Sushi, Shopping, Continental Textiles, and a Recipe

Despite being a true introvert, I nevertheless tend to be chatty and even, alas, garrulous, and have little problem starting a conversation with complete strangers. However, as a result, I find out interesting things about them, and sometimes even end up finding some gems here and there.

Take today, for instance.  I had to take my car into the mechanics for its oil change and radiator flush, and this took a while.  Luckily, I had my knitting and my iPad with me to keep me amused, but this doesn't mean that these things necessarily make me ignore my environment, because I will glance up at people and overhear what they have to say.

So there was this guy and his wife who came in, and he was talking about making less money than some people he trained, which of course perked my ears up because I analyze and write resumes from time to time.  I said, "what, you earn less than the people you train? How does that happen?"  Well, he was referring to something else, but we started talking, and I discovered that Jimmy is the head chef and part owner of Trapper's Sushi over in Covington.  Being half-Japanese, I had to find out more, and let's just say I will go there sometime soon, possibly with my mother in tow.  Trust me, I will report back, but I anticipate good things from what he had to say about his training and the slight disgust I briefly saw on his face when he talked of "junk" sushi, and the subsequent passion I also saw when he talked about using fresh ingredients, etc.

Once I got my car back, inspired by the gourmet magazines at the mechanic's, I decided to go to the local health food store, Marlene's, which was out of my migraine vitamins, alas, but which did have other things that I bought. And because there had been an artisan bread baking class at the Marlenes that I unfortunately had not been aware of, it made me think of the lovely German breads I used to have, which then led me to the Valley Harvest grocery store on Military Road in Federal Way, which features not only foreign foods of all kinds and from all over the world, but the Eastern European "A Taste of Europe" deli and bakery.  That bakery has real European artisan bread, including kinds that I used to buy in Germany.  So, of course, I bought two loaves.

But before I even went to do that, I noticed a new store:  Continental Textiles.  Textiles!  Being interested in anything fiber-related, I had to go in. 

Immediately, I was overcome by nostalgia.  It was, in essence, a mix of the Aldi, Kik, or Tedi stores I used to go to in Germany and the Sittard market in the Netherlands, except it was clothing items and accessories, mostly for women.  And oh, my the scarves!  So many different scarves of different kinds, shapes, textures, and fabric!  The deals on these were amazing, as well.  I spotted a gorgeously rich red Pashmina (yes, real Pashmina) and silk scarf for only $20!  No, it was not a tiny thing, but a scarf that could cover your shoulders down to the middle of your back--essentially a shawl.  I seriously have never seen so many scarves (or men's ties) in so many colors and shapes in my life.

I talked with the store clerk/manager there, who is an American of (I'm guessing) Romanian heritage and who speaks Romanian and bit of Russian, and she said she originally worked in the Portland, Oregon store, and came up here when this one opened up.  In the course of our chat, I found that she, too, had been to Germany--specifically Cologne, and so was familiar with the outdoor markets such as the Sittard one that I often went to in the Netherlands, not to mention the magnificent Köln Cathedral. We chatted for a while, and I found out that between this Federal Way, WA store and the Portland, OR one, Continental Textiles has the largest collection of scarves and shawls in the United States.

I don't doubt this.  Had I had my camera with me, I would have taken a picture of all those scarves and shawls, in colors and edging designs I've never seen before. It seems the gal who works there--Lia, I believe her name is--and her mother actually designed many of the dyed scarves and edgings in the shop.  As the daughter of a professional tailor, I was VERY impressed by the workmanship.  The designs and other items in the store have a distinctly European flair, and if you want that bit of je ne sais quoi with which to accessorize, that store should help.

I should also mention that if you are fond of tea, this store has a number of very nice traditional European tea sets, and I mean the delicate china sets with gold edges and delicate flowers and baroque curls on them.  They also have modern glass tea pots.

When I mentioned that I felt nostalgic when I came into the store because it made me remember my time in Europe, Lia laughed and said that everyone who has stepped into the store who has immigrated from elsewhere has said it seemed like a part of home to them. "Even some women from Ethiopia," she said.

