Rearview Mirror: Crocodile Guardians, Late-Summer Potato Salad, and a Halloween Costume Hunt

COOKING WITH ASTER PANTRY

A few leaves turn, my inbox fills with fall festival pitches and cozy brunch menus, and suddenly I want to stay home with a glass of wine and cook. I love this nesting season, though I’m not ready to give up summer produce.

Earlier this year, I wrote about Seattle chefs Mac Tadie and Sten Langsjoen, who stepped away from restaurant kitchens to build Aster Pantry. Their free, ad-free recipe site helps home cooks make use of what’s in season here. The other day, I made their German potato salad, which dresses the potatoes with bacon fat, two kinds of mustard and white wine vinegar, then finishes them with chives. It was a hit at our table.

A bowl of potato salad with chopped herbs, crumbled bacon, and small purple edible flowers on top.

Courtesy of Aster Pantry

I have figs from a friend’s yard waiting for me, so this gorgeous fig leaf ice cream with roasted figs is tempting, even though I’m not usually a dessert maker. The charred corn spoon salad is on my list, too. It calls for pickled cucumbers, and AsterPantry has a recipe for those. There’s still time for corn and cucumbers before we give ourselves over to soup.

For more recipes and word on future events, sign up for The Regular or follow them on Instagram; you can also contact the chefs about hosting.

A woman leans in to look closely at a model of a creature’s open mouth while a man stands beside her in an indoor exhibit space.

Photo by Anthony Martinez

CROCODILE EYES

Last week I went to see Heidi Grace Acuña’s Buwaya Baby at ARTS at King Street Station. Through ceramic sculpture and video, Acuña explores her Filipino ancestry and the buwaya, the Tagalog word for crocodile. The ceramic crocodiles won me over. Their gold eyes and teeth gleam under the light, and you can see the care Acuña has put into their clay scales and claws. I love animals in art, but I wasn’t expecting crocodiles to be so delightful and endearing. Those sturdy bodies and alert eyes make them look as though they’ve been keeping watch since long before we arrived. They’re certainly powerful, but Acuña has also given them a playful quality.

Acuña says the show is one way she’s reclaiming her ancestors’ precolonial beliefs about the buwaya. In a conversation with Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture, she describes it as “a feared and revered creature, also considered to be an ancestor and guardian of the spirit realm.” You can feel both her affection and respect in the animals. She also worked with artist Arabella Bautista on an installation of eight retro televisions showing crocodiles swimming.

The exhibit is free through Nov. 7. Acuña’s Buwaya Baby interdisciplinary fashion show is Oct. 1 at 6 p.m. Don’t miss it.

Six illustrated tote bags are displayed, each featuring colorful, stylized designs representing different locations, including Mill Creek, Lakemont, Shoreline, Bainbridge, Ballard, and Poulsbo.

Courtesy of Town & Country Markets

FORTY YEARS IN THE BAG

You can carry a bit of Ballard history home in one of Town & Country Markets’ artist totes. Jen Vickers used the old Ballard Market sign as the starting point for her tote design, and it was popular enough to sell out before the store restocked it. The collection also includes work by Shogo Ota for Bainbridge, Marisol Ortega for Lakemont and Poulsbo, Stevie Shao for Mill Creek, and Victor Meléndez for Shoreline.

The Ballard store turns 40 this weekend, so there’s plenty happening beyond the grocery run. Its party on Saturday, September 19, runs from noon to 4 p.m. with cake, an ’80s DJ, a scavenger hunt and a pickled herring eating contest in honor of Ballard’s Scandinavian roots. A live poet will turn shoppers’ memories into poems, and proceeds from hot prime rib sandwiches will benefit the Ballard Senior Center.

Outdoor art fair with people browsing vendor booths under white tents on a sunny day, with trees and modern buildings in the background.

Courtesy of Yesler’s Makers Market

A HEAD START ON THE LIST

I like finding a holiday gift here and there before December starts to loom. It’s easier to spot something that reminds me of a particular person when I’m not trying to finish the whole list at once. Yesler’s third Makers Market offers a chance to browse and meet the people who made what you’re buying. This fall edition will have spooky ceramics and original artwork, with Good Olfactory Candles and blaksands among the local vendors. There will be live music and coffee from Café Calaveras.

The market runs Saturday, September 26, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the courtyard at 862 Yesler Way.

Four children in Halloween costumes from the annual Halloween Costume Hunt help an adult put on a hat outdoors, with festive decorations and greenery in the background.

Courtney of Evergreen Goodwill

THE DEAD CHICKEN PLAN

Halloween season is upon us! My 11-year-old daughter wants to be a dead chicken, and though I’m not entirely sure what that entails, I know we’ll start with our closets and hit a few thrift stores. I try not to buy anything new if I can avoid it, especially for a costume worn one night. Local Goodwill stores are a good place to look, and Great Pumpkin Night in SeaTac has a free costume swap on October 16. If the chicken needs a finishing touch, Spirit Halloween’s seasonal shops are back in Roosevelt, Northgate and West Seattle.