The Slice Nice Touch Of Chocolate Starts The Morning Just Right

We think it might be Jacob’s Java. But we haven’t really tried enough places to be sure. So you tell us. Who makes the best hot chocolate in the Inland Northwest?

Random act of kindness: Elle and Larry Weiser drove up to Mount Spokane last weekend to do some cross-country skiing. After parking, they saw that they had a flat tire, caused by a slow leak. The couple decided to worry about it after they finished skiing. But when they returned to their car, they discovered that someone had inflated the tire.

Slice answer: Spokane’s most overlooked asset? Slice reader Karen Akin suggested it is the fact the city is, as she put it, “well contained.”

By that she means you can go to a movie or a restaurant without devoting a lot of time to the trip. “You don’t need to spend an hour to get somewhere,” she said. “It’s a big plus in terms of time management.”

Well, duh: Few things challenge your ability to have faith in your own competence quite like arriving at work and realizing you picked up the wrong keys and as a result can’t even unlock your own desk.

Respecting our elders: A reader named Kevin called to suggest that we ask who has the oldest cat in the Spokane area. Kevin’s cat, by the way, is 19.

This isn’t quite as dumb as trying to erase Betty and Veronica’s sweaters: “Her biggest sin, she said, had been tearing the zipper off the Rolling Stones’ ‘Sticky Fingers’ album cover so she could see what was underneath.” - from Lorrie Moore’s novel “Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?”

Tip for panhandlers in downtown Spokane: Don’t stand right in front of a liquor store.

Warm-up question for people who have moved here from other parts of the country: Is there an Inland Northwest accent?

Today’s Slice question: Have you ever startled a wild animal when you made that sound you make when trying to clear your sinuses?

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