Looking for something to do for Valentine’s Day? Several local establishments are offering special dining treats for you and that special someone. Menus below; make your reservations early!

 Cafe Flora will be offering a 4-course menu:

First
Savory potato empanadas, kumquat chutney with croccantini, aged sheep’s milk cheese, castelvetrano olives, served with a glass of champagne (available gluten free & available vegan)

Second
Yellow beets, blood orange medallions, shaved fennel, avocado green goddess dressing, marcona almonds, micro arugula (vegan & gluten free)

Third
Saffron kissed paella cakes, grilled asparagus, parsnips, artichokes, sherry aioli (vegan & gluten free)

Fourth
• Passion fruit roulade, vanilla-rum roasted pineapple, whipped cream, passion fruit coulis, fresh mango, raspberry, crushed pistachio (soy free), or
• Theo dark chocolate mousse, chocolate shell, whipped cream, red wine poached cherries, chocolate caramel sauce, nib brittle (vegan & gluten free)

Cafe Flora’s decadent four-course Valentine’s menu provides the perfect escape for a cozy, romantic meal, with a sustainable flair. Their locally sourced vegetarian, vegan and gluten free menu satisfies with delicious flavors and the best ingredients. Enjoy signature cocktails and local wine, beer and cider. 

Friday February 14, 2014. $65 per person, reservations required, 5-10 p.m. Call 206-325-9100 to reserve. www.cafeflora.com

 Luc will be offering a 4-course menu:

Chef’s starter:
Mushroom, fromage sachet feuille de brique

First Course-Choice of:
• Dungeness crab cake, green apple, watercress, shaved fennel or
• Roasted beets, pistachio streusel, fromage bleu d’auvergne, wild arugula or
• Soup du jour

Entrée-Choice of:
• Market fish or
• Duck two ways, confit of duck, crispy skin breast, blood orange duck sauce, white beans, grilled endive or
• Roasted winter vegetable tajine, mahmsa, cara cara oranges, salade d’herbes.

Dessert-Choice of:
• Chocolate pot de créme or
• Floating island, citrus caviar, créme anglaise or
• Two cheeses with seasonal garnishes

Friday the 14th and Saturday the 15th. $40/person. For reservations call 206.328.6645 or reserve online.

 Harvest Vine will be offering a 4-course menu:

Pintxo: Caldo de Jamón con Garbanzos Fritos serrano ham broth with idiazábal crema & fried chickpeas; (vegetarian option) tomato cumin soup with idiazábal crema & fried chickpeas

First Course: Ensalada de Espinacas
Wilted spinach salad with px sherry poached figs, caña de oveja crema & smoked pata negra belly tostada; (vegetarian option) wilted spinach salad with px sherry poached figs, caña de oveja crema & tomato tostada

Second Course: Croquettas de Arroz y Mariscos saffron rice croquettes with assorted seafood; (vegetarian option) Revuelto de Trufa lightly scrambled eggs with black truffles

Third Course: Cerdo dos Maneras cider braised pork cheeks with quince & grilled iberíco pork with panadera potatoes; (vegetarian option) Coliflor Gratinado: cauliflower gratin with sheep’s milk cheese & bechamel

Fourth Course: Plato de Chocolate a selection of chocolate desserts for two

Friday February 14, 2014. $65/person not including tax, gratuity or beverages. Call 206 320-9771 for reservations. www.harvestvine.com

A few spaces are left for Wednesday night, January 29th at Vian Hunter House of Fashion. We will have a representative from Closet Fly as well as GettingOrganizedMagazine.com. 6:30–8pm at Vian Hunter. Space is limited; RSVP: [email protected]

McGilvra Elementary will be holding its biennial auction on Saturday March 22nd at 5:30pm at Showbox SODO. This is the largest fundraising event of the year for the school. McGilvra turns 100 years old in 2014 and hopes to have many alumni attend the auction along with its current families. The money raised from the auction pays for programs that are not funded by Seattle Public Schools. These include the art teacher and supplies, reading and math teachers as well as curriculum, a part time school counselor, technology tools such as Lexia and Pebble Go, teacher and library grants, and classroom tutors.

