Pork Spare ribs come from the belly. Pork Back ribs (or AKA baby back ribs) come from the rib portion of the loin as in like where your ribeye would come from if we were talking beef.

Pork babybacks are more tender because they come from the loin (same place as the pork chops come from). They also have smaller bones and lighter weight. Generally 2-1/2 lbs & under for baby backs.

Pork spareribs are usually more affordable than pork back ribs and are meatier. They are also larger w/a larger bone. Full slab of spareribs will be 4-6 lbs. A "St Louis" (also aka "Kansas City") cut rib is just spareribs with the brisket bone cut off. This type of sparerib cut makes them visually look similar to a baby back rib but more meaty & larger boned. Sometimes you will see this brisket rib portion also sold at retail. It is usually then called "rib tips". Since slow cooking is the way to go with ribs, they are all plenty tender & fall of the bone.

Most common beef ribs are back ribs (rib portion of the loin) and short ribs (plate/chuck). Taste good. Cost more.

Depends on what part of the country you are in on what is on the menu at a bbq joint and ask for ribs. Commonly both pork spare ribs & baby backs will be on the menu. If you are ordering on a menu that says "ribs" either a "half rack" or a "whole rack", this is usually pork baby back ribs. If you are ordering on a menu that says "St Louis" then you are ordering spare ribs. Really just depends on the place.

If you are in Texas, you'll likely find beef ribs pretty common on the menu.

At this time, there are no active CSF in the area. There have been a few attempts to start one, but were not successful. I know that other areas in the US have successful CSFs, but unfortunately none around the Puget Sound region. Shopping at your local farmers markets are your best choice, with the Ballard, University District, and West Seattle markets operating year round.

Rinse them well (even soak them a bit) to get rid of the salt and use them as a decorative mulch on top of the soil of your household plants. If they ever look tired or ugly you can scoop them off easily and recycle them with your yard waste (if you have that option), or put them in your own compost pile (washed, of course).

Also if you have the option, buy them plain (unsalted). Pistachios have a wonderful flavor that can be overwhelmed by the amount of salt some processors apply to them. I now buy them plain (yeah, of course, because of my parrots eating them also) and the taste is great!

Always brown the meat when using a crock-pot. The pot never gets quite hot enough to cook the meat right. By the time it reaches a safe temp the meat will have been sitting at dangerous temps for a long time.

My recommendations:

- A couple of giant pots of stew, soup, chili, or curry, portioned into small plastic containers
- Bean or meat burritos, without the cheese (you can put cheese on top when you heat them up), wrapped individually
- Shepherd's pie
- Bags of frozen vegetables and fruit
- Meat or tempeh cut into cubes before freezing, for easy stir-fry
- Bagels, sliced before freezing so they can be warmed up in a toaster

My wife and I just discovered "La Bete" on Capitol Hill. Delicious food and very romantic atmosphere. http://labeteseattle.com/

If they allow it and it's not illegal, and you're willing to pay corkage fees, then you should be okay--
http://www.tiphero.com/tips_2529_can-you-bring-your-own-wine-to-restaurants.html

Allowage is a huge part of it -- For example- Key Arena, despite serving beer, doesn't allow outside beer, so you'd be subject to the old 'right to refuse service to anyone' clause

I think it's rcw66-24 that covers this, but its been a while since I had my food card and bartenders license

You body should tell you by increased thirst if you are truly dehydrated, but if you get too far behind it takes some effort to catch up. If you are really down with available fluids you will note your urine appearing much darker as your body attempts to get rid of the wastes without losing too much water. Make the effort to drink a glass of water before such meals and another later one afterwards.

The other issue is the possibility you are reacting to something else in those meals like MSG. This also adds to the sodium count of the food but you might be reacting specifically to the MSG in an almost allergic reaction fashion (which can bend you mood for sure).

BTW, Pinch the skin on the back of your hand and then watch it return to flat orientation. It can be an indication of under hydration if the skin keeps a fold or returns slowly to appropriate flatness.

I spent the extra money on a kitchenaid toaster and have never regretted it. The slots are wide enough for thicker slices, and there is a good range of timing on it. It has a little light that comes on when you turn it on, and a single penetrating beep when done. If it is not on at the wall the turn on switch let's you know rather than having the sad experience of waiting waiting waiting but no toast.... There is an easily removable crumb tray for cleaning.

