Cafe Amore to host hundreds for free turkey dinner

Cafe Amore to host hundreds for free turkey dinner

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008441907_dinner27m.html

Once homeless himself, the owner and chef of Cafe Amore in Seattle's Belltown area will host a free turkey dinner today for anyone in need. Sean Langan figures it will cost him about $4,000 to serve 500 to 700 Thanksgiving meals.

By Lynda V. Mapes

Seattle Times staff reporter

PREV  of  NEXT

MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Once homeless himself, Sean Langan, chef and owner of Cafe Amore in Belltown, plans to serve up to 700 free Thanksgiving dinners today to those in need.

Free Thanksgiving dinners for those in need

A number of places will serve meals today. Here are a few:

Cafe Amore: At Fifth Avenue and Bell Street in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood. Serving from 1 to 4 p.m. today. Families welcome.

Millionair Club Charity: 2515 Western Ave., between Wall and Vine streets in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood. Serving dinner with support from Pacific Seafood Processors Association from noon to 1:30 p.m. Families welcome.

Seattle Union Gospel Mission: 318 2nd Ave. Extension S., between Washington and Main streets, in Seattle's Pioneer Square neighborhood. Three seatings: 4:15 p.m., 5:15 p.m. and 6:15 p.m. Families welcome.

When the burden is very great, it takes friends to carry it, and that's something Sean Langan knows from experience.

Once homeless himself, Langan, now owner and chef of Cafe Amore in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood, knows what it's like to be on the streets. So on a day that's supposed to be all about gratitude, Langan — and a community of friends and volunteers — will cook and serve a free Thanksgiving dinner for 500 to 700 people at his restaurant. Anyone in need is welcome.

Cafe Amore is a small restaurant, powered by Langan's big heart. "That's why it's called Amore, it's about love," Langan said.

He expects a line out the door, and then some, but he intends that no one will go away hungry. Usually, he serves up organic, locally sourced dinners — butternut-squash ravioli with pumpkin cream sauce and roasted pumpkin seeds, that sort of thing. But tomorrow, from 1 to 4 p.m., Langan will throw open his doors for turkey dinner cooked from scratch.

He figures he could make $7,000 to $8,000 if he opened his doors for business on Thanksgiving. Or heck, he could even take a day off, not a bad idea for a guy who works about 100 hours a week, he figures. But instead he wanted to put on this dinner. His reason is simple: When he looks at the homeless and the broken, he sees not someone to rush past, but someone he used to be.

The child of a biker and a partyer, as he puts it, Langan said he was raised on Southern Comfort and speed. "I was doing cocaine by the time I was 11," says Langan, 42, and sober for 17 straight years. At his worse, he found himself passing a beer to his daughter, "exactly how I got started," Langan recalled.

When he hit bottom, there were people to pick him up: The man who encouraged him to go to Narcotics Anonymous meetings. Someone who paid his rent to get him into an apartment and back on his feet.

He doesn't blame his parents — now both deceased — or anyone else who is still battling the bottle or worse. He just encourages them to know if they want to, they can do what he did. "It's a tough road; just stick it out," Langan said. And know someone, somewhere, cares.

"I'll sit them down and we'll wait on them like paying customers," Langan said of his Thanksgiving guests. His restaurant, for some, is the prettiest place any of them have been in a while, and table service, well, it's not what they've been getting lately. For those who can't make it to the restaurant, Langan is even dispatching dinners to city parks.

He figures the meal will cost him about $4,000, but he wouldn't consider not doing it, even though he's only been in business two years and is struggling himself.

This is his second year putting on the dinner, which he started planning as soon as last year's was over. This year's is a little leaner; there was no money to buy hams, and he had to cut back the hours, because he didn't get enough food donated to go the whole distance from noon to six.

Even last year was a stretch: He served everything he had in the kitchen, and even cooked up linguine for the last arrivals, so they wouldn't go hungry. He gave away the last four pumpkin pies on the street as he made his way home — stopping at a Subway for a chicken sandwich on the way.

The dinner is a miracle of logistics, put on with the help of about 50 volunteers. From rustling up available ovens in the neighborhood to help cook 38 turkeys, to dialing shelters and social-service centers to get out the word, there was a job for everyone Wednesday.

"Volunteering is how you make small changes in everyday life," said Nargiza Yuzupova, 20, as she tied on an apron to dive in and help out in the kitchen.

Paul Turner, a retired chemistry professor, was snapping 20 pounds of green beans, one bean at a time.

"I've got a lot, and I'd like to give back, " Turner said.

Asked what he's grateful for at Thanksgiving, he knew his answer: "This day."

