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FROM THE EDITOR SPOKANE • EASTERN WASHINGTON • NORTH IDAHO also at inlander.com/health&home
Stay Connected Email Health & Home Editor Anne McGregor at annem@inlander.com. The conversation continues on the Inlander Facebook page, and stay in touch with us at Inlander.com/Health&Home.
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BY ANNE McGREGOR
S
ome things that are supposed to revolutionize our home lives don’t exactly pan out. I’m looking at you, “instant” pot. I had high hopes for this automatic, foolproof pressure cooker. It could (allegedly) cook succulent chicken in four (four!) minutes and produce a silky beef stew in 35. But it turns out, “instant” doesn’t exactly mean “fast” food. By the time you factor in getting the pot up to pressure and releasing it afterward, four minutes has become a half-hour or more. So perhaps newer isn’t always better. But sometimes it is. And in terms of construction, there’s a lot to recommend the relatively new techniques referred to as passive house construction. I had a great time chatting with the area’s passive house pioneers and learning about this form of high-performance, cost-effective construction, which you can read about in our Home section (page 24). And in the Family section, you’ll learn about new and improved ways to inspire kids to tackle STEM education (page 46). We get good advice from local experts, including former teacher Charlotte Lamp. These days, Lamp talks with her daughter, astronaut Anne McClain, when McClain calls down from the International Space Station as she zooms above Spokane. Lamp calls that experience “surreal,” but she shares some down-to-earth ideas about how to spur kids’ interest in science. Cheers!
CONTRIBUTORS Jordy Byrd, Tuck Clarry, Wilson Criscione, Erick Doxey, Don Hamilton, Jacob Jones, Josh Kelety, Young Kwak, Robert Maurer, Dan Nailen, Carrie Scozzaro, Matt Thompson, Daniel Walters, Nathan Weinbender, John R. White PRODUCTION MANAGER Wayne Hunt ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Kristi Gotzian MARKETING DIRECTOR Kristina Smith ADVERTISING SALES Autumn Adrian, Mary Bookey, Jeanne Inman, Claire Price, Carolyn Padgham-Walker, Wanda Tashoff, Emily Walden SALES COORDINATION Camille Awbrey, Andrea Tobar DESIGN AND PRODUCTION Derrick King, Tom Stover
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DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Justin Hynes BUSINESS MANAGER Dee Ann Cook CREDIT MANAGER Kristin Wagner PUBLISHER Ted S. McGregor Jr. GENERAL MANAGER Jeremy McGregor
JOSH KELETY covers criminal justice and Spokane County government for the Inlander. In his free time, he can usually be found at a coffee shop or at home with a book or the latest issue of The New Yorker. (He did just take home a cat, so that will likely occupy more hours in the day.) After reporting “New Eats,” (page 10) he’s enthused about trying adaptogens to manage stress as well as getting his hands on biltong, a South African style of cured meat.
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NATHAN WEINBENDER is the film and music editor for the Inlander. He is also a regular contributor and film critic for Spokane Public Radio. Although his journalistic beats tend toward indoor activities, he does occasionally write about outdoor exploits, including this issue’s piece on family guidebooks for national parks (p. 62). If he could visit one national park in the United States, it would probably be the Grand Canyon.
Health & Home is published every other month and is available free at more than 500 locations across the Inland Northwest. One copy free per reader. Subscriptions are available at $2.50 per issue: call x213. Reaching Us: Editorial: x261; Circulation: x226; Advertising: x215. COPYRIGHT All contents copyrighted © Inland Publications, Inc. 2019. Health & Home is locally owned and has been published since 2004.
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Everybody, Clean Up BY CHEY SCOTT Plogging with Athleta
Have more than a passing thought on your morning jog as you pass by discarded coffee cups, plastic bags and other litter along your route. Plogging, a fitness-meets-environmental-awareness trend that’s essentially just jogging while picking up trash, began in Sweden and has now made its way to the Inland Northwest. Weekly through February, a group meets at Riverfront Park to jog around the park and the downtown core while picking up trash to help beautify the city. Warm back up after the run with hot coffee and cocoa in the Sky Ribbon Cafe. Meets Tuesdays through February from 5-6:30 pm. Free. Riverfront Park, Sky Ribbon Cafe, 507 N. Howard. riverfrontspokane.com (6256600) Brain Injury Alliance Fundraiser March is Brain Injury Awareness month, and to raise awareness and financial support for local individuals who’ve been affected by a brain injury — as many as one in 10 people are affected — the Spokane chapter of the Brain Injury Alliance of Washington is hosting its annual fundraiser. The ticketed event includes a silent auction and hors d’oeuvres and an opportunity to learn more about the local nonprofit’s work. Its mission is to “increase public awareness, support and hope for those affected by brain injury through education, assistance and advocacy.” Fri, March 1 from 6-9 pm. $50/person. DoubleTree Hotel, 322 N. Spokane Falls Ct. biawaspokane.org (321-0750) Spokane Home & Yard Show Gear up for gardening season and more at the 41st annual Spokane Home & Yard Show, which boasts hundreds of displays, demonstrations and other helpful resources for both DIY-ers and the green-thumb-inclined. In store during this year’s four-day event are soothing landscape design ideas to inspire a new backyard oasis, kitchen setups that would make any chef happy and much more. Thu, Feb. 28 and Fri, March 1 from noon-8 pm; Sat, March 2 from 10 am-7 pm; Sun, March 3 from 10 am-5 pm. $8/weekend admission; kids 12 and under free. Spokane County Fair & Expo Center, 404 N. Havana. custershows. com (924-0588) Northwest Pet Expo Be prepared to pamper the pawed residents of your home during this annual event that’s gone to the dogs. This year’s expo is expanding into another exhibit hall of the fairgrounds, which means more vendors, along with adoptable animals and activities (a police K9 demo, canine fashion show and more) that fully focus on our furry family members and their well being. This year’s event is hoping to break attendance and adoption records from last year: more than 4,000 humans came and more than 50 animals were adopted from local agencies. If you go, please leave your pets at home for their own safety and comfort. Sat, March 30 from 10 am-6 pm. $3/ages 5-12; $5/age 13+. Spokane County Fair & Expo Center, 404 N. Havana. facebook.com/northwestpetexpo
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INDOOR LIVING
The Secret Life of Plants
A
CHRISTINE KELSO PHOTO, COURTESY OF SASQUATCH BOOKS
dear friend gave me a jade plant as a housewarming gift back in 1997, putting the diminutive creature’s life in danger by entrusting its care and growth to a single 25-year-old bachelor who could barely take care of himself, let alone another living being. The jade has miraculously survived through myriad moves and regular trimmings to create new baby jades for friends, but there have been times the plant was on the precipice of dying — when I had to pay good money at a greenhouse for rescue care — and I sure wish I’d had access to Jen Stearns’ THE INSPIRED HOUSE PLANT back when the jade first became part of my life. Over the course of 196 beautiful pages, the Seattle-based author and owner of Urban Sprouts (an online plant store as well as brick-andmortar storefront) demystifies the stress many of us feel at owning and caring for houseplants, starting with a section dedicated to the basics: potting, watering, pruning and feeding in an environmentally friendly, chemical-free way. Those first 30 pages make owning a healthy, thriving house full of plants seem so easy that the reader will be eager to follow Stearns through the remainder of the book, where her eye for appealing plant presentations among larger-scale interior design makes The Inspired House Plant a worthy addition to the experienced home gardener, in addition to us rookie greenthumbs. Stearns also outlines beautiful how-tos for terrariums and bowl gardens, water gardens and hanging or vertical gardens what will immediately have readers reimagining their home or office. — DAN NAILEN
The Tastiest Week
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his year marks the seventh annual winter celebration of the region’s continually evolving and improving culinary scene. For 2019, INLANDER RESTAURANT WEEK returns with more than 100 local restaurants offering special three-course, fixed-price menus for $21 or $31 per person. Many diners use the 10-day event to return to celebrated local favorites or explore new-to-them eateries across the Spokane and North Idaho. This trend is a win for restaurants, too, whose culinary teams are able to showcase a mix of house classics and new dishes to a broad customer demographic. This creative menu building is a focus at Ambrosia Bistro and Wine Bar in Spokane Valley. Owner Scott Cook says Ambrosia gets an influx of new customers from across the region during Restaurant Week who might otherwise not make the trip to Spokane Valley. “We aren’t necessarily a lot busier, but it’s different people than we normally get,” Cook says. “We have a lot of regulars because we’ve been there for 12 years, and we really are a neighborhood restaurant.” Start planning your Restaurant Week itinerary now using the printed event guide (inserted in the Feb. 21 issue of the Inlander and available at local STCU branches) or online, and don’t forget to make reservations. — CHEY SCOTT Inlander Restaurant Week • Thu, Feb. 21 through Sat, March 2 inlanderrestaurantweek.com
This smoked salmon tart is one of the items Ambrosia Bistro and Wine Bar will be offering during Inlander Restaurant Week YOUNG KWAK PHOTO
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New Eats
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Here’s what you need to know about the latest food and health trends on the rise in 2019 BY JOSH KELETY
L
et’s face it: Trends are hard to keep up with — especially in food. Not only do consumer preferences and industry offerings change quickly, staying up-to-date on the latest and greatest in food often requires at least a minimal amount of knowledge of nutrition and physiology. “The consumer continues to get more educated,” says Ashley Gorman, corporate buyer for Huckleberry’s Natural Market in Spokane. “They’re label readers. Mindful eating is huge.” So don’t worry if you’re intimidated at your local speciality foods store by the dizzying array of swanky new grocery products that customers and staff are seemingly fluent in; we’ve got you covered on some of the food trends you’ll see in 2019 and how to distinguish the good products from the bad.
Oat Milk
The plant-based food industry continues to introduce alternative food staples for consumers. One of those is oat milk, a new craze that is taking the speciality food market by storm. And while it may be an eyebrow raiser — my first reaction to hearing about the product was “um, what?” — it’s definitely catching on. “Oat milk is going to be a new thing, it came out of nowhere,” Gorman says. The product itself is creamy, sweet and has a refreshingly subtle flavor that isn’t as potent as soy milk. It would be great for casually sipping as a lip-smacking stand-alone drink or mixing into coffee and espresso drinks. (It’s surprisingly rich and flavorful, for a beverage derived from oats.) The only sticking point on any pitch for oat milk is its nutritional value. While it is suitable for those who are lactose intolerant, vegan or gluten-free, it doesn’t quite match the benefits of regular consumption of classic dairy. “Nut milks, rice milk, oat milk, etcetera are fine to consume but don’t use them as a milk substitute, because they do not provide the same nutrition — protein/calcium/ potassium — that the dairy food group supplies,” writes Isabel Maples with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in a email. “Most of those alternative milks (except soy) contain little or no protein.” So long as you’re not counting on oat milk as a serious daily source of protein or calcium, it’s just fine. And if the store-bought varieties aren’t to your liking, you’re in luck: Oat milk is extremely easy and cheap to make. First you soak raw oats in water for at least 30 minutes, then blend it up with water, sea salt and any spices. Finally, strain it in a cheese cloth bag to remove the pulp. Voila! You’ve made oat milk. Exact recipes are easily found online. ...continued on next page
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Huckleberry’s corporate buyer Ashley Gorman says you should evaluate new products just like old ones – in particular, look for artificial ingredients and sodium content. YOUNG KWAK PHOTOS
“NEW EATS,” CONTINUED...
