Saturday Shopper: Gray's General Store in Hoquiam

Gray's General Store

Owned by Britta and Judy Folden, Established 2012

520 Simpson Ave.

Hoquiam WA

360.532.0366

www.graysgeneralstore.com

www.facebook.com/graysgeneralstore

M-F 11am-6pm; Sat 11am-5pm; Sun 12pm-5pm

All About the Business:      Gray's General Store is a source for high quality, handmade, local goods. Come in and find the perfect gift or make something yourself using the variety of sewing and craft supplies in the store. You can even stay a while and use the sewing studio for the day to work on your project away from the house or, better yet, bring some friends in to make something together!

What Makes Your Business Unique?      We are expert makers. We will use our creativity and resources to help you make something yourself and we guarantee you will have a good time. And for the coffee and tea snobs out there, we've got some really good stuff for you to try! Our coffee comes from a Seattle roaster who buys direct, meaning everyone involved is fairly paid, and our tea is from an artisan tea-maker out of Portland. Customers have claimed it's the best tea they've ever had! Not only do we believe in quality, but we love having unique products in our store. Most things we carry are not available anywhere else in Grays Harbor and we are adding new things every day.

Advice for New Customers: Come in and say hello! Tell us what you're working on. Bring us your questions and out-of-the-box ideas, we love the challenge of answering them.

Friday Five: Grill All Week Long

I pulled our smoker barbecue out of the garage the other day and my husband cleaned it off (which took a long time let me tell you). Prompting a week of grilling out and eating delicious food.

Let me start by saying that this happened a few weeks ago and the weather was much sunnier and less wet for sure.  The cleaning of the grill began with soaking the grill pan in a Rubbermaid tub overnight with a mixture of vinegar and water in our backyard.  A tub the our nutzo puppy thought was going to move so he barked at it madly for an hour before going to bed.  After an over night soaking, the grill was then scoured with a brand new cleaning cloth that is now of absolutely no use in the kitchen any more.  However, even though it took forever, the grill looks beautiful and the food was tasty!

1.Lime marinated Sea Bass with cilantro. 

The marinade is simple and only needs to be in the fridge for an hour before cooking. 

1/4 dry white wine

2 Tbsp of lime juice

2 Tbsp of olive oil

2 Tbsp fresh chopped cilantro

This weekend Safeway has fresh Mahi Mahi fillets on sale,

which would be a great substitute for sea bass. 

Once you have the fish marinated, place on the grill ON ALUMINUM FOIL for 15 min and enjoy!

2.Pineapple soy marinated chicken kabobs with grilled bacon wrapped corn

1 cup pineapple juice

1/3 cup soy sauce

pinch of chili flakes

squeeze of lime juice

Corn is always fresh at Jay's Farm Stand, and you can pick up the bacon next door at Michael's meats.  While you are at it get a few sweet peppers and a red onion for the kabobs!

A quick tip for the corn, before you wrap in a piece of raw bacon, cut cobs in half and sprinkle with paprika and salt then place in a foil packet with a pat of butter.

3.Gorgonzola stuffed burgers with sweet potato fries.

I believe that this is the PNW's answer to the Juicy Lucy.  Something about how the cheese melts with the burger is so tasty!

Whether you make your own hamburger patties or buy pre made, make sure you seal the edges around the Gorgonzola cheese so that when you grill them the cheesy goodness stays sealed inside.  If you are not a fan of Gorgonzola pick another type of cheese and experiment.  Top Foods has a great selection of cheeses to suit any palate.

4.Coriander marinated skirt steak tacos with potato and onions

1/4 cup teriyaki sauce

1/3 cup soy sauce

tsp coriander seeds

one clove garlic chopped

1/2 tsp chili flakes

(A little bit of this marinade goes a long way)

Halfway though grilling the steak on the bbq, place your soft taco shells on top of the meat to steam them to a smoky perfection. (no microwave and wet paper towel involved)

5. Pork Chops/ or Pork tenderloin

You will want to do the pork chops with high heat til they reach 140 internal temp.  Just a simple rub of salt, pepper and garlic will do.  However the pork tenderloin should be low and slow with indirect heat for about two hours.  This works best if you have a smoker grill with a top rack.

