Rolands Abermanis, 53, said he started fooling around with pumpkin seeds and Cajun seasonings — seasonings he wasn’t about to reveal — back when he spent his days as a bachelor in New Orleans.

Now stating he is happily married with children and having traded New Orleans for Bothell in 1997, Abermanis said he is largely a one-man show, preparing, bagging and marketing what he has dubbed “Spunks,” spicy, but not too spicy, dry-roasted pumpkin seeds that seem to be catching on at a growing number of local restaurants and stores.

“I just love to cook,” said Abermanis, who added Spunks began as treats he made for birthday parties and other occasions.

“People loved them, they’d always go,” but Abermanis said he never really thought of marketing the seeds until he made some for a celebration at a local hall. A businessman Abermanis respected, the guest of honor told him the seeds were worth looking at as a commercial product. At that point, Abermanis said he decided to do a little investigating, taking a few bags to the Bothell Farmer’s Market at Country Village.

“I had no intentions of selling, just giving out a few free samples,” he claimed.

But Abermanis added the seeds seemed a definite hit, with a number of folks quickly asking where they buy could them.

That first trip to the Bothell Farmer’s Market was about two years ago. Perhaps most notably the seeds are now on the menu at local micro-brewery Red Hook. Abermanis also has been able to place them into the Bill the Butcher chain of stores. They are also available at Carolina Smoke, a BBQ shop at Country Village, where they are used as a snack and also tossed into soups and salads.

“He’s got a good product,” said Carolina Smoke owner and chef David Hayward. “I have to hand it to him. People like it.”

It was in New Orleans where Abermanis said he met his wife Jennifer and at that time he was the breadwinner. He worked as a petroleum engineer helping dig for oil in the Gulf of Mexico, something he doesn’t necessarily like to talk about considering headlines from a few short time ago. Abermanis said he and his wife moved here to further her career and he became sort of a Mr. Mom to their two children, now 14 and 16. With the youngsters not so young anymore, Abermanis said he has some time to promote his pumpkin seeds and despite no background in sales, he isn’t shy about doing so.

For now, Abermanis said he puts the pumpkin seeds through a unique roasting process — one that might be patented — in a small commercial kitchen he built on his Bothell property. With his children helping bag the seeds, Abermanis said he can produce about 100 to 150 pounds every few days. He insists he could sell more of the seeds, but isn’t ready to invest in a bigger production facility quite yet. Abermanis said with the economy still slow, investment money is proving hard to come by.

As he continues to grow his business, Abermanis repeatedly credited the Business Development Center at the University of Washington, Bothell, with helping guide him along the way. He several times referred to former center director R. Brooks Gekler as a mentor.

“He taught me a lot,” Abermanis said.

For the future, Abermanis hopes to eventually expand his production and adding a distributorship in Michigan run by a family member. He also wants to add a few more flavors to his line and is experimenting with putting his flavorings on cashews.

“I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur,” he said. “We’ve been given an incredible chance to do what we want with our lives.”