It made me reflect on what I had mentioned to Jimmy the Trapper's chef at the car repair place in Auburn: it really isn't Seattle that's culturally diverse; it's South King County.  When I lived in Seattle, I don't think I met or really talked with one Russian, Ukrainian, Mexican, Guatemalan, Korean, Indian, Pakistani, they were that rare.  But living in South King County, there is not one day when I don't interact with someone from another nation or race.  Here, you'll find home cooking in restaurants owned by people from another country, or who were trained in that country's dishes.  I can get German spätzle here at a decent price, not overpriced as I'm sure I'd have to pay in a Seattle specialty store, because this is where native Bavarians or Ukrainians shop, who--like me--can't afford to own a home in Seattle.  I can get all the spices I need for a Garam Masala, or Ethiopian Doro Wot without paying an arm and a leg.  And I am pretty much guaranteed to get what the people from these countries normally buy at home, because I shop where they shop.

Seriously, aside from the fact that it's awfully expensive to live there, I don't think I'd want to move back to Seattle.  I love looking at people from different countries and guessing where they might have come from, and trying to talk to them if they are able to speak English well. 

Diverse?  Oh yeah.  And I really love it, because it's like having my own little bit of Europe or Asia or Africa right here at home.

Oh, and what did I do with that European artisan bread (similar to German bauernbrot)?  I decided to create a dish to go with it: Delicata squash (seeds removed) filled with chopped bacon and leeks, baked at 400 degrees for 40 minutes, then topped with chunks of chicken and zucchini in Alfredo sauce and grated fresh Parmesan cheese on top of that, then back in the oven to broil for 5 to 10 minutes until the Parmesan cheese was melted.  Yum!

Baking Pies

The Bake Sale Table - yum!

Today, I'm being bad...but good.  I'm skipping church, but I'm making up for it by doing two things:  Sleep in late (hey, it's supposed to be a day of rest!), and baking pies for the Holiday Fair that's coming up on November 5th.   It's a marvelous Holiday Fair, and I absolutely love it.  Everything's all decorated and people are cheerful and friendly, the children are excited, because it all says Christmas is coming in not too long from now.  I love it because of the happy vibes, and because the proceeds go to help the community in the form of donations to homeless shelters, orphanages, and so on.  In the past, we've donated to the Domestic Abuse Women's Network,  to Hope for the Children of Africa, and many more.  This year, it's to benefit two charities, Fusion and Ramps.

Quilts!  Christmas Decorations!  Paddle Thingies!

The pies?  They'll be apple pies.  I mean the genuine Federal Way United Methodist Women's apple pie recipe, with the lovely flakey light-brown crust and the luscious abundant apple filling inside.  I did not know how to make good pie crust before I went to this church.  However, I volunteered at their pie-bake session and learned The Secret, which I will not reveal here, because, hey, it's a secret!

Well, not really a secret, because it's in their church cookbook, which I believe is also on sale.  So if you want to know what the secret to good pie crust is, you have to buy the cookbook.  I promise to post pictures here once I get the pies done. You will then see the lusciousness that is the Traditional Federal Way United Methodist Women's apple pie.

I may also make some peach pies, and berry pies.  I'll have to see what I've stored in the freezer.  In the coming days, I'll probably make some cookies as well.  Yep, I'll be a baking fool!

Scrubbie!

What else is at the Holiday Fair?  Oh, lovely, lovely hand-crafted items.  Jewelry, knitted and crocheted things, including the homely, yet famous Scrubbies!  Yes, those round crocheted things made of net, that are the perfect things to scrub non-stick pans with!  Or anything else, for that matter.  You can stick them on the upper rack of your dishwasher on one of the prongs and wash--and sanitize--them that way.  Or, you can toss in the washing machine and dryer.

