Having Your Cake and Eating It Too

I'm guessing you already heard that there's no Saturday Market this week. It's the Bellevue Arts Museum Artsfair, not to be confused with the Bellevue Festival of the Arts in a neighboring parking lot, whose motto at least is honest: "31 Years of the Best of the Rest Fest."

Rather than compete with the Fair or contribute to Downtown Gridlock 2015, our Market will graciously stick to Thursday, and marketgoers will only have to dodge cone set-up around Bellevue Square.

If you've been discovering new backroad routes around construction bottlenecks, or sitting in the daily parking lot that is 405 south, you'll be ready for a cool, frosty beverage by the time you reach the farmers market. I have a couple suggestions:

We have a brewer! Geaux Brewing of Bellevue has set up a storefront. (And that's pronounced "go," not "gee-ox," for those of you who took Spanish in high school, instead of French.) Last week the brewers had two varieties on offer, Lafitte and Treme.

Lafitte

Treme, by process of elimination

Their website describes Lafitte thus:

Brewed with a perfect balance of pale, rye, and wheat malts and a dash of noble hops. Lafitte is then fermented with American Wheat yeast—this beer is as unique as it is interesting. Slightly sweet at first with a dry, spicy finish. Truly a lawnmower beer. 

As for Treme...

A full-bodied, yet balanced IPA, Tremé dances around in your mouth with a sweet, malty backbone against a floral, citrus, and melon hop character. With six different hop additions in the boil and three more dry hop additions, this is one to please even the most discerning IPA lover. 

But supposing you're not the beer-drinking type.

You might have noticed the addition of Jujubeet to our Market. I actually worked at this juice bar and eatery next to Top Pot Donuts for a few months, and I've made with my own hands (when I was there) all the foods on offer, as well as some of the beverages. Which is why I can tell you with complete honesty that they're delicious AND wholesome. You know how it goes with Market foods--they're all delicious, for sure, but you couldn't exactly call them good for you. Organic pastries are still pastries, after all.

Look for this awning and smiling face

So if you're hoping to have your cake and eat it too, try a juice beverage and a salad at Jujubeet. From my time there, I can tell you the Kale Almond Salad is a perennial, sell-out favorite. We were making it constantly.

Kale Almond, front and center!

Jujubeet reports that marketgoers tend to buy the beet drink and carrot drink, but I'm all about the green ones. Even my teenage son would drink the green ones--that's how tasty they are.

Once you've had green, you'll never go back

It's worth stopping by the store to try more flavors, too, especially since my very favoritest greens aren't on offer at the Market. I loved "Herbalicious" and "Green Beauty," but I never turned down any of the others when there was a little leftover after bottling.

And once you've had your scrumptious and healthy fortification, you can convince yourself to try the "Energy Balls" (i.e., chocolate-y nuggets of rich, irresistible goodness). When I wasn't making another batch of Kale Almond Salad, I was making these suckers.

All the ingredients are listed right on the label, and they'd be perfect as a snack during a swim meet or lacrosse tournament or triathlon, or whatever all you more athletic types are doing.

So reward yourself for your awesome traffic navigation with the best of food and maybe an artwork that makes your heart sing.

Blink, and You Might Miss These

We were at the Mariners game last night, being alternately grieved, thrilled, annoyed, and then thrilled again by the 7-6, extra-inning triumph over the Detroit Tigers. There was mediocre pitching. There was a bag of kettle corn and a serving of garlic fries. There was a grand slam. There were Tigers fans getting on my nerves.

Thanks for the pic, MLB.com

I bring all this up for no reason, except that the Mariners don't win all that often, and we ought to savor it.

Just as we ought to savor the summer fruit season as it goes whizzing by! The strawberries are already done and the cherries soon to follow.

Get 'em while they last!

 Tell me you've tasted these offerings as well...?

FYI, a "nectarcot" is an awesome sweet-tart fruit that reminded me of a pluot. All our fruits are coming at us at an accelerated pace because of the heat wave, so we have to stay alert! My hub even spotted ripening blackberries among the monstrous weeds that threaten to overtake the Greater Puget Sound if you relax your vigilance for even a few months. Blackberries. In July.

But while we're snatching up fruit as the season flies by, don't miss other tasty things making appearances.

Did you notice the smoked tuna on offer at Fishing Vessel St. Jude's? So. Yummy.

Under a glass dome, like the treasure it is

And how about the appearance of Jujubeet, with their cold-pressed juices and wholesome snacks? More on them later because I used to work at their Bellevue store, but for now, one of their publicity shots:

I've had this exact drink at Jujubeet

And, this Saturday (7/11) and next Thursday (7/16), don't miss the reappearance of Peasant Food Manifesto, food truck of awesomeness.

Where I had this so-luscious mac and cheese with kimchi:

If any of you out there are Mariners fans, you know the valuable life lessons fandom teaches, which easily apply to eating seasonally:

1. You can't have whatever goodness you want, whenever you want it.
2. When the good times come, milk them for all they're worth.

A friend who accompanied us to the game happened to be up getting food and refilling water bottles when the Mariners loaded the bases and Austin Jackson hit his first career grand slam. He heard the pandemonium but got no closer to the festivities than staring up at the monitor by the concession stand. 

Sadly, that will be me, with this week's Markets. I'll be eating pool concessions at the kids' swim meets while you all have a ball. Think of me, when you're enjoying summer's walk-off victories.