Meatless “Meat” I know, I know: You’ve seen a garden burger before. Even the non-vegans or vegetarians among us have tried those bean-based burger patties that crumble before we even get a few good bites in. But there’s more on the market now in terms of high-protein meat substitutes. There’s vegan jerky and even fish-free tuna made from soy and whey protein. Another example: Upton’s
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Naturals makes a chili lime carnitas made from, of all things, jackfruit. While it sure looks like the real thing, it doesn’t taste all that similar. But it’s still a decent meal. (And according to some recipes, making jackfruit-carnitas is as easy as sauteing onions.) The key when looking for quality meatless meat products, according to experts, is
to be a good consumer and check out the nutritional information on the back of the package. Basically, what you want is meat substitutes that are low in sodium and have recognizable vegan or vegetarian sources as ingredients. “It’s reading that ingredient label and making sure that what you’re buying has beans and rice and not words you can’t pronounce,” says Judi Miller, a natural living specialist at Huckleberry’s. “That’s the big one. And then the sodium profile.” Americans are advised to consume no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day, according
CBD In Your Food Have you heard about CBD? If you partake in recreational or medical cannabis — or know someone who does — than you’ve probably heard of this (supposedly) miracle substance. CBD is short for cannabidiol, one of the many cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant. Unlike the more well-known cannabinoid THC, which produces the high that people most commonly associate with marijuana, pure CBD has no mind-altering effects. As such, the alternative medicine industry and its enthusiasts have been marketing it as a treatment to a variety of health issues ranging from stress and sleeplessness to epilepsy. (There’s strong research that supports its benefits for people with epilepsy as well as studies that indicate it can be used to treat chronic pain and insomnia.) And while the regulations governing it are convoluted — the Drug Enforcement Administration still classifies CBD derived from cannabis as a Schedule I controlled substance while CBD produced from hemp may get legal cover from the recently passed Farm Bill, which legalized hemp — it’s of course available in Washington state, where recreational marijuana has been legal since 2012. As far as CBD products go, there’s a wide variety. You can get CBD oils and tinctures in pot shops and CBD speciality stores, and there’s also CBD infused beverages and various types of edibles. “It’s just rapidly changing and growing and anything right now with CBD on it just kind of flies off the shelves,” Gorman says. “CBD is kind of the wild, Wild West right now.” (She adds that she urges consumers to research companies before they buy CBD products from them.) “It’s a pretty open market right now and lots of room for people to create new products and sell them on a national scale,” says Sean McHenry, owner of the Source CBD shop in Spokane. If people want to do their own cooking with CBD, McHenry says that they should buy “CBD crystal isolate,” which is tasteless pure CBD. The tinctures and oils, in contrast, can have pretty bitter tastes that may mess with your cooking. “I wouldn’t recommend it,” he says of cooking with CBD oil. “You’d have to have a real chef’s taste buds to match a cannabinoid [with other flavors]. It’s just bitter and earthy.” McHenry adds that people should aim for roughly 25 milligrams of CBD per serving as a healthy dosing amount. Of CBD’s effects for the casual user, he says: “You basically run better all day, you have less anxiety, and you sleep better at night time.”
to Isabel Maples, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Miller explains that meats are “complete proteins” that contain the nine amino acids necessary to make it a protein. With plants, you have to combine them to achieve a substantive meat substitute. “The plant-based, you have to kind of combine elements in order to complete that circle of amino acids to get what they consider a ‘complete protein,’” she says. For those who aren’t looking for meatless meats packaged as premade meals, Miller recommends QUORN’s line of products, which include malleable “crumbles,” similar to ground meat. “If you were going to do spaghetti, you could use the crumbles. You could just throw that in and then you have a meat-based spaghetti sauce,” she says.
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“NEW EATS,” CONTINUED...
Healthy Snacking While it may sound counterintuitive, kale and veggie chips are out of favor with health-conscious food shoppers. (Veggie chips, for example, are high in starch and are also made out of potatoes, leaving very little to distinguish them from your standard potato chip.) Various low-starch, low-sodium, plant-based, grain-free, refrigerated protein and grass-fed, meat-based snacks are peaking in the healthy snacking market. As with the other trends with discernable
upward trajectories in 2019, healthy snacking stems from consumers’ increasing desire to know what they’re eating, how it affects them, and how they can minimize foods and ingredients that drag down their daily well being. When it comes to jerky, for example, the quality-minded consumer wants a lean and clean high-protein meat snack. “It’s not the traditional jerky at a 7-Eleven,” Gorman says. “People want low-sodium, no-sodium meat that’s grass-fed.” She also says that a new jerky type, biltong, is likely to be popular with foodies in the coming year. Biltong, a form of dried and cured meat that originated in south African countries, is air-dried and seasoned and cured with salt, vinegar, and other spices, giving it the benefits of being both more tender and sugar-free. “It’s a dried cured meat and it has no sugar, [is] very low salt, so it’s a very different snacking experience,” Gorman says.
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Then there are plant-based snacks, such as cassava root chips, nut and plant-based protein bars, jerky made from kelp, and meatless meat snacks, such as Primal Strips, which are largely soy-based imitations of meat jerky. I recently tried the “Mosquito Lime” Primal Strip flavor. And while it doesn’t really resemble jerky in its flavor, it’s texture once you bite into it is surprisingly similar. “Anything plant-based, anything that is a plant-based snack, those are all driving forces,” says Gorman. As an example of one of these ‘new-age’ protein bars that have been hitting the market, Gorman cites Perfect Bar, a company that makes refrigerated protein bars consisting of nuts, fruits and vegetables, organic honey and various combinations of oils (e.g. olive and flaxseed oil).
Adaptogens: Super Herbs Not only are adaptogens — a class of herb that supposedly supports your adrenal system to combat mental and physical stress — on the rise among health-conscious foodies and natural medicine enthusiasts, the history of these super-herbs is particularly interesting. Some of the first formal studies on adaptogens come from the former Soviet Russia, where officials invested heavily in researching adaptogens’ potential benefits during the mid-to-late 20th century. (The term “adaptogen” was reportedly coined by a Russian scientist in 1957.) “A lot of the research that is out there is actually out of Russia,” says Judi Miller at Huckleberry’s. “They were doing the research for their soldiers and their workers in order to help protect them and get more production out of them.” In describing adaptogens’ general function, Miller says: “[Adaptogens] help with the resistance against multiple stressors including physical chemical or biological.” “It doesn’t influence the normal body functions any more than is required to help that stress,” she adds. Dr. Julie George, a naturopathic physician at Riv-
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ercreek Wellness in Spokane, says that Also known as Indian gooseberry, adaptogens amla is another adaptogen. are great for people who experience high amounts of stress and physical fatigue. “It’s just a really good thing for people with fatigue: young moms, college students,” she says. “It’s a great thing for people to add on to help them with their daily stress management.” There’s a slew of various adaptogens with slightly different effects, such as ashwagandha, holy basil, Siberian ginseng and rhodiola. While it’s possible to buy the physical herbs locally, Miller says it is probably easier to just buy capsules containing combinations of various adaptogens at clinically appropriate dosages. “They are very easy on the body and very easy to do,” Miller says. “Really it’s kind of cool.”
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I live about a half-mile from the train tracks in Spokane and I am awakened most nights — and sometimes several times per night — by the incessant blasting of train horns. Is there a sleeping pill I could use to help me sleep through the night?
O
ne major, and often unrecognized, public health problem that cities face is noise pollution. Train horn noise is near the top of the noise pollution list. Train horns are specifically designed to be disconcerting, blaring, alarming and uncomfortable to the listener since their primary purpose is to warn unobservant drivers. They are also very effective at waking people up at night or even interrupting them during non-sleep hours. The geography that Spokane is blessed with is a liability when it comes to train horn noise since the trains travel through the low points of the city with window-jarring noise wafting out and up to the surrounding higher ground. Since the increase in coal trains going through Spokane there is often an unrelenting loop of train horn blasts that reverberate through a more than 2-mile wide corridor that essentially bisects Spokane. Tens of thousands of people are at significant risk in our community for the detrimental health effects of these horns. This includes difficulty falling asleep, frequent awakenings and alterations in sleep patterns with a reduced depth of rest and less REM sleep. Other effects can include increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, heart arrhythmias, increased fatigue, depressed mood and decreased performance. The long-term cardiac implications of chronically interrupted sleep are also significant. Additionally, there is a correlation between nocturnal noise — such as train horns — and an increase in the use of potentially dangerous sleep medications. In this situation, I don’t recommend the use of sleep medications. The benefits simply don’t outweigh the risks. If moving is not an option, consider installing sound proofing and possibly new windows, or investigate the use of white-noise devices and personal hearing protection. The ultimate solution is political and, of course, is driven by the dollar. When the population has had enough of this noise pollution and applies political pressure, quiet zones through the city can be created, enhanced intersection crossing safety devices can be installed, tunnels and overpasses can be built and the city’s long-term health and quality of life will be improved. — JOHN R. WHITE John R. White is chair of the Department of Pharmacotherapy at WSU-Spokane.
TM
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A Local Solution? Gov. Jay Inslee’s Cascade Care proposal aims to create a functional health care marketplace in Washington while the nation’s system struggles BY DANIEL WALTERS
W
ith his eye on a potential presidential campaign, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee already has made plenty of national headlines in 2019. Since the New Year, Inslee has announced he’ll be pardoning thousands of marijuana convictions. He’s proposed remaking the state’s financial aid system, aiming to make college effectively free for low-income students. But maybe his most dramatic proposal came last month, when Inslee proposed a health care innovation he’s calling “Cascade Care” — reminiscent of the “public option” proposals that were cut from Obamacare in 2010, back when Inslee was still in Congress. Inslee’s “Cascade Care” public option plan, however, wouldn’t create a state-run insurance agency. Nor would it expand Medicaid. Instead, it would make the Inslee administration an insurance negotiator, tasking it with picking at least one insurer to offer Obamacare exchange coverage in every county. By wielding its powerful bargaining power, the argument goes, the state government could drive down prices,
territory, at least in the private insurance market.”
B
ack in 1992, Washington state launched a radical overhaul of the state’s health care. In many ways, it was like the state was piloting Obamacare, two decades early. State Democrats expanded the state’s Medicaid program, banned insurers from discriminating because of pre-existing conditions and featured an individual mandate requiring people to purchase insurance. But voters rebelled: The next year, they booted Democrats from power, electing Republicans who promised to nix the most unpopular parts of the bill, like that individual mandate. But without a mandate to force them into the market, a lot of young healthy people opted not to buy insurance. Most of the people left on the individual market were old and sick people, the exact kinds of people who were the most expensive to ensure — driving up premium costs. Washington state was in the dreaded death spiral: By the time 1999 rolled around, the Seattle Times reported, not a
Right now, we have 14 counties in [Washington] state that have only one insurer. — Jason McGill, health care advisor to Gov. Jay Inslee
cap reimbursement rates and expand access in the individual market. Yet even with the strongest Democratic majority in Washington state since 2010, it’s a tough sell: Lobbyists for the powerful medical and insurance industries are wary. “It’s a bit of a unicorn,” says Larry Levitt, health care expert with the Kaiser Family Foundation. “This is uncharted
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single insurer in the state was offering individual coverage. In 2017, while Republicans failed to undo the Affordable Care Act, their tax bill effectively eliminated the individual mandate. Again today, the state’s health insurance marketplace isn’t exactly thriving. “Right now, we have 14 counties in the state that have only one insurer,” says Inslee
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee YOUNG KWAK PHOTO health care advisor Jason McGill. In 2017, the state’s insurance commissioner had to scramble to find any individual market insurers willing to serve Klickitat or Grays Harbor counties. “For the first time this year, we are seeing our uninsured rate blip up,” says McGill. “We have gaps in the system still. It’s going backward.”
