• Joining us for the first time in our Round-Up is Lake City Live, with a request for more and better coffee in their area. It's true--we drove around in Lake City a few days ago and all we found were Jack In The Boxes and car dealerships. No Vivace branches to be found.
• Someone on Seattle Livejournal was summoned for jury duty to two different courts for dates within two weeks of each other. What to do, what to do? Seattlest will take one of those summons off your hands, as we've been wanting to serve for years now and have remained un-beckoned by the law.
• It's just about that time for an Amanda Knox post, and West Seattle Blog kindly obliges with an archived video of a King5 interview with Amanda's sisters.

The Dilettante Mocha Cafe and Chocolate Martini Bar had its opening night yesterday, in its new location on the retail floor of the new Brix condos at the north end of Broadway. It's cozied up next to the new Vivace Roasteria. This is the pastry case, from which all good things emanate. Besides desserts, they also serve lunch and dinner. We were struck by the appearance of meatloaf on the menu. Maybe it comes with a truffle on the side. more ›

Things are cash-only at the moment, since there's a glitch with the swipey-reader system, but otherwise it's all systems go. We also got a dark chocolate graham-cracker cookie. more ›

(Via Metblogs) Vivace will finally be opening its doors at their new Capitol Hill location this Friday, 26th. The new store is located on the ground floor of the Brix condo fortress at the north end of Broadway. more ›

Seattle's known already for its pocket-sized parks tucked away on unlikely vistas, but local volunteers in conjunction with the Trust for Public Land have coordinated an event called Park(ing) Day to bring more awareness to the need for community green space. And that's a good thing. Tomorrow, eight close to thirty metered parking spots around the city (click here for locations) will transform into public park land for the day. A few of the sites are offering free yoga, dance, and tea; two of the mini-parks are across from Vivace espresso locations, so you can fuel up while chatting with your neighbors. According to local organizer Isaac Cohen, most mini-parks will open around 9 a.m. and close by 4 p.m. more ›

"Espresso making at Vivace" by seattlerealtorgal
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Back in February (brrr!), we reported on the venerable Capitol Hill institution, B&O Espresso, being forced out of its longtime location at the corner of Belmont & Olive because the property owners had plans for a multi-story apartment building there. This weekend we stopped in and saw the B&O's owner Majid behind the pastry case, and asked how things were going. Turns out that he's still planning on moving up to Broadway to take over the old Dilettante's spot (who in turn are relocating to the first floor of Brix, along with Vivace), but now the development of the original B&O location is on hold, and he's renting month-to-month. The opera posters are still hanging. The lemon chiffon cake is still flowing (so to speak). If the real estate downturn stays turned down, we may not lose a B&O, so much as gain one. more ›

POLITICALLY CRAFTY: If you're a Washingtonian for Obama and you love arts and crafts, you'll love making buttons for Obama. The buttons you make will be passed out locally at voter registration and special events, and in communities as far away as West Virginia. Make a difference with a small piece of metal. more ›

HOT! SHORTS! SUNBURN! SPRING!: Or should we say "SUMMER!"? It's going to be hot and sunny and clear today. You can do something with that, or you can sit under a tree and do nothing. Just put on some shorts and a tank top while you do whatever it is you do to revel under father sky. We wanna see some skin in Cal Anderson Park today. Also, skin will likely be visible at every other park in town. more ›