Ferdl Aster Ski Shop

Earlier in the month, we went to Ferdl Aster Ski Shop because my parents wanted to get us cross country skis for Christmas and we didn't have time to go look before Christmas.
Ferdl (FAIR dle) Aster is from Austria and sounds like your grandfather if your grandfather was also Arnold Schwartzenegger's grandfather. He runs the shop along with his son. He spent lots of time with us explaining over and over the pros and cons of the different brands and models of nordic skis.
We ended up choosing some with a partial metal edge, probably inspired by the mountainous terrain we skied on in California last winter.
Anyway, they didn't have my size in, so Ferdl loaned me a pair of rental skis until mine came in. And off we went.
We skied a little that day at Squire Valleevue farm, but the wind was fierce and Dr. Jay had some work to do, so we weren't out very long.
When we went back a couple of days later to pick up my skis, I thought Ferdl was going to hug me like we were old friends!

West Side Market, Cleveland Ohio

Since our farmers' market was closed for a few weeks around the holidays, we finally had the needed incentive to go visit the West Side Market. It is, as its name suggests, on the west side, so we had to...dun, dun, dun!!...get on the highway and cross the river to get there.

Actually, it only took about 25 minutes to get there, and it was totally worth it.

There's a big "L" or "U" shaped warehouse-type building with vendor after vendor selling fruits and vegetables, and a rectangular building with refridgeration, etc. with row after row of people selling fresh meats, smoked meats, sausages, fresh pasta, pies, bread, spices, pastries, cookies, cheese, eggs. We saw a place with whole suckling pigs and bought some of the best chicken we've ever had somewhere else. There are also people selling coffee and someone else selling sausages to eat there. We got a sausage with all the fixin's and MY GOD was it good.

Many of the vendors, I think, are local stores who maintain a booth at the West Side Market in addition.

We were there on the day of New Year's Eve, which we had off, and it was PACKED. We can't wait to go again.

Desperate meat pie situation

Ok, so Phil the Fire closed before we could get there (see previous post). Well, now, Amir's (see different previous post) has gone back to being a distributor. This means that lots of their items will be available in local supermarkets instead of at a restaurant, but I haven't been able to tell if our beloved meat pies are available and, if so, where. We ran out on Christmas Eve, and we never even got a last chance to stock up. Drat!

Is this part a larger desperate situation? I've heard that people are moving to new, outer suburbs and new houses and out of the area where we live. BUT WHY?? These houses are awesome. So much character. So pretty. So close to everything. Is it becoming harder for local stores and restaurants to compete with the big chains? I don't know. But I hope it's not a trend.

Pho Hoa, part II

We stopped at Pho Hoa again tonight, and the man there is so nice! A few weeks ago, we took our one Cleveland friend there, and tonight, he brought us a dessert. He still remembers us every time we go in there, and he seems very happy to have us as regular customers.

As we were paying, I asked him how business is, and he said they get a lot of people for lunch. But he also said they don't get as many people from the University as they'd like. And when we go, always in the evening, it's far from busy.

He thanked us profusely for coming, as always. It scares me, because what if they go out of business?

Shovelling

Man: Dakota! That's a shovel, not a weapon!

Dakota: GrrrrRRRRRrrrr...

Mrs. Aitch: Uh-oh.

Stealth snow and .5 pig

My god. We woke up half an hour ago to a thick blanket of snow! It seems like we should have known it was coming. It's just always between 30 and 34 degrees, with a 50% chance of precipitation. And they just can't seem to know what will happen from one hour to the next.

ANYWAY, we get to go to the North Union Farmers' market at its indoor winter location to pick up the half pig we ordered. Whoopie!

Better go now so I can shovel.