree does not “cause” a decrease in breastfeeding. they are maternal characteristics associated with a decrease in extended breastfeeding rates. in other words, rates of extended breastfeeding are dependent on personal characteristics of the mothers themselves. Older mothers and more educated mothers have a greater commitment to extended breastfeeding.

Similarly, epidural anesthesia does not “cause” a decreased in extended breastfeeding rates; the willingness to refuse epidural anesthesia is a maternal characteristic associated with extended breastfeeding, and only a minority of women (25%) refused some sort of pharmacologic pain relief.

This study does not show that epidurals interfere with breastfeeding. It shows that maternal personal characteristics determine extended breastfeeding rates. the women who were committed to unmedicated childbirth were also committed to extended breastfeeding, and as a variety of other studies have demonstrated, it is maternal commitment that is most closely associated with extended breastfeeding.

Sorry to disappoint those who insist they merit praise for refusing an epidural, but there is NO need to decline an epidural for fear that it will harm the breastfeeding relationship.

Amy Tuteur, MD commented on Feb 10 11 at 11:53 am

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This month, Powercast is giving away two of it radio energy harvesting kits, the Lifetime Power Energy Harvesting Development Kit for Wireless Sensors (P2110-EVAL-01) and the Lifetime Power Energy Harvesting Development Kit for Battery Charging (P2110-EVAL-02).

The P2110-EVAL-01 combines Powercast’s 915 MHz RF energy harvesting system and Microchip’s eXtreme low power PIC MCU to eliminate batteries in a wide range of applications such as wireless sensors. The P2110-EVAL-02 kit features near-loss-less energy storage and efficient charging via the Thinergy Micro-Energy Cell (MEC), a solid-state, rechargeable thin-film micro-battery from Infinite Power Solutions (IPS).

READER OFFER

This month, Powercast is giving away one of each kits, the P2110-EVAL-01 worth €964 and the P2110-EVAL-02 worth €694 for EETimes Europe’s readers to win.

And the winners are…

In our previous reader offer, Power Integrations was giving away ten RDK-251 kits for 5W LED lamps designs with PFC and flicker-free TRIAC dimming.

Lucky winners include Mr J. Bennink from the Netherlands, Mr A. Martinez from Spain, Mr I. Mackenzie from Scotcland, Mr P. Harju from Finland, Mr P. Imon from Slovakia, Mr S. Camonita from Italy, Mr J. Gomez from Portugal, Mr P. Einkopf from Germany, Mr S. Palsson from Iceland and Mr J. Pink from the UK. all should be receiving their kits soon. Let’s wish them some interesting findings with their projects.

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We hear every day that going Green is one of the safest ways to save our planet. Gasoline prices continue to rise and the current working conditions of people who do work, taking on special projects work best to secure months of employment in the future. The boys are back in school, which means a lot of homework, science, and specific teacher knows what else is yet to come.

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Product Marketing is a wholesale company with many competitors. this means you can save more money if you visit the shops, the cost match. Suppose you want to bulk buy for a pet supplies online, keep in mind that the cost of express shipping included on almost all products from online shops. but there are online stores offering pet products for pets at an enormous cost savings to free trade outdated and the eighth out to them.

With all these elements in our lives is a miracle that it is time to sleep. It is also easy to forget the four-legged family members and care they need, too. With the advent of Internet and broadband connections and the purchase of insurance farmers can now benefit from the purchase of your pet supplies supplies online. It is no longer necessary to have a very short time we have and spend an extra trip to the brick and mortar pet stores have.

Nearly all pet supplies owners assume that the supply of large animals intended only to retailers, which is absolutely wrong. Average consumer can also enjoy significant savings by wholesalers. but guess who makes money on your mind, which is a selling point of pets is a good idea to win. although there wholesalers pet, a small amount of the order, trading most of them directly to regular customers.

So, given all these things when shopping for their pets and the benefits of bulk purchasing from suppliers for pets to raise. these tips will ensure that you and your pet is happy that you get the most out of your money, time and labor.

Buy your pet online can be a wonderful experience if you landed on the right side and an exercise in frustration if it does not. Spend very little time to prepare or play with your dog instead of the additional drive to the animal will be accepted by your dog. you can even time for a nap before the volcano project with their children.

