At the Port of Seattle's "Ship Canal 101" tour last week (the tour so nice we're posting it twice) they handed out a little quiz that you were supposed to be able to complete by the time the boat returned to the dock. Questions like "What was the name of the woman who founded one of the featured companies over 115 years ago? (Hint: She was the inspiration for the movie Tug Boat Annie)"......

Here in the Puget Sound, we measure our well-being by the state of the salmon. No one knows this better than Native Americans, for whom stewardship of the salmon fishery is not just high-minded environmentalism; even more than an economic necessity, it's a theological imperative. Katelyn wrote about this yesterday, the tribal salmon celebration at Waterfront Park, next to the Seattle Aquarium. It's the focus of the 16th annual Salmon Homecoming this weekend, complete......

Admittedly, we were skeptical. We thought about turning back. In fact, we felt almost forced to turn back by the smoke in the casino. “Isn’t that where the outlet mall is?” we wondered, when Tulalip Bay invited us in for dinner. Not exactly our crowd. Nor was the gathering of somewhat zany, frequently zombie-like people playing the slots and such, puffing away at their cigarettes. This was starting to feel like a big gamble. We......

In Gourmet's excellent "Politics of the Plate" series, Barry Estabrook reports today on Alaska's Clean Water Initiative. It would have protected salmon by capping pollutants from the proposed Pebble Mine on Bristol Bay. But the measure went down to defeat in an election last month. Biggest winner: the mining industry. Biggest loser: the Bristol Bay salmon fleet. Biggest opponent of the Clean Water Initiative: the state's sitting governor, Sarah Palin, whose (ahem, pregnant and unmarried)......

This Seattlest is heading east for a long trip that will ultimately end in Nova Scotia—which is famous for lox. And that reminds us of the salmon-filled dinner that Oceanaire Seafood Room recently prepared for us. Nice setting, nice people, and a nice variety of preparations. We enjoyed all the dishes, but interestingly, our favorite was uncooked; the sashimi offered the best salmon taste, and the pickled vegetables were a great accompaniment. On either coast,......

Trains by Seattlest Flickr Contributor mraaronmorris My Ballard has lots of tasty news, reporting on Paseo's first day in a new location, Rachael Ray shooting an episode of Rachael's Travels at Volterra, and lots of fat salmon going through the Locks.Phinneywood reports and shares photos of an adorable knit crosswalk pedestrian flag that's popped up in Greenwood. We are all for guerrilla knitting projects, especially those that benefit your community, so we say hooray! The......

ARTISTS X-ING, WITH CAMERAS: A motley crew of photographers are gathering down at the Market tonight to explore the area through their camera lenses for the evening. They're meeting at that brass pig by the fish throwers (could this event get any more Seattle?) and will be snapping photos around the Market, downtown, Pioneer Square, the waterfront, and more. It's open to anyone who wants to join in the spirit of discovery and photography. 6......

There will be no Yukon Kings this year. Jon Rowley, the seafood marketing wizard behind the original Copper River salmon craze and last year's all-too-brief mania for Yukons, sent Seattlest an email this afternoon: "I want to let you know that there won't be any Yukon kings. Somber time in the Yukon Delta villages." Jack Schultheiss of the native cooperative, Kwikpak Fisheries, confirms the dour assessment. "Life is not good here," he tells Gourmet's blog,......

We recently had an opportunity to head out to the Hood Canal for an overnight stay at Alderbrook Resort & Spa. It’s a nice escape less than two hours from Seattle, either driving by car, or hopping on the Bremerton Ferry part of the way (which we recommend eastbound for the return view of the city). As grand as the lodge is, the view from behind is even better, especially when the sun—and therefore the......

Another great sea lion photo by Bob Whitney Remember how we wrote yesterday that six sea lions were found shot in traps in the Columbia River? Turns out they weren't shot. According to a NOAA press conference held this morning regarding the sea lion deaths, necropsies of the animals showed no evidence of recent gunshot wounds. X-rays did show metal fragments in the soft tissue of two of the sea lions, and another had a......

Steller Sea Lion at Marrowstone Island WA courtesy of Flickr Contributor Bob Whitney This weekend, the carcasses of six sea lions were found shot to death in traps on the Columbia River. Now investigators from local law enforcement and Oregon and Washington's Departments of Fisheries are looking for the sea lions' executioner. The bodies were found in recently set traps at the base of the Bonneville Dam, where sea lions have been a known......

Chinook photo courtesy of Seattlest Flickr Group contributor rjl20 Nothing fishy about this breaking news. Yesterday, the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to ban Chinook salmon fishing off the California coast and most of Oregon for this year. The regulations ban commercial salmon fishing outright for the season, but do allow for limited sport fishing of Coho salmon. The regulations approved are the most severe in the history of Pacific Coast salmon fishing. The salmon......

The popular sayings are, "women and children first" and "age before beauty," but a lesser-known saying is "cakes before fish." So, in the spirit of cakes before fish, we give you today's leading food stories: 1. Martha Stewart will feature Trophy Cupcakes on her show tomorrow. Trophy baker Jennifer Shea trucked it out to Manhattan with colleague Rick Flickinger, baked some cupcakes at a friend's house, and dropped them off for Martha. Now, it's......

Old guy: "I'm sick of this shit!" Young girl: "Sick of what?" Old guy: "Everything. All of this shit!" Young girl: "What do you mean?" Old guy: "I'm sick of everything. All of it!" [Deafening traffic noise.] Young girl: "I'm going fishing tomorrow." Old guy: "Fishing? Where?" Young girl: "Lake Union." Old guy: "For what?" Young girl: "I don't know, salmon." Old guy: "There's no salmon in Lake Union!" Young girl: "I don't know."......