While You’re In: Hear true tales of fraud, travel with Rick Steves, visit small worlds
You could be the judge
StoryOly, Olympia’s story slam, is starting a new year of true tales by veteran tellers and rookies alike. The monthly event is online, as it has been since April , but for the first time since the coronavirus shut down live entertainment, the slam will again be judged, with audience members being chosen to cast votes for the winner. “While of course I dearly miss live in-person personal storytelling, I am hoping one silver lining of this online format will be a potential teller’s greater comfort — by being at home, not on a stage — to share stories that may be harder to tell,” emcee Elizabeth Lord told The Olympian. “I hope this format can be a more welcoming platform for the otherwise stage-shy participant.” If you’re up for telling a story, email storyoly@gmail.com. This month’s slam — with the theme “Fraud” — is at 7 p.m. Tuesday on Zoom. It’s free, with donations appreciated. Find out more at http://www.storyoly.com/.
Behind the scenes with Rick Steves
Seattle travel titan Rick Steves has launched “Monday Night Travel,” a series of online premieres of programs about his journeys through the Alps, to Egypt and more. It will be, he wrote on his website, “a needed dose of vicarious travel.” Steves will introduce the new episodes and pause them to share stories and answer audience questions as part of the free webinars, happening at 6 p.m. Mondays. Up next: the Swiss Alps, in which Steves explores mountains, glaciers and — wait for it — cheese. Advance registration is a must.
Eat cute
Though operating a restaurant is extra challenging in these times, eateries continue to open and reopen. In Olympia, there are Chicory, Cynara and Le Voyeur, which returns Friday with an all-vegan takeout menu. Atlanta boasts a particularly charming eatery — if you don’t mind the presence of a rodent. It’s a nameless bistro on the porch of food writer Angela Hansberger. It’s not exactly a raving success: There’s only one customer, a chipmunk named Thelonious, who shows up every day and never brings a wallet. (“I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hazelnut today,” The Olympian can imagine him saying.) But Hansberger’s aww-inspiring photos and videos of ’Munk’s feasts, served on an ever-more elaborately decorated picnic table that’s just his size, have won her a following on Facebook and Instagram and led to a CBS News feature. Explaining how she became a rodent restaurateur in an article for Bon Appetit, Hansberger wrote: “My work centers around eating and drinking … and then writing about it. But these days, like everyone else, I’m at home. ALWAYS at home.”
Freelance writer Molly Gilmore’s backyard is a restaurant for deer, and though there aren’t any tablecloths or battery-operated candles, the place has a large and enthusiastic following. She discusses arts, entertainment and more with 95.3 KGY-FM’s Michael Stein from 3 to 4 p.m. Fridays.
This story was originally published November 13, 2020 at 5:45 AM.