Please note that shipping Express recorded on almost all products from online shops. but there are online stores offering pet products for pets at an enormous cost savings to free trade outdated and the eighth out to them.

Suppose that some elements of the market the group as a veterinary medicine, cleansing and food to buy safe to industries relating to these products. this will not only ensure that the goods are of higher grade, but can also get help from their very low prices. Pet Supplies retail shop for food, jewelry, toys brand, rewards, and the large number of wholesale and rhythm, sometimes too much. For example, a sweater costs $ 12.99 in a pet supplies shop, while only $ 5.99 at the wholesalers.

As we all try to save every penny we can, the questions I ask, “What are the costs for lines up to go to the store” and “What if I have questions I have ever had answer?” well, the answer is shipping a couple of places, no matter what you spend while some offer free shipping if you spend more than $ 50 or $ 100. others have a difficult question that you never had the chance to do much less answered.

Say you need to make the big purchase of a dog bed or dog box new messages. Online shopping offers two advantages: the first is the price comparison. here you can find 100 websites, the best prices and shipping costs are not for everyone to leave the house. we know that our prices can not be beat and shipped with so many options for delivery within 24 hours, I could now not all.

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IN THE DANCE that pairs Seattle with seafood, Pike place Market fishmongers toss fish and sing in chorus while sturdy vessels with names like Vigorous and Rigorous share the dock at Fisherman’s Terminal with salty crews from “The Deadliest Catch.”

Waterfront restaurants woo with a view — and the promise of Dungeness crab cakes — while the city’s fooderazzi hit the latest oyster happy hours at their favorite neighborhood bistros.

From South Seattle to Shoreline, Mercer Island to Mukilteo, home cooks rev up their palates in the wide world of supermarkets selling ahi and mahi, beltfish and milkfish and seasonal seductions like Hood Canal shrimp and Columbia River sturgeon.

Seattle is synonymous with seafood for good reason — one that goes beyond the great fortune that comes with living where the land meets the lakes, the rivers, the sea and the Sound. here, it’s as much about the people — the ones who make it their life’s work to bring all that great seafood to our table. Today, we celebrate just a few of them.

The retailer

At 8 a.m., driver Gene Ikeda emerges from the basement of Mutual Fish, his white coveralls tucked into Neoprene boots. He clocks in, as he has for 17 years, with co-workers who file past the cramped office that 96-year-old patriarch Dick Yoshimura shares with his son, Harry, and grandson, Kevin.

It’s the start of another long, busy day at the Rainier Valley store that has stood as a seafood mecca since 1965.

Mutual got its start at 14th Avenue and Yesler way in 1947. Back then, Harry Yoshimura was a toddler and Alaskan way a working waterfront. “In the old days, the whole waterfront area had seafood-processing places,” recalls Harry. Fish was packed in wooden boxes and sent out by truck and railcar. His dad, who worked the fillet lines as a young man, knew all the old-timers.

There was David Levy, who bought Pike place Market’s City Fish in 1922. And Solly Amon from Pure Food Fish, the Market’s longest-standing vendor, who took over where his father — a Market fixture since 1911 — left off.

“Even though they were competitors, they’d help each other out,” Harry remembers. Today the majority of the Yoshimuras’ product — much of it wild and born in the USA — arrives in wax-lined boxes via Mutual’s refrigerated trucks.

Grabbing the keys to one of two big rigs plastered with colorful fish murals, Ikeda noses onto Rainier Avenue South, headed for the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. first stop: Alaska Airlines Cargo, where he’s greeted by name, asked about his golf game and sent into a spotless warehouse where a pallet of rockfish, sablefish and halibut awaits.

From Alaska, it’s off to Delta for 45 pounds of Maine lobster; on to freight-forwarders in South Park for swordfish from the South Seas, and back to Mutual for drop-off.

Later, Ikeda tramps through the back alleys and dishwashing rooms of restaurants on Capitol Hill, Lower Queen Anne, Fremont and Belltown, leaving halibut fillets and whole dorade at a lineup that reads like a critic’s “best-of” list. He knows it’s quality stuff because as Harry Yoshimura insists, “My philosophy is to buy from people I trust.”

