A Touch of Asia in Edmonds, Washington

I love going to Asian supermarkets. There’s nothing quite like live lobster tanks, piles of fish heads on ice and 30 different kinds of Kimchi for sale. We used to have to hit the road for nearly an hour to get this kind of experience some 45 miles away in Seattle’s International District. No more.

Jim and BowlingJoe hanging out by the crab tank

We’ve known about the 99 Ranch Market in Edmonds, WA (much closer to home) for some time but never really got around to checking it out until today. I’m wondering why it took so long. This place has an incredible selection of produce, fish, noodles, rice, sauces and everything else under the Eastern sun that I’m incapable of pronouncing correctly. It’s Mecca and Xanadu combined for those who are passionate about canned quail eggs (I’ll pass, thank you very much). And all of this at very reasonable prices.

I’m thinking that we probably spent 90 minutes today roaming the aisles with our friends Jim, Stephanie and their "cute as a bug's ear" 2-year-old daughter Katie. I wanted to buy everything that caught my eye: ginger sauces, dumplings, green tea drinks, and so on. But BowlingWidow was effective in containing my out of control enthusiasm.

We escaped with around $20 worth of groceries including some healthy Asian fragrant apple pears. But then there was also that $1.99 bottle of Taiwanese beer that may or may not be the deal of the century. That remains to be seen.

Hello Boss canned coffee drink: where do they come up with these names?

The afternoon ended with a delicious and plentiful family style meal at the Chinese T&T Seafood Restaurant that was next door. I didn’t keep track but I do believe that the net weight of what we took home in boxes exceeded what was consumed at the table. And that’s something you’ll never see at Denny’s. Nor would you want to.

Finally...The Elusive 800 Series

BowlingJoe With His Weapon of Choice: The Columbia Full Swing

After a lengthy hiatus it's time to write about bowling again. I figure that I've been bowling regularly for around 30 years when you take away the years that I was either (a) a baby/toddler or (b) unable or unwilling to come up with the discretionary income that's required to participate in league bowling.

A couple of weeks ago I was able to, through a combination of dialed-in shot making and plain luck, bowl the highest scratch (sans handicap) three-game series of my life. At 801, it was just above the water-mark of 800. Games were 278, 268, and 255.

It was particularly special since an 800 series is statistically at least three times harder to get than a perfect 300 game (of which I have just one from a very good night in May, 2003).

In fairness, professional bowlers usually have multiple 300 games and 800 series'. And they do it while bowling on lane conditions that are a lot tougher than what we bowl on in league. But for a 49-year-old guy who bowls once a week.....not bad. I'll happily add that to my bowling resume.