Pouncy

When I went, the place was so packed I didn't try to get anything to eat - stuck with the bottle of Orange Fanta and Pocky sticks in my backpack. Next time I plan on going in fall/winter, not the height of summer and during the World Cup.

You *must* hit Pike Place Market - their motto of "Meet the Producer" is spot-on! For a quick bite there, Uli's Sausages does great sausage sandwiches, and one of the piroshky shops has a smoked salmon pirosky that I love! Go on down to Seattle's Best Coffee at about 7 AM and grab a warm drink while the market wakes up around you - it's fascinating. Pike Place Brewing Company has terrific beers and a wonderful smoked salmon pizza among other things. Don't miss the fresh roasted cashews at Pike Place Nuts, either - they're a delicious hot snack to much on while you walk. If it's cold, long underwear is your friend.

Not sure...

Motrin. According to military medicine, it cures everything from hangovers, to anthrax vaccine reactions to broken bones. Hence, it's referred to as Vitamin M and dispensed like candy.

My fiancee (a foodie as well) is in the Navy (and will be home in 11 days!!!), and here are some things I have sent him in care packages. Keep in mind my guy is based on a ship, and therefore has access to running water, electricity, and a little more storage space than his backpack. I can get addresses for people as well for other Navy personnel, and some Marines in the Gulf. ~OXO cubes (I worked at a British import shop, and these boullion cubes rock!) ~Spice blends, clearly labelled in plastic bottles ~Balsamic vinegar and good olive oil in smallish bottles ~Small bottles of Tapatio so he had a private stash ~Happy Mie Ramen from Indonesia - it's halal, so no problems getting it through customs, and it tastes like Mongolian BBQ. I get it at Ranch 99, along with instant phad thai noodles. ~Salditos, chili-dusted garbanzo beans, and other Mexican candies - if your guy doesn't like them, they have a high trade value. ~Chunks of Callebaut dark chocolate, and Black Magic chocolate assortments. ~GOOD pasta - generally Barilla from the Italian market ~Jarred sauces, generally Classico or Barilla. ~Pacific Northwest style smoked salmon. Packed in foil bags, the Sea Bear and ~Portlock stuff ships really well and is a BIG hit. ~Nutella, especially in the squeezy packs - it's a nice change from the peanut butter in the MRE's ~Good smelling non-foofy soaps - that Neutrogena one in the scrubby bag is a big hit because it exfoliates without looking foofy or adding baggage. Bottles of body wash that can hang on the shower head are another good one. ~Mini Toblerone bars or other small candy they can tuck into small pockets. Hard candy is best during the summer, to prevent gooey messes. ~A battery-operated pocket fan ~Pens with built in lights for working at night (The Weems & Plath chart pens are the best - get them at boating stores) ~Altoids mints (my guy loves the Ginger ones), and Listerine strips - being able to at least make your mouth feel clean when the rest of you is icky is a plus ~Mach 3 razor blades and Noxema cream ~Goofy holiday stuff - I sent him skeleton lights for halloween, and peanut butter coffins. ~Bass or Guitar Player magazines - A lot of guys have guitars and other instruments onboard ship, and magazines that have tablatures in the back always give them new stuff to try to play. On bigger ships a lot of times there will be a Battle of the Bands! ~Lever 2000 wipes, preferably anti-bacterial ~SOCKS!!! Black cotton and white cotton athletic socks of medium size. They get icky really fast, and guys come home with what we refer to as "zombie foot". It's really gross. ~Lamisil cream and spray. If they don't need it, someone they know does. ~Taped shows on VHS. Buffy, West Wing, Enterprise, Charmed, Smallville, all the primetime stuff. Bootleg DVD's are another hit. ~CD's burned with movie trailers, ebooks, assorted MP3's, and the like. My bootleg episodes of Iron Chef have been a big hit. If you KaZaA, this is a good one. Episodes of 80's cartoons abound on the Net, and guys have a good time watching them. ~Tylenol Sinus and NyQuil. It's a nice, symptom-specific change from Vitamin M. ~Sun-dried tomatoes in oil or just in bags. ~Individual Kleenex packs. When one person gets the sniffles, *everyone* gets the sniffles. Or Martian Death Flu. Packaging tips: -Fill out a white Customs form listing generally what is in the box. You may not need it, but better safe than sorry. -Wrap glass jars and the like in socks or bubble wrap and put in the center of the package. -Packing peanuts are a pain in the ass. Bubble wrap is a lot easier cleanup, and provides hours of entertainment as well. -Put any bottles of shampoo, sauce or other gooey things in a plastic bag, *just in case*. -During the summer, chocolates will melt. Plan accordingly. Snickers and the like are easily obtained, send harder to find things like good dark chocolate. -Vacuum packers are your friend. Just put layers of paper between cookie layers or you get the Unicookie. Or as we put it, "One cookie to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them." -Gladware is great for sending goodies in - it keeps things separated, packs all nice and modular-like, and is reusable. Divinity ships really well, separated by layers of wax paper. I hope this helps people with general care package ideas. I know tortilla kits can be had under the Taco Bell label as well.

