From 40th to 80th between Greenlake and I-5 Freeway is one of the most desirable locations in the Seattle area. This area is full of homes with a high walkscore, near Greenlake which is a fantastic place to walk, bike, take your dog. And just around the corner you can find the Mighty O Donut shop, with organic whole grain, mighty delicious donuts full of vitamin "D" (for donut). Flavors like Peanut Butter and Jelly, French Toast, and don't forget the mini donuts and the donut holes! Our friends The Hayburners turned us on to them. Thanks Dave and Jennifer! (They are some of our good musical friends--as in good music AND good friends!)

Also take a look in the Meridian Market--it's a nice neighborhood market with some upscale selections along with basics for quick pick up.

Homes in this area range from $324,900 to $1,100,000. Many are new construction, and there are also turn of the century Craftsmans, townhomes, mid century homes as well as modern built green homes. Currently there are 51 residential listings and 5 condo listings from $225,000 to $435,000. Ask us for a current list, no problem!


Lynette Hensley
Associate Broker

Labels: Golden Gardens restaurants, Green Lake, North Seattle, Shopping, Tangletown

Go to Mae's for Breakfast--in Phinney Ridge. Our artist friend and client Kathy decorated the bathrooms there with maps and 3 dimensional pieces like plastic pears and flip flops attached to the walls. Gotta see it! She's the owner's friend so we've eaten there with her a few times.

The food is good old fashioned breakfast, with lots of options, and the decor is funkalicious. One room is all about cows, and one is about Elvis. It's often crowded, which is a great sign of good food in Seattle.


Lynette Hensley, Associate Broker

Labels: North Seattle, Phinney Ridge, restaurants

OK, this isn't the meatiest blog post you will ever read.... but I like clouds and there were some wonderful ones over Sam's Club in North Seattle last week. Shared here with you!

Sam's Club at 125th and Aurora, is similar to Costco, a warehouse/bulk buying setup with a membership based clientele. We belong to it primarily because they offer $4 prescriptions. We get roasted chickens there, cat food, and even though it's just the two of us at home, we do buy some things including business supplies in bulk. SAM'S CLUB

BUT you can't buy clouds individually OR in bulk, they come free with this blog post or in person only!

Smilin' atcha--



Lynette Hensley
Associate Broker

Labels: North Seattle, Shopping, Shoreline

Seattle had a super snowy night last night and it seemed as though everyone was staying in...so we decided to hop on over to Toyoda Sushi on Lake City Way slipping and sliding, for some fresh, much needed Sushi. We thought the place couldn't be too busy since it was such dark weather, but they were actually packed.

Toyoda has been up and running for 19 years now, in February it will be 20. Their reputation of having the freshest fish, fun and friendly staff and a very nice atmosphere brings them repeat clientele and gets them referred to on a regular basis. You can tell, because the owners seem to know almost everyone who comes in! Helen Toyoda, owner of the restaurant as well as being one of our team members, pointed out to us a beautiful quilt art piece on one of the walls that a customer made for the restaurant...now that's dedication!

Last night we tried the Albacore Tuna Tataki , the Spicy Tuna Bowl along with some sushi rolls. The Toro Tataki is basically lightly seared white fatty tuna pieces (you get a whole lot of them on a big plate!) that goes great with rice and some soy sauce. The Spicy Tuna is a bowl of tuna mixed with sriracha sauce (best sauce ever) and also goes great with rice. For the sushi rolls we went with Helen's suggestion, the Caterpillar Roll and some Shrimp Tepura Rolls and Futo-makis. I've only had Caterpillar Rolls a couple of times, but this got me addicted...there is some eel in the roll along with other goodies and is topped with avocado.

Helen also made us try her own creation of the tempura icecream...I've never tasted anything like it. They freeze a vanilla icecream (wrapped in a short cake-like, breadded thing) ball overnight and deep fry the ball. It was SO GOOD!! I definitely recommend it as a dessert item, but only if you can share it with someone...the ball's pretty big.

Customers love to sit at the sushi bar and talk to the sushi chef, Natsuyoshi Toyoda (the jolly fellow below) who co-owns the restaurant while watching him prepare the sushi and sashimi. He's very entertaining to watch and talk to...and will greet you with a big hello when you first walk in. For those of you who aren't gung-ho on the raw fish, the place also offers yummy teriyaki and noodle dishes as well.

The restaurant is located in North Seattle, in the Lake City community. Lake City Way (also known as Hwy 522) runs east-west, from Seattle to Lake Forest Park to Kenmore to Bothell, and further east to Woodinville and Monroe. The exact address of the place is 12543 Lake City Way NE, at 125th Avneue NE and Lake City Way.

Thanks for the always fresh and wonderful sushi...we'll be back soon!




Amy Kizaki
Buyer's Agent
206.384.7169
amy@seattlepowersearch.com

Labels: Asian foods, Japanese, Lake City, North Seattle, restaurants

I was researching rain barrels and composting for our own home (next summer's project) and came across a mention of a neighborhood in Broadview that has been engineered to manage the runoff of roof and pavement water so there is little to no impact to the environment and the stream downhill from this North-South street. Using a combination of reduced pavement area, constructed swales that direct water flow, and landscaping with native plants, the designers also kept people in mind by including sidewalks and parking.

Here is a link to details about what they did (and an explanation of a "swale" if you don't already know): tour of Broadview Green Grid

Creative parking solution. The streets are much narrower than the usual Seattle street, so these spurs were added to accommodate street parking.

And then back to the reason I was researching---if you are interested in reducing the runoff from your own property, here is the info from the city of Seattle about buying rain barrels and compost bins. City of Seattle is not the only place to buy them, but it's probably my speed!

Happy Greening!

Lynette Hensley, Associate Broker

Labels: Broadview, Environment, North Seattle