Lynda V. Mapes: 206-464-2736 or lmapes@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company

--
AHANAOA A. C.
Lic. Nut. Miguel Leopoldo Alvarado
http://www.nutriologiaortomolecular.org/
http://www.seattlees.com/

Sean Langan, chef and owner of Cafe Amore in Belltown

Sean Langan, chef and owner of Cafe Amore in Belltown

 

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/jamieson/389665_robert27.html

Paul Joseph Brown / P-I

Sean Langan, chef and owner at Amore, an Italian restaurant in Belltown, adds yet another turkey to the oven the day before his annual free dinner.

He helps -- because he has been there, too

By ROBERT L. JAMIESON JR.
P-I COLUMNIST

A WINNING recipe for helping others, Sean Langan will tell you, takes 80 pounds of corn, 275 pounds of potatoes, 120 gallons of gravy, 125 pounds of stuffing and, yes, fowl, lots of it -- more than 600 pounds of turkey.

Langan, the owner and chef of Amore, a Belltown restaurant, is giving back to the Seattle community on Thanksgiving in an unusually big way. He is cooking and serving a holiday meal for low-income people or homeless families -- all for free.

He's not doing it for a tax write-off. He's not knocking down doors for publicity either -- though good news can't hurt.

The reason he's opening his restaurant at Fifth and Bell to more than 500 needy folks is that near the very same street corner, he used to booze, get high and deal drugs.

He knows all too well what it feels like to be down and out, to feel hunger twined with desperation and think that no one cares.

"It all comes full circle," Langan, 42, told me. "I turned myself around because people gave me a hand up and helped me. This is how I can help give back."

He learned an inglorious lifestyle at a young age. His father, a contractor, operated a smoke-filled tavern on Aurora Avenue, and would pour his son Southern Comfort like tap water. His mother owned a greasy spoon in Ballard. Both parents, he says, abused drugs and alcohol. The two-headed demon caused his mom to lose her business and gave him easy exposure to drugs.

"I was 11," Langan said, "the first time I did cocaine."

By the sixth grade he was selling joints. By high school he was a full-on addict. He started at Ballard High School but finished up -- barely -- at Shorewood. He enrolled in a local college and studied computer science before heading to Alaska where he worked in a kitchen.

He fell in love and had two daughters. But his partner, also a drug addict, eventually left him and the girls.

Somehow, Langan juggled single parenthood with drinking and drugging that continued after he moved back to Seattle. His poor choices and addictions landed him in jail after jail. Whenever he got in trouble, family members took care of the girls.

Eventually, he cratered.

The nadir happened two decades ago at a cockroach-infested motel on Aurora Avenue. He was using drugs and drinking as his daughters, both 5 at the time, frolicked on the floor. He gave them sips of beer.

"They were just babies," he said. "Everything hit me right at that point. I was doing to them what my parents had done to me. I had to break the cycle."

Langan went to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, where he met people who refused to let him give up on himself. He embraced sobriety before relapsing five years later. After that two-week stumble, he worked hard to get his act together, again.

Out of his haze, he gained clarity. As a kid he used to stand atop crates and cook burgers at his mother's restaurant. Cooking -- a passion he flirted with -- became his calling.

In the mid-90s, he enrolled and got a degree from the Culinary Institute of America. He ran Chanterelles, a restaurant near the Space Needle. Then, he was a chef at the Showbox. Later, he worked as an executive chef for the Hilton chain.

In 2003, he opened Cafe Amore in a small space that was once a glassblowing studio. During his first year of business he fed the poor, but only about 25 people could fit in the space.

Three years later, he moved his restaurant 50 yards down the street to its current home and dropped "Cafe." Last year, an army of Amore staff and volunteers quietly fed 500 needy people turkey and ham for Thanksgiving.

This year, business has been rough. The economy has kept diners at home and hit restaurant owners hard. But Langan vowed to continue his Thanksgiving tradition, even though it will mean forking out more than $4,000 from his pocket and dropping the ham.

"It's not always about money," he said. "I really can't afford to do this. Then again, I couldn't afford not to. The need out there is even greater. If you can't do something for somebody else, your life is meaningless."

Tuesday, his restaurant bustled as cooks prepped 18 turkeys. On Wednesday, he raced the clock to ready nearly two-dozen more birds. Residents in Belltown volunteered their condo ovens to help him pull off the big fowl feeding. A Seattle tour company donated vans to ferry people to Langan's tables. He also has assembled crews to take meals to people in city parks and on the streets.

The joy, he said, comes from seeing smiles of gratitude as people who may be cocooned in woe get to see that others care.