Come visit!  I'll be there.  You can find the church here:


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Yes, yes, I'm going against my policy of verboten mention of Christmas before Thanksgiving (before it's even Halloween, for heaven's sake, and I won't go into a rant about how stores do this), but this is the Holiday Fair and it is one of my favorite events of the year.  :-)

Along the Green River

I decided to drive out into the countryside for a few hours; it was a beautiful day, hardly a cloud in the sky, and temperatures in the upper 70 degrees F. I live just up the hill from the Kent/Auburn valley, through which courses the Green River, made notorious by the Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer. In truth, his depredations only touched the river a few times, but he was given the name because of the first few bodies found near the river.

But this 65-mile river has a history much longer and more pleasant than this, and the road that meanders next to that river goes through some lovely pastoral landscapes, dotted with farms and more than a few palatial houses. Near Christmas, my husband and I make our yearly trek along the Green Valley Road to the Christmas tree farm to choose our tree, bundle it onto the truck, and drive triumphantly home with our winter catch. It's a lovely drive during the winter. More than a few times, I've seen signs next to the entrance of one farm or another, and I've wanted to see what they had to offer, but of course few if any vegetables are in season in December, and so we pass them by.

This time, however, the hubby was out motorcycling with his dad, and I decided to skip church and get to know Divine Creation from another perspective. Much inspired to listen to country music because of Kevin Skinner's YouTube audition, I turned the radio to the local country station, and headed out.

I went along the Auburn-Black Diamond road for a bit, until I saw the intersection of Green Valley Road. You can see a map of Green Valley Road here:


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You can see the river just as you turn onto Green Valley Road; today I saw a number of cars and trucks just past the intersection, where I suspect more than a few fishermen and women were casting out lures into the water. I don't know what the fishing is like , but since I see more than a few cars and trucks parked there whenever I've passed by, I suspect it must be at least promising.

I passed by Green Valley Meats, making a mental note that I must stop by there on my way back, because they have some of the best smoked meats around, and other more exotic cuts of meat, such as buffalo and elk, at quite affordable prices. They're a butcher and smoked meat shop, but they are well supplied with any picnic goods you might want if you and your family decide to take a day trip into the country or local national park. I also noticed they have large inner tubes available, no doubt for rent to go inner tubing down the river. They don't have a web site so far as I can tell, but the link above will take you to a site where people's reviews are spot on. I cannot say enough about their cuts of meat, and God only knows how many varieties of jerky and pepperoni they have. They are locally and family owned, and I mention this especially because I like to promote local businesses and farms expecially if they offer superb goods at a decent price. One warning, though! It is totally possible, especially if you're a "foodie" like me and like to cook, to run up a hefty bill in a short time. As I passed by, I made a pledge to myself not to go over $50 when I stop there.

My first stop is a few miles farther on, at Mosby Brothers Farm:

I've been there before, and they have very nice produce in season. They supplement their own produce with item from outside the state, and they also feature some goods from other farms and home-based businesses in the area. I noticed that they had a good set of bottled preserves made from their own produce, but this time I didn't pick up any.

I also noticed that they had some blueberry jam from Canter Berry farms just down the road. I have seen that farm more than a few times on the way to our yearly Christmas tree hunt, and have always wanted to see what it was like and what they had to offer. I bought a lemon (always good to sprinkle on Swiss chard, my new favorite) and some cibatta bread and went on my way.

The speed limit is not that fast--25 to 40 mph, depending on what stretch of road you're on--so I had ample time to flick my gaze to either side of the road, watching for any signs of fresh produce or any other goods that might be available at a farm, as well as signs of any bicyclists who are doing their own private version of the Tour de France, except I suppose it might be the Tour de Auburn. The road is not very wide, so I'm careful to look out for them. Some years ago, a bicycle trail was proposed to go through various farmlands, which was met with much opposition from the farmers there. Since apparently no compensation was going to be given to the farmers for the loss of arable land (some of the most fertile in the world), and they'd still have to pay taxes on land they could no longer use, I can't imagine why King County thought everyone would be hunky dory about it. Hmm, let's see, growing food and trying to make a living wage vs. people biking through your land. Which would you choose?