Chef Maria Hines does her best to purchase direct from local fisherfolk. “But if I can’t find a single source of halibut, I call Mutual,” explains the owner of Wallingford’s organic restaurant Tilth. “They’re super-knowledgable about their product.”

Late in the afternoon you might find Ikeda in Mutual’s retail shop, cutting and weighing alongside a crew in blue “Three Fish” caps. That brand, which recognizes the three generations of Yoshimuras, is on house-made products like kasu cod, kippered salmon and the fried fish cakes Naty Serquinia has been preparing in the big room out back for more than 40 years.

Naty is related by love or blood to everyone she works with, including her sister, Josie, and brother, Junior. You’ll find them heaping fresh ice in display cases, arranging fish in alternating colors and hauling tubs of California sardines and Louisiana shrimp from cold storage. come 5:30 p.m., they turn off the “OPEN” sign and do it all in reverse, scrubbing display cases and hosing down the cutting-room floor.

Together, Mutual’s crew greets a steady parade of customers. Like Rivi Poupko Kletenik, who knows they’ll expertly fillet a whole salmon with kosher care (using a special knife), and cut it into chunks for pickling — so she doesn’t have to. Every Tuesday, like clockwork, Yoshio Teshima arrives with his wife, Florence. “I’ve been shopping here since they opened,” says the 86-year-old former Boeing engineer, who buys salmon and halibut, and occasionally treats himself to Naty’s famous fish cakes. “In fact,” he laughs, “I’ve been coming here since before they opened: I was a customer at 14th and Yesler!”

The sushi chef

For those addicted to sushi, Greater Seattle has become a Japantown in its own right. the demand for it has skyrocketed locally and nationally, driving up the cost economically and environmentally.

“Prices are crazy,” says sushi chef Ryuichi Nakano, citing a rise in airfreight costs and poor foreign-exchange rates for the U.S. dollar. “Right now, I’m sucking it up, compressing my profit.”

Twenty years ago, it was difficult to get the vast variety of fresh fish he offers now, says Nakano, owner of the popular Wallingford restaurant Kisaku. “Now we have a lot of different suppliers — from all over the world.”

The majority of that supply comes via true World Foods, a sushi specialist with a strong local presence, known for its ubiquity nationwide and its controversial affiliation with the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Nakano spends approximately $20,000 each month purchasing seafood for his 70-seat restaurant. half goes to true World. otherwise, he pledges allegiance to T.H. Seafood, an unmarked warehouse and seafood-processing plant in South Park.

At T.H. Seafood, he’s greeted like an old friend by owner Shin Nishimura, because that’s what he is. Buyer and seller met while working together at I Love Sushi, where Nishimura cooked before going into the wholesale trade, and Nakano spent a decade learning how to run a sushi restaurant.

“I knew what kind of seafood he could provide,” says the chef, who opened Kisaku in 2002. “He’s good at tuna,” for instance, one of the few fish the chef doesn’t buy whole. And fresh black cod, “which you never see out of true World.”

What sets chefs like Nakano-San apart is that willingness to put his money where our mouth is, says Nishimura, whose business depends widely on the sushi trade. “It’s my job to know my customer.”

The happy wholesaler

As operations manager for the wholesale-seafood division of Anthony’s Restaurants, Tim Ferleman’s connection with seafood suppliers is the name of the game. That, and playing the numbers.

He’s got six trucks, sent to the airport sometimes twice daily from a weathered warehouse at Pier 91 off the Magnolia Bridge — where he’s been buying seafood since 1987. those trucks fan out to pick up and deliver, supplying 24 Anthony’s restaurants in Washington and Oregon with fresh and frozen product.

Anthony’s seafood sales have come a long way since 1977, when Ferleman was a teenage dishwasher at Budd Gould’s original mad Anthony’s in Bellevue. Back then, a bartender made midnight runs to Bellingham in a VW bus to supply a single Anthony’s HomePort, in Kirkland, with whole Dungeness.