Yes, a helping hand -- with extra servings of inspiration -- may just change a life. "Just look," says Langan, who will celebrate 17 years sober March 12, "at what happened to me."

P-I columnist Robert L. Jamieson Jr. can be reached at 206-448-8125 or robertjamieson@seattlepi.com.

Soundoff (28 comments)
What do you think?

Go to Webtowns, your guide to Seattle neighborhoods, for more headlines and info from Belltown.

--
AHANAOA A. C.
Lic. Nut. Miguel Leopoldo Alvarado
http://www.nutriologiaortomolecular.org/
http://www.seattlees.com/

CAMPAMENTO A OREGON

Rudy, sent the following message to some members of The Seattle Spanish Society:
----------------------------------------------------------------
Hola A todos

Solo quiero hacerles saber que hay tres espacios abiertos para el campamento a Oregon this weekend,
si estas interesado mándame un mensaje a rudywarrior@yahoo.com para mandarles toda la información.

Gracias

Rudy G.
----------------------------------------------------------------

To visit The Seattle Spanish Society, go here:
http://spanish.meetup.com/616/

Add info@meetup.com to your address book to receive all your Meetup emails.

Questions? You can email Meetup Support at: support@meetup.com
Meetup Support, 632 Broadway, New York, NY 10012 USA

--
AHANAOA A. C.
Lic. Nut. Miguel Leopoldo Alvarado
http://www.nutriologiaortomolecular.org/
http://www.seattlees.com/

Seattle

Seattle es la ciudad más grande del Estado de Washington, en el noroeste de los Estados Unidos de América. La ciudad está situada entre el Lago Washington y la bahía conocida como Puget Sound, junto al océano Pacífico. Se encuentra 155 kilómetros al sur de la frontera entre Estados Unidos y Canadá en el Condado de King.

Vista del centro financiero de Seattle

Seattle fue fundada en la década de 1850, en territorios del jefe indigena Seattle, a quien debe su nombre. En 2004, la Oficina del Censo del EE.UU. estimó que la población de la ciudad era de 571.480 habitantes. Con fecha 2006, la ciudad tiene una población estimada de 570.430 y una población metropolitana de cerca 3.8 millones en un área de 23.000 km². Seattle está en el centro económico de la región conocida como "Greater Puget Sound". Su apodo oficial es "La Ciudad Esmeralda" a causa de los bosques de este rico color. Seattle es conocida como "Rain City" (La Ciudad de la Lluvia), aunque en realidad tiene menos lluvia que muchas otras ciudades estadounidenses; no obstante se destaca por el gran número de días nublados o lluviosos al año. Se la llama también "Jet City", debido a la gran influencia del fabricante de aeronaves Boeing.

Seattle es famosa por ser la tierra natal de la música grunge, y por el gran consumo de café (aquí nació la cadena de cafeterías Starbucks). En 1999 fue el lugar donde se celebró la cumbre de la Organización Mundial del Comercio, marcada por las protestas antiglobalización conocidas como N30.

Los científicos de la Universidad Central de Connecticut le dieron a la ciudad la distinción de ser la ciudad que más alfabetismo tiene en los EE.UU. en 2005.

El Space Needle (Aguja Espacial) es una torre en Seattle, Washington. Es la edificación más alta de Noreste de Estados Unidos. Y es un simbolo de esa región del pais.

El Space Needle fue construido en 1962 en el centro de la ciudad. El proyecto fue idea de Edward E. Carlson e inspirado en la torre de Stuttgart, en Alemania.

Es una estructura de 184 metros de altura pesa una 5850 toneladas, colocando el centro de gravedad de la torre a apenas a un metro del nivel del suelo. Para llegar a la cima es necesario abordar un elevador que toma tan sólo unos segundos en subir. Actualmente es un Restaurante giratorio desde donde se puede apreciar toda la ciudad de Seattle.

Ha soportado vientos de 320kmph y varios temblores de hasta 9.5 grados y sigue relativamente intacto.

Tabla de contenidos [ocultar] 1 Historia 1.1 Fundación 1.2 Acontecimientos principales 2 Geografía y clima 2.1 Geografía 2.2 Clima 3 Economía 4 Deportes 5 Ciudades hermanadas 6 Referencias 7 Enlaces externos

Historia [editar]

Fundación [editar]

El 13 de noviembre de 1851 llegaron a Alki Point los primeros colonizadores blancos, pertenecientes al Partido Denny. En abril de 1852 mudaron su campamento hasta la bahía de Elliot. El primer plano del municipio de Seattle data del 23 de mayo de 1853. La ciudad se incorporó en 1869, después de haber existido como un municipio incorporado desde 1865 hasta 1867.

