Specialty Stores

I've finally had the energy and the desire to venture out to the Specialty grocery stores here.  I have heard about the Turkish ones and the Asian ones and the Swedish ones, etc.  But mostly because the size of my old kitchen was a fraction the size of my current one, the idea of doing anything creative in the kitchen was not overly appealing.
My new kitchen is huge and lovely and I feel much more established here now and have the energy for meals other than spaghetti (sauce from a jar - gasp!!) or Abend brot (afternoon meal of mostly bread, spreads, maybe some scrambled eggs or roasted potatoes) or a simple soup.  So the other day after class I ventured to the local Asian market and found edamame, brown sugar and a variety of Asian sauces.  I also went to the organic store "Bio" which I go to sometimes but never with a specific list.  This time I found almond flour, nutritional yeast, soft tofu...  I was going to make us Yumm bowls for the first time in 6 months!  I was just a wee bit excited.  Cafe Yumm is one of our all time favorite restaurants that we originally found in Bend, Oregon.  While eating there probably 6 or so years ago Marty looked at me and said, why don't you try to recreate this?  I often try to recreate meals we have liked while eating out.

But I told him it is mostly just the sauce that makes the "Yumm Bowl" good and I'm not so good with sauces.  Lo and behold, they sell the sauces by the bottle.  Then started what became known in my family as the  drug ring.  You see, at the time Cafe Yumm was only located in Oregon so whenever my parents or my brother came to visit I begged for them to bring us a bottle of Yumm sauce.  You can't get it on Amazon... or at least you couldn't at the time and it has to stay refrigerated which makes it all the more difficult to transport.  But my family obliged whenever possible.  Then I found a recipe to make my own and I did a few times but it was never as good as the store bought stuff.  Then a few years ago a Cafe Yumm opened in Seattle and I was set!!
Now, it has been 6 months and we have not had access to our

My little baker's helper
He has always loved to bake.

beloved Yumm sauce.  I have made countless Yumm bowls for family and friends.  It became our standard Monday meal when I was teaching after school Spanish.  Or really whenever I didn't have much time to cook.  YUMMM.
With a recipe and some sage advice from my foodie friend Marjie on how to tweak the recipe I was set to go. 
So so happy to have Yumm sauce back in my life.  It was a bit more garlicky and a touch different than the original but I dare say I loved it.  So did Marty.  Yay! Yumm!!
With the brown sugar (which is hard to find in the regular grocery stores) we made Nestle Toll House Cookies.  Thanks, Liz for the legit chocolate chips.  Thanks, Karin for the mixer... and thanks Christian, Christina and Kodiak for the back up mixer.  Cookie success!!
I sense my grocery shopping will include at least a weekly stop to the Asian Market.  Maybe next week I'll try the Turkish... or the Greek.. so many to look forward to.

Josie makes a rare photo appearance so that she can lick the beaters
She has been in a "NO photos" stage lately.  Anything for a beater, though 😉