Today Ferleman depends on Trilogy Crab Company to deliver sturdy 2-pounds-and-then-some Dungies — bought directly from crabbers, held live in tanks in Bellingham and trucked to Seattle. Got crabmeat? Northwest processor Bornstein Seafoods does, and they deliver daily. in 2009, Ferleman purchased 65,000 pounds of its Dungeness: more than a million bucks.

He buys 100,000 pounds of Manila clams a year from a clutch of local growers like Tom and Marie Madsen from Port Discovery Seafarms. When Marie showed up in Magnolia with a delivery and overheard there were no trucks available to fast-track a load of fresh fish from the airport to Anthony’s in Bend, Ore., she offered to make the run. Ferleman swapped her halibut for her trouble, and the fish was in Bend by lunchtime. “It’s all about relationships,” he says. His toughest job, Ferleman says, is projecting the need for halibut, and freezing the right amount of wild fish for the offseason.

Pinpointing usage and volume and protecting his price-point is a struggle, and the secret to his success is never to have too much on hand.

“Your inventory should be low when the fresh season starts, and it can be a very volatile market. You’re trying to make your buy when you think the price is at a low point because inventory only lasts so long.”

Ferleman relies on historical data from years of computer spreadsheets as well as a wall-size whiteboard behind his desk. And on those close relationships with purveyors to keep menu prices consistent.

During the season, “one of my buddies in Sitka might call and say, ‘We’ve got a boat coming in today with halibut and ling cod, what do you need?’ I say 3,000 pounds of halibut.” If things go well, they’ll offload the boat in the morning, and his fish is flying to Seattle that afternoon.

“The biggest, most important thing about having our own seafood business is we know exactly where our product comes from all of the time,” Ferleman says.

To illustrate his point, he gestures toward 300 pounds of Penn Cove mussels hand-delivered by his pal, Rawle Jeffords, who’s been selling shellfish to Anthony’s since its inception. “Rawle gets up at 2 a.m.,” says his customer. “Those mussels came out off the water this morning” — and within 24 hours they’ll be coming out of the kitchen at Anthony’s restaurants from Everett to Olympia.

The oyster man

Rawle Jeffords is the face of Whidbey Island’s Penn Cove Shellfish, and his family’s product is revered across the land. But his isn’t the only name associated with a mighty Northwest mollusk.

“Oyster Bill” Whitbeck earned his name 30 years ago when he played the drums in a marching band whose members met every year at Lake Stevens for a picnic. “I’d always bring a bag of oysters to put on the grill,” he recalls.

For nearly 10 years, the co-author of the cookbook “The Joy of Oysters” has worked for Shelton-based Taylor Shellfish Farms. Bill’s bearded face is the one you’ll find behind the Taylor banner at farmers markets all over town, selling everything from dime-sized Olympia oysters to gargantuan geoducks — a clam he’d never seen growing up around the docks and oyster boats in Connecticut on Long Island Sound.

The first time he laid eyes on a geoduck was in 1976, after riding his motorcycle to Seattle. His cousin introduced him to some of the area’s best-known seafood restaurants. “The food was terrible!” he recalls, choosing instead to get his seafood fix in Chinatown.

In the decades since, Oyster bill says, he’s witnessed a sea change.

Taking his cue from the most prominent of Northwest seafood marketers — Jon Rowley, who’s promoted product for Taylor for 25 years — Oyster bill helped convince his employers that direct sales to restaurant clients and at farmers markets was a way to step up the company profile. Chefs shop at farmers markets. Farmers-market customers dine at local restaurants. It’s win-win.

Introducing chefs and shoppers to hot commodities like Shigoku oysters (hand-sold and sold out after their limited release in 2008), and sweet Island Scallops (grown in Qualicum Beach, B.C.), Oyster bill has become both mover and shaker, salesman and teacher.

Building momentum for a new product takes time and effort, says Rowley, who has done just that for Taylor’s Mediterranean mussels and Virginica oysters. But “a good product sells itself,” insists Oyster bill.

The fisherman

Direct marketing has turned fisherman Joe Malley into the “Charlie Tuna” of Greater Seattle, though he’d bristle at the analogy. perhaps you’ve seen Malley practicing his pitch a few booths away from Oyster bill at the Ballard Farmers Market. He’s the guy whose eyes are bluer than the deep blue sea — where he and his wife, Joyce, once sailed their 95-foot troller, the Fishing Vessel St. Jude.