The best thing about it though, is that it does not work by a pop up spring, but rather a lever that raises the toast when done. This is brilliant, you can adjust the height of the bread in the slot, and when it is done, you can leave it in there where it stays warmer, rather than it popping up and cooling while you find the butter.

And it is a nice red retro looking beast. Love it.

Shell eggs are rife with salmonella. Not washing your hands could cross contaminate the other food with salmonella from the shell. So yeah you should wash your hands. And when you crack the egg the egg could pick up the salmonella so that's partly why eating raw eggs (as in ice cream or mousse or caesar dressing) can be dicey. I know the rationale (I've heard it a million times) - people have been eating ice cream forever and no one's gotten sick yet. It's a lame argument. People get sick all the time- they just don't think it was the ice cream. BTW organic does help a bit- the chickens are healthier- but not enough to discount the possibility of contamination. After all, think about where an egg comes from (sorry). And the argument of home versus commercial kitchen is also not logical- your home just as friendly to pathogens as a commercial kitchen. So my advice is to follow the processes you learned in the restaurant.

PCC Cooks has sushi-making classes pretty regularly. E.g., http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/pcccooks/classes/detail.php?id=1505

The WSLCB is actually pretty helpful. You can search, and it will tell which stores have what you're looking for. Sun Liquors claim to have a distillery, but I don't see any products listed there. Other WA distilleries are, though, like Dry Fly and Fremont Mischief. Search on this page:

http://www.liq.wa.gov/LCBhomenet/StoreInformation/BrandSearch.aspx

Distilleries are also allowed to sell out of their distillery premises. You might try calling Sun's distillery number and asking them. Apparently they make a gin.

I haven't been to Blue C, but I have been to similar joints in Bellevue, Bellingham and Tokyo. I tip 10% at conveyor belt sushi places. I tip 20% everywhere else, but my theory is that the belt is doing half the work. I feel 10% is enough to cover the sushi chef getting his/her cut, and still compensate the server for bringing me my tea and miso soup. If that makes me a cheapskate, so be it, but I just don't feel compelled to tip the full 20% when a mechanical device is delivering my food.

For what it's worth, there used to be a joint down by the Kingdome called the Iron Horse that used toy trains to deliver your burgers and fries to your tables. If it was still there, and I wish it was, I'd probably tip 10%. The train doesn't need my money, and neither does the belt.

The best place, hands down, to buy local oysters is the Taylor Shellfish Farms new retail store on Capitol Hill! It's located at 1521 Melrose Ave. in the Melrose Market building between Pike & Pine. There's a large variety of oysters, plus manila clams, Mediterranean mussels, geoduck, live scallops, Dungeness crab, and Maine lobster. Hot oyster stew and geoduck chowder as well! There is no other store like this in Seattle. Stop by and have some oysters and a glass of wine, then choose your fresh shellfish to prepare at home. Nothing better!

Taqueria El Sabor, 15221 Aurora (just south of Sears and Central Market) is really good. Maybe not so vegetarian (though their refried beans are heavenly, but maybe have lard in them). Actually, a good rule of thumb is ANY Mexican restaurant located in a former Taco Bell is going to be pretty good.

Amazing Korean up around there, too -- try Old Village across the street, or Hoo Soon Yi waaay up at 238th SW in Edmonds.

Best pho in town is at Than Brothers, between 77th and 78th. You might see me there.

If you like your groceries crunchy-granola style, PCC is where it's at. Little-known secret: five of the six most gorgeous checkers in the entire city work there, not that I'm a pervert or anything, but jeez.

Also right around there are some very useful holes to drink in -- Ueber for German beer, St. Andrew's for Scotch, and Kangaroo & Kiwi for mad-as-hatters Aussies and New Zillanders. Skip the Fosters and have a Cooper's Sparkling Ale. You'll thank me. All between 73rd and 76th. I've never been in Duck Island, alas.

The Jack in the Box at 85th can usually supply all your crack cocaine and meth needs; if no one is around, dash across Aurora through traffic to the Arco station. Shari's is also good if you want to lose faith in humanity; I once watched a waitress there attempt to sweep a little tub of cream that had fallen to the floor into one of those dustpans with a long handle FOR TEN SOLID MINUTES.

Aurora is my favorite street in Seattle.

