Marination Mobile serves a creative Korean-Hawaiian hybrid menu featuring such items as kalbi tacos, kimchi fried rice, kalua pork sliders, SPAM sliders, and spicy pork tacos.

Marination’s Twitter feed will let you know where they’re at on a given day but generally speaking it’s SODO on Monday, Belltown on Tuesday, Fremont on Wednesday, Beacon Hill on Thursday, Safeco Field on Friday, and West Seattle on Saturday.

One of my co-workers has been telling me about this truck for what seems like forever. I’m kind of wishing I’d thought to get around to having their food before this recognition which is surely going to bring some longer lines, but, hey, what’s a line when there’s good food at the end of it?

As the LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake duke it out for supremacy, fans can snack on the Galaxy Dog which features two strips of applewood smoked bacon, nacho cheese sauce, red onion and diced tomatoes and is available, naturally, at Seattle Dogs. Ciao Down will offer the Galaxy Pizza, topped with ground buffalo, caramelized red onions, thick cut bacon, and pepper-jack cheese. Real Salt Lake is represented by Grill 12’s Salt Lake Burger topped with caramelized red onion jam, apple wood smoked bacon, blue cheese, and black cherry barbeque sauce.

The FSN Lounge will be honoring the world’s love for the beautiful game with an assortment of internationally-inspired dishes like Dungeness crab macaroni and Cheese (England), Pissaladiere baked puff pastry with olives, grape tomatoes, caramelized onions and triple cream brie (Spain), Mama’s meatballs (Italy), Bossa Nova chicken sandwich (Brazil) and more.

Everybody loves pretzels, or nearly everyone enough to ensure that pretzels have long been a staple item at sporting events. Since the MLS Cup is a big event, it makes sense that this game has available a big pretzel–the Victory Knot is a two-pound pretzel topped with sea salt and served with three dipping sauces (spicy mustard, beer cheese and sweet vanilla cream). This pretzel is so big that it is served in a full-size pizza box.

Finally, no matter who wins the game, everyone can celebrate the day with MLS cupcakes – cupcakes decorated with the MLS and team logos.

Kick off for the MLS cup is at 5:30 pm on Sunday, November 22, but there are plenty of events to occupy you until game time. On Friday, November 20, MLS players will go toss a fish at the Pike Place Market at 3pm. Fado Irish Pub hosts a Meet and Greet and Silent Auction from 6 – 8 pm with happy hour drink specials all night long, appearances by Sounders FC players Sébastien Le Toux and Taylor Graham, and a silent auction to raise money for Seattle Children’s Hospital.

The 2009 Supporters Summit happens at Qwest Field on Saturday, November 21, featuring a State of the League speech by MLS Commissioner Don Garber, Supporters Shield history and presentation by Sam Perron, Kansas City Wizards, a raffle and an officiating and technical discussion panel with Joe Machnick and Alfonso Mondelo.

Saturday night features the Sounders End of Season party at The Baltic Room and a Pioneer Square Supporters Social at Elysian Fields.

On Sunday, get psyched for the game in the morning at the FIFA 2010 Tournament at Fado, sponsored by Gorilla FC, in which teams of players compete to find out who is the best FIFA10 XBOX player, winning great Sounders prizes and raising money for the victims of Black October in Bolivia.

Sunday afternoon there’s a Pre-Game Spaghetti Feed at Fuel and then at 3:45 soccer fans meet up at Occidental Square for the traditional March to the Match, accompanied by Sounders FC owners, players, coaches and MLS Commissioner Don Garber.

I’m sure most of you out there are already know this, but you can make it from Seattle out to wine country in the same amount of time it takes a bottle of red to properly breathe.

However, I’m not here to talk to you about wine.  Which I can assure you is to our mutual benefit, as all I have to offer on the subject involves the painfully embarrassing consequences that befall me those times I muster the bravery to take another shot at drinking it.  What I’d like to touch on today is an oft-misunderstood spirit favored by my curly-headed 70’s hero, Ron Burgundy:

I love Scotch. Scotchy, Scotch, Scotch. Here it goes down, down into my belly…

And down into my belly it has gone on many a fair occasion.  Sadly, my lack of respect for the true potential of this Scottish delight has led it to make almost as many return trips from my belly as well.  Cutty Sark, J & B, Chivas Regal — these are the names I had associated with Scotch throughout the years.  It’s not that I particularly enjoy slumming it on the bottom shelf, I had simply been under the impression that it was all going to go down like battery acid anyway.  It’s almost comical that it took a certified “master of whisky” to set me straight on the subject.

