I attended last night’s affordable housing symposium at the Convention Center and took notes on what was either a motivating or depressing presentation, depending on how you look at it.

On one hand there appears to be a pretty large need for rental housing here in Wenatchee. In case you’re curious, it took me six weeks to find a rental unit in Wenatchee when I moved here one year ago.

From the presentation, given by David Paul Rosen and Associates, it also appears that there is a need for housing in general and programs that help renters transition into owners.

On the plus side there were some potential solutions offered up. Some suggestions included general obligation bonds, property tax levies, real estate excise taxes and imposing impact fees on new developments.

Many in the audience, including three councilmembers, a county commissioner and members from the rental association, seemed charged up and motivated to take action after the presentation.

Looking for ways to provide housing is an issue every community faces and it looks like the Wenatchee City Council will have some tough decisions to make on this issue in the future.

The full report and presentation from Thursday night will be made available on the city’s Web site later today. World reporter Christine Pratt will be working on a story about the report soon.

Until then here are some numbers from my notes:

• The median home sale price in Wenatchee in 2007 was $240,000

• The median home sale price in Wenatchee in February of 2008 was $248,000

• The average rent in Wenatchee in 2007 was $661, a 7.9 percent increase from 2000

• The number of housing units in Wenatchee increased by 10.7 percent between 2000 and 2007

• Wenatchee’s population increased 8.7 percent between 2000 and 2007

• The median family income in Wenatchee is $57,000, the median income in the state is $66,000

• The city’s Urban Growth Area is projected to need 8,735 new housing units by 2025 to accommodate expected population growth, 3,350 of those units need to be rentals

• 72 percent of housing units in Wenatchee were at least 28 years old in 2000

• 78 percent of the owner-occupied units were at least 28 years old in 2000

• 88 percent of renter-occupied units were at least 28 years old in 2000

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I cringed yesterday when I saw the headline to my article on Okanogan Behavioral HealthCare losing its medical clinic. It’s not that I could have done a better job coming up with a one-column head to explain (more…)

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Sherman Alexie was establishing his pine and sage country credentials before a packed house Thursday night when he went for the clincher in the big room at the Wenatchee Convention Center.

The acclaimed poet and author (and good standup comic), after gently picking on Omak, Waterville and Republic, rolled out … the first lines of FFA Creed.

It goes like this:

I believe in the future of agriculture, with a faith born not of words but of deeds - achievements won by the present and past generations of agriculturists; in the promise of better days through better ways, even as the better things we now enjoy have come to us from the struggles of former years.

Alexie, who said he was headed to California this week to talk with Hollywood types about movie stuff, noted there was more to the creed, which he also apparently knew by heart from his FFA high school days in Eastern Washington.

I bet it was the first time in a long time that Alexie, who now lives in Seattle, was in a place where a lot of people could’ve finished the lines for him, if he suddenly went blank.

Here’s a sit-down egghead interview with Alexie where he talks about many of the same ideas that he rolled out during his Thursday night standup:

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Wenatchee High School alumnus Tom Ballinger, currently a junior at Carleton College in Minnesota, was named the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) track athlete of the week.Ballinger, who represented the Panthers at two state tournaments, won the 400-meter hurdles at the Carleton Relays and in doing so registered a NCAA qualifying time of 53.57.He also won the same event at the Macalester Twilight earlier in the week.Ballinger has the MIAC’s top time in the 200, 400, 400 hurdles and as a member of the Knights’ 4×400 relay team.Ballinger’s sister Kristen won the 4A state championship in the 400 meters last season and is currently running track and cross country at Amherst College in Massachusetts.

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Webster’s defines raconteur as “a person skilled at telling stories or anecdotes.” In “Carolina Drama”, the final song played by the band of the same name at Neumo’s in Seattle on Monday night, guitarist Jack White spins a yarn about an incestuous relationship that captivated the packed, sweaty crowd into near-silence.That was the only time it was quiet during the Raconteurs’ set. The band, made up of White and fellow Detroit natives Brendan Benson, bassist Jack Lawrence and drummer Patrick Keeler from the Greenhornes, played at a deliciously ear-splitting volume for the duration of their set. It was, without question, the best purely rock and roll show I have ever attended.  

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World sportswriter Rob Ollikainen challenged me to a “guac off” a couple of weeks ago. As a connoisseur of Mexican cooking and an all-around avocado fan, I stepped up to the plate. The guacamole judging took place today at 1 p.m. The results were tallied at 3 p.m.