With many classes having a 29:1 student teacher ratio, these programs are more essential than ever for our children. If you would like to attend the auction, please go to our website and click "Buy Tickets." Tickets are available until Friday February 14th. You can also view our online catalog. If you have any questions, please send us email. Thank you.

Seattle is preparing to update its Comprehensive Plan in 2015. The Comprehensive Plan guides our growth and development. Many of the improvements we gain in our community today, and the community based funding process for them, is a result of the work that created our current Comprehensive Plan, which is amended each year by an open process. Our current plan is the result of work in 1994 that projected our vision up to 2014, initiated the Neighborhood Planning process that is now used as a model by cities around the country, and resulted in the creation of the Department of Neighborhoods. 

The Comprehensive Plan had an update in 2004 to adjust for the growth we should expect up to 2024. Now, we are invited to engage in a year-long process, via numerous forms and varied levels of involvement, that will define what we want our city to be like in 2035. The initial public event, on Thursday, January 30 from 4:30–8:30 PM at the Olympic Sculpture Park should be very interesting, exciting, and provide big picture context for what we will be asked to consider as far as how we evolve as a community in our city within our region. Read event info here. The project website is here.

Fury Extraordinary Consignment Winter Clearance Sale starts next Saturday, Feb 1st, at 10 am – 5:30 pm,  SUPER BOWL SATURDAY. All of the fall and winter clothing and accessories will be reduced 30–70%. The sale will run a couple of weeks before they start putting out new spring items. Take a friend — it’s a great opportunity to stock up on cashmere and cold weather items. Excellent inventory at amazing prices!

If you are interested in consigning with Fury, they are booking appointments for spring items in March and April. Call 206-329-6829 to schedule a time. www.FuryConsignment.com

TOPS (The Option Program at Seward) is an alternative K-8 public school; if you are looking for an option school, come see firsthand why TOPS is the best alternative!

• Small school environment — students, staff and teachers know each other

• Our mission concerning social justice and compassionate citizenship are woven through the curriculum in every grade
- Lots of volunteering, we are a parent-lead school
- By eliminating the achievement gap, we include students historically underserved by the public school system and help all students to meet or exceed standards.
- As a Vision, we are creating a school that empowers students to be active participants, leaders, learners, and contributors to social justice.

• Diverse student population which both complements and demands teaching empathy, acceptance, and responsibility to others. Come visit!

Elementary School Tours:
Jan 21st 9 – 10:30 am
Feb 6th 9 – 10:30 am
Jan 23rd 5:30 – 7 pm

Middle School Tours:
Jan 27th 5:30 – 7 pm
Feb 11th 9 – 10:30 am

During daytime tour sessions, you will be given a tour of the school and you will have time to speak with the principal. Some handouts will be available. No appointment is necessary. When you arrive, sign in at the main office, right near the main entrance on Franklin Avenue. We are sorry to say that visits cannot be scheduled at other times due to the disruption it causes to classes. Parking is very limited, so please allow time for on-street parking. After 9:00 am, Eastlake Avenue has some 4-hour parking zones. Thanks!

Feet First's second annual Stairway Walks Day will be held on Saturday, February 8, 2014 (coinciding with Seattle Neighborhood Appreciation Day). About 450 participants are expected to take part in 18 different neighborhood walks across Bellevue, Burien and Seattle, including one in the Washington Park Arboretum. 

The stairway routes featured on Stairway Walks Day are from Cathy and Jake Jaramillo’s book Seattle Stairway Walks: An Up-and-Down Guide to City Neighborhoods. According to Neighborhood Walking Ambassador and author Cathy Jaramillo, “Seattle has a world-class network of more than 650 publicly accessible stairways, many well over 100 years old. Stairways make important walking connections to parks and transit, and they create scenic urban byways that are very fun to explore. Stairways are a valuable built legacy for us to enjoy and preserve!”

From a description of the Arboretum walk:

The Olmstead Vision: The Arboretum, Interlaken Park, and Volunteer Park. In the early 20th century, Seattle commissioned the Olmstead Brothers firm to design a park system for the city. This trio of splendid parks: Washington Park Arboretum, Interlaken Park, and Volunteer Park are a formative part of the legacy they left behind. We’ll also see vibrant residential architecture that was built for a newly prospering middle class of this era. Distance: 4.2 miles: 243 steps down, 359 steps up. Walking Leader: Feet First Neighborhood Walking Ambassador, Shawn Alirez

Hardy hikers can sign up for the event at Brown Paper Tickets.

