Above: I don't know about you, but these buttery spritz cookies cross cultural, country and generations and taste equally good in any language or dialect!
An elegantly wrapped cylindrical carton of Little Russia label cookies swathed in shiny red foil loudly whistled from the table of a vendor at a holiday gift fair in Fife, WA on December 18. Three rooms along the side of the famous Poodle Dog Restaurant in Fife along the busy Pacific Highway were brimming with holiday themed merchandise, gift items and treats!
I was attracted to the latter as what comprised this year's holiday gift shopping in my household is for the most part complete, but who launch any kind of celebration without a small selection of festively decorated sweets?
So I was naturally unable to resist the aforementioned spritz cookies at a table ably manned at the time of my visit by Barbara Lilly, operations and distribution director, Lion Market Enterprises, LLC.Lilly, elegantly clad in a festive red Russian folk costume offered me a sample of the cookies while I inspected the rest of the display featuring fresh, locally produced baked goods from this growing Northwest community.
Meanwhile Lilly went on to explain to me how it came that herself, a native of London, UK, and two area women of Russian descent have combined forces to bring these delicious and mouth-watering baked goods in the Russian tradition (including rye bread without caraway seeds) to Pacific Northwest tables.
So I was naturally unable to resist the aforementioned spritz cookies at a table ably manned at the time of my visit by Barbara Lilly, operations and distribution director, Lion Market Enterprises, LLC.Lilly, elegantly clad in a festive red Russian folk costume offered me a sample of the cookies while I inspected the rest of the display featuring fresh, locally produced baked goods from this growing Northwest community.
Meanwhile Lilly went on to explain to me how it came that herself, a native of London, UK, and two area women of Russian descent have combined forces to bring these delicious and mouth-watering baked goods in the Russian tradition (including rye bread without caraway seeds) to Pacific Northwest tables.
Goods as these have been available for the most part in some area specialty markets, mostly mom and pop stores owned by first-generation Russian immigrants. For those of us not lucky enough to have relatives of Russian descent, such businesses are not usually on our normal list of everyday suppliers whether due to shyness, a language barrier, unfamiliarity with the goods, product lines, ingredients, prices or band names.
What Lion Market Enterprises aims to do is develop and repackage these popular and traditional favorites, promote their use outside the community of their origin, and bring them into mainstream grocery stores, allowing consumers from every area of the region a greater opportunity and choice.
To further this end Lion Market Enterprises will soon be be opening a retail outlet store a few short miles up the road along Pacific Highway in Federal Way, WA by Secoma Lanes. For more details about the company and products including Little Russia cookies feel free to access the company website at www.lionmarkets.com. I think you'll be glad you did!
