Recommendations

I recently re-read Reviewing Ratings with the intent of updating a bit, and this concluding idea stuck out to me:

I’m hoping we can see a resurgence of curated recommendation lists.

I’ve been doing this for more specialized things with my Links and Book Recommendations series, but figured it’s worth establishing a place for more general recommendations, and thus, a new page.

I like supporting local businesses. I lived in Portland, Oregon from 2007 – 2019, and have lived in Olympia, Washington since.

There are no affiliate links on this page. If I am recommending something here, it’s because I use/patronize it regularly and would be very sad if I could not do so anymore.

• Consumables

• Household

• Olympia, Washington

• Music Making

• Computer

Consumables

Beverages

I am something of a snob when it comes to coffee, tea, and alcohol; this list is extremely selective.

• Olympia Coffee Roasters (Olympia, Washington) – at least locally, their Morning Sun blended roast is available at Costco.

• Heart Coffee Roasters (Portland, Oregon)

• Encore Teas – in particular their Green Chai with Orange, Maté Cinnamon Chocolate, and herbals Sunset in Olympia and Caramel Nut Rooibos, an instant favorite of everyone I’ve introduced it to.

• Ilwaco Ciderworks – purveyors of adventurously spiced dry and sweet ciders

• Ilk Beer - they have a mostly rotating selection, but everything I’ve tried from them has been outstanding.

Household

• Simply Good Coffee’s THE BREWER - Glass - we tried a number of automatic drip brewers after my partner got tired using a Chemex, and this is hands-down the winner. Ours has given us four years of trouble-free service, it uses readily-available descaling solutions, and its brews are an easy satsifice against buying individual cups at the local shop.

• Whisker Litter Robot - I don’t like having things which require an app – and our model technically doesn’t, but this thing is more than worth the trouble.

Olympia, Washington

Restaurants & Bars

• Octapas Cafe - a family favorite for dining out.

• Hash - holds their own against any brunch in Portland. Family favorites include the Orange Chicken & Waffles, Biscuit Brisket Benedict, and Cinnamon Roll French Toast.

• Ilk Lodge - in addition to their own beer (mentioned above), they have the best burgers in town.

• Herfy’s Burgers - Second best burgers in town; though many people disagree and rate them first.

• Wicked Pies - home to a number of Twin Peaks-themed pizzas, they have some excellent off-menu seasonal slices, and a few other savory pies including Khachapuri and Turkish Pide.

• Huicholitos - when my partner told me “so apparently this really good Mexican place in a gas station out by the auto mall”, I didn’t believe her. I was wrong.

• Sofie’s Scoops - artisanal gelato, and Sofie is a great person.

• Filibuster Lounge - a small, quiet cocktail bar, with a variety of excellent takes on the Old Fashioned.

Music-Making

• Linnstrument - An expressive MIDI controller using a grid. If a guitar makes more sense to you than a piano keyboard, this might be up your alley.

• Touché by Expressive-E - a four-axis CC controller which is easy to setup alongside the Linnstrument.

• Audio Damage - purveyors of some great software synths & effects, all of which are available for Linux & iPadOS. I contributed presets to Other Desert Cities and Axon, and am making some preset packs for Continuua and Quanta.

• Felt Instruments - One of their pianos has made it onto nearly everything I’ve published and nearly everything that is pending publishing. Kolor is a part of my mixdown channel strip.

Computer

Software

The brevity of this section is probably a testament to how much I detest most software.

• Obsidian – perhaps best described as “a markdown wiki with superpowers”, I use it to write for this website, and along with the core plugin Bases and the third-party plugin Tasks use it to manage my life.