Recently I was offered the chance to stay at Willows Lodge in Woodinville, a five-acre spread bordering the Sammamish River in the heart of Western Washington’s wine country.  Under normal circumstances I might be apprehensive about such a vinocentric destination, but I made the trip in order to attend something far beyond your everyday swish and spit wine tasting.  Hosted by renowned master of whisky Ari Shapiro (pictured left), and with a four course menu prepared by Barking Frog Executive Chef Bobby Moore, the celebration comically dubbed “Scotch-tober” was nothing short of an amazing amalgamation of whisky knowledge and culinary craftsmanship.

It’s not likely anyone would argue whether or not Shapiro knows his Scotch.  Even those not immediately enamored with his PowerPoint skills (fun fact: this is the first alcohol-related PowerPoint presentation I’ve experienced) would find his expertise on both the spirits and the land they originate from to be truly impressive.  Over the course of the evening he regaled the crowd with old world toasts, and spared no detail in explaining the production methods and regional flavors leveraged to produce each distillery’s unique flavor.  As a wannabe connoisseur, I can tell you with a fair amount of certainty that the 15-yer-old single malt Dalwhinnie was my favorite Scotch of the evening, due largely to its floral nose, sweet taste, and clean, subtle finish.  This stems from its origins in the highland region of Scotland, where it is crafted out of fragrantly sweet mountain water.  After that I’m pretty certain I’ll never be able to even look at a bottle Cutty Sark seriously again.

Well before the event ever took place, Shapiro and Chef Moore had been putting their heads together to come up with a menu that balanced the signature flavors of each Scotch with that of the evening’s cuisine.  The result featured such mouth-watering dishes as breast of squab with a celeriac, endive, and Walla Walla onion salad, chilled Virginica oysters, and my personal favorite, the smoked ribs with fennel and yukon gold potato gratin.  There was just something about how the smokiness of the ribs played off of the dry, equally smoky 16-year-old Lagavulin that made me want to paint my face blue and white and start quoting William Wallace.

As if I didn’t have it good enough already, after my hunger and thirst had been quelled around the Barking Frog’s open fireplace, I made my way back to the room waiting for me at Willows Lodge.  Just your standard accommodation, complete with 40″ flat screen TV, stone fireplace, private patio, and a soaking tub deep enough to drown your sorrows and/or Manuel Uribe if you really felt like it.  Seriously though, the one thing I couldn’t get enough of was the bed.  So soft, so comfortable.  The sensation that I would later describe as “sleeping on a cloud of smiling puppies” was in fact courtesy of the Australian lambs wool mattress pad that can be found adorning the beds in any of the lodge’s 84 rooms.  Probably the highest compliment I could pay to the lodge, its staff, and their attention to detail is that in all my years traveling I’ve yet to stay anywhere so comfortable and relaxed, yet so serious about the care of their guests.

Another great thing is that there’s always something going on at Willows, so you never have to be without an excuse to treat yourself to a mini-vacation or romantic getaway in Seattle’s back 40.  For example, in December Willows Lodge is featuring a weekly series of complimentary classes called “Holiday Boot Camp”.  The classes are free and take place the first three Wednesdays of the month, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. during Fireside Cellar’s Happier Hour. The program is aimed to help novices navigate the challenges of holiday entertaining:

• Wednesday, December 2: Brian Matthews of Barking Frog will share drink recipes and tips for creating the perfect holiday cocktails.  Guests will learn techniques for creating a hot apple pie, oatmeal cookie and a white chocolate mint-tini.
• Wednesday, December 9: Executive Chef of Barking Frog Bobby Moore and award-winning Wine Director of Willows Lodge Jeffrey Dorgan will share tips and recipes for holiday appetizers and discuss how to pair the perfect wine with traditional holiday meals.
• Wednesday, December 16: Trena Costello, pastry chef of Barking Frog, will share pastry recipes and tips for creating the perfect homemade holiday desserts.

No matter how long you’ve lived in the area, I implore you to consider adding a night at Willows Lodge and a meal at Barking Frog to your Seattle bucket list.  Both are comfortably far enough away from the city — but not too far — perfect for those who wish to spend less of their time traveling and more of it relaxing in the arms of the one they love; or as it was in my case, a foursome of strategically-placed goose down pillows.