As a result of my careful driving, some signs caught my eye, and most notably the word "YARN" stood out, as well as "LAVENDER" and "MARIONBERRIES." These appealed to both my foodie senses as well as my fiber art heart, so I eagerly looked for an entrance to what must be a magical place. To my delight, I found the small entrance to Edeldal Farm, which is the home of Little House Rugs. Dolls decorate the area between the marionberry bushes, giving the entrance a sort of fairy-tale feel.

Though Judy Taylor's little Little House Rugs storefront is essentially half of her two-car garage, it is chock full of goodies, such as her lovely rugs (see picture to the right), yarn, fiber dyes, books, and felted items; there is something a little magical about all this colorful fiber-art goodness in a neat, compact space. Though her work focuses on rug hooking, she is also a spinner, and it was so enjoyable to serendipitously find and talk to a fellow fiber artist. She is a young, slight woman with a pretty complexion and smiling eyes (I seem to be noticing complexions lately, I don't know why), and I felt quite welcome to browse her shop at my leisure. I admired her yarn she had for sale, and marveled that it was so soft, as I had always thought Jacob sheep fleece was coarse in texture.

She hand dyed her soft pretty yarn herself, and has three spinning wheels! I have only one--well, two if I count the one I gave to my mother, which she doesn't use. I bought some fiber dye (purple!), and when she brought my attention to the marionberries, I could not resist and bought a pint of those as well. As it was, I was glad to have them, as I had not any lunch yet and had only brought a peach with me to eat (with plenty of napkins--yes, it was one those juicy sweet Washington peaches I bought yesterday). The dye was different from the kind I usually buy (Jacquard Acid Dyes), but they were a very good price for the amount of dye in the bottle.

I could not resist taking pictures of some of the things she has to offer at her shop, and when I went to her website tonight, I saw that she has so much more to offer than what she had in her little store. I don't know if you can click to enlarge the photo on the right, but if you can and do, you will not only be able to see some of her very nice hats and purses, but a reflection of her quilt in the mirror.

I will definitely have to go to Little House Rugs/ Edeldal Farm again. I enjoyed chatting with Judy, and with luck she'll have a blog up soon, as I talked with her about how to set one up at Blogger or Wordpress. Such creativity in her fiber arts as well as her lavender work must overflow in words as well--or at least, I hope it does. I didn't tell her about Ravelry, as I didn't think about that until I left, but I will no doubt e-mail her about it later.

I reluctantly left Judy's place (I'm sure I could have spent at least another half hour there) as I wanted to finish my little trip before 2:30 pm, as I had a Chrysalis closure to go to for a young woman I'd known since she was a child. A few miles down the road is Canter-Berry Farms, the blueberry farm that produces the blueberry jam I wanted. It's a lovely place, dominated by a very old barn, built in 1879. This may not seem very old to those on the East Coast, I'm sure, but it is pretty old out here. Clarissa Metzler Cross, one of the owners, says that when she and her husband decided to use and remodel the barn, they found a post that had the date etched into it. She is a slim, athletic-looking woman, perhaps about my own age, who had just come in from farther out in the farm to get a drink, and found that she had a few people come in to see her blueberry goods. Fortuitous timing!

The reason why her place is called "Canter-Berry" Farm is because they have American Saddlebred horses as well as blueberries there. It's clear Clarissa loves those horses, and it shows in the number of awards they've recieved. She has quite a few pictures of them in her shop--I don't know much about horses (though I'm fascinated by them), but even I can see they truly are beautiful animals. We had an enjoyable chat about the horses and her blueberries, and I complemented her on the lovely grounds around the shop--very pretty!

Being the foodie that I am, my attention soon turned to the blueberry goods. I bought a jar of blueberry jam for my mom (she is to have surgery on Tuesday, and she loves blueberries, so I'm bringing the jam over to her that day so that she won't be so miserable after the procedure), and I was highly tempted to buy some for myself, but did not. I did, however, buy the blueberry vinegar, with the intent of making a salad with spinach, fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, and feta cheese, with the vinegar sprinkled throughout. One sample taste of that vinegar convinced me it would be marvelous in a spinach salad. Or even lettuce salad. It has a smooth fresh taste, not as harsh as regular vinegar, so I expect it'll go well against feta cheese, though not as well against something like gorgonzola. However, you never truly know about tastes until you experiment. Canter-Berry Farms has recipes on their web site, so I will no doubt try those as well.