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ffectively, the Cascade Care public option proposal would make Washington state the individual market’s personal shopper. Under Inslee’s plan, the state would put out the call for bids for insurance companies to offer plans to the individual market. Anyone could apply, but with some major caveats. An insurer who partners with Cascade Care would have to cover the entire state, not just a handful of counties. The health insurance policies would need to meet a litany of standards intended to decrease out-of-pocket costs and increase transparency. And, crucially, the hospitals and doctors would only get paid as much as Medicare would pay them. “Commercial plans pay more than the Medicare rates on average. Far more,” McGill says. “Fifty percent more for some
providers.” (Still, Medicare, the federal health care program for seniors, pays more than the rock-bottom reimbursement rates of Medicaid, which pays for health care for lowest-income individuals.) That cap represents the public option’s biggest potential asset — and biggest potential risk. There’s plenty of evidence of public programs like Medicare and Medicaid lowering health care costs, says Levitt, the Kaiser Family Foundation health care expert. The question is whether Washington state’s proposed public-private hybrid can do the same. After all, the state will have to convince insurers and providers to jump on board. “I’d expect skepticism across the board from the health care industry,” Levitt says. So far, lobbyists for insurance and hospital industries in Washington state haven’t taken a position, saying they’re waiting to see the details. “The concern that we have is that the Medicare rate is unsustainable. It does not pay for the cost of care,” says Chelene Whiteaker, VP of government affairs for the Washington State Hospital Association. “Rural hospitals will have significant difficulty providing care to patients, while they’re trying to absorb patients from the public option plan.” Having insurance doesn’t do much good if doctors refuse to take it.
D
emocratic Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig of Spokane argues that a public option isn’t unprecedented in Washington state: He points to the Basic Health Plan, a subsidized government-run insurance program that helped low-income Washington residents until 2014. Arguably, as a “public option,” it was even more radical, involving more direct government control than Cascade Care would include. “One of the lessons from the previous public option was that it worked and it was popular,” Billig says. Yet during the recession, Washington state repeatedly struggled to pay for its Basic Health subsidies. Inslee’s plan calls for funding subsidies to ensure that nobody on Cascade Care is spending more than 10 percent of their income on health care insurance premiums. But so far, Joe Schmick, Republican on the Washington state House Health Care and Wellness Committee, doesn’t have any doubt about what he sees coming. “We just have to be very clear,” Schmick says, “that this is going to cost more money.”
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FEBRUARY - MARCH 2019
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Family B Friendly Starting in 2020, workers across Washington state will have access to paid family and medical leave BY JOSH KELETY
ack in 2017, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill enacting a sweeping statewide paid family and medical leave program. Now, the novel initiative is finally getting off the ground. Starting Jan. 1, small premiums are being deducted from all workers’ paychecks and funnelled into a state fund to finance paid family and medical leave benefits. The benefits can be used to care for a newborn or recently placed child under the age of 18, as well as for personal or family illness. Some military-related events, such as short-notice deployment, are also covered. In companies with more than 50 workers, the premiums will be split between employee and employer; for smaller businesses, employers are required to report and submit only the worker’s portion of the premium. The premium for 2019 is .4 percent of an employee’s gross wages. For an employee earning $2,500 in a pay period, the premium is $10, of which the
maximum employee share would be 63 percent, or $6.33. Clare DeLong, a spokesperson for the new program, says that premiums accumulated this year will be used to jumpstart the benefit offerings in 2020. “It’s a pretty small deduction for the amount of return that you get,” she says. “It will be a great benefit starting in 2020 but the funding needs to build up between now and then.” DeLong adds that people earning less money will get a larger proportion of their wages back through paid leave. “The gist of it is that the less you make, the more of your wage you’ll get back,” she says. Federal employees, members of federally recognized tribes, workers in collective bargaining agreements enacted prior to Oct. 19, 2017, and self-employed people are exempt from the program. For eligibility information and to calculate premiums and benefits, visit paidleave. wa.gov.
A NEW NOVEL BY
SERIALIZED IN THE PAGES
Samuel Ligon
OF THE INLANDER
New chapters every week in the
• Presented by Catch up on past installments at MillerCane.Inlander.com
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MICRO-ENGINEERED
Tiny Deliveries
A
piece of paper may seem thin to the naked eye, but it’s roughly 100,000 nanometers thick — giant in the world of nanotechnology. Try to imagine something nearly 1,000 times smaller than that. Researchers at Washington State University have developed a particle that size that could potentially serve as a vessel to deliver gene therapies or other treatment directly into cells, a finding that could prove instrumental in cancer treatment. Gene therapies are promising methods to replace, or deactivate, a mutated copy of a gene in a cell or to introduce a new gene to help fight an illness. While promising, gene therapies are considered risky and are still only used in situations where no other treatment is viable. One problem has been effectively delivering the therapeutic material past a cell’s natural
defenses and into the heart of the cell where it can go to work. The other is making sure the “vessels” containing the material aren’t toxic. Yuehe Lin, a professor with the WSU School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, says previous research on nanoscale material has typically been done by material scientists or chemists and the focus hasn’t been on medicinal uses. Lin thinks this research could help change that. “Nanoscale material can really be used for patients,” Lin says. The WSU researchers synthesized peptoids that are similar to natural peptides that make up proteins, creating what Lin calls “peptoid nanoflowers.” The newly created nanomaterials were loaded up with a model drug molecule and then
Illustration of the “peptoid nanoflower” making its way into a cell to deliver therapeutic genes. IMAGE COURTESY OF WSU
researchers watched as the nanoflowers slipped past a cell’s defenses, offloading the cargo once inside and exhibiting minimal toxicity to the cell along the way. Lin and his research partner, Chunlong Chen, senior scientist at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, published their results in the journal Small. For that paper, they used model drug molecules as cargo, but they hope to use real therapies soon. “This paves a new way for us to develop nano-cargos that can efficiently deliver drug molecules into the cell and offers new opportunities for targeted gene therapies,” Lin says. — WILSON CRISCIONE
new beginnings Renew your resolutions
Are you looking to get fit in 2019? Get out and play with City of Spokane Parks and Recreation! Cross country ski. Take a yoga class. Skate at the Ice Ribbon. Learn Aikido. Join a sports league. Go on a snowshoe hike. Have a winter adventure. City of Spokane Parks and Recreation offers hundreds of camps and classes.
Call 311 and press 3 spokaneparks.org
FEBRUARY - MARCH 2019
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Mountain-Top Weddings
COEUR D ’ ALENE
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Venue Lodging Catering Activities
The Coeur d’Alene Resort has extended its Hot Winter Nights experience through February
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inter can wear on you. Even the most die-hard skier can find herself excited for spring on those rare days in February when the sky is blue and the temperatures warm, ever so briefly. Maybe what really causes the wear is the routine of winter. With long weekends (thank you President’s Day), half days for school conferences and spring break on the horizon, maybe it’s time to plan for some serious fun, without leaving the Inland Northwest. Want to really feel invigorated? Put on a swimsuit, and then step out into the freezing cold before plunging into the COEUR D’ALENE RESORT’S lakefront infinity pool, which has been transformed into a giant hot tub, complete with warming fires, gorgeous lake views, hot toddies and luxurious robes. Families are welcome at these Hot Winter Nights experiences (until 8 pm) and then the party cranks up for adults only from 8-10 pm. Accomodations start at $179, as part of the Resort’s Hot Winter Nights package and includes two pool access tickets. (Call 855-280-4398 for reservations.) Ready to experience temperatures in the mid-’80s again? Head to SILVER MOUNTAIN RESORT. It’s always a tropical 84 degrees at Silver’s water park. Embrace the cold and ski trails across 1,600 acres of mountain or go snow-tubing, then warm up surfing the Flowrider Surf Wave or park yourself in a cabana with a cocktail. Lodging packages start at $46 per person, per night, and
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include access to Silver Rapids Indoor Waterpark (visit silvermt.com/Lodging/ Packages-Specials or call 866-345-2675). Can’t get enough water play? Don’t forget about TRIPLE PLAY FAMILY FUN PARK and RAPTOR REEF INDOOR WATER PARK in Hayden, Idaho. Book a hotel package at Triple Play Resort Hotel, and you’ll find deals that include lodging, Triple Play passes and a breakfast buffet. More is better at SCHWEITZER MOUNTAIN RESORT, where the fourth night’s lodging is free at Selkirk and White Pine Lodges, which also include complimentary continental breakfast, access to the pool and hot tubs, movie rentals, slope-side gear check, one-hour tour with a ski instructor and premier parking (through April 7, and other blackout dates may apply). Rates vary depending on stay and room choice. (Look for vacation packages on schweitzer.com or call 208-263-9555). If pampering is what’s needed, then make the scenic, and short drive to the COEUR D’ALENE CASINO and take advantage of the Escape Winter 2 package, which includes a one night stay, and spa credits ($75 FriSat, or $100 Sun-Thur) at the luxurious Spa Ssakwa’q’n. Rates start at only $159, but we recommend splurging and upgrading to the spa tower, with its beautiful views, and modern design. Or bring the romance back with the Couples Package, which includes a couples massage for $259-$299 and a spa tower stay.
C O E U R
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Upcoming Events
Mardi Gras Krewe d’Alene FEBRUARY 16
Grab your beads and gussy up for a grand evening of Mardi Gras merriment at the Resort Plaza Shops, Feb. 16 from 5:30-10 pm. No beads? No problem! Get them and other party favors as you visit Coeur d’Alene’s Arts & Culture Association’s version of the famous New Orleans “French Quarter” replete with art, entertainment and food. Buy your tickets at artsandculturecda.org/ mardigras/ or in person at the Coeur d’Alene Visitor Center.
The Coeur d’Alene Blues Festival MARCH 29-31
Make it a soul swingin’ weekend at the 10th annual Coeur d’Alene Blues Festival featuring local, regional and national blues artists. The weekend kicks off with a Blues Cruise, gives way to a music-filled Saturday evening and finishes up with a blues brunch. Tickets range from free to $540 for inclusive overnight packages; Coeur d’Alene Resort; call 208-765-4000 ext. 21 or visit cdaresort.com
Food & Wine Festival APRIL 12-14
This tasty event is back for a second year of delicious eats and exquisite wines from the best of Walla Walla Winemakers AND Pacific Northwest wineries. Indulge in three days of wine tasting seminars, intimate luncheons with hand-selected wine pairings, unforgettable award-winning chef dinners and more. Go to www. cdaresort.com/play/events for a complete schedule and tickets.
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a passion for passive Remarkably energy-efficient residences are both cost effective and lovely to live in BY ANNE McGREGOR
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A passive house on Spokane’s South Hill features rooms with an abundance of triple-pane windows. DON HAMILTON PHOTO
S
mart home technology is poised to change how we run our lives — from garage doors that you control with your phone from anywhere in the world, to a refrigerator that allows you to peek inside while you’re at the store, to lights that respond to every whim, even offering an artificial sunrise to ease you into your day. But what’s somewhat surprising is that the actual construction of housing hasn’t changed too much over the past 20 or 30 years. That doesn’t mean progress hasn’t been made in building homes that are pleasant to inhabit and kind to the planet. It just
means we’ve been slow to adapt. “I have a problem with that,” says Spokane architect Sam Rodell. “It mystifies me why the architectural community isn’t all over this in this community. It is something that has been much more widely adopted on the West Coast.” The “this” he’s referring to is something called the passive house. It’s not a great name — the meaning doesn’t accurately translate from the German origin, and it tends to sound, well, boring and stodgy. In reality, passive homes are anything but.