I'm not a professional, but I'm the only one of my circle of friends who can cook. (Not kidding, these people live off of Domino's.) As such, I get called upon to do such things as cook for dinners, wedding receptions of the shoe-string variety, etc. The best investment I ever made was a Coleman Road Trip grill and a huge Rubbermaid tub. The grill has a griddle insert and runs off of camping canisters (or with an adapter, a normal BBQ size propane tank), and spews out about 15,000 BTU's on each burner, and it has it's own stand as well. The tub holds everything I need, and they both fit in my jeep perfectly. I do a few things pretty regularly at different get-togethers: Quesadilla bars, Dutch Apple Fritters (Olie Bollen), and fried rice. I try to never count on people owning things like ladles, spatulas, paper towels, oven mitts, and keep my tub stocked with supplies. Same thing with decent knives. I also keep a selection of teas and hot chocolates in my tub, along with a kettle, because inevitably, drinks get forgotten by the person coordinating the shindig. Plastic bags are another good idea, to throw the dirty pans in and wash at home - oftentimes when we are at a school or something, the sinks are not deep enough to hold my pans to wash out! What drives me nuts is when people take the pot off the flames so that they can light their cigarette!!! They inevitably lack the common sense to slide the pot back over...grrr! Like I said, I'm not professional, but it helps me make gas money, and keeps my friends from poisoning people.

My preferences: Coke and Pepsi are kinda interchangeable for me, but I like RC best. Diet Pepsi and Pepsi One will always win over Diet Coke. Sprite and Sierra Mist are interchangable, but 7up only if I am desperate. Diet Vanilla Coke is better than Diet Vanilla Pepsi. Weinhard's Root Beer whenever I can get it, but Barq's when I can't afford the good stuff. Never Mug or generic. A&W Cream Soda or their Diet Cream Soda, but generics are icky. Weinhard's whenever I can get it.

Cheap good food in San Diego can be had at a taco stand. My favorite is Humberto's at 25th and C, but they're all over the place. Carnitas and carne asada burritos are great, and one burrito makes a meal. Look for a slightly run down place - in this case, ghetto is good. Lotus Thai at 6th and Robinson in Hillcrest is my favourite Thai place - their lunch specials during the week are a heck of a good deal, and dinner is pretty reasonable. The Field in the Gaslamp District is a great Irish pub - service can be spotty, but their kitchen is fantastic, and not a bank-breaker.

My work used a Foreman grill to cook ground beef for shepherd's pies and cornish pasties...We'd have to empty the fat and juice into a gravy separator, then pour the juice into the meat mixture, then pound the chunks of ground beef in a bowl to break them into bits. I dislike it on the basis that pulling the juice out and having to put it back in isn't a very way to cook something flavourful. Makes pretty good smashed sandwiches, but for that, I'd buy a sandwich grill first - cheaper and easier to clean. The Foreman grill is a pain in the ass to clean up, and grease had a tendency to run under the grill and make a mess on the countertop.

My fiancee's favourite chocolate/port combo is Whidbey's Port and Callebaut dark chocolate. Whidbey's is from Whidbey Island in Washington State, and a little hard to get outside the Puget Sound area, but at 12 bucks a bottle, we load up everytime we visit my family in the area. We have a bottle of 86 we're prolly going to crack open at our wedding, but the 98, 99 and 2000 are consistently great. Our friends most frequent comment is "Damn, this doesn't taste like a twelve dollar port!"

Some of these are a little off the beaten path, but what the heck... Mikey's Brooklyn Bagel and Deli in Redmond has the best bagels I've ever had - I used to get them every morning. Great smoked salmon cream cheese. The Quizno's on NE 4th in Bellevue seems better than any of the others I've been to. Kegler's Kafe in the bowling alley at NAS Whidbey island does a French Dip I'v liked for the last ten years. Nordstrom's Cafe at Bell Square does great sandwiches. Best burgers on the Eastside is at Small Fry's in Fall City. I always try to stop by there and take my burger out to Snoqualmie Falls.

As my fiancee is active duty military and we have done 2 six to eight month deployments together, my old reliable comfort foods are starches. Trader Joe's frozen Gnocchi alla Sorrentina has been a standby both deployments, and for sweets, Jamba Juice Peach leasure smoothies are my friend. As for things I make at home, most of it is pasta based - When he's not home, I'm generally eating alone, and on a reduced budget. I do a lot of baking for him, too. When I'm sick, Campbell's Bean and Bacon soup really settles my stomach, and oftentimes plain potato chips are the only thing I can keep down for some weird reason.

Kitchenaids are wonderful.

Really???? The good flat ones? Damn, I just came back from Target, and didn't think to look there - had never found them there before. I wonder how consistent their inventory is from one part of the country to another. Note to self: go back there ASAP and pay attention! I replaced mine with a bamboo set I found in a Joyce Chen 3-pack. A small round flattish-rice paddle-like one, and angled flat one, and a flat-squared off one. They work great, and cost me about 2.50.