Seattle recibe su nombre de Noah Sealth, jefe de las tribus Duwamishjjkjk capo y [Suquamish], y mejor conocido como Jefe Seattle. David Swinson ("Doc") Maynard, uno de los fundadores de la ciudad, fue el principal promotor de nombrar la ciudad en honor al Jefe Seattle. Previamente, la ciudad había sido conocida como Duwamps (o Duwumps); una variación de ese nombre se preserva hasta hoy en el nombre del río Duwamish.

Acontecimientos principales [editar]

Los principales acontecimientos de la historia de Seattle incluyen:

• El Gran Incendio de Seattle de 1889, que destruyó la zona de negocios (aunque no hubo muertos)
• La Exposición de Alaska-Yukon-Pacífico de 1909, que es la principal responsable del trazado actual del campus de la Universidad de Washington
• La Huelga General de Seattle de 1919, la primera huelga general en los Estados Unidos de América
• La Exposición del Siglo XXI de 1962, una Exposición Universal
• Los Juegos de la Buena Voluntad (Goodwill Games) de 1990
• La reunión de la Organización Mundial del Comercio de 1999, marcada por las protestas del movimiento antiglobalización conocidas como N30, o Batalla de Seattle.

El 28 de febrero de 2001, se declaró el estado de emergencia después del terremoto de Nisqually, de magnitud 6,8. Los daños fueron moderados, pero sirvió de recordatorio de que el sudoeste Columbia Británica y el oeste del estado de Washington se encuentran bajo la amenaza constante de un gran terremoto.

Geografía y clima [editar]

Geografía [editar]

Seattle se encuentra entre la bahía Puget Sound y el Lago Washington. Al oeste de la bahía, Seattle muestra las Montañas Olímpicas; al otro lado del Lago Washington, más allá de los suburbios del lado este se encuentran los Issaquah Alps y la Cascade Range.

La ciudad en si es ondulada, aunque no uniformemente. Algunas de las zonas más altas están cerca del centro de la ciudad, y el propio centro se levanta dramáticamente del mar. La geografía del centro y las áreas más cercanas han sido profundamente cambiadas por los proyectos de regrado, un malecón, y una isla artificial llamada <<Harbor Island>> en la boca del Canal industrial de Duwamish.

En el pasado, los ríos, bosques, lagos, y campos del territorio eran suficientemente ricos para mantener una de las pocas sociedades de cazadores sedentarios. Hoy en día, un canal que incluye Lago Union cerca del centro de la ciudad y otras formaciones de agua naturales, conecta Puget Sound con Lago Washington. Hay oportunidades y acceso fácil a navegar a vela, esquiar, montar en bicicleta, ir al campo, e ir de excursión.

Una línea de actividad geológica, la Falla Seattle, transcurre bajo la ciudad. Aunque ni la Falla Seattle ni la Zona de Subducción Cascadiana han causado un terremoto desde la fundación de la ciudad, si ha habido cuatro terremotos grandes: el 14 diciembre 1872 (magnitud 7.3), el 13 abril 1949 (7.1), el 29 abril 1965 (6.5), y el terremoto Nisqually de 28 febrero 2001 (6.8). La Zona de Subducción Cascadiana podría originar un terremoto de magnitud 9.0 o mayor, y causar grandes daños a la ciudad, derrumbando muchos edificios, particularmente en la área del centro y el distrito industrial.

Seattle, skyline

Clima [editar]

El clima de Seattle es suave, con una temperatura moderada por el mar, protegida de vientos y tormentas por las montañas. La ciudad de Seattle tiene una reputación por sus lluvias frecuentes aunque "la ciudad lluviosa" solo recibe unos 970 mm de precipitación por año, menos que casi todas las ciudades mayores de la costa este de los Estados Unidos como por ejemplo, la ciudad de Nueva York que recibe en promedio 1200 mm. Aunque llueve mucho más que otros lugares del mundo como Madrid (430 mm) o Ciudad de México (790 mm). La fama mundial de Seattle por lluvia es debido al hecho de que casi toda su precipitación cae en la forma de llovizna o lluvia ligera, como Seattle está en la sombra pluviométrica de las Montañas Olympicas. O sea, aunque llueve con regularidad, no llueve muy fuerte.