...continued on next page
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“A PASSION FOR PASSIVE,” CONTINUED...
what, no furnace?
term
“
passive
”
A passive house meets the clearly specified performance energy efficiency requirements established by the Passive House Institute of the United States (phius. org). Passive homes shouldn’t be confused with homes termed “passive solar,” which was a “feelgood, imprecise, sort of hopeful Bohemian thing,” that required perfect sites and lots of input from occupants to keep them running, notes architect Sam Rodell.
A passive house can be constructed in any architectural style; this South Hill home is a modern contemporary with plenty of natural light. DON HAMILTON PHOTOS
Mark and Allison Gessner decided to move north — leaving the Dallas area with their two school-age sons. They wanted some land and a place for the kids to run around — space to spread out, with a creek for the boys to enjoy. And they wanted to build a passive house. Allison says her father mentioned the idea to them, and after some internet searching they found Rodell, who, along with Maren Longhurst in his office, is one of two Certified Passive House Consultant architects in the area. Rodell’s office wall is lined with certificates from numerous homes he’s designed that meet the exacting energy-efficiency specifications established by the Passive House Institute of the United States. Locating the right piece of property took some scouting, but the Gessners settled on land on the western edge of Idaho, near the state line. After a year of living in their farmhouse-style passive house, they are still settling in. “I really like it,” says Mark on a cold but sunny afternoon, sitting in the home’s cozy great room. “It’s kind of like we’re cheating. It’s a little bit weird, and I’m still not used to it. I grew up in Pittsburgh, which is similar weather to this, maybe a little bit less snow, but in wintertime when it was cold, you would stand by a window and even if you couldn’t see outside, you knew it was cold out there. Here you really can’t tell.” The indoor temperature holds steady at the thermostat setting — the Gessner’s prefer a pleasant 72 degrees — despite that fact that passive houses don’t have furnaces. That’s right. No furnace. “We had neighbors who came to greet us when we first moved in,” recalls Mark, “And they said, ‘Where’s your fireplace?’ I said, ‘We don’t have a fireplace. We don’t have a furnace, either.’ They’re like, ‘Are you nuts? You’re going to freeze!’” Allison laughs, “Those dumb Texans!” How is it possible? A passive house starts with crafting a virtually airtight exterior or “envelope.” For the Gessners, that meant coating the plywood on the entire exterior of their home in a green sealant, which was then overlaid with sheets of styrofoam. The home was built on a concrete slab, which was laid over an 8-inch styrofoam layer. The windows are all triple-pane, imported from Germany. Those are just some of the various ...continued on page 28
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term
The frame of a passive residential building at Sunshine Health Facilities was constructed to allow for insulation on both inside and outside, to prevent “thermal bridges — paths for energy to bypass the insulation and move quickly between the outside world and the interior climate,” says architect Sam Rodell (above). DON HAMILTON PHOTOS
NET-ZERO
“
A house that uses the same amount of energy that it produces is a “net-zero” home. It is easier to achieve net-zero by starting with a passive house and adding some type of energy-producing element, usually in the form of solar panels.
”
“A PASSION FOR PASSIVE,” CONTINUED...
building techniques that can be used to create a passive house. Gavin Tenold, a certified passive home builder at Copeland Architecture in Spokane who built the Gessner’s home, says rather than a “prescriptive” code that specifies, for example, how many BTUs are required in a house, passive houses are evaluated based on performance — through “running energy calculations and making sure the building will perform to what is required for passive house standards.” Every detail of the finished home has to be planned, with its effect on air energy loss and gain calculated. “The passive house is purely based on physics. It’s kind
The passive house is purely based on physics.
”
It’s kind of the Tesla of architecture.” - architect sam rodell of the Tesla of architecture. There’s no intuition involved, it’s science,” Rodell says. “You cannot have anything going through the wall,” Mark Gessner says. “So if you want to have cable TV, they can’t just come in like they normally do and drill
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a hole through [the outside of the house].” All that careful attention to the design and planning yields a pretty airtight structure. But passive homes have to pass another test. At some point in the construction, when a visual inspection seems to indicate the house is sealed up, the actual air-tightness is assessed using a blower at the front door to suck air out of the house and evaluate how much outside air leaks in. On the Gessner home’s first air blower test, the technician told the owners that the total area of all the holes in the envelope of the house was about equal to the size of a playing card. “And that was too big for a passive house,” Mark says. “It had to be half that size. It’s an intense process.” While Washington’s building codes are some of the most rigorous in the United States in terms of energy efficiency, they are still a long way from passive house standards. But that’s changing. “You’re seeing a lot of this coming from commercial codes that are pushing the trades a little bit further,” Tenold notes. “I’ve been doing this since 2011. Insulation contractors, when I first started, the idea of putting insulation on the outside of a wall was foreign. They hadn’t seen that yet. It was very hard to source triple-pane windows. It is now much easier. I think that in the next 15 years this is going to become, if not code, it is going to be common.” ...continued on page 30
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Mark and Allison Gessner wanted a passive house that could accommodate their busy family, with even heating and cooling throughout the house and the option to someday be off-the-grid with onsite solar and hydropower. YOUNG KWAK PHOTOS
“A PASSION FOR PASSIVE,” CONTINUED...
Benefits of Passive House
Why bother with such an airtight envelope? It’s all in the numbers. Basically, the less energy that escapes from the house in the form of conditioned air, the less energy it will take to keep it at a pleasant temperature. Think of the passive house as a Thermos of sorts. And even without a furnace, lots of heat is generated in a house. “The interior environment is very warm,” Tenold says. “We have televisions, we have refrigerators, we have lights, we have hot water lines going to our faucets, we cook — all of these are places where heat is captured.” Even body heat from residents and pets adds up. While conserving all that heat energy can be a good thing when it is cold outside, an airtight house would quickly become stale and damp, and generally unpleasant — think of sitting in a car with all the windows up. That’s one of the common misconceptions Rodell says he addresses
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for clients considering a passive home. In reality, passive homes have exceptionally clean, fresh indoor air. The heart, or perhaps more accurately, the lungs, of passive homes are called heat recovery ventilation systems — or HRVs. “We cycle the same amount of air simultaneously in and out of the building and it passes by the energy recovery overlap,” Rodell says. The process transfers warmth from the outgoing air to the incoming air and filters it, providing a steady supply of clean, temperate air, all at more than 90 percent efficiency. It can also work in reverse to cool incoming air if it is hot outside. Heat pumps provide supplemental heating and cooling when needed. Passive homes generally use 60-70 percent less energy than a conventional home. “It’s just kind of this win-win situation, where you are saving money, you are living in a higher quality environment, and more of your money is going into your equity than into your power bills,” Rodell says. ...continued on page 34
term “
NET-POSITIVE” A house that produces more energy than it uses is considered “net-positive.” Starting with a passive house makes achieving net-positive easier. Power generated through various technologies supports the house, and provides excess energy that is returned to the power grid.
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ventilation is central
SOLAR PANEL
FRESH, CONDITIONED AIR
STEAM AND MOISTURE REMOVED
STALE HOUSEHOLD AIR REMOVED
HRV
OUTSIDE AIR INTAKE
ENERGY TRANSFER AND FILTRATION AIR OUTFLOW
ALI BLACKWOOD ILLUSTRATION
Ways to make a
Conventional Home
MORE EFFICIENT
If you aren’t ready to commission a passive home, there are still lots of ways to move toward a more efficient home •• Consider energy-efficient window and door replacements •• Seal up obvious cracks and holes •• Replace old furnaces with heat pump mechanical systems •• Improve your insulation — BUILDER GAVIN TENOLD
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“A PASSION FOR PASSIVE,” CONTINUED...
Everyone associated with passive homes talks about the purity of the indoor air supply. “We usually have really good indoor air even when there’s smoke,” Mark notes. The MERV 13 filters in the Gessner’s home are just one step below hospital grade. Even when outdoor air quality is compromised, “The interiors of these buildings are pristine,” Rodell says. Tenold points to a 2015 Harvard study showing office workers had significantly improved performance on a variety of cognitive tests in air mimicking a “green” office versus air mimicking “conventional” office conditions.
Accommodations when going passive
So does your airtight home have to be a grim, utilitarian place constructed solely for its energy efficiency? In a word, no. “These are bright houses with beautiful windows,” Tenold says. Windows that can open, Rodell notes, dispelling another myth about
passive homes. “There’s no relationship between architectural character and high performance construction. In our office, we want to lead with the architecture. We want to do strong architecture that works for the client and the land. And then we just apply the technology.” Most clients actually don’t come in looking to build a passive house, Rodell says. Instead, he starts by developing a design, and then he shows clients case studies of what the cost of ownership of the house will be if it is built to code, and if it is built to passive house standards. “It’s an informed choice that they make,” he says. When shown the numbers, most end up opting for the passive house standards, which generally add just 5-10 percent to the cost of the home. Rodell recently designed a passive house for a retired couple, built on an infill lot previously deemed unbuildable because it was a giant chunk of basalt. (Pictured on pages 24-26.) “The architecture became very much an extension of the site,” Rodell
Mark Gessner explains the robust frames of his home’s triple-pane windows from Germany; the Energy Recovery Ventilator, or ERV, in the Gessner home’s mechanical room. YOUNG KWAK PHOTOS
says. “We built up the stone walls out of the basalt.” The plan features a central courtyard and windows abound in the airy, open interior. Rodell says a common misconception is that windows are limited in a passive house. Window placement does require planning during the design phase, but there are many options. “Windows on the south side are good. With overhangs you can get winter sun and keep summer sun out.” Western sun is a little harder to manage because it is lower in the sky. So the South Hill home’s driveway is on the west side, leaving an abundance of glass facing east, south and north. The warm, yet contemporary home’s interior doesn’t readily give up the secrets of its passive design. And the exterior cleverly conceals an array of solar panels
on the roof. Rodell says the homeowners were initially reluctant to add solar panels for fear they would detract from the home’s appearance and be unpopular with neighbors. Through computer aided design, the homeowners got to see exactly how the house would look from every angle when it was built and gained confidence to add a solar panel array to an obscured area on the roof, certain in the knowledge that the panels would not be visible to them or any of the neighbors. The Gessners say they made just a few small accommodations related to the passive house design. “We got an induction cooktop,” Allison says. “It wasn’t a requirement, but it doesn’t release as much heat (as a gas range) into the house.” And then there was the issue of the clothes dryer. A standard dryer is not an option in a passive
house because it pulls conditioned air from the interior and exhausts it outdoors. So the best option was a heat-pump dryer, “which is something I guess they use in Europe where they have old houses that didn’t have dryer vents put in,” Mark says. “It basically has a closed cycle — the water that it evaporates passes over a condenser and then is pumped down the drain. When I first heard about it, I said ‘No thanks. It’s going to be just terrible.’ But I really, really like it. I was really surprised. That was probably the biggest surprise I’ve had in this house.”