Coors was a non-union brewery and therefore many states would not allow it. Remember that way back in the olden days unions were actually strong in America. For a long time Coors was not available east of the Mississippi. Hence the need to go to Texas to get it in the Movie Smokey and the Bandit. Other state also would not allow Coors because of the union thing. Washington is an example. I believe that it wasn't until the late 70s or early 80s that Coors was available here.

The "two state" rule? I've never heard of it. Augustus Busch shipped Budweiser all over the country more than 100 years ago, so that "two state" thing might be hooey. I don't know.

It's a huge pain in the neck, but I separate the pulp and seeds anytime I cook a squash (or carve a pumpkin). I don't like cleaning the little stringy things out of my collander so I generally just pick the seeds out with my hands. They don't need to be totally separated, because a little bit of pulp will more or less cook away.
However, by far the best way I've found to get this job done is to hand it over as soon as someone says "hey, can I help you with anything?". Why yes, yes you can.

As far as I know, for health and safety reasons, shelters don't accept non-packaged food. Think about it: would you want to eat some random mashed potatoes in a tupperware that came from who knows where?

I guess you're all going to have to get disgustingly fat. Hindsight is 20/20, but maybe next year you should buy the same amount of food, only cook what you need, and then donate the uncooked items.

I have a food saver and it works great. It is very flexible about sizes of bag and control of suction. There is no warm up time and the bags are quite heavy. IIRC it has a jar system as well.

Almonds stuffed in prunes stuffed (not too tightly) into a bird cavity is good. So is wild rice and sausage stuffing--with this, though, use hot stuffing in the cold bird right before cooking so everything comes out done, food safe, and moist all at the same time.

We loooove Gary West Meats - it's a Christmas favorite at my house. The BEST beef jerky, and buffalo and elk jerky if that's your thing. From Jacksonville, Oregon. www.garywest.com.

Seattle Met has a great list of places to eat out on Thanksgiving. From $10 at Linda's (TV Dinner... no kidding, yuk) to $225 at the Herbfarm and of course plenty in between.

Part 1: http://www.seattlemet.com/blogs/nosh-pit/thanksgiving-dinner-seattle-restaurants-part-1-november-2011

Part 2: http://www.seattlemet.com/blogs/nosh-pit/thanksgiving-dinner-part-ii-november-2011/

I am thinking that your internal flora may be messed up with whatever antibiotics may have been used before or after surgery to reduce possibility of infection. Try repopulating your gut with some good probiotics, Greek yogurt, acidophilus milk or more concentrated powder or capsule form Lactobacillus active cultures. With the powder form take a small amount in your mouth and swish it around with some liquid so that you spread it all the way down your esophagus to your stomach. I have done this when I have had oral sensitivity and canker sores, etc. and felt it helped. Get the right flora re-established and those compounds that are sticking around may be taken care of naturally.

You might want to hit the fiber also, oatmeal, etc. to give you some bulk to keep things moving and provide some matter to carry things through your GI system.

There are a few things that came straight to mind:

1. Tutta Bella on Westlake and Denny. This is one of their nicer locations: great city views, cool space and yummy eats. Lots of veggie options.

2. Cafe Lago in Montlake off of 24th. Great pasta, nice atmosphere.

3. Coastal Kitchen on 15th on the hill is always a nice family night out.

Maynard's is a British candy company that licenses in some of the Commonwealth countries. It isn't made or imported in the US to any large degree. It's sometimes available in British (or Canadian) specialty stores. Also, Smarties in Canada/UK are something entirely different (like M&Ms...sorta) than what Smarties are in the US (little fruit-flavored tablets).

There are stores out there that deal in British food - things like Golden Sauce, Cross & Blackwell condiments, HP Sauce, etc. You can order online:

http://www.britishfoodshop.com/maynards-candy.asp.

But you were looking for some place locally. You can try The British Pantry in Redmond:

http://www.thebritishpantryltd.com/#!the-place

Also, here's a cool Maynards TV spot from a couple of years ago that a friend of mine worked on in Toronto:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QEXbOejCRk

AHH! The frozen king crab you buy at the market IS COOKED.

I worked for a seafood processing/packaging plant in AK for three years, and a good portion of our business was mail order king crab. It was absolutely, always, 100% cooked as soon as it came off the boats. The "story" about crab becoming poisonous once it dies (if not cooked) is absolutely true.