Madison Valley is among the top five hottest Seattle neighborhoods of 2014 based on the places that are trending among the millions of homebuyers searching on Redfin.com leading into the new year. Common features shared by the hottest neighborhoods include highly rated schools, short commutes, and affordable prices. Instead of creating a list of the consistently or historically popular neighborhoods in each city, Redfin analyzed the growth in their website visitors’ pageviews and homes they added as Favorites and collected Redfin agents’ insights into which neighborhoods have seen the biggest growth in popularity among today’s homebuyers. 

#1 Phinney Ridge  Median Sale Price in 2013: $502,625
#2 Madison Valley......................................................$575,000
#3 Northeast Bellevue..............................................$505,000
#4 North Rose Hill......................................................$431,500
#5 West Bellevue........................................................$690,000

You can read the full report on Redfin's blog.

This year McGilvra Elementary School is celebrating 100 years of educating Seattle children. The PTA will be selling centennial brick pavers between now and June 30th.

These pavers will be placed in the outside walkway leading up to the entrance of the school. If you or your children attended McGilvra, or if you would like your business represented, you are invited to purchase a commemorative paver from the PTA. Your donation directly benefits the ongoing education enrichment programs that make McGilvra the great school that it is. The pavers come in the following sizes and prices: 4.5" x 9" $150, 9" x 9" $500 and 18" x 18" $1,000. Purchase of the two larger pavers includes the placement of a small item in our time capsule. Later this year, McGilvra will be receiving an historic landmark designation from the City of Seattle. Your name or your child's name will be represented at McGilvra for the next 100 years to come! For information or to receive an order form, please email [email protected].

Seattle Parks and Recreation will host three community meetings in January to get feedback on the work done by the Parks Legacy Citizens’ Advisory Committee in preparation for a potential 2014 park and recreation funding ballot measure.

The meetings will feature a brief presentation that describes how the committee has prioritized a list of potential investment initiatives. That will be followed by professionally facilitated workshops that seek community input.

The meetings will be held:

• Thursday, January 23, International District/Chinatown Community Center, 719 8th Ave. S, at 6 p.m.

• Saturday, January 25, High Point Community Center, 6920 34th Ave. SW, 1 p.m. (free childcare will be provided)

• Thursday, January 30, Bitter Lake Community Center, 13035 Linden Ave. N, at 7 p.m.

Seattle Parks and Recreation began working on the Park Legacy Plan, which forms the basis of a ballot funding measure, more than a year ago. Read the press release for full details.

To learn more, read the Legacy Committee’s Interim Report. It’s available at www.seattle.gov/parks/legacy/committee.htm, or in hard copy at community centers and pools. Those who want to give input, but are not able to come to the meetings can give written comments, which bear equal weight to verbal comments. Please email comments to [email protected].

Anyone attending a meeting is encouraged to send a report to this site!

Every morning I wake up and look out over the Arboretum tree tops. Sometimes there is a river of crows flowing south at dawn. They are going to work. Picking garbage. Eating grubs. Finding tasty bites where they can. A big group will gather to take a bath on the edge of the lake, splashing and talking. Another cadre will take off after the local Red-tailed Hawk in the Arboretum or the mama or papa Barred Owl. They “mob” them — screaming and yelling — to show the other younger crows who the dangerous predators are. Also, it might keep the raptors from going after the crow babies when they hatch in the summer. Some of us are “crow people” and some of us are “robin people.” The Robins worry about the mean old crows harassing all the little birds. The Crows say “that’s a crow’s job€.” I’m a Crow. I love their intelligence and noise. They are always figuring things out. It is not their fault that they might eat a small bird now and then. They eat a lot of our garbage and leftovers, too. Our neighborhood is home to so many kinds of birds, people, cats and dogs. There is room for us to live here together. We all live in our own worlds but we are entwined. For good or ill. There is a lot of drama along our neighborhood streets and in our yards and parks. If you stop and listen and look you will see. Birds and other animals looking for food, hunting, mating and nesting. In the winter at dusk, the crows fly back north to their roost where they snuggle up together with thousands of other crows and sleep safely in a group.