The Big Picture
So where does passive construction go from here? Rodell points to the economic good sense of passive homes, but notes that while building residences to passive
...continued on next page
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A rendering of the Gessner home allowed the couple to see just what the house would look like long before it was built. COURTESY OF SAM RODELL
“A PASSION FOR PASSIVE,” CONTINUED...
house standards is undeniably good for our carbon footprint, the real savings may come from commercial buildings adopting the methods. Sunshine Health Facilities CEO Nathan Dikes has already commissioned Rodell to design two such buildings at his company’s expanding campus in Spokane Valley — a three-story assisted-living residence and an annex to an existing building to house the
building, Dikes says the passive house technology has been a worthwhile investment. “In health care, 70 percent of our expenses are labor, you have be very mindful of all costs. It took extra money to invest in order to reap the rewards… Would I do it again? I would do it again in a heartbeat. I will only build a passive house how.” The building revolution is already well underway in Europe. Tenold recently returned from a trip with a Spokane
Windows on the south side are good. With overhangs
you can get winter sun and keep summer sun out.”
”
- architect sam rodell
company’s headquarters. For the three-story residential building, “We would have typically thought between $8,000 and $10,000 a month for utilities. It’s between $500 and $1,000 a month, maybe $1,200. … The air is cleaner, because it is constantly being filtered … We love the fact that we can provide quality housing and health care to our residents here,” he says. In the office annex, passive house technology allows air from the commercial kitchen and high-efficiency laundry areas to be filtered so that it doesn’t mingle with the rest of the spaces, all while maintaining a pleasant ambient temperature for employees in those areas, as well as the office zones. Despite the somewhat lengthier design and construction process as compared to conventional
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delegation to Denmark and Sweden. “Every building that we went to was nearly net-zero, and the entire European Union is requiring nearly net-zero construction by the year 2020. That is soon, and they are on pace to make this,” he says. But there’s more to it than simple economics for Tenold. “It’s funny. In America we always try to quantify these things in terms of dollars and cents. I think when you look at it through a different lens, in terms of, why don’t we just build the best quality building that we can build? Our health is going to benefit. We’re going to perform better as human beings in it. I’m building a building that is going to last longer … It’s just a framework of quality and your enjoyment of the building.”
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Pillow Talk
A
s any parent knows, keeping track of lost teeth for the tooth fairy can be problematic, and potentially disillusioning, for young people expecting some cash in exchange for a lost incisor. Enter LITTLE HAPPI PILLOWS. Made right in Spokane, the charming 7-inch square pillows feature “tooth fairy” pockets to make sure the tooth is safely tucked away until the tooth fairy has a chance to stop by. The pillows are crafted by Little Happi Goods Co. owner Linda Ligatich, who returned to her hometown of Spokane a couple of years ago after a career in graphic design in Portland. The pillows arose from her desire to “merge my graphic design side with a more tactile sewing side.” In November, Ligatich launched a line of llama-inspired pillows and dolls — the dolls have soft bodies with shy expressions on their hand-embroidered faces, and each sports a colorful hand-knit collar. They’re undeniably adorable, but why llamas? “This is so random!” Ligatich says, “My husband and I got married up on Orcas Island, and we always go back up there, and there’s this alpaca and llama farm. I always think they are just so cute!” She was surprised at their popularity, laughing, “They are like the unicorn of last year and the mermaid of the year before.” Find Little Happi Pillows at 1900 House & Home in Spokane; the llama line is available at Lucky Vintage in Spokane, at Lovely Chaos in Coeur d’Alene, and at the Rusty Farmhouse in Reardan, as well as on Etsy and Instagram. — ANNE McGREGOR
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FEBRUARY - MARCH 2019
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The large scale, contemporary botanical print wallcovering in designer Bridgit Wilson’s dining room is from Cole & Son, a British company that’s more than a hundred years old and specializes in hand-printed papers. ERICK DOXEY PHOTO
Wallcovering Comeback Wallpaper is hot. Local designers offer tips for using stylish prints and dimensional materials BY JORDY BYRD
W
allpaper is back and stealing the hearts of designers and homeowners alike. The once popular, then taboo, design treatment has flooded mainstream trends and is quickly transforming rooms — and unexpected places — with texture, retro patterns, bold florals and abstract images. “Wallpaper is still a small percent of our overall projects, but it has come back huge in the last three years,” says Traci Magers,
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interior designer at Wallflowers Design Center. “No matter what people think they can do with paint, with wallpaper you can do so much more. It can transform a room like nothing else can, offering dimension and a personal touch.”
USING WALLPAPER
The possibilities are endless — just look at Pinterest. Whether your home is new modern, midcentury modern, or turn-of-the-
century, there’s always room for wallpaper. While the architectural style or period of your home can be used to guide the design direction, there are no hard and fast rules to live by. Wallpaper can assist in creating ambiance in a dining room or used to create a dramatic statement wall behind the headboard in a master bedroom. Use it on expansive blank walls without any windows, or cover a powder room from
We Care Every Day in Every Way® floor-to-ceiling in a bold, whimsical print. “Wallpaper is coming back for a reason,” says Bridgit Wilson, interior designer and owner of Nook Interiors. “It’s an investment that totally transforms a room. Some wallpaper really looks like artwork — it’s just stunning.” Not ready to update the walls of your house? There are many creative ways to use wallpaper. It can be used to line open cabinets, drawers, bookshelves or hutches. It can be framed like a piece of art, used on the ceiling to add a splash of color, or used to cover the top of dining and end tables. Wallpaper can even transform a staircase by using paper on the stair risers or can turn an ordinary walk-in closet into a glamorous dressing room.
Home Care for Independent Living Bathing Assistance Dressing Assistance Grooming Assistance with Walking
HIRING A PROFESSIONAL
So you’ve picked a pattern or texture and the perfect remodel project. Thinking of installing the wallpaper yourself? Think again. “Unless you’re really confident, you don’t want to spend the money on the paper and then ruin it while trying to hang it,” says Traci Magers of Wallflowers. “I always recommend hiring a professional installer,” adds interior designer Bridgit Wilson. “They are experts at their job, because there’s really an art to it. Professionals can accurately calculate how much wallpaper you’re going to need — which is its own beast — and apply it right the first time.” — JORDY BYRD
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PICKING A PATTERN
Whether your style is retro, modern, rustic or traditional, there’s a wallpaper pattern or texture to complement your home. Choose from classic 100-year-old French patterns, big bold florals, whimsical 1960s patterns or geometric shapes. “Wallpaper just adds life to the walls,” says Wilson. “If you like bold patterns, you’ll always like bold patterns. But if you’re terrified by patterns, adding texture like grasscloth or woven silk will envelop a room better than any paint color.” Magers couldn’t agree more. “Physical textures give a room dimension, warmth and a tactile touch,” she says. “Texture never goes out of style. Any natural fiber — materials like cork, jute or bamboo — will withstand the test of time.”
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FEBRUARY - MARCH 2019
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Home Work Inspiration abounds at Westward Leather Company’s barn studio STORY AND PHOTOS BY CARRIE SCOZZARO
E
very day is a little different for Westward Leather Company founder BEN FIFE. His office and studio are tucked inside the barn he helped his father build five years ago in the Paradise Prairie area of Spokane. “Though it is close to town, it’s removed enough to be quieter, to see the stars and hear the coyotes at night,” says Fife, whose rugged yet stylish brand includes leather bags and other per-
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sonal organizers, belts, cuffs, keychains, coasters and more. During the winter, Fife begins his day splitting firewood for the stove in a larger shop space outside his 120-square-foot work area, then attends to the day’s tasks: photographing products, attending to paperwork, updating his online shop, but also designing items and producing them. “Sometimes,” says Fife, “that will be tightening a wallet
into the stitching pony, waxing some thread, and getting those needles ready” to sew. Organization meets inspiration inside Fife’s highly personalized creative space. “My office and workshop is practically bursting at the seams with things I’ve collected over the years,” says Fife. He works amidst stacks of old textiles, Native American crafts, vintage hats and hat-making materials — a new venture he’s been considering — military bags, books about his interests, but also tattered volumes like Treasure Island, photos of his family and, of course, stacks of leather pieces, specialty tools and works in progress. Fife is enamored with the story objects can tell, such as a WWII flight suitcase. “You can see on almost every level the amount of commitment and dedication factories and people were pouring into the goods being produced for the soldiers at that time,” he says. Those echoes from the past are important to Fife, driving the way he collects and arranges the items in his workspace. “So many people throughout history have invented, crafted, and created,” says Fife, who was one of eight artists featured during the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture’s annual studio tour in December. “Oftentimes, in their work you can hear their voice, or even more so the collective voice of a culture. I love that. It inspires me to pursue quality in my own work.”
FEBRUARY - MARCH 2019
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Region’s Premiere Celebration of Food and Wine
April 12th, 13th & 14th
Friday, April 12
Saturday, April 13
Taste at Twilight Opening Reception | 6:00 - 11:00 PM | Cocktail Competition | 8:00 - 9:30 PM | Tickets: $59.00 Kick off the weekend with the elegant flavors of high-end small plates, a live cocktail competition, live music and more. Featuring the wines of Long Shadows, Walla Walla Vintners, L’Ecole, Basel Cellars, Cadaretta, Barrister, Forgeron, Maryhill, Thurston Wolfe, Seven Hills & Watermill.
Sunrise Salutations & Breakfast Bar | 7:00 - 10:00 AM | Tickets: $49.00 Start the morning off with a fresh & healthy Breakfast Bar and continue the healthy flow with Sunrise Yoga and a Guided Hike of Tubbs Hill by Wander Spokane.
Doubleback Wine Dinner | 7:00 - 10:00 PM | Tickets: $225.00 Join us for an elegant night of distinctive wine and exquisite cuisine. This exclusive wine-paired dinner will be artfully paired with Drew Bledsoe’s award-winning Doubleback wines.
PERFECT PAIRINGS WINE CLASSES: (3 OPTIONS) #1 Wine Tasting Panel hosted by Sommelier Trevor Treller | 10:00 - 11:00 AM | $35.00 Hosted by Beverly’s Sommelier, Trevor Treller, our panel of three top wineries will discuss the complex, yet delicious, chemistry of their very own wines. #2 Seven Hills Winery 5-Cab Comparison Tasting Class | 10:00 11:00 AM | $35.00 Join Seven Hills Winery as they lead the class in tasting & comparing the flavors, body & cultivation of 5 of their very own different Cabernet Sauvignons. #3 Long Shadows Wine Tasting featuring Winemaker Gilles Nicault | 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM | $35.00 Join Winemaker Gilles as he tastes & explores the flavors of his very own award-winning wines. Coeur d’Cocktails featuring Mixologist Justin Schorzman | 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM | Tickets: $35.00 Justin will teach you the art of libation creation where you learn how to concoct the perfect drinks – and, of course, enjoy them afterwards! THREE -COURSE WINE -PAIRED LUNCHES: (4 OPTIONS) Each is 1:00 - 3:00 PM | Tickets: $69.00 #1 Coeur d’Alene Cellars Wine Lunch at The Cedars Floating Restaurant Join The Cedars Executive Chef, Andy Coleman, as he collaborates with Coeur d’Alene Cellars to bring us an afternoon of distinctive wine & exquisite cuisine!