We had a fun week of grilling outdoors, and so can you, harborites.  Dennis Co. is running a Father's Day special that includes a Weber grill for $80.00.  So buy some charcoal and make a fire and get outside.

Get to know your local band: Nicholson Keaton!

Catch Westport locals Nicholson Keaton at the Mermaid Deli and Pub every 2nd and 4th Friday and acoustic sets on Sundays

 Who's in the band and what do they play? (Left to Right)Steve Jay bass/vocals Lonzo Tackett drums David Anderson guitar/vocals. (EARMUFFS)

Where did the name come from? The name came from the 1989 Batman movie (Jack Nicholson and Michael Keaton).

How long has everyone been playing? We all started in the 4th grade. (Interviewer note: I can't prove this is Nicholson Keaton but I also can't prove it isn't Nicholson Keaton.)

Who are your top five influences?

What's your favorite song to play?

Where can we keep up to date with you? We are the Mermaid Deli and Pub's house band, Mac's Tavern and on our Facebook Fan Page.

Where on the Harbor...

can you find this gathering of the space elite?

comment with your answer!

Music Monday: Boston- More Than A Feeling

Music Monday: Bryan John Appleby - Cliffs Along The Sea

The Saturday Shopper: Lunch

Lunch   

Owned by Erin Worth

Established November 2011            

1006 North H Street

Aberdeen, WA 98520  

www.lunchatlunch.com    
https://www.facebook.com/lunchatlunch    

360.537.6095

Monday-Friday, 7:30-4:00     

All About the Business:  I started Lunch because I wanted to do food my way here on the Harbor.  My concept for Lunch was based on the fact that I actually love to go out to lunch with my mom and friends.  It's casual with no high expectations of greatness but the familiarity is there and it should make you feel at ease.  Not that I don't have high expectations for Lunch, I want it to come across to people as a fun place to eat and hide away from whatever is going on in their lives at the time; a great escape for an hour or two.

The Lunch Crew

Most of the ideas for the menu are recipes that I have collected from my time at Etta's and from old family recipes that I have worked to recreate for my customers.  I also draw inspiration from a collection of cookbooks and a stack of magazines that sit in my office.  I don't believe in recreating the wheel in culinary terms but I do want to provide you with good fresh food with a hint of sophistication.

We sell mostly sandwiches, soups, and salads. We have added Deep River snacks into the mix with their gluten free chips for the summer and they have really taken off.  We also have fresh scones in the morning, caramel brownies, and an assortment of Wow Baking gluten free desserts.

I try and stay as local as I can with my products.  If I do any name dropping it will be a product from the PNW because I want to promote local products.  Even most of my gifts and cards are coming from the west coast.

One of Lunch's delicious creations,
made with local products as much as possible.

What Makes Your Business So Unique? We make almost everything from scratch; from the mayo to the soups, there isn't anything here that comes pre-packaged or already made from concentrate.  I feel that my customers can taste the difference and it's a refreshing thing to see on the harbor.

This summer I am excited to announce that we are participating in a local farm share and we will be running farm share specials all summer.  It's going to be a little like Iron Chef/Chopped where we get a box of ingredients and we have to figure out to put them together for a fun culinary experience. 

It doesn't get much better than a from-scratch brownie.

                 

Any Advice for First Time Customers? You order at the front counter in the cafe.  We get some people who will sit down right away and expect someone to come to their table but unfortunately that isn't the way it works.  Once you order though we will bring the food out to you and clear your plate.

Oh, and have a good time.  Music is always playing and there are plenty of things to read if you are by yourself.  All else fails ask Callie Prat any question and she'll be able to help you.