Penny Bolton lives in the Arboretum neighborhood and leads bird walks in the Arboretum with Seattle Audubon. The next one is 9-11am, January 25, 2014, starting at the Graham Visitor’€™s Center. http://www.seattleaudubon.org/sas/

December brings long nights, colder temperatures, and the holiday spirit(s). Can you predict how these forces affect crimes reported to the police during December? Remember that most of the crimes reported to the police in Madison Valley involve automobiles. These include stealing cars, breaking into them to remove valuables, and stealing license plates.

As usual, vehicle related reports to the police topped the list once again in Dec. but they remained at November’s low level, probably due to the cold. As a result, Dec. also continued the low Nov. level of police reports (about 30 during the month). Burglary topped the list of non-vehicular crimes in our neighborhood during December. Specifically:

1.  During the night of Nov. 30 – Dec. 1, someone entered the open garage of a home on 22nd between Highland and Galer and stole a bag of golf clubs.

2.  On Dec. 11 police received a report of a non-forcible entry burglary on Galer between 22nd and 23rd Avenues, but the police department has not yet posted a description of the incident.

3.  On Dec. 19 a resident of a tent city on 22nd near Pike notified police that someone had entered her tent and stolen $14 and some personal effects.

4.  During the morning of Dec. 20 three burglars forced open the front door of a condominium on 20th near John and proceeded to force open mailboxes in the lobby.  After removing mail, the burglars left. Although the event was recorded on a surveillance camera, the burglars wore clothing that concealed their personal characteristics.

5.  Sometime between Dec. 20 and Dec. 26, while the resident was out of town, a burglar entered a home on 19th near Denny via an open window and stole a briefcase. The briefcase, which contained personal items including a passport, was later found in a neighborhood trash can and taken to the SPD East Precinct Building. The police returned the briefcase to the resident and apparently nothing of value had been taken from it.

There were also two robberies during Dec. Remember that robbery is defined by the use of force or the threat of force. Nowadays, showing a hand gun defines an event as robbery, even if it happens in your home. Usually, however, robberies occur outside of buildings.

1.  On Dec. 6 at approximately 8 PM robbers grabbed a new iPhone from the hands of a bus rider who had just exited from a bus at 23rd and Union. When the victim asked that the iPhone be returned, one of the robbers threatened him with a handgun and then the robbers, described as four black males in their 20s and one juvenile, fled south on 23rd. The victim then walked home where he met a friend who accompanied him to the Northgate area where they played in a soccer game. The victim did not call the police to report the robbery until after he returned home around midnight.

2.  On Dec. 24 at about 4 AM a resident of a home on 26th Ave. E. near Denny was awakened by a woman who knocked at her door and told her that her car had broken down and that she needed to use the resident’s phone. Upon opening the door, the woman and three men forced their way into the home. All wore handkerchiefs to cover the bottoms of their faces, and one of the males brandished a handgun and instructed the resident to sit down on the couch. He then asked her “where is (name deleted)?” and she responded that she didn’t know anyone by that name. Meanwhile, the other robbers went though the house, removed a pillow case full of the resident’s belongings, and then they all fled in a car. At the time of the police report the resident was unsure of what belongings had been taken.

Finally, there were four shoplifting incidents reported by the grocery store at 22nd and Madison.

Lowell Hargens is a Madison Valley resident and former University of Washington professor of sociology specializing in the statistical analysis of data.

As you can see this month was all about the puppies and kittens. Warning…these are dangerously cute!

Milo is an 8-week-old Weimaraner who just moved to the neighborhood and was thrilled to find out she lives just around the corner from us!

This tiny Pug/French Bulldog is Ruby. She is about 10 weeks old, and as you can see her new owners could not be more in love. Being smaller than a pig's ear, no sweaters fit her, so her mom cut a few holes in an old sock to make do. Needless to say the effect is adorable.

The adorable long hair Maine Coon mix kitten is Rupert, and he had a blast playing on our cat trees while his dad shopped for food.

See special offers from All The Best on pet food and supplies.