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#2 Barrister Winemaker Lunch at Beverly’s Restaurant The dynamic duo of Beverly’s Executive Chef Jim Barrett & Barrister’s Winemaker Greg Lipsker is back again for a second year of exquisite cuisine, authentic
wines & unbeatable views of Lake Coeur d’Alene. #3 Amavi Cellars Walla Walla Wine Lunch at The Coeur d’Alene Resort The Coeur d’Alene Resort’s Executive Chef, Rod Jessick, collaborates with Amavi Cellars of Walla Walla to craft a menu that delightfully pairs with the authentic flavors of Amavi wines. #4 Townshend Cellars Lunch on the Green at The Floating Green Restaurant The talented culinary team at The Floating Green Restaurant, led by Chef Bob McDaniel, is joining forces with Townshend Cellars to create a wine-paired lunch like you’ve never experienced before. The Artist Den & Idaho Wine Tasting Room | 1:00 - 6:00 PM | Tickets: $10.00 Public, Complimentary to Festival Guests Featuring renowned artists’ displays & Idaho Winery Pouring Stations presented by the Idaho Wine Commission! Featured Artists include Ben Joyce, Melissa Cole & Jesse Pierpoint. *Downtown Wine Extravaganza: Annual Wine Walk | 3:00 8:00 PM | Tickets: $20.00 Walk through various locations in Downtown Coeur d’Alene. Participants receive six tickets to taste at Wine Tables of their choice. Lakeside Dinner Experience featuring Chef Jay Blackinton of Orcas Island | 6:30 - 7:00 PM Cruise | 7:15 Social | 8:00 - 10:00 PM Grand Dinner | 9:00 - 11:00 PM Entertainment | Tickets: $125++ Enjoy a wine cruise to the beautiful Hagadone Event Center, followed by a grand dinner celebration! Featuring winetasting tables, chef-action stations, live music & more! Enjoy the flavors of Walla Walla Vintners, Va Piano, Basel Cellars, Seven Hills, Reininger. Walla Walla Wine-Pairing Dinners (4 Winery Options) | 7:00 PM Social | 8:00 - 10:00 PM Dinner | Tickets: $175.00
with the Walla Walla winery of your choice commence! L’Ecole | Long Shadows Vintners | Pepper Bridge Winery | Dunham Cellars
Sunday, April 14 Sip & Signing with Debbie Macomber Brought to you by Townshend Cellars | 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM We are excited to welcome #1 New York Times bestselling author, Debbie Macomber! Debbie will be celebrating the release of Be a Blessing, A Journal for Cultivating Kindness, Joy, and Inspiration. Join us for a Townshend Cellars mimosa bar, pastries, and a live seminar from Debbie. Space is limited! Single | $40 Includes 1 admission ticket, 1 mimosa ticket, 1 pre-signed book Double | $60 per couple Includes 2 admission tickets, 2 mimosa tickets, 1 pre-signed book Grand Wine Tasting featuring a demonstration by Bravo TV Top Chef Chad White | 2:00 - 5:00 PM | Tickets: $49.00 Explore a wide variety of wines at 10+ Tasting Stations. Enjoy gourmet hors d’oeuvres & watch Bravo TV’s Top Chef Chad White’s Demonstrations live on the big screen.
Enjoy a winemakers kick-off social at 7:00 pm as four premier Walla Walla Wineries join together to taste & discuss one another’s wines! At 8:00 pm, the individual wine dinners
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Despite her responsibilities overseeing her family’s grocery outlets, Mayra De Leon says “To be in the kitchen is one of my passions.” YOUNG KWAK PHOTOS
A Weekend Treat Mayra De Leon draws on family recipes and her Mexican heritage to power De Leon’s growing food business BY CARRIE SCOZZARO
M
ayra De Leon has a sign on her desk inside De Leon Foods’ Francis Avenue store: #GIRLBOSS. Her children gave it to her, says Mayra, who is president of the steadily expanding De Leon Foods group and was recently named the Latina/Latino Business Leader of the Year by the Eastern Washington-based Latino Hope Foundation. Yet she’d rather be elsewhere than behind the desk, she says: at the register ringing orders and speaking with customers or zipping around the store making sure shelves are stocked with the myriad of grocery items for not only Mexican cuisine, but also Nicaraguan, Puerto Rican and other Latin
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American cultures. But where Mayra really wants to be is in the kitchen. “To be in the kitchen is one of my passions,” says De Leon, who runs De Leon’s two grocery outlets, two taco bars and soon-to-be third location with husband Sergio De Leon, who leads their other business: Northwest Freight Handlers. Launched in 1995, Northwest Freight Handlers provided Mayra’s first batch of taste testers when she started sharing the traditional Mexican food she cooked at home for her family with their employees, who clamored for more. It wasn’t much of a stretch to turn their warehouse and other business experience into an outlet
for Mexican grocery goods, including their signature tortillas and their growing fresh food businesses and restaurants. In 2005, the De Leons opened their first store on Francis Avenue, followed 10 years later by a second store in Spokane Valley. Their tortilla-making apparatus is capable of turning out 9,600 tortillas per hour and they can be found throughout the northwest, including the Davenport hotels and Wild Sage. And both De Leon Foods locations as well as the two taco bars — northside on Division and on 57th Avenue on the South Hill — feature foods developed and overseen by Mayra and assorted
...continued on next page
RELAXATION It’s closer than you think.
ALL DRESSED UP
Getting Creative with Salad Toppers
P
eggy and Don Alderman had a nifty trick for getting their five children to eat their veggies: homemade dressing. There is a simple dip recipe on their Russian Dressing bottle that their kids, and now grandkids, have always loved, Peggy says. It’s her family recipes that have formed the backbone of Coeur d’Alene Dressing, which the Rathdrum couple launched in 1996. Not long after they first launched the company, their products grabbed the attention of Food Distribution magazine, which awarded them top honors over the next few years for their Apricot-Dijon, Toasted Poppy and Huckleberry-Ginger dressings and both the regular and low-fat version of their Russian dressing. All their products are free from gluten, MSG, corn syrup and dairy The Aldermans freely share their own recipes and tips for using the company’s products — dressings, dry rubs, marinades, glazes, dips — as well as those submitted by happy customers. They like to glaze browned Polish sausage, peppers and onions, for example, with their caramelized onion sauce and serve it with mashed potatoes, Peggy says. Their Apricot-Dijon dressing goes great on spinach salad or a slow-roasted pork loin, while their Dill Dip enhances the flavor of steamed broccoli. — CARRIE SCOZZARO Coeur d’Alene Dressing is available at Huckleberry’s, Sonnenberg’s, Rosauers, Main Market, Cash & Carry and at Yoke’s.
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“A WEEKEND TREAT,” CONTINUED... kitchen managers. The menu includes individual “street” tacos, burritos and quesadillas, as well as full entrees — fajitas, carne asada, flautas and chile relleno. They also do tamales, both sweet and savory, especially during the holidays, when Mayra figures they made around 10,000 of the traditional masa-wrapped treats. On weekends, two additional dishes are available: menudo, the so-called hangover cure including tripe that’s cooked until tender, and pozole, a rich soup that reflects regional affiliations. Mayra’s recipes come from both her family and Sergio’s family, who operate Tortilleria y Tienda de Leon in Portland and which has been recognized by celebrity chefs Aaron Sanchez and Rachel Ray. Mayra uses her mother’s recipe for pozole roja or red pozole (also spelled posole), which takes its name from the main ingredient: hominy, a type of processed corn. Traditionally, the corn kernels are dried then rehydrated, giving them a chewy texture and puffy appearance and preserved again, either by drying or canning while wet, which is how they are typically sold in grocery stores. De Leon Foods sells everything necessary to make Mayra’s pozole — both dried and canned pozole, as well as the distinct peppers used in the sauce, along with the meat. They also carry a modest amount of fresh produce and meats, ready-to-eat foods, scratch-made baked goods, and all the accouterments to plan your next fiesta. They keep adding to their stock, however, based on customer feedback, which has so far been good, say the couple. “[Customers] like the smells, they like the piñatas,” says Sergio, “they like the scenery.”
Living Well in the Health
Home
Inland Northwest Food
Family
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TRY IT YOURSELF
Pozole
from Zacatecas, Mexico
P
ozole gets its name from the hominy — rehydrated dried corn — that makes it both filling and nutritious. Pork is traditionally used, but chicken can substitute. This recipe easily feeds five to six people and can be scaled up for larger get-togethers. Pozole recipes vary by region; Zacatecas is a state in north-central Mexico. INGREDIENTS •• 5 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut in to 2-inch cubes •• 1/2 white onion, whole •• 1-1/4 tablespoons salt •• 1 head of garlic •• 3 bay leaves •• 1/2 tablespoon cumin •• 2 30-ounce cans hominy •• 4 tablespoons chicken bouillon (De Leon’s uses Knorr) •• Pozole sauce (recipe below) 1. Bring 2 gallons of water to boil. Add the diced pork, onion, garlic, bay leaves and salt and cook for 1-1/2 hours. 2. Add the white hominy, the sauce (below) and bouillon and return to boiling. 3. Remove the garlic head and the onion. Stir in sauce, salt to taste and garnish with fresh cilantro, onions and sliced radishes.
YOUNG KWAK PHOTOS
POZOLE SAUCE •• 7 to 8 guajillo peppers (available at De Leon Foods) •• 1 to 2 arbol peppers (available at De Leon Foods) •• 1 cloves of garlic •• 1-1/4 tablespoon salt •• 1 tablespoon of ground cumin •• 1 tablespoon canola oil 1. The peppers are dried and will need to be rehydrated. Cover with water and boil. Save the water! 2. Put the boiled peppers and the remaining ingredients, except the oil, into a blender. Add the reserved water to make the blender about half full. 3. Blend until all ingredients are pureed. 4. Add canola oil to a sauce pan and heat to medium. Cook sauce mixture until it starts to boil. 5. The sauce is ready to add to the soup. — SHARED BY MAYRA DE LEON OF DE LEON FOODS. FEBRUARY - MARCH 2019
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Chef Lesa Lebeau at the Culinary Stone with rib-eye steak, prawns and pineapple (served with vanilla ice cream), all grilled on a salt block. New slabs (right) are pink and are great to use cold to serve and display fruit. YOUNG KWAK PHOTO
Salt by S the Slab
alt is an essential element for all animal life, including humans, who long ago realized the naturally occurring substance was an effective preservative and flavor enhancer. In addition to the ubiquitous table salt and all its variants, socalled Himalayan salt is the only type that has evolved as a tool for cooking.
WHAT IS IT?
A Coeur d’Alene chef has the lowdown on how to use these pink, Pakistani planks BY CARRIE SCOZZARO
Himalayan salt hails from an ancient mine in the Punjab region of northern Pakistan, which, according to local lore, was discovered by Alexander the Great. But it wasn’t until the 18th century that the conquering Brits struck gold, so to speak, bringing modern methods of excavation and collection to the site. In the 20th century, marketing did its part to elevate Himalayan salt, first in the 1980s, when chunks of the dense, pinkish material
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www.ksps.org/healthmatters
that resembles alabaster marble were hollowed out to create supposedly health-yielding salt lamps. That, says semelier, or salt expert, Mark Bitterman, may have led to the idea of cooking directly on a salt slab. Bitterman, the James Beard Foundation award-winning author of Salted, championed salt block cooking in his 2013 book.
about 40 percent sodium overall, total daily intake of sodium, versus the salt itself, is still recommended to be no more than a teaspoon of salt of any kind or source daily.
WHY SALT BLOCKS?
In addition to being visually appealing, Coeur d’Alene chef Lesa Lebeau says salt blocks can be a good tool to reduce added sodium. And she really likes the taste. “It almost has an umami flavor,” the chef says. Lebeau graduated from the Academy of Culinary Education in Los Angeles, eventually working with Wolfgang Puck and cooking for a plethora of celebrities before relocating to Coeur d’Alene four years ago. She now teaches classes at the Culinary Stone, including one on salt block cooking. Trace minerals in the salt — potassium, magnesium, calcium — are responsible for the block’s flavor, while iron oxide gives Himalayan salt its unique pinkish color. Even though most salts only contain
Yet with salt block cooking, says Lebeau, you don’t need to add any seasoning. “If you do, use seasoning that is void of any sodium,” she says. “I started the class because people get these as gifts and don’t know how to use them.”
