RON SWARNER: FOOD MATTERS >>>

Cookies And Ribs: Here’s the deal. Taste Duke’s Chowder House’s ribs and they’ll buy you a cup of any of one of their chowders. If you finish their ribs they’ll buy you a chocolate chip cookie. Step up to the challenge at 3327 Ruston Way in Tacoma.

Santa Silvia: Once again, El Gaucho bartender Silvia Tapia is holding a toy drive to benefit Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital. Drop by El Gaucho at 2119 Pacific Ave. with toys for the kids. Tapia will deliver all the toys Christmas morning.

Plan Ahead: Wine guru Michael Nolet will open Christmas and New Year’s Eve wines for a taste Saturday, Dec. 19, 2-4:30 p.m., at the Wine Bank in University Place.

Food For Thought: WSJ says the restaurant of the future will have lots of small plates on the menu and will be in the lobby of a hotel.

LINK: Weekly Volcano’s Eat & Drink section

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

LINK: South Sound Happy Hours

LINK: Wine and beer tastings

WEEKLY VOLCANO: BECAUSE “SERIES” IS OUR MIDDLE NAME >>>

We're posting a South Sound store window daily through Christmas to give you a quick jolt of holiday spirit. Ho, ho, ho!

On the 15th day of Christmas we drove by: Chicks Golf, too.

LINK: Drive-by Holiday history

REV. ADAM MCKINNEY: TRAVIS ROBERTS - 23 YEARS LATER - RETURNS TO THE STAGE >>>

Human Skab's strange journey started in Olympia in the mid-'80s. A 10-year-old boy at the time, he gained notoriety through cassette tapes of psychotic-sounding experimental punk that he recorded in his garage. Beating on buckets with spoons; violently strumming the guitar he didn't know how to play; and screaming oddly poetic narratives about nuclear holocaust, throwing rocks at windows, and drinking beers with friends. After the release of two cassette albums, he was written about in Spin magazine. But just as quickly as he arrived, Travis Roberts, AKA Human Skab, quit the music business. Now, 23 years later - a 33-year-old man - after a long service in the military and the forming of a family, Human Skab is returning to the stage.

But where did all of this come from?

"I spend a lot of time thinking about that," explains Roberts. "[My wife] suggests that I try looking at my life in a non-linear progression. I've tried to do that, and the only thing I can think of is that somehow I came into this world with some kind of knowledge about warfare and death already in my head before I even saw combat."

Fate seems to have played a large role in Roberts' life.

"A lot of the stuff that I was talking about, then, turned out, now, to be true," says Roberts.

Specifically, he talks about a song he wrote ("Dead Baby Blues") about walking through a graveyard and seeing a tombstone for a baby. Years later, his future wife would stumble across his MySpace page and hear that song, realize the tombstone Roberts saw belonged to her sister, and eventually contact him. They fell in love, and now have three children of their own.

"Somewhere, somebody wrote about the young Skab [and said that] as an adult you listen to it and find yourself looking for meaning and finding it everywhere," says Roberts.

"And now, as an adult, that's what I do."

[Northern, Human Skab with Mary Win, Thursday, Dec. 17, 9 p.m., all ages, $5, 321 Fourth Ave., Olympia, myspace.com/humanskab]

RON SWARNER: PACIFIC GRILL INTRODUCES BREAKFAST BURRITOS >>>

It’s a lovely breakfast option. Its large windows are perfect for watching the traffic craziness; the delicious coffee and free Wi-Fi keep the place busy. And now Forza Coffee in Lakewood offers three types of breakfast frittata burritos prepared by Pacific Grill: Black Forest Ham and Egg, Italian Egg and Sausage, and the Bacon, Potato and Egg. All priced just over $5.

All three, please! I’m talking ingredients such as vintage white cheddar and fontina cheeses, pesto, apple-smoked bacon, coriander, crème fraiche and on and on.

And hey, these aren’t tiny burritos. They’re big enough for a horse. Let’s just say they’ll keep you going until you finish going through your emails and need to head back up to the counter to order lunch, which Pacific Grill also provides.

Currently, Pacific Grill provides burritos for five Forza corporate stores, including the Lakewood store at 8813 Edgewater Drive close to the Oakbrook neighborhood.

Pacific Grill owner Gordon Naccarato smiles when discussing his food wholesale side business.

“We just added the food account at the Cutter's Point Coffee Shop next to Kmart at Sixth and Orchard in Tacoma,” explains Naccarato. “We also are wholesaling salads and some other things to Johnnie's Dog House at the Weyerhaeuser Aquatic Center in Federal Way. Business at Pacific Grill has been ahead of last year for five straight months in a row. And ahead of two years ago, which was our best year ever."

I will celebrate that good news with another delicious PG burrito. Goodbye.

MICHAEL SWAN: TODAY’S HAPPY HOUR DISCUSSION TOPIC >>>

Discuss the above video over happy hour at:

LINK: More South Sound happy hours

WEEKLY VOLCANO: FIRST NIGHT TACOMA NEEDS VOLUNTEERS >>>

We received an e-mail from "Dale" via an urbanXchange e-mail regarding First Night Tacoma’s dire need for volunteers. It’s a lovely e-mail and a worthy cause:
 

If you read through this email you will find the information on entry into three Tacoma museums for only $10.

OK, here's the deal:  First Night needs volunteers.  YOU don't have to volunteer...although for the life of me I don't know why you wouldn't....but you do need to do something to get me off your butt and quit sending these emails.

We are looking at one of the most varied and eclectic First Nights ever held in Tacoma.  Things will be going on that you would normally see only at Burning Man or during flashbacks to your 60's LSD days.

Music, dance, crafts....I could go on but just google TacomaFirstNight and let the professional web people tell you more.

