More on Shopping

Ok, so I never really thought Columbus Day was anything to celebrate.  You don't get it off school or work anyway.  Leave it to stores, though, to make a big to do about anything they can possibly think of.

Today I was driving up north from a weekend away from home, and decided to stop at the Seattle Premium Outlets to poke around and see what was going on.  And by the way, when they say "Seattle" outlets, they really mean "An hour North of Seattle" outlets.  Don't let that get you down, though.  This place has a surprising amount of good things to offer!

Sometimes outlet malls bug me.  Either it's those odd brand name stores, but with clothes that were purposely made for the factory stores and are really cheap and low in quality- you know what I'm talking about?- or it's designer stores with off-season merchandise that's barely marked down, and I could probably find a better deal in a regular store. Well, going back to Columbus day, I was pleasantly surprised to find many a great mark down, with many of the stores having an additional 15-30% off everything they sell.

Since this is a food blog I won't go into detail about all the non-cooking related things I got (like the awesome $40 rug and $8 pillows from Restoration Hardware, or the $2 lotion from L'Occitaine), but I would like to brag to all you food lovers out there about my finds, and then send you on your way to have your own fun.

So, the outlets have quite a few cooking stores: Kitchen Collection and Le Gourmet Chef (which means, "The Gourmet Chef"), are general cooking stores, which, honestly I have not checked out much.  The real fun for me lies in the Le Creuset and Calphalon outlet stores:  Real outlet stores, that have the discontinued merchandise and stuff with the tiny little scratches that I would gladly take if I can have 70% off. 

So Sunday I got this 

for $25, and this 






in white for $15 (Not on my kitchen wish list, but I broke my old pie dish and needed a new one).

The bottom line is, all you Seattlites, you may find something very special at these outlets.  They are definitely worth the drive.

Also, everyone in Southern Cal, remember the Camarillo outlet mall? I'm sure by now that it's the size of a small country, and I'm guessing it's worth re-checking out.  I'm not sure about kitchen stores, but I know they have a Theory outlet store that I'm dying to go to.