HOW TO USE THEM
Salt blocks can be used hot or cold, says Lebeau. When preparing a steak or tenderloin Lebeau puts her salt block into a cold
oven, turns it up to 450 degrees and lets the slab get really hot. Once she removes the hot block from the oven and places it on a trivet or towel, she “cooks” the room-temperature steak on the scorching salt block. For a rare prep, the meat may only need two minutes per side, depending on thickness, and four to six minutes for medium to well. Because they’re so dense, salt blocks hold their temperature a long time, allowing for very fast cooking, which is ideal for searing meat and vegetables, as well as seafood like prawns, which Lebeau typically cooks shell-on to diffuse saltiness. Lebeau only leaves the food on the block a short period; the longer it remains on the block, the more the block sweats and the saltier the food tastes. Accumulated liquid can also erode the block’s surface faster. To clean a salt block, let it cool first, wipe it clean (scrape the surface if there’s residual cooking material) let it dry thoroughly, wrap in a towel and store in a cool, dry place. Salt blocks are naturally anti-microbial and virtually germ-free.
Local
IS ON THE DRINK MENU
Yes, Inlander Restaurant Week is all about the food. But trust us, your meal will taste even better when you pair it with locally produced wine, beer, or spirits.
2019 DRINK LOCAL PARTNERS
Every restaurant has selected local options just for you, so drink up and enjoy!
FEBRUARY - MARCH 2019
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Raising an Astronaut Or a scientist, or an inventor, or an engineer — STEM programs prep kids for the future BY JACOB JONES 50
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A
nne McClain always dreamed of flying — soaring and swooping and rocketing into space. A young McClain wrote stories about becoming a pilot. She imagined exploring the galaxy. But unlike most starry-eyed children, McClain would make it happen. Her mother, Charlotte Lamp of Spokane, says the family used to gather around the TV to watch NASA shuttle launches. Now a retired math and science teacher, Lamp stoked her daughter’s early enthusiasm for satellites and space walks. “She was adventurous,” Lamp says. “The stars and the universe have always been a fascination.” In what has become family legend, a 3-year-old McClain announced on her first day of preschool
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that she wanted to be an astronaut. She has doggedly pursued that dream ever since. As a mother, Lamp says she supported those aspirations and helped McClain embrace the challenges, but just as often Lamp found herself racing to keep up with her daughter’s ambitions. McClain would graduate from the West Point military academy, earn two master’s degrees in England, fly more than 800 combat hours in Iraq and attend the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. In 2013, NASA selected her to be an astronaut candidate. So after watching McClain surpass her own high expectations time and time again, Lamp says she was surprised by a
new mixture of pride and apprehension in December as she and her husband Don traveled to Kazakhstan to watch her launch into space aboard her first mission. “There’s not a word for the emotion that you are feeling,” Lamp says. “It’s kind of like the emotion of letting go.”
N
ot every child will be an astronaut, but all children have dreams that can benefit from hard work and parental support. Lamp says she tried to encourage her daughter to follow her passions and treat setbacks as opportunities for growth. Children should explore, she says, ...continued on next page
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“RAISING AN ASTRONAUT,” CONTINUED... and take risks and try new things and fail and try again. “I don’t like to see kids over-structured,” she says. “They need to be creative.” It’s an attitude that many educators believe can boost student interest in science,
“I don’t like to see kids over-structured. They need to be creative.” - Charlotte Lamp technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields at a time when job openings continue to outpace STEM graduates. They also hope to close a longstanding gender gap in STEM professionals. Lisa White, the director of after-school
Anne McClain on her first day of preschool (right), when she announced she wanted to be an astronaut; and as a NASA astronaut. COURTESY OF CHARLOTTE LAMP
spokanecenter.com 52
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programs at Spokane Public Schools, says while most children express a natural curiosity for math and science early on, studies show that interest drops off in middle and high school — especially for girls. The Washington state 2018 STEM Education Report Card states girls made up just 29 percent of students completing AP computer science classes in 2017. At the college level, women made up just 34 percent of the STEM associate’s or bachelor’s degrees in 2015. “You have to do more,” White says. Spokane Public Schools has worked to develop robotics, computer science and biomedical programs that start at the elementary school level, she says. They want to get kids on STEM career pathways while they are young and excited about science. White says the district organizes Lego robotics teams and science summer camps to let children build and break things. They let kids experiment with coding, drones and 3D printing. One fourth-grade team is working on getting a patent. “Kids have been told, ‘Don’t touch that. Don’t take things apart,’” White says. “They need to touch things. They need to see things go wrong.”
LOCAL STEM PROGRAMS
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MOBIUS SCIENCE CENTER: Spring break day camps let 4-8 year olds play with putty, paints and pollinators during several classes April 2-4. Find more information on these camps and other programs at: mobiusspokane.org. SPOKANE PUBLIC SCHOOLS: STEM & Arts Summer Camps offer classes on Lego robotics, coding, circuit building, rockets, chemistry and drone operation. The day camps run throughout July. More information at: spokaneschools.org or email summerSTEMcamps@ spokaneschools.org. GIRLS SCOUTS: Day and resident camp programs feature a mixture of STEM learning, arts and outdoor exploration from June through August at Camp Four Echoes on Lake Coeur d’Alene. Children do not have to be Girl Scouts to participate. More information at: gsewni.org or email customercare@gsewniorg. SPOKANE COUNTY LIBRARY DISTRICT: The library network offer a wide variety of STEM activities year round, ranging from forensics to biology to robotics. Find more information at: scld.org. — JACOB JONES
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Serving patients and families since 1977 Comfort. Dignity. Peace of Mind. 509.456.0438 hospiceofspokane.org FEBRUARY - MARCH 2019
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Anne McClain floats above the earth on the International Space Station. CANADIAN SPACE AGENCY’S DAVID ST. JACQUES PHOTO (Below) Spokane at night during a recent International Space Station flyover. |RUSSIAN COSMONAUT OLEG KONONENKO PHOTO
“RAISING AN ASTRONAUT,” CONTINUED...
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hile children who struggled with math or science used to get nudged toward liberal arts, STEM educators now look for new ways to engage both boys and girls by letting them get their hands dirty. They want kids building circuits, charting stars and peering through microscopes. Katie Stacy, public programs manager for the Mobius Science Center, says they have visitors as young as 7 dissecting frogs and squid. (Charlotte Lamp is a Mobius board member.) “The more hands-on and engaging and tactile we can make it the better,” Stacy says. “Sometimes we learn to be grossed out by things as we get older.” Mobius serves as a key partner for networking with Spokane STEM, local schools and libraries, Spark Central as well
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as the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Science center marketing manager Amanda Gilliam says they focus on building “lifelong learning” habits. Nicole Adamson-Wood, with Girl Scouts of Eastern Washington and North Idaho, notes Girl Scouts started teaching STEM in 1913 with an electrician badge. She says the scout program helps compensate for many of the ways public education is still designed for boys. “They’re encouraged to take risks and be leaders,” she says of Girl Scouts, which builds confidence they can take back to the classroom. Surveys of young women also show a lack of role models or mentors to be a significant factor in why girls turn away from STEM. Mobius, Spokane schools and the Girl Scouts all listed efforts to showcase the success stories of female STEM professionals. And they all listed McClain as a prime inspiration. “We are all just so proud of her,” Gilliam says. “We feel personally invested in her adventure.”
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ack in the ’50s, Charlotte Lamp applied for a research program at Stanford University. She says she received back a letter denying her application, explaining that as a single woman she did not seem likely to complete the program. “I wish I still had it,” she says. “I’d frame it and put it on the wall.” Lamp instead channeled her passion into teaching, but is relieved to see times changing to support more women in science. She says today’s children, and girls especially, have access to more information and technology than ever before. Instead of watching a 10-minute news segment on a shuttle launch, a child can spend hours on the NASA website learning about astronomy and engineering. “It’s so much easier now,” she says.“Everything is there. It’s just amazing.” The best thing parents can do, Lamp says, is give children free rein to explore and experiment, to chase their fascinations and discover, to be kids and be creative and be inspired by the world around them. How do you raise an astronaut? You let them go.
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You can follow the progress of the International Space Station for the six-month duration of Anne McClain’s journey at spotthestation.nasa.gov. FEBRUARY - MARCH 2019
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Kids slaying some orcs and finding treasure at one of RPG Research’s regular sessions at Kendall Yards’ Spark Central. YOUNG KWAK PHOTO
Flights of Fantasy Try turning off the screens and playing a game together BY CHEY SCOTT
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n an otherwise normal Saturday morning, the Adrian family is investigating a cultist hideout when a fight breaks out. “I’m actually gonna take my great axe, but not with the blade, and try and knock him unconscious,” says Joel Adrian, role playing as a towering barbarian named Gehl. A 20-sided black die with bright red numbers clatters across the table. “Eighteen, plus seven to hit.” “Yeah, go ahead and roll damage,” says his son Josh, who’s leading this session of Dungeons & Dragons as the all-knowing dungeon master. “Six.”
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Josh stands up and raises his arms aloft to gesture the wide swing of Gehl’s great axe and how much damage, determined by the dice rolls, his dad’s character does to the enemy at hand. “Gehl spins his axe and — boom! — hits him,” Josh narrates. “Then Nieran runs around and spins and pulls out his longsword.” The cultists don’t stand much of a chance against the hulking barbarian and one of his companions, a stealthy dark-elf rogue played by the dungeon master’s brother-in-law, Kolby Wade. Also gathered around the kitchen table are Josh’s mother, Carrie, grandmother Reggie and sister Kayla. After the battle, the family of six takes a break for tuna melts
and tomato soup. Though the outcomes of this particular role-playing narrative will be utterly unique, the gathering of imagination and adventure is not. In an age when technology-driven entertainment has never been better — from blockbuster video games and virtual reality to the spectacular imagery of major film and television franchises — people are increasingly choosing their kitchen tables over screens to find engaging escapes. As part of that trend, Dungeons & Dragons, the role-playing game of swords and sorcery first published in 1974, has returned to the spotlight at an unprecedented level. Indeed, 2018 was the biggest year ever for Dungeons & Dragons, according to its publisher Wizards of the Coast, a Renton, Washington-based subsidiary of Hasbro. Dungeons & Dragons’ modern resurrection reflects what’s being seen in tabletop gaming as an industry. According to the market tracking firm Internal Correspondence, sales of such games topped $1.5 billion in the U.S. and Canada for the first time in 2018, an increase of 8 percent over the previous year.
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Another venue introducing the under-18 set to Dungeons & Dragons is Spark Central, the public learning and technology center in Kendall Yards. There, volunteers and staff from Spokane-based nonprofit RPG Research host twice-monthly drop-in sessions for both D&D and other role-playing games. RPG Research founder Hawke Robinson studies the numerous positive effects role-playing games like D&D can have on at-risk youth and mentally or physically disabled populations, among others. In addition to sessions at Spark, RPG Research brings one of its mobile gaming centers, a converted bus and trailer, to other locations around the Northwest on the two Fridays a month its staff are not at Spark. Josh Adrian, the dungeon master who runs games for three generations of his own family, reflects on similar moments of collaborative storytelling in his games with family and friends. “As a group of people, we have slayed dragons and saved cities and stormed fortresses and had characters we’d grown to love die. And we’ve made stories that are more immersive and relatable and personal than anything we could have read or played electronically and watched on TV, in a much more social way as well.”