This email is not about money....it is about needing volunteers.  With one of the best Tacoma First Night celebrations ever just around the corner, we have about 1/4 of the volunteers we need.

Just think of First Night not being about...you...or about me....or about fun and games....think about First Night being about........The Children!  Instead of being left at home in the care of some cold and heartless baby sitter who couldn't get a job elsewhere, First Night brings the children downtown with their family and friends to celebrate the New Year in a family friendly, alcohol free environment.

Just think about how some of you turned out because you couldn't celebrate that way when you were young!  And how much better you could have turned out if only there had of been a First Night for your family!

Now, I know some of you can't make First Night....but if you can just send this email on to others who might then you will have performed a great service for us. 

Here is more of the deal:  if we don't get enough volunteers my good friend Bubba the Biker will be drawing one of your names from a Jade Mountain Bamboo Nursery hat (the nursery that specializes in bamboos hardy enough to survive sub-freezing temperatures) and he will pay you a visit.

And as he pummels you, the thought will cross your mind, "I should have listened to Dale, because it really was ABOUT THE CHILDREN!"

Got it?

A small group of you may not know much about First Night.  The Reader's Digest condensed description is that downtown Tacoma is closed to vehicular traffic on New Year's Eve and a wide range of entertainment is provided for kids of all ages....actual real kids and fake kids 62 years old with beards.  It is an alcohol and drug free event.

Buttons that get you into all the venues (15 venues in doors and out) are $10/adult, less than that for kids (the cost slipped my mind), and there is a special family package.

Buttons will also get you into the Tacoma Art Museum, the Glass Museum, and the Museum of History.....on New Years eve day itself and until the Museums close that day.  Three major museums....one lousy ten dollar bill.  That is a stimulating package! (Oh, and that button also will get you into the Pythian Lodge where you can hear Joanna and friends play the hurdy gurdy.)

You can get more information at www.firstnighttacoma.org.

A supporter of First is Puget Sound Revels:   www.pugetsoundrevels.org

Please pass this on to others who might want to help.  Volunteers get a button free and Bubba leaves them alone.

It's about the Children!

Pax
Dale

LINK: Volunteer Damnit

MICHAEL SWAN: WEDNESDAY, DEC. 16, 2009 >>>

1. Folks on the North Slope of Tacoma will gather at Immanuel Presbyterian Church at 6 p.m. then head out to sing Christmas carols to people in pajamas and slippers.

2. Pacific Lutheran University Faculty Author Showcase will be held from 4-5:30 p.m. at the Garfield Book Company in Parkland.

3. The D.A.S.H. Center hosts a ladies hip-hop class from 6:30-7:30 p.m. taught by Zero Gravity dancer Tiffany Sanders.

4. Tacoma Little Theatre’s A Christmas Story hits the stage at 7:30 p.m.

5. Masa’s College Night features “Your Girlfriend’s Favorite DJ” at 9 p.m. with no cover for ladies before 10 p.m.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

RON SWARNER: FOOD MATTERS >>>

Hoppy Holidays: The Red Hot at 2914 Sixth Ave. presents A Very Hoppy Festivus today featuring Schooner Exact Brewing Company's Hoppy Holidays, Hoppy Holidays Randall, Hoppy the Woodsman, 3 Grid IPA and more.

Lunch Special: The Peanut Sauce Thai Cuisine at 5003 Tacoma Mall Blvd. offers a $6.65 lunch special Monday-Friday.

Plan Ahead: Babblin’ Babs Bistro in Tacoma offers a Chef’s Christmas Eve dinner from 4-7 p.m. for $55 a person. Reserve your spot at 253.761.9099.

Food For Thought: An insider’s scoop on the street food boom.

LINK: Weekly Volcano’s Eat & Drink section

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

LINK: South Sound Happy Hours

LINK: Wine and beer tastings

WEEKLY VOLCANO: BECAUSE “SERIES” IS OUR MIDDLE NAME >>>

We're posting a South Sound store window daily through Christmas to give you a quick jolt of holiday spirit. Ho, ho, ho!

On the 16th day of Christmas we drove by: Northwest Costume.

LINK: Drive-by Holiday history

MICHAEL SWAN: HELL’S KITCHEN TO REOPEN NEW YEAR’S EVE >>>

You've been waiting for your posse to come up with a plan for New Year's Eve. Meanwhile, they have been waiting for your brilliant plan. Before you end up watching your mate fall asleep in front of The Three Stooges marathon, ponder heading to the new Hell’s Kitchen, which opens Thursday, Dec. 31. Yup, it's on!

Tacoma Rock City blog reminds us that Hell’s Kitchen will, in fact reopen in its new downtown Tacoma location on New Year’s Eve, just as booking agent Flash predicted in the Weekly Volcano back in November.

Thus, we come to that point at which we decide exactly what New Year's Eve is all about. Is it for drinking and celebrating and having a great time that you'll barely remember the next day? Or is it about building up ridiculous expectations in pursuit of a memorable evening that pins unnecessary significance upon the changing of the calendar?

If the former description comes closer to your philosophy of auld lang syne, then be sure to drop by Hell’s Kitchen on New Year’s Eve. For a reasonable price â€" FREE! â€" you can see the new and improved Hell’s Kitchen AND have The Jet City Fix, Atomic Outlaws and Wide Eye Panic rock you into the New Year beginning at 8 p.m. Hell yeah! Even if your hipper-than-thou ass has to pretend like you're going to be all ironic and shit, you know that this is the kind of party you want to use to forget about 2009.

For more details, keep an eye on Hell’s Kitchen’s Web site.

And be sure to pick up the Weekly Volcano tomorrow for our New Year's Eve guide.