When we shipped ours it was cooked immediately, flash frozen, and shipped overnight with gel ice packs. Dry ice should work fine too as long as you really protect the crab from direct contact.

The best way to warm it back up once frozen is to allow it to thaw in the fridge overnight, then quickly steam it in a large pot, just until warm. Or just eat it cold.

Fun story about dead crab- we once had a fisherman offload an entire boat of dead king crab on a Friday afternoon. The plant manager let it sit over the weekend and by Monday morning the smell coming out of the building was so pungent we were all sick trying to work in the front office. I had to get rid of all of the clothes I wore that first week. Mmm. One crab had died and poisoned the entire load. Nasty and awful.

Sigh... I guess I'm the vegan here. While health is important, and I personally am grossed out by most animal products, ethics is the crux of the biscuit.

But like all ethical matters that adults in the real world face, it's messy.

I don't feel that using animal products is "wrong", "wrong" is a human concept that has no place in the real world. Life eats life. It's not a divine hierarchy and there is no entitlement, only luck and grit. When a kodiak, pit bull, alligator, bald eagle, wasp, E.coli, HIV, or prion kill and eat a human they aren't thinking about ethics or rank- to the extent that they're thinking at all they're thinking about surviving.

This is where it gets messy.

I do have the capacity to ascribe to the concepts of right, wrong, empathy, and sympathy. I don't care how ethically the animals were raised, at the end of the day they are slaughtered. (and honestly I've spent years working in "ethical foods" businesses and I have never met an omnivore who only eats ethically raised animal products, not saying they don't exist, but...)
Even though other animals lack the brains to give a shit about me, I know that they don't want to die and I empathize with that and I've found that consumption of other animals is unnecessary to my survival.

I feel that it is unethical, in part, because it causes unnecessary suffering, and while suffering is inevitable I do have some power to choose whether I contribute to suffering or not. The choice to to exercise that power or not is the gist of ethics, right?

But really where can one buy grass-fed shoes? Is there a market for free range concrete?
Factory style animal husbandry is a huge industry deeply entrenched into almost every facet of our society. You gotta do something with all that blood- there is no such thing as as a pure vegan or even a conscientious omnivore in western society.

Here's the other part of the ethics:
You also gotta do something with all that shit, tons and tons of shit every day, shit, I can't stress how much shit there is. Seriously there is sooo much shit. Then there's the methane (from farts, food animals fart a lot) and carbon dioxide. Then the fresh water to grow enough plants and provide enough water to grow animals we like to eat.
No matter how much you loves your animals, let them roam free, and feed them the healthiest grass. No matter how much sea you have in your blood. There is no way to raise or catch enough animals to feed the current or future human population of the earth without destroying the earth.
Here in 'merica we're having the constant conversation about petroleum fucking things up something awful: bikes, cars, mass transit, biofuel, foreign oil, blah blah blah. But we don't even look at the elephant in the room
(hint; the elephant is a cow)
Caring about the environment is an ethical issue right?

So... animal husbandry: it's cruel and it's killing the earth*

*Not a judgement on any one person, everyone is cruel and kills the earth a lil' every now and then, we were born into this but we can try to change it, right?

I like Ro-Ro's BBQ on Stoneway in Fremont in a pinch- not too expensive and great flavour.

While not in Seattle proper, The Herb Farm in Woodinville is a pretty amazing experience. $200 for 9 courses over 4-5 hours, with several glasses of wine, too.

Tilth is fabulous.

Metropolitan Grill. Honestly, I just love this old school fancy steak house.

I am a HUGE fan of Braised Meats...supper east to feed a large group, economical and gets better with time so you can make ahead and just re-heat the day of! Think Short Ribs, Lamb Shanks, Goulash (That is also fun to say!)

If not an entree style dish, I like things like Braised Fennel Gratin....any gratin dish for that matter is a hit! Again, make ahead and re-heat for the event.

I hate loosing my summer fruits but Bacon Bruleed Brussel Sprouts will make you the hit of ANY party! Garnish with Pomegranate seeds for a nice tart burst and beautiful contrast. 

Caramelization should be the theme of ALL foods for the fall. It adds layers of flavors to otherwise mundane veggies. Especially true for all root vegetables!

Panzanella's are also a nice fall salad option for a twist on the standard green...oh so many variations on this idea. Really, just have fun and taste as you go!