Ken Giles is a Seattle son—he grew up in the neighborhoods of Greenwood and Phinney Ridge, he attended UW and rowed on the crew team, he went abroad as a member of the US Navy, and then he returned to the Greenwood and Phinney Ridge area to continue the pursuit of an enduring passion.
At the age of thirteen, Ken Giles began working in his uncle’s grocery, Erikson’s Market, on Greenwood. And in 1955, Ken Giles purchased his first grocery, a local location of the Independent Grocers Alliance, and he renamed the business Ken Giles IGA. Sixty-three years later, Ken Giles IGA is Ken’s Market, there is a second Ken’s Market in Queen Anne, and the Giles clan also owns and operates Marketime Foods in Fremont.
Buckeye Beans & Herbs is named for the place of the company’s inception, Buckeye, Washington, a small town on the Little Spokane River, just north of the city of Spokane itself and is a company that strives to “combine old-fashioned, homemade flavor with quick modern convenience.”
Bryant Corner breakfasts offer everything you could want, Swedish pancakes and Belgian waffles, house-made corned beef and hash, multiple breakfast burritos, scrambles, omelets, and of course, chicken fried steak, which we tried on our latest visit—the steak was breaded and fried perfectly, the gravy was rich and creamy without being greasy or overly heavy, chopped chives provided a fresh element to the dish, and the steak and eggs were accompanied by generous helpings of home fries and toast.
Whether you need a light-weight snack for your next camping or hiking trip or something to keep in your drawer at work for a quick, indulgent pick-me-up, Joe Chocolates has you covered, with the right flavor for everybody.
Making space to make art: I go through phases of heavy art making. Some months I paint almost every night. Some months I only make one piece of art for the entire month. It’s easy to make time and space when I feel like I need a creative outlet. When it’s not easy to carve out space, I sometimes bribe myself to make art with treats or fancy new art supplies. If that doesn’t work I just don’t make art and then I get grumpy and start to hate everything, which usually leads to coloring an entire page of my sketchbook solid black with a ballpoint pen, and I call it art.
In our modern world of big-box stores and online giants, of national brands and viral marketing campaigns, it’s good to find small pockets of simple hometown wholesomeness and neighborliness still exist, even in one of the biggest brand cities of them all.
If you walked intoGreen Markets’ Sunset Hilllocation as late as early January, you might have seen on the wall to your left pictures of some of the trick-or-treaters who stopped by the shop this past Halloween. The many smiling faces are a cute reminder of how and for whom Green Markets of Ballard Seattle have operated for more than twenty years.
