fenchurch | Jan. 29th, 2005

Have you ever walked into a store and just stood frozen for a few minutes, your brain not quite comprehending what you're seeing, partially because there's just no way to figure out where to start. That happened to me today.

I got home last night (and yay! No other trips planned in the near future!) and absolutely crashed -- it was a looong two weeks. This afternoon we drove down to The Australian Pie Company because, while I went to great lengths to bring four meat pies home with me from Aussie Eats in Idaho Falls, I completely forgot to buy any tomato sauce. Yes, we drove 30 minutes or so to the other end of Seattle to buy, essentially, a bottle of ketchup (catsup? How *is* that supposed to be spelled?).

I'm not going to do my current song and dance routine praising Australian tomato sauce... just going to say that I have never in my life liked ketchup (which is why I never tried it when I was actually in Australia) and I discovered this last week that I love the Australian version. Going to check at the British Pantry to see if they have anything similar, because that store is a whole lot closer.

And in case you're wondering, the reason I brought pies home from Idaho Falls rather than just buying some at the restaurant in Burien is simple enough... the Aussie Eats pies are yummier.

Anyway, back to my first comment... for the first time we actually had a chance to check out a store half a block down from the Australian Pie Company: Wonderworld. I've been in SF&F stores before, but it's been awhile, and I didn't realize there was anything like this in the area. It's just... wow. The store has obviously been around for a long time, and stuff is piled high, everywhere... not a free space left. In fact, they even had some action figures (still mint on card) hanging from the ceiling... they had it all: books, comics, action figures, gaming supplies, miniatures & supplies... you name it!

Seriously, I had a moment when we first stepped in where my brain just couldn't quite process it all... in a "where do you even start?" kind of way. Even better, the prices were pretty good for a specialty shop.

( Oh, and for those who are interested in that stupid burn on my arm... )

Mmmmm...