It was a close vote at 10 to 7, but I came through and won Guac Off 2008.

After tasting Rob’s version, I was quite concerned. I was confident that my guacamole was good, but it’s a pretty straight guac, meant to showcase avocados and limes. Rob’s is spicier and includes more ingredients. They are “distictly different,” according to features writer Dee Riggs. Several times I overheard how difficult it was to judge because the two were so distinct from each other.

Editorial columnist Tracy Warner abstained from voting because he said the two were not comparable. That didn’t stop him from trying the guacs more than once.

Glad to know mine stood up to the challenge. Kudos to you, Rob. You put up a stiff competition.

Recipes for both versions are below. If you make these, please let me know how you like them.

Recipes

Rob’s Guacamole

2 Large avocados

4 Cloves minced garlic

2 Heaping tablespoons of Mrs. Renfro’s habanero salsa

1 Diced jalapeno

1/2 Cup minced cilantro

Juice of two limes

2 Tablespoons olive oil

Pinch garlic salt

Pinch Johnny’s Seasoning Salt

Lots of pepper

Mash avocados. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until well-combined.

Rochelle’s Guacamole

4 Ripe medium-sized avocados

1 Tomato, diced

1/2 White onion, diced

Juice of 1 1/2 limes

2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro

1/2 Teaspoon salt

Mash avocados with a fork. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until well-combined.

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We’ve been working on mapping calls to the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office and are close to rolling it out online at wenatcheeworld.com.

It will let you decide:

What type of calls you want to look at, including thefts and burglaries.

You’ll also be able to choose what area to look at and for what time period.

We think you’ll find it valuable, as does Chelan County Sheriff Mike Harum, who dropped by The World earlier this week for an advance look at the online mapping.

Why are The World and wenatcheeworld.com doing this? We believe more information is good. And information that provides an insight into our communities is even better. This map will let us see what kinds of calls for service are being made to the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office. We’d love to add calls to other police agencies. Stay tuned.

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I’ve spent the last few blog posts writing about the goings on in Wenatchee. Now it’s time to give some love to its Eastside counterpart.

Earlier this morning, due to a mechanical issue, a Horizon Q400 jet touched down at Pangborn Memorial Airport. The plane was on its way to Pasco. It’s a very colorful jet turboprop plane, that to me, seems to scream out loud “Ride me! I’m fun!”

I wonder what pilots think when they pass by it while flying the friendly skies.

Note: An earlier version of this post referred to the plane as a jet. It is not a jet, it is a turboprop plane. 

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I went on a guided tour of the construction site of the Greater Wenatchee Regional Events Center yesterday (possibly more on that at a later time). I must say it was quite impressive to see everything in its in-the-works stage. Although I did have to use my imagination quite a bit to envision ice, seats, concessions, bathrooms, etc. considering everything was still under construction.

Here are some photos I took of the site. World photographer Kelly Gillin has much, much better photos in today’s paper. Click the little blue “more” text below to see more photos.

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After sitting in on an hour of Michael Rowe’s Wine Essentials class on Monday and then talking to him about pairing on Tuesday morning at work I was inspired to go out and have some good wine and food, together. I’m working on an upcoming story about pairing wine with food and was intrigued by one of Rowe’s favorite pairings, “jammy” California Zinfandel with barbecue ribs.

I wanted to find out if we could easily find said wine in Wenatchee and also was curious how much it costs. A two-block, midday walk to The Wine Bin on Mission St. produced excellent results. I asked Wine Bin co-owner Barb Robertson if she had some “jammy California Zinfandel.” Alas, she gave me two options. Since I was curious, and the wines weren’t terribly expensive ($18.50 and $16) I decided to buy the cheaper one, 7 Deadly Zins for myself.

Pretty much all I know about wine pairing comes from what I’ve learned in the past 72 hours from Michael Rowe, so what comes next might not be the best pairing in the world, but I liked it.

I drank some of the zinfandel hailing from Lodi, Calif., with a some fantastic spinach fettuccine and amped up spicy sausage marinara that my boyfriend, Brian, had starting on the stove when I arrived at my house.

The wine was smoky, spicy and berry-y, at least that’s how it tasted to me, and the whole meal was yummy, yummy, yummy. This pairing experience was a good one. I think the more I learn about this stuff, the more I’ll be excited to try. Hopefully I’ll get better, too.

Do you have any favorite wine and food pairings? Or, do you have a favorite wine? Why?

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