After 12 years as live-aboards and the birth of their children, they’ve left that task to their captain and crew, and make it their business to sell their product — Pacific albacore — themselves.

Step on up to purchase a piece of buttery albacore, smoked, frozen or canned, and you may learn that the tuna is line-caught, blast frozen and mercury-tested. And you’ll want to know that it tastes as good thawed and served raw as it does cooked in its own juices and sold for $3.50 in a 3.5-ounce can marked “Dolphin Safe” and “Zero Bycatch.”

What you’ll likely not hear is the personal cost of bringing that fish to your table.

“My captain comes in, and I owe him his crew share,” Malley explains. on a 62 ½-ton catch worth $135,000, Malley owed him $40,000, “but he wants his $40,000 in cash before the boat leaves again. in green dollars! do you know how hard it is to scrounge that up from these little banks? I sometimes have to drive all around to six banks in Ballard.”

But the payoff is the undying devotion of his biggest fans, including chefs like John Sundstrom, who highlights the tuna at Lark, and Tilth’s Hines, who met Malley eight years ago while shopping at the farmers market. “It’s such a beautiful product. I sear it rare and change it up seasonally,” says Hines. “As a chef you come up against consistency issues, and fishermen like Joe have more incentive to take really good care of their catch.”

“Running a kitchen is a lot like running a boat,” Malley says. “You have a lot of responsibility, and if something goes wrong, it’s all on you.” But when things go right? “Seattle people seek connection,” he says. “They have a special disposition. When I go to a farmers market, I don’t feel like I’m selling fish. I feel like I’m helping my friends.”

Nancy Leson is the Seattle Times food writer. Check out her blog at seattletimes.com/allyoucaneat. Mike Siegel is a Times staff photographer.

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Boscoe, the newest member of our family likes to sleep in remote areas hidden from the world. Under Luca’s crib, under Claire’s bed, the guest room bed, the basement, you know. Hidden. She’s not like Lila-Cat who steals Sadie’s bed or recliner, depending on her mood. Boscoe enjoys her space.

So it’s no surprise to us that she frequently gets locked in rooms, say for example, in Luca’s room when he’s napping. On many occasions, Luca has awoken from a nap early because Boscoe is locked in there. We usually do a Boscoe sweep of a room before we declare it empty.

Someone, and I’m not sure who, closed the guest bedroom door. We never really noticed that Boscoe was missing, per se, we just more or less noticed we were a cat short…sorta.

Around 4:30, I asked Claire to go get her kitty frame from her room. I had developed a photo of her stuffed kitten, Kitty, that she makes Matt take with her to work. The picture is more specifically, “Super Kitty,” Kitty’s alter-ego. She went upstairs, then yelled down and said, “Mama! I locked my door. I can’t get in!”

*Grumblegrumblegrumblegrumble*

I opened up the door next to hers, the guest room, and was nearly knocked over by the scent.

Cat piss. And a whole lot of it.

Boscoe, the poor thing, had been locked in there. But instead of clawing at the door or crying, she slept and took it all in stride. Clearly not a cat used to being ‘belonged’ to.

There was pee stains everywhere. Seven spots on the bedding, on the pillows, the sleeping bag in the closet, some fabric swatches, the curtains…EVERYWHERE.

And I couldn’t get mad at the cat. Of course not. It wasn’t her fault. And it’s not like she’s going to go back up there and pee everywhere. She was locked in there, from what I gather, a long time.

While I cleaned, she followed me. Keeping me within a few feet, making sure she was seen. Poor thing.

I pitched everything smelling offending out the window. And for anyone who’s ever been pregnant, the sense of smell is far amplified during pregnancy. For me when I’m NOT pregnant, I have an extremely sensitive sense of smell. So imagine being pregnant and having a heightened olfactory sense. YAH. IT SUCKED.

And I know, I know, pregnant people aren’t supposed to be around cat pee, but c’mon! It was in my house. In my guest room, which might I add will be Luca’s room come the arrival of the new baby. Luca will not be sleeping in a room that smells like cat piss.