I used to work at a British bakery here in the states, and we sold slices of bread pudding. We used the crusts fron our finger sandwiches (obviously we trimmed the crusts before filling the sandwiches to avoid cross-contamination) and saved the trimmings in a plastic baggie in the fridge until we had enough. We used a 9-inch non-stick round cake pan, buttered *heavily* and lined with parchment on the bottom. Cube the bread trimmings, and pack them in the pan until the pan is full. Empty the cubes from the cake pan into a large mixing dish, and toss with the soaking mixture: 1 1/4 cups milk 3/4 cups sugar 5 eggs 1 TBSP Saxa mixed spice (or pumpkin pie spice) 3/4 cup raisins let soak for 20 minutes, mixing occasionally, then pack into pan and bake at about 350 degrees for 35 minutes, or until done (Ie: not soppy in the middle) Keeps in the fridge for two weeks or so.

National City has a HUGE Filipino population - I go to this place in a strip mall on Plaza Blvd. off the 805. Also there is a Jollibee on Plaza - Filipino fast food chain. Now y'all have got me craving karekare when I'm sick. Damn you.

To my fiancee's steak recipe: My tastebuds tremble as you are prepared, butter and garlic bathing your marbled surface. Our friends beg to try your meaty flesh - so perfect that you are a comoddity rarer than cash. You have done so much for me: Gotten my computer repaired for free, a moving crew supplied, free lodging out-of-town - all for your succulent taste. I have missed you, these long months, not daring to attempt your perfection myself, but waiting for my fiancee to return from deployment and return you to our kitchen once more. When you come back to me, I shall purr in bliss, and post to my LiveJournal: "Again, I am happy. For garlic steak is in my stomach, and beer in my glass." Six weeks, my love, six weeks until we are reunited. All my love and longing, Pouncy

Love to, but he left Friday! It was a pretty last minute idea. I'm going to send some out in the next care package with the chocolates, cookies, balsamic vinegar, and the uniform boots he forgot.

It's all about the Weinhard's Root Beer and Vanilla Cream Sodas. Reason #1 I wanna break diet!

Buying him a case of Vanilla Coke or Pepsi is really not a good way to go about this because he has very little personal storage space. He has 2 standup lockers and the storage compartment underneath his bed (it flips up). 2 liters or cans take up quite a lot of room, and the vending machines on the mess deck carry regular Pepsi and Coke, so mixing his own is much more viable - especially if it's going to last eight months!. It's much cheaper to ship one bottle of vanilla syrup than a case of soda - at least a $20 difference in shipping costs, since it goes by weight! He leaves Friday for eight months, so I appreciate all your good wishes! I'm on a baking spree to stock him and the other guys on his boat with cookies and fudge, and sending their mess specialist with some of my favorite recipes. I will make some syrup for him to take with on Friday, and order some of the Fox's when I get paid, then ship it out. Thank you all so much for the recommendations!

I'm looking for recommendations on vanilla syrups to make Vanilla Cokes with. While in our house we usually use Stoli Vanil, my Vanilla Coke lovin boyfriend is deploying with the Navy to the Gulf, which means no booze on board the ship. So what are your favorite brands of vanilla syrup??? P.S. Any other care package ideas would be great, too!

Got to have Tim's Cascade, Walker's Ready Salted, Roast Chicken, and Marmite flavours, and Terra's Salt and Pepper.

I cannot recommend Pike Brewing enough. They have lambic on tap, what more do you need? Their smoked salmon pizza is amazing, too. The Redmond Alehouse is pretty decent, and Pyramid is especially good after a game at Safeco. the U.S.S. Mariner has a guide to beer and food in and around Safeco Field. Mostly beer though.

My boyfriend and I genrally will ask to be moved if we have a problem with where we're sitting - for example, our 3 year anniversary next to a very loud birthday party at The Charthouse. We explained it was a special night for us, and they sat us in the relatively deserted bar, where we got *fantastic* service! Or another time when we requested a very specific table at Peohe's in Coronado a few weeks in advance (the goodbye dinner before he deployed to the Gulf) and the hostess sat another group there that refused to move. They sat us next to the table (with a drastically different view, more the industrial docks than scenic skyline), but we moved over as soon as the jerks left, and the manager comped our drinks, dessert, and appetizers. They have gained our business (when we can afford it) ever since. I am a big fan of quietly asking the waiter or waitress if it's possible to move if there's a problem, and the strategy just about always works. We always try to tip a little extra for doing that, too, especially if we're sitting outside in lousy weather, a quirk my boyfriend and I enjoy.

I am a big Quizno's fan - the product is tasty and consistent across the board. Being in SoCal, In N Out burgers (not the fries) are the tastiest thing on the road. As far as sit downs go, I'm not thrilled with Outback, but Cucina Cucina impresses me every time with the goat cheese pasta. Red Robin is something I miss from Seattle, another consistently good lunch spot (they always get a little too noisy at dinner), and their turkey bacon avocado croissants are a regular of mine whenever I'm in close proximity. Bennigan's is another good bet for me and my friends, we walk in and order a large diet coke and bowl of potato soup apiece (this got up to seven people at one point). I generally try to patronize small local shops, but when you're at the mall or on the road, sometimes you just can't spare the time or lose the parking spot.