The Seattle City Council's Budget and Finance Committee met today to discuss a proposed utility tax increase stemming from a court order to refund former taxpayers. According to estimated calculations by Seattle Public Utilities, the total cost could amount up to $23 million, with $15 million in customer refunds.

The Farahs were friends of my parents when I was a child. They lived nearby in our small New Hampshire town and my mother often shared recipes with Mrs. Farah. They are of Lebanese descent and the father was born on the street called Straight in Damascus, Syria. The lentil and rice mixture in this meal is a family recipe from them. My mother had the idea to put it all together in pita bread pockets and top it like tacos. I love this meal and hope you will too.

Along the West Wall of Fishermen's Terminal on a sunny Saturday afternoon late last month, Pete Knutson was sitting, as he does almost every weekend from Thanksgiving to May, on a large wooden dock stringer in front of his boat Njord selling salmon. Sadie, Pete's beagle-mix pup that doesn't like to have her head touched, was curled into a tight ball on his lap, and seagulls cried overhead, dipping and weaving in the afternoon breeze.