Matt went upstairs and said that it didn’t smell as strong as I said it was. But thenagain, he’s stuffed up today. It smells. I win.

I’ve broken out the vinegar in the steam cleaner, dusted the carpet with baking soda, stripped all linens from the premises. It still smells. So I cracked the window for the night. I’m desperate.

And did I mention this sucks?

*Oh, and Matt was able to unlock Claire’s door. I told her if she does that again she’s sleeping on the couch.

~ by Cassie or Carly on October 27, 2010.

Posted in Cassie

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The most important aspect of any restaurant, is the commercial cooking equipment that you purchase for your kitchen.  Without the right setup, your chefs can’t produce high quality food at the same pace as your customers will be expecting.  That will lead to fewer repeat customers, as well as a dissatisfied atmosphere that nobody appreciates.  For this reason, you absolutely need in invest in the right commercial cooking equipment, so that you can start your business off the right way.  Only by purchasing the items that can really help you get off the ground, can you guarantee that you always make the right first impression.

The reason that commercial cooking equipment is so essential to every restaurant, is simply because this is equipment that’s meant to cook on a massive scale.  While a normal household stove is only suitable for one family, commercial products are meant to cook for an entire fleet of people, and do so quickly and effectively.  That means you’ll want to target the right commercial cooking equipment for your restaurant, so that you can get the job done.  There are variations on every standard cooking device, so that you can take it to the next level, and ensure that your business has the tools to succeed.

The most important part of selecting your commercial cooking equipment, is determining the types that will help you get the job done in the best way possible.  You can do this by thinking about the type of food that you cook.  Practically any restaurant can benefit from a large commercial convection oven, and it should be one of your first purchases, when you look to initially start your business.  This way you’ll have cooking space for baked goods, and anything else that needs to go in an oven, so that you can always keep up with demand.

What’s more than that, you’ll also want to think about commercial cooking equipment like deep fryers for standards like French fries, or chicken tenders if your establishment has similar items on the menu.  But then you also need equipment like rotisseries, or meat slicers so that you can keep on top of literally everything.  There are so many types of commercial cooking equipment available, there are practically no limitations on how the right tool can change your business.  For this reason, you’ll want to assess how you plan on the restaurant operating, so that you can find the best possible equipment to get you through, and keep your customers coming back for more.

When it comes to buying the commercial cooking equipment that you need, the absolute best resource available to you is the internet.  Commercial products are expensive, because of their large size and high quality.  For this reason, you’ll want to shave a few dollars off the cost of as many products as you possibly can.  Through websites like TheWebstaurantStore.com or CentralRestuarant.com you can find practically any commercial cooking equipment you could possibly need, at lower prices than a local retailer may offer.  This way, you get what you need to run your business effectively, while cutting costs in the process.

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Someone pointed out to me a while back that the furniture is sometimes made over seas in more humid climates, gets shipped in shipping containers that then sit in humid conditions often for weeks or months and then get distributed into our dry climate where the wood then begins to shrink and crack and the joints pull apart. (Probably appearing just after the warranty expires of course. And anyway WHO hauls back tables, chairs, cabinets to the store? So if there are problems I bet they persist without a lot of headaches for the sellers of cheap furniture.)

So I imagine one has to be careful about the type of furniture one’s buying. Wouldn’t quality solid wood furniture be the last thing you’d want to buy if it were made overseas while sofas etc would be ok?

I’ve had mixed experiences with Chinese made goods. Some lamps I have that were made in China are coming apart just from moving them around a bit (and they’ve got the cheapest metal receptacles – 40W max) whereas our old lamps have high quality porcelain receptacles), our outdoor copper-looking patio heater is rusting all over the lower half (I guess were’s supposed to disassemble and drag it indoors whenever it rains ) and our copper-looking bird bath rusted through in only a couple years (again I guess we were suppose to keep the bath dry).

So, I’m sure hesitant now to buy any Chinese made goods especially appliances. I dread the day I have to buy a non-north american made water heater. Who knows what chemicals will leach out of its hidden interior parts into my drinking water.

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