kitty companiona

kitty companiona

Sunday, March 6, 2011

The Shades of Gray

  Dreary, damp, sloppy wet, cold...you get the picture!



We have been inundated by the wet stuff this weekend.  It's not over yet.  The creeks are beginning to overflow their banks.  It's a miserable time to travel.



But travel we did.  Not that far in miles, but a cultural world away.  Our friends Chuck and Willa went with us to Harrisburg, PA to the Asia Mall.  This is a small strip mall featuring all Asian businesses, including several restaurants, a gift shop, a video store, a nail and beauty supply store and a large Asian grocery.

We had a lovely lunch at the Thai restaurant.
Chuck and Willa are studying the menu trying to make some serious decisions.


For appetizers they chose a chicken satay with peanut sauce and some spring rolls.



I chose several appetizers instead of getting an entree.  The spring rolls were delicious.  The little round dumplings that look like pot stickers were quite yummy.  The tofu would have been rather bland without the peanutty sauce.


Zip ordered chicken with vegetables in a sweet and sour sauce.


I thought Willa's eggplant dish was the best!  And look at the colors!  Love that purple eggplant with the green and orange and the sauce was to die for.



We decided to pass on the dessert and go to the bakery for take-home treats.
I've had the fruit turnovers on a previous visit.  They are wonderful!  I like to live dangerously and get some totally unfamiliar pastries like the yucca dessert that looks like custard pie.  They also have some savory meat and rice pies that are wrapped in banana (or plantain) leaves.  All are interesting and good.


The grocery is one of the largest Asian food stores in the area.  It's one of my favorite places to stock up on cooking supplies.


They have a huge selection of canned goods, sauces of every kind, candies, cookies, teas, fresh vegetables and noodles.  Oodles of noodles!


And there's fish.  Dried, frozen, pickled and fresh fish swimming around in large tanks.  They will butcher them right on the spot to your specifications.


We managed to make a dreary day into an enjoyable outing!

Now we are home with the woodstove warming our chilly bones. 
Zip is strumming away on the guitar and I am planning to do some knitting.  I have one sleeve on my sweater almost dome.  This is the cardigan that I'm doing with some other ladies from the Knitting at Large blog.


  So far it's been fun and fairly easy.  I wonder if I have the skills to manipulate those intricate cables.


The book is called Knitting Plus (by Lisa Shroyer) and is an excellent collection of sweaters especially designed for the larger woman.


The pattern we are knitting is by Kathy Zimmerman who is a designer who has a shop in Ligonier, PA.  I hope one of these days to get out there.  I hear it's a fantastic place.  It will be a lovely drive when the warmer weather arrives.

17 comments:

  1. What a neat place! My boys are half Filipino, so I have done some Asian cooking in my day! I love the markets. I've been rug hooking all afternoon, so knitting sounds like a nice plan...I hear you though about the cables, I am doing an intricate pattern that I need to actually think about! Yikes.
    Have a warm and cozy evening!
    Courtney

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  2. Pat, you are so lucky to live close enough to sample all that lovely food. I love trying all that different stuff but rarely get to a larger center with an adventurous dining companion!

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  3. How colorful the food dishes were! Sure beats the grey skies we've been having. sounded like a fun filled weekend. Looking forward to seeing your sweater. No doubt it will be a winner!

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  4. Pat ~
    Glad you had such a good time on such a dreary day. It's no better in Ohio and has turned "white" again. Enough already!
    Your sweater is going to be lovely.
    Pug hugs :)
    Lauren

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  5. Hi Pat!
    I've been thinking about you these last few days and hoping to see a post! You have been traveling to all the amazing places again! I see your snow is gone? That's the first thing I notice on everyone's blogs that they have no snow!!! It's slowly melting here...... too slow!
    I can't wait to see your lovely knitting! Love the cable stitch. I know it will be gorgeous!
    Stay safe on your travels!
    Cathy G

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  6. Pat, thank you so much for taking us along you excursions of fine dining. I love just about any food and I'm always interested in trying new stuff only we rarely go to fancy restaurant and pretty much stick to family restaurants as we work most of the time although I cook some Greek, Italian, Asian meals once in a while when the mood strikes.

    Our snow is still here but the rain is melting it fast.

    On a personal note, I started hooking my Grandmother's Trunk challenge rug today. I'll probably won't get it finished though.
    Stay safe and warm.. JB

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  7. Hi again Pat
    Funny you should mention Elizabeth Zimmerman, I have knitted one of her all in one baby tops, very interesting to knit, looks like nothing on earth on the needles but all goes together fine in the end.
    Briony
    x

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  8. Gee whiz! Now I want Chinese Food for breakfast!!! :-) Nice looking sweater pattern. I think it will look fantastic in that lighter brown yarn you purchased! Stay dry!

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  9. Pat I just love your house... it looks great even in the rainy dreary weather!!! The asian mall looks like a great place to visit... I would love to go someday!!! The knitting book for larger woman.. what a great idea... tho I didnt think the lady on the front looked that large!! LOL!!!! How is your little kitty children doing!!!?? Hope to see you soon!!

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  10. Hi Pat, I just looked at your web site. Great job!!!! Anybody looking at that would want to buy.
    I am so jealous of you and Zip going to the Asian market and dining on such lovely food. One of the downsides of living alone - no dining companion. So glad you had a great weekend - hope to see you soon.

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  11. Just like Sharon - I'm hungry for asian food right now! Mmmm yummmy - We have an entire grocery store dedicated to just asian foods not far from where I used to work (used to be a superfresh) but I haven't ventured into cooking it myself - Much easier for me to call Mr. Lee's! Our area looked that gray too! Today we have sun (heard you had snow - yuk!) Love your house!

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  12. now I'm hungry--YUM!!! I love asian markets--the best produce and fish!!!

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  13. Hi Pat, thank you for showing us all the different dishes, you made me hungry!

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  14. Sounds like you made the best out of a dreary day with your adventure to the Asian mall and yummy lunch with friends! There is a huge Asian supermarket near us that we like to go to, they have the most beautiful produce and we can always find something weird and wonderful every trip :-)

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  15. Pat,,,What a wonderful outing! Wish I had been with you and the food looked yummy! Blessings to you, Zi and of course the cats!

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  16. Pat, I just ate and looking at your pictures I could eat again. Everything looks so good!! I've never been to an Asian market. It sure looks nice.

    We had a nice spring like day hope it stays that way!

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  17. There has to be something wrong with us that we take pictures of and write about what we ate...That eggplant was marvelous. Next time we go to the Vietnamese place across the corridor!

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