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Tummy Talk Core strength and development are enhanced for babies who spend time on their bellies BY MATT THOMPSON
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ot many school-age kids write in cursive anymore; instead they type. Learning to tie one’s shoes seems more of a quaint, sentimental tradition than a necessity — we can thank Velcro for that. And fewer kids crawl on their hands and knees. Instead they more often learn to get around by rolling, or scooting themselves on their bums with a foot to the side like the oar of a canoe. My father-in-law would have none of
that with my older kids when they were infants. He worked with them hand-knee, hand-knee up the stairs for hours. He had seen a Sunday news expose in the ’80s about adults who never learned to crawl, creeping around on all fours in some vacant space in the Mall of America in Minneapolis. A popular belief at the time was that not learning to crawl conventionally could result in emotional difficulties in adulthood.
While it has not been well proven that crawling is the key to an emotionally stable adulthood, it is clear that crawling provides benefits for acquisition of developmental skills through childhood. Fortunately, most kids who do not get around in the traditional crawl still develop quite normally, but they do tend to have weaker core muscles and necks, less flexibility of the hips and heads that are flatter in the back and less round than days of old. We can attribute these changes to the Back to Sleep campaign of the mid ’90s, which was launched in an effort to reduce the rate of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). It was a worthwhile effort, with a 50 percent reduced risk of Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI, now called
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Giants, Dragons & Unicorns: The World of Mythical Creatures Norman Rockwell’s America
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this because it includes not only SIDS but also deaths thought to be due to unsafe sleep practices leading to suffocation). We are not too certain what it is about being on the tummy that increases the risk of death. It seems to be a combination of genetic, developmental and environmental factors. But whatever the cause, we don’t want to take any chances. So for at least six months, it is safest for infants to be put to sleep on their backs, on a flat mattress in their own sleep space without any pillows, crib bumpers or other objects that they might face plant on should they roll over. Sleeping in the same room, but not in the same bed, as a parent is safest.
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ll of that means that “tummy time,” under close observation, is more important than ever to help babies develop the neck and core muscles that allow them to progress normally with development, and to learn to protect their airways if they should end up rolling to their bellies — which they all do eventually. It can also help the modern head be a little more round, like rotating tires to allow for more even wear on both sides. Most babies are not too fond of tummy time, and that’s why it has to be encouraged. They may only tolerate 10 seconds three times a day starting in the first weeks of life, gradually tolerating more as they mature. Easy ways to get babies off their backs include holding them lying over the thigh while sitting, or holding them over an arm with chest and belly — they will be in a Superman-styleabout-to-fly position both ways. Just remember, tummy time needs to be observed: No napping on the tummy, or being left, even for a moment, without supervision. Once babies hit four months of age or so, they may tolerate some time in an ExerSaucer which will give them a good core workout. Jumpers are fun, but inertia with going up and down takes away much of the core benefits of gravity. As our barbers and hair stylists will attest, the modern head may sometimes be a bit wonky, and grade school basketball coaches may find themselves helping 12 year old players tie their shoes on the court during timeouts, but more kids are now around to have loose laces and less than perfect skulls — a good trade off in my opinion. Matt Thompson is a pediatrician at the Kids Clinic in Spokane.
COME HAVE LUNCH WITH US! Help raise money for Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital!
kids at heart charity lunch Tuesday, February 19 Spokane Convention Center 12:00pm to 1:15pm.
Money raised will go to our Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals’ fund. These funds stay local and allow us to meet our patients’ most critical needs at a moment’s notice.
There is no charge for the lunch but you will be asked to make a donation.
To reserve your seat and to learn more, visit kidsatheartcharitylunch.org or call 509.474.4643. GOLD STAR SPONSOR:
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hat can we do to enrich our health and well being? Diet and exercise we all know are ingredients, but did you know that equally important elements are our behavior and attitudes? While the science linking our psychology with our heart health is new, the awareness of this is almost 400 years old. In 1628, the English physician, William Harvey wrote, “Every affection of the mind that is attended with either pain or pleasure, hope or fear is the cause of an agitation whose influence extends to the heart.” He was on to something. Studies have consistently found correlations between hostility and cardiac problems. The anger may involve yelling at another driver or holding harsh feelings toward others, and it doesn’t seem to matter if the anger is Robert Maurer expressed or held in. Surprisingly, there is a paper-and-pencil test of hostility that has been found to predict future cardiac risk. It can be found in the book Anger Kills, by the cardiologist Redford Williams, MD. Another cardiac risk factor is social isolation — defined as feeling there is no one to confide in, no one who cares. So what behaviors can help our hearts? Having at least one person to share one’s feelings and challenges with has been demonstrated to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease and fatalities. The wisdom of having social support is as ancient as the Bible. “A faithful friend is the medicine of life” (Ecclesiastes 6:16) and as modern as Oprah Winfrey, who has said “Everybody who gets through the tough times gets through the tough times because there is somebody standing in the gap to close it for you.” — ROBERT MAURER Robert Maurer is a Spokane psychologist and author of One Small Step Can Change Your Life.
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Cream of the Crop CBDs may help speed wound healing, but issues with standards and labeling continue BY TUCK CLARRY
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recent study by the University of Rio Grande do Sol in Brazil found that rats given an application of CBD-infused lotion had a decrease in inflammation and acceleration in the healing process of wounds. This could lead to CBD lotion being the new Neosporin, but also an option for body modification industries like tattoo artists. “As your skin experiences severe trauma during the tattoo process, having a product which reduces these symptoms is vital,” Elisha Belden writes on tattoo.com. And CBD lotion application is lauded for chronic pain and muscle aches and fatigue. Having back pain or a pulled muscle can make it hard to sleep, and having a nonaddictive, nonpsychoactive option for discomfort could be a breakthrough. One major concern for potential users of CBDs is knowing what potential side effects may be found in taking the relatively new drug. But so far there have been little to no detrimental side effects found in patients who are taking CBD oil. Most of the side effects that have been recorded seem relatively minor (sleepiness, unsteadi-
ness, dehydrated mouth, according to news reports), especially when considering the side effects of pharmaceuticals that patients could be replacing with the oil. The real concern with the glut of CBD options is the regulation of the products and lack of thorough verification. Not all states demand that processors and manufacturers label their products with all of the used ingredients. “People who are buying [them] on Amazon, or at their local health food store, are really working without a [safety] net,” Michael Blackes, author of Cannabis Pharmacy: The Practical Guide to Medical Marijuana, tells the Oakland Press.
“Not all states demand processors and manufacturers to label their products with all of the used ingredients.” A 2017 study by University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine found that almost 70 percent of CBD products analyzed were mislabeled, with approximately 40 percent of the goods containing significantly more CBD than the packaging indicated. Further complicating the matter is the FDA’s rigid stance on how CBD companies are allowed to market and label their products. Due to the FDA’s hardline stance against CBD being sold as a medicine — it is instead considered a supplement — companies are not allowed to print recommended doses on their packaging.
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“We thought we need to share this information we gained from going to the parks and compile a resource that would be good for parents,” says Abby McAllister, pictured with her husband Harley and four of their kids at Glacier National Park. ABBY McALLISTER PHOTO
The Traveling Kind Spokane Valley’s Abby and Harley McAllister turn their family trips into parent-friendly travel guides BY NATHAN WEINBENDER
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very parent knows that traveling with kids can turn a seemingly idyllic vacation into a serious challenge. Harley and Abby McAllister would like to change that. They’re travel writers based out of Spokane Valley, and their goal is to turn their family adventures into learning experiences for other parents. Over the last couple years, they’ve released three national parks travel guides through the Seattle-based Mountaineers Books — most recently a family guide to Montana’s Glacier National Park.
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“One of the things we try to do in all our books is break the big parks up into regions,” Harley McAllister says, “then list the attractions and lodging options in that region, so you don’t spend all the time in the car driving from one location to the next. We want people to get out and enjoy nature, not enjoy looking out the window.” The McAllisters met in Colorado, where Abby was raised, working on a dude ranch after college. They married there and moved to the Inland Northwest in 1999. They were outdoor kids themselves: Abby recalls childhood vacations in the moun-
tains of Colorado — “We’re a churchgoing family, but a lot of times our church was the mountains,” she says — while Harley, who’s originally from California, remembers spending summers and winters at a family cabin on Lake Tahoe. But it was when they were working as missionaries and teachers in the Dominican Republic in 2010 that they started documenting their adventures with their kids. “A lot of people go [to the Dominican Republic], but there’s not a lot of good writing about what to do there,” Abby says. The McAllisters then started a website
senior, is planning a road trip with his friends to visit numerous national parks. “He wants to share that with everyone else,” she says. “He wants to protect the parks, and he’s interested in the politics of public lands because he’s experienced these places and feels an ownership of them.”
WHAT ARE THE HIGHLIGHTS OF BEING OUTDOORS WITH KIDS? “When you take kids outdoors and let them be challenged, it instills a lot of confidence in them,” Harley says. “I’ve got a kid who’s had a few scratched knees but understands appropriate risk taking. … It makes them more grounded and gives them self-confidence.” Abby points out that her son, a high school
called Our4Outdoors, sharing stories and photos of their adventures. By the time they had returned to the States, they wanted to take their kids to American national parks, but Abby says she soon discovered that the online resources she consulted left out significant tips for parents. “We took our kids on a bunch of trips, and as I was researching, I realized there’s hardly any [travel writing] from the viewpoint of kids and what they would enjoy,” Abby says. “In light of what we were doing on our website about sharing our adventures with people, we thought we need to share this information we gained from going to the parks and compile a resource that would be good for parents.” When they’re not traveling, Harley is an engineering project manager, while Abby homeschools five of their eight kids (they recently adopted four siblings from Colombia). Of their Mountaineers Books releases, the McAllisters have also covered Utah’s national parks and Yellowstone; a book on Yosemite is set to be published in April. Their guides tend to focus on a number of factors that people don’t typically consider
DO THEY HAVE A PLACE THEY’VE NEVER VISITED THAT’S ON THEIR BUCKET LIST? “There’s a backpacking trip along the Olympic Coast,” Abby says. “I love the ocean, I wanted to be a marine biologist, and I love the idea of a backpacking trip that’s flat. It’s a three-day trip and depends on how many kids we have that can carry their own gear.” “I’m excited about the idea of taking a multi-day backpacking trip all the way across Yellowstone,” Harley says. “I get excited about taking [my sons] on something that’s a little more strenuous, a little more challenging, and see some remote areas that few visitors are able to get to.”
when they travel — how long it can take to drive to a specific landmark, for example, or how to find a convenient place to stay for a night. The McAllisters’ biggest tip for parents thinking about traveling with their children: Keep your kids’ attention spans and endurance levels in mind at all times, and have plenty of snacks available when you’re on foot. It sounds like an obvious piece of advice, but a surprising number of people don’t heed it. “If you don’t plan well, and you’re just pushing them to go somewhere they don’t want to go, they are going to be grouchy and crabby,” Abby says. “Kids have shorter attention spans, and they have different objectives than we do,” Harley says. “I’ll hike for miles and miles if I can get some amazing view at the end. … But kids aren’t about big views. They really want to engage with their surroundings in a more hands-on way. “We need to be thinking about what there is along the trail that’s interesting to them. What is there that’s going to be interesting to them on a more small-scale, up-close-and-personal level?”
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