I drove farther along the Green Valley Road, past our favorite Christmas Tree farm, and decided at the last minute to take a turn around the Flaming Geyser State Park. As I approached the entrance booth, I noticed a pile of beer cans and liquor bottles near the park ranger booth. My suspicions of those worthy gentlemen were dispelled when I saw a sign prohibiting alcohol in the park. Yet, as I passed, I noticed the beer cans were crushed, obviously empty. Why take empty beer cans from park visitors? And if they weren't empty, why were they empty now? Hmmm.... Nevertheless, I informed the comfortingly lucid and cheerful ranger that my purpose in visiting the park was to drive around and take some pictures, and I was waved through. Best, I thought, to avoid asking awkward questions of park rangers when wanting to enjoy a sunny half hour or so in a State park. I wanted badly to take a picture of the pile of beer cans, but there a line of cars sat behind me, waiting to get through.

The park was fairly full, with families and couples out for picnics and general fun in the sun and the river. Even so, there were plenty of shady spots, with picnic benches and little park grills. I cannot imagine a better day than this to be in a park.

I spent perhaps 20 minutes there, as time was growing short, and I did want to visit Green Valley Meats on the way back. I kept going east for a while through unfamiliar territory and a road I have never been on, found myself going through Black Diamond (did not stop at the superb Black Diamond Bakery there, alas), looped around back west on Auburn-Black Diamond road, then decided to take the SE Lake Holm Road, which I knew would take me back to the Auburn-Black Diamond road again, and then into Auburn proper. I seem to have a good sense of direction; even when I'm on an unfamiliar road, if I know the general area, and the sun is not at high noon, I can find my way back somehow. But I easily get lost in a city, go figure. I had plenty of time to shop at Green Valley Meats (I ran up a $40 bill, but hey, it didn't go over $50!), getting a bag of pepperoni, ground buffalo, smoked chicken ($6.87 each!), and smoked pork tenderloin, and get home with plenty of time before I had to go to the Chrysalis closure.

Dinner was a meal of the smoked chicken, with a side of lettuce, tomato, and cucumber salad with non-fat feta cheese, Wheat Thins crackers, and dill dip. I did indeed put the blueberry vinegar on it, and it exceeded my expectations.

Altogether a satisfying day.

Auburn Farmer's Market

Decided to go to the Auburn Farmer's Market today to browse the stalls. I could wish for a little more variety in the types of vegetables sold. No broccoli or cauliflower--I go to the Federal Way Market for that, as the Sidhu Farm (I believe they are from India--the parents have that lovely lilting accent, but their kids sound like your average middle-class American teenager) from Puyallup has beautiful, flawless specimens of those vegetables. But the Auburn market does have lovely Swiss chard, which I bought, and which I didn't see in the Federal Way market last week. Nice that Auburn has their market on Sundays, whereas Federal Way and Kent have theirs on Saturday.

The Auburn market does have nice-looking pasta, however, and so I bought some garlic lemon pepper angel hair as well as spinach fettuccine. I plan to use the garlic lemon pepper with perhaps a salmon alfredo or a seafood Italian stir-fry with a basil and oregano wine sauce. The latter is the hubby's favorite, as I use a good deal of garlic in it--fresh garlic from our garden. I have also used leeks on occasion from our garden when I don't have onions. It has a less harsh taste than onions, less of a bite. I like both tastes, so it doesn't matter much to me which one I use.

Of note also at the Auburn market is local organic beef (from nearby Covington), as well as honey. Two local, small bakeries are also featured, one of which specializes in European goods (Euro Market). And then there are the superb Gosanko chocolates.

I didn't get the chocolaes, but I just might get a few the next time I go there.

Later: I have never had Swiss Chard before, and now that I've cooked them, I'm going to get more--they're like spinach, but without the harsh edge on the tongue, and with a sort of nutty aftertaste--very nice! It went well with the garlic lemon pasta and seafood, very, very nice.