Yes, yes, playing a little catch-up on posts. Sorry about that.

Here's a ridiculous product being aggressively sold at Market Place on 4th Street in Berekely. Perhaps the buyers regretted their purchase and just wanted to clear it out?

Rose petals in a jar, for "sprinkling over a lamb roast" or whatnot. $15— per jar.

Field trip to new Hitchcock Deli on Bainbridge Island

The Hitchcock Deli is now open, and it's amazing. I love both the working environment and the food. I've had two lovely sandwiches, and ca't wait to start buying dry-aged meat and fresh fish from the case. And some bread-and-butter pickles, they have those too from local cucumbers. I'm not alone in loving it in a simple, satisfied way. The top picture is of a house-made braunschweiger sandwich with butter, gruyere, and a little mustard on rye.

Welcome email

It's rare that a business sends you email (whether you subscribe or not) that you actually welcome. I love the email I get from Big John''s PFI (Pacific Food Importers).

It's a great offbeat — and off-the-beaten-track — location in Seattle to buy bulk olives and whatever kind of edible wonders you may or may not be looking for. For instance, they carry my favorite packaged pasta, Rusticella d'Abruzzo (brand) Croixetti (shape) pasta I crave and can no longer get at my local grocery, as well as surprise finds I cannot resist.

As a visual designer, I cannot say I love everything about the email. It is intensely hard on the eyes. And I am utterly amazed that somehow they manage to send their email as an embedded image rather than HTML or text. Wow.

But, it's kinda cute in a "Que?" kind of way, and it makes it way easier to share here, and it's worth your and my read (Click to see larger:)

The best sale page!

Thanks to the sale page at Capri Flavors, I am now the proud owner of many, many packages of really nice Italian dried penne, etc. pasta made in bronze dies. Though we often make pasta at home, it's nice to have a pantry.

I also fell for the packaged "croissants," not sure what to expect. As it happens, these pastries taste just like wonderful, spongy panettone and who doesn't love that?!

BTW, a Panettone-buying tip: In my opinion, the boxed pannetone with dust on it often exceeds the flavor of fresh panettone, so don't be deterred or suspicious. It's made to last and gets better with age!

French honey & Vermont maple cream

Two disclaimers: My childhood was spent in Vermont. I am a little iffy on honey in general.

Another pantry thing I picked up at Garagiste the other day is a jar of Maquis Honey, something I had never heard of. It's got the consistency of a paste, rather than a viscous liquid. It has crystallized regions of the jar.

It is usually made in Corsica, but this one's from Haute Languedoc (let your browser translate from French for you if you follow that link), near the southern central coast of France. I am reading here and there that its savory flavor and lack of the usual sweetness is the result of herb-ridden and scrub-brushy terrain where the bees forage. It's said to taste like lavender, myrtle and whatnot.

A taste test was proposed, pitting this lovely honey against my beloved maple cream — spreadable maple sugar!

What happened was surprise: On a nice Macrina  ficelle toast, this pasty honey made the maple cream seem too sweet and simple in comparison.

I can see having the Maquis honey with cheeses. In fact, one of my favorite recent-ish dining-out dishes was a really amazing cheese and honey pairing at Hitchcock.

The maple cream is still up there in my pantheon of foods, though.

Mustard

Mustards like no other, conveniently delivered in a well-designed tube: Tubissime, from Paris. These mustards first came into my life as a gift from a superfriend.

Then, they showed up at Garagiste, where we sometimes buy really interesting and delicious wine based on subscription list offerings (Cool service: you buy wine and they store it until you want to schedule a Seattle pickup or ask for shipping of everything you've bought). Yay!

If you are skeptical about whether this mustard is truly delicious or just a novelty, the little picture at the left should straighten you out. 

We have enjoyed these mustards in the following flavors: 3 peppers, tarragon, truffle. Now, we will be embarking on the Espelette (a Basque paprika-like delight) and with-nuts flavors. Can't wait!