The “New Moon” menu pays a culinary tribute to the story’s themes with “Vegetarian” Stakes, a/k/a picatta seared chicken satay over parmesan risotto and sauteed spinach (I’m not quite sure how chicken gets to be vegetarian, but, boy, does this sound tasty to me); Lion’s Love, which is paprika seared lamb chops with roasted vegetable cous cous; and Bella’s birthday cake which is red velvet cake with sour cream frosting and dark chocolate sauce.

The cocktail menu is appealing, too: Bella’s Papercut combines Absolut Mandarin, Cointreau, and Grenadine. Edward’s Cold Touch is concocted with blueberry Stoli, Poma, Sprite and Blue Curacao. Jacob’s Warmth heats things up with Clover coffee with Bailey’s, Rumpleminze, and whipped cream.

If you’re a Twilight fan, you’re probably already delirious with excitement about New Moon and really don’t need any encouragement to go see it, but why not go see it in style?

The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife has given the go-ahead for some razor clam digging in November. Their season update approves digging at Twin Harbors November 14 – 17; Long Beach, Copalis and Mocrocks for November 14 – 15; and Kalaloch Beach for Monday, November 16 only. Additional dates have been tentatively scheduled through January. It is important to always verify the approved dates for clamming before you go out.

If you do decide to go clamming–and really, you should, it really is quite fun–you might want to take advantage of the special deal being offered by the Kalaloch Lodge in the Olympic National Park. Their Clam Digger Lodging Package offers clam diggers at all levels from first-timers to old hands a night of lodging in their beautiful facility conveniently located near to the beach plus breakfast in the morning. It’s available Monday, November 16, and is tentatively scheduled for Friday, December 4, Saturday, December 5, Thursday, December 31 and Friday, January 1, subject to approval from the Washington and National Park Services. Newbie clammers can book a room using the code CLAMDIGNEW for a package that starts at $169 and includes a night at the lodge, a bucket, shovel and net and breakfast for two the next morning. Clam diggers who already have their own tools can use the code CLAMDIGPRO for a package that starts at $129 and includes the room and breakfast. Guests can stay additional nights for just $99 a night, an excellent deal. Besides clamming there are all kinds of things to do and see in the Olympic NP which contains beaches, rain forest valleys, mountain peaks and far, far more different types of plants and animals than you can name. It’s one of the most beautiful places in our state, and, honestly, maybe in the whole world.

To learn more about the Kalaloch Lodge or to book your clamming experience, visit their website. (Even if you’ve decided that clamming is just not for you, it’s an excellent vacation spot and the lodge offers a bunch of great package deals aimed at a variety of interests.) To learn more about the Olympic National Park, visit theirs.

All the information you need to know about clamming in Washington (including how to clean and cook the tasty things) can be found in the Razor Clam section of their website.

Some basics: a license is required for any digger 15 years or older. Any 2009 annual shellfish/seaweed license or combination fishing license is still valid or you can get a razor-clam only license available in annual or three-day only versions. Buy a license online, by phone at 866.246.9453 or in person at any of the more than 600 authorized license vendors. ALWAYS check the weather and surf conditions before heading down to the beach so that you know what you’re facing and, seriously, don’t be stupid about the ocean. It may be a beautiful source of bounty but “killer waves” is a literal expression sometimes.

Slow news day? If you want to kill some time at work, watch it here. Way to embarrass us on Consumerist Jesse.

On October 10th, you’ll get a chance to try a wide variety of street food all in one place. Mobile Chowdown brings a bunch of Seattle’s street food vendors all to one location. The event is free (other than the food that you buy), so come bring a chair and hang out with your fellow street food aficionados.

In the lead up to Mobile Chowdown, there’s even a trivia contest on Twitter. Follow @mobilechowdown and answer their trivia questions each day for a chance to win dinner at Tilth and a night at the Sorrento Hotel (plus a subscription to Seattle Magazine). Make sure when you respond to the trivia though, that you include the hashtag #mcd in your tweet.

When: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 10
Where: 1616 W. Bertona (Interbay)

Counter Burger has been “previewed” several times already on several different blogs. So far, the buzz seems to be favorable.

We checked it out during one of their preview parties, and the food was excellent. I’d be interested to hear if anyone has been there in the past two days.

Be sure to follow them on Twitter as well. They often tweet specials or coupons.

Can’t make it tonight? You have two more chances to score a free burrito as Chipotle is making the same deal for Tuesday, September 8 and Wednesday, September 9. Bring in a receipt for $20 or more at the Southcenter Office Depot and get a free burrito at the Southcenter Chipotle between 11:00 am and 9:00 pm.