La temperatura promedio va desde justo más de 0 °C por la noche en el invierno, hasta medio 24-27 °C en el verano. La temperatura récord más alta fue 37.7C, 20 de julio, 1994; la más baja fue -17.7C, 31 de enero, 1950. 130 km al oeste, el Hoh Rain Forest en el parque nacional Olympic, marca un promedio de 3600 mm de precipitación pluvial, y la capital del estado, Olympia, recibe 1320 mm. La nieve es infrecuente, especialmente a altitudes bajas, y es normalmente ligera y por poco tiempo. No obstante, en una ocasión, nevó 304 mm en un solo día. Como casi toda la precipitación en Seattle es liquida, los que quejan de la llovizna invernal constante son recordados que por lo menos no tienen que moverla con palo. Tiempo más soleado típicamente domina entre julio y septiembre.

La zona de convergencia de Puget Sound es un rasgo importante del clima del área. En esta zona, el aire que llega desde el norte encuentra aire fluyendo desde el sur. Los dos corrientes de aire tienen origen sobre el Océano Pacífico; el flujo de aire se bifurca por las montañas Olympicas al oeste, y después se reune al lado de las montañas Cascade al este. Cuando los corrientes se unen, son forzados arriba, que resulta en convención. Una zona de convención activa resulta en lluvia por lo menos y a veces tiempo más severo como temporadas y granizo. Usualmente la zona forma norte de Seattle en el área Edmonds/Lynnwood, pero dependiente de las fuerzas relativas de los vientos, se puede extender tan al sur como el condado Pierce o tan norte como el condado Skagit.

Una excepción a la humedad de Seattle suele ocurrir en años con El Niño, cuando los sistemas de clima marino van al Sur hasta California y poca precipitación llega al área de Puget Sound. Como el agua para la región en los meses más secos viene de la nieve acumulada en las montañas, los inviernos con El Niño no solo resultan en una temporada de esquí mala sino también en el racionamiento de agua y una escasez hidro-eléctrica durante el verano siguiente.

Economía [editar]

Seattle es un de los puertos principales de los EE.UU.

Cinco compañías de la lista Fortune 500 de las compañías más grandes en los EE.UU. tienen sus oficinas centrales en Seattle. Ellas son Washington Mutual (#130), Safeco Corporation (#267), Nordstrom (#286), Amazon.com (#342), y Starbucks (#425).

Hay otras compañías cerca de Seattle (y muchos de cuyos trabajadores viven en Seattle). Costco Wholesale Corp. (#29) esta es la compañía más grande en Washington, con su oficina central en Issaquah. Microsoft (#46) está en Redmond, como Nintendo de America.

En 2005, la revista Forbes dijo que Seattle es la ciudad más cara en los EE.UU. para comprar una casa, en relación con los ingresos locales.

Deportes [editar]

Equipo	Deporte	Liga	Estadio
Seattle Sounders	Fútbol	USL First Division (hombres) W-League (mujeres)	Qwest Field
Seattle Mariners	Béisbol	Major League Baseball (MLB) - AL	Safeco Field
Seattle Seahawks	Fútbol Americano	National Football League (NFL) - NFC	Qwest Field
Seattle SuperSonics	Básquetbol	National Basketball Association (NBA)	KeyArena
Seattle Storm	Básquetbol	Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)	KeyArena
Seattle Thunderbirds	Hockey	Western Hockey League	KeyArena

Referencias [editar]

1. ↑ "Annual Estimates of the Population for Incorporated Places over 100,000, Ranked by July 1, 2005 Population: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2005 (SUB-EST2005-01)", (Excel file), Population Division, United States Census Bureau
2. ↑ Annual Estimates of the Population of Combined Statistical Areas (CBSA-EST2005-06) — incluye las áreas metropolitanas de Olympia y Bremerton

Enlaces externos [editar]

• Wikimedia Commons alberga contenido multimedia sobre Seattle.Commons

• Fotografías de Seattle
• Plano Interactivo de la Ciudad de Seattle
• Seattle alberga una sede del Instituto Cervantes

Obtenido de "http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle"

Categoría: Seattle

--
AHANAOA A. C.
Lic. Nut. Miguel Leopoldo Alvarado
http://www.nutriologiaortomolecular.org/
http://www.seattlees.com/

This is an invitation for the Consejo 30th anniversary.

This is an invitation for the  Consejo 30th anniversary. 
Consejo is the agency where I work. We focus in the latino
populaltion, but also other populations as well. This in agency that focus in all the problems
latino population may have and it is great to work here. If you want to know more about you can check the website and find more
about us. www.consejo-wa.org
 
It will be an silent auction and for music : Supersones, afrocuban music www.supersones.com
will be played during dinner and after dinner for dancing. Instructions to purchase tickets are in the invitation. Hope to see
you there.
 
Laura Oviedo

--
AHANAOA A. C.
Lic. Nut. Miguel Leopoldo Alvarado
http://www.nutriologiaortomolecular.org/
http://www.seattlees.com/