The Sneakery

Chris and Oscar were positively gleeful in The Sneakery, an emporium carrying casual footwear -- but more importantly the most awesome array of socks I've ever seen. Besides his standard Converse low-tops, Chris ended up buying three pairs of socks. Can you guess which ones? So many cute socks in one place -- and lots of kids' shoes and socks as well!

Josef Frank at the Nordic Heritage Museum

I'm crazy about the bold, exuberant designs of Josef Frank! His colorful, nature-inspired fabrics look totally contemporary, but they were designed decades ago. I saw some samples of this amazing work this weekend at the Nordic Heritage Museum, which also had a few examples of Frank's chairs, sofas, lamps, and other furnishings. They even have a few Frank pillows for sale in the gift shop. If you have lots of money, you can still buy Frank-designed furniture, textiles, and accessories at the Swedish shop Svenskt Tenn, which recruited Austrian-born Frank in 1934. (Multitalented Frank was also an architect. He was born in Austria, but became a Swedish citizen.)

Besides the Frank exhibit (which, unfortunately, is small, but definitely worth seeing), the Nordic museum has an exhibit on immigration, which has visitors step through life-size dioramas that take them on a journey from the 19th century Scandinavian countryside to passenger ships to Ellis island and the dwellings and workplaces in New York, the Midwest, and the Pacific Northwest. These "buildings" and artifacts do an excellent job of giving you a sense of what life was like for these people. The visuals work on their own, but the explanatory signage provides great context as well, and happily, it's not dumbed-down for the masses. On another floor, there are rooms of clothing, folk art, household items, and bric-a-brac from Denmark, Island, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. There are also exhibits on the logging and fishing industries, which provided employment for many Nordic immigrants in the Seattle area. Like the Swedish Cultural Center, the Nordic Museum has classes, films, and events. But if you want to catch the Josef Frank exhibit, visit before February 19!

Cafe Besalu

A woman I met last night told me about the ginger biscuits at Cafe Besalu in Ballard. They are so good that when her aunt visited from the East Coast she tried to buy them all. Cafe Besalu restricted her to just twelve.

We joined the long line of patrons this rainy morning and ended up buying not just ginger biscuits, but most of the pastries they had, including pain au chocolat, almond croissants, almond schnecken, plum rolls, and more. I took a bite of most of these (okay, in some cases more than a bite...) and the pain au chocolat was definitely the best I've had since visiting France (still warm, with melted chocolate). The ginger biscuit was indeed delicious as promised: light, fluffy, not overly sweet, with a very subtle ginger flavor.

Despite the massive quantity of sweets we purchased, there were still more items there that I'd like to try, including the onion and gruyere pastry, the cornmeal apricot sage cookie, and the leek and goat cheese quiche. I will be back! But I'm actually glad I don't live closer to this place. Even though it's open only 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, it could be dangerous!

Collecting art on the cheap

If you like the idea of owning original art but think you can't afford it, a solution awaits you in Seattle. Venue in the Ballard district is home to an Art-o-Mat, a former cigarette machine that now dispenses original art for a mere $5.

There are more than 90 Art-o-Mats in the U.S. -- from Key West, Florida to Las Vegas, Nevada -- with art from more than 400 artists hailing from 10 different countries. So even if you don't live in Seattle, maybe there's an Art-o-Mat near you! Among the goodies in the Venue machine are postage stamp earrings by Brandi Crye from Eugene, Oregon; mini paintings by Jodi Reeb-Myers of Minneapolis; miniature designer paper bags by Cynthia Larkin of Thomaston, Connecticut; and fused glass bobby pins from Gerry Klein of Omaha, Nebraska. Oscar decided to buy the origami from a San Diego artist named Casey, and was happy with his beautifully packaged purchase. I love the idea of supporting artists -- and of reusing these retro cigarette machines. Buying art this inexpensive is a healthy habit!