market trends

I've lived in West Seattle for about a year and a half, but for some reason never felt the need to shop at Metropolitan Market. Probably because I figured it would be exactly like Gelson's and since I gain sustenance primarily through ingesting Lean Cuisine and turkey hot dogs, what would be the point?

Oh there would be a point.

Owning fancy cookware has opened my eyes to all sorts of possibilities. I may have skipped through the market, I know my eyes went wide, and I forced Jer to stop a lot. He said, "I've never seen you like this." But you know what? I got my cheese! After the Cheese Festival last May, I've been obsessed with finding Seastack and wouldn't you know it? It was front and center in the cheese section in its little round wrapper for all the world to see. And then? Next to the cheese? Three kinds of Salumi Salami all packaged up and ready for me to whisk off into the night.

We went with the Mole Salami and the regular.

Yes. That'll be on the quiz later.

The deciding factor in our inaugural visit was macaroni and cheese. I wanted to pick up some Gruyere and Panko and figured that'd be our one stop shop. But oh, so much more. Sooo much. I salivate just thinking about it.

I still have to figure out where cilantro is kept. (Not for the mac, in anticipation of the karahis' arrival.) I saw all the other herbs and leafy things, but I didn't see that. So I came home and looked up cilantro on the internet and learned (I bet you already know this and I am once again late to the party) that coriander is the seed and cilantro is the leaf on the same plant. Isn't that endlessly fascinating? I had no idea!

And then I read Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for the Food: Food + Heat = Cooking where he also mentioned the cilantro/coriander connection. I go my entire life blissfully ignorant and then twice in one night I learn the same fact.

We also went to the Charlestown Street Cafe for dinner for the first time, which was a treasure trove of comfort food and excellent service. I very much enjoyed my Mexican potatoes. The end.