​Yesterday, some Seattle-area Boeing employees got together to decide where to have lunch. The consensus: Pennsylvania. So they hopped in a $300 million 747-8 Freighter jet and flew 2,500 miles to Pittsburgh, where they feasted on sandwiches from Primanti Bros.

Subsequent lunch outings, confirms flight test director Paul Shank, will include a trip to Maine for lobster and Michigan's Upper Peninsula for . . . what, exactly? Well, we've got one idea.

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​For all the time I spend with food, you'd think I'd have mastered the art of delivering it directly to my mouth. But my dwindling supply of unstained clothes suggests I'm still a rookie when it comes to keeping tidy: I have gravy spots on my sleeves, tomato sauce on my collars, and meat drippings on my pant legs.

All those battle wounds were acquired while I was sitting at tables, presumably in close range of napkins. In less-restricted settings, I'm bound to make an even more monumental mess. Yesterday, for example, I managed to varnish a microwave's insides with a cupful of black bean soup.

My knack for spilling and splattering food has pretty much kept me from trying to transport it. I wouldn't dare put a to-go box in my messenger bag, since whatever I was carrying would surely slosh on my notebooks and soak my cell phone. And that's probably a best-case scenario.

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​Moving is rife with decision-making. In the past few days, I've decided where to live; which gym to join; and whether I did the right thing by hauling my spin bike halfway across the country. So yesterday I took a break from calling the shots, and asked my servers to tell me where to eat next. I spent the day pinballing from one Seattle restaurant to another, following a path that I happily didn't have to devise.

At the advice of my editor, Mike Seely, I started out at The Shanty Cafe, a 97-year old roadside institution that--judging from the framed stories hung on the walls--seems to tickle local reporters' feature-writing bones every few years. For lone diners who don't feel like reading, The Shanty also keeps a television on and country music playing on the radio. But I was the only person eating solo yesterday morning, while the majority of tables were taken by men and women who looked as though they had long workdays ahead of them.

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​I'm just back from a terrific culinary walking tour with Voracious' own Leslie Kelly that started and ended at Pike Place Market--and covered so much ground in between that we crossed three creases on my fold-out city bike map.

While it isn't easy to pick a lone standout on an agenda that included a smoked-fish sampler from Seatown; a mofo sandwich from Salumi and a smattering of regional cheeses from cheesemongers who were willing to play along when we asked them which local cheese they liked best, I was especially fond of Sitka & Spruce's chicken-liver pate, plated with tightly wound pickled fiddlehead ferns and warm slices of crusty raisin bread.

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Photo by Leslie Kelly

Grab a cheap slice and do what the sign says!

​... I'm going to drop my armload of merchandise and walk out of the store. Are you listening to me Mr. Retailer? I've had it up to hear with nonstop, schlocky Christmas carols!

OK, if I sound a little Scrooge-y, it's probably because my credit card has practically melted under the heat of constant use this month. In other words, I'm broke. Busted. A patriotic citizen who's doing her part to help lift consumer spending. You're welcome America.

While stumbling around downtown on a post-shopping high, feeling starving and cranky and low on cash, I found a few places to take the edge off for ridiculously cheap. My goal was to spend $3 or less.

Hello A-Pizza Mart at Ninth and Stewart! This teeny local chain first popped onto my radar while I was working as a prep cook at Alpha Sigma Phi at the UW. Those frat boys know where to find a stiff drink. And, guess what? The pizza's decent, too. I grabbed a slice of cheese to go and scarfed it down while walking to my next stop, The Greyhound Bus Station.

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Stephen Giang

​The West Seattle Wing Dome invited local media outlets to bravely devour its spiciest wings for the 7-Alarm Challenge for Charity last night. The gist: Competitors get the option of eating a drumstick or a wing at each level of hotness. Those who successfully reach the 7-alarm level of heat have their beer and water taken away and must pound as many of these potent suckers as possible. The one who handles the most heat is declared the winner.

This reporter and clubs editor Erin Thompson stepped up to the plate and each managed to put away six and eight 7-alarm wings, respectively. It was undoubtedly our least attractive shared moment; tears rolling down our cheeks, eye makeup smeared, and Thompson even wondering aloud at one point, "Is my nose bleeding?"

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Ohno gets his cupcake fix.

​It's obvious why Seattle would be quick to claim Apolo Ohno - who technically, is from Federal Way - as its hometown hero. After all, the speed skating superstar is the most decorated American Winter Olympic athlete of all time. But only Ohno's diehard fans know that he's also a prolific Twitter user whose tweets surprisingly, are not all about skating. Many of them are about food.

"My nickname was 'Chunky' when I was a kid," he confessed at this morning's press conference, where he was pimping his appearance as Grand Marshal at Seafair's Torchlight Parade Grand Marshall tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. "Hopefully, I've grown out of that. But I love food."

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Po Dog with peanut butter and bananas... yum?

​Hello, foodies! Here's a recap of the week's restaurant news...

On Capitol Hill, Po Dog's sibling sports bar Auto Battery (1009 East Union Street) is now open for business. It features a full bar, wacky wieners from Po Dog, and sweets from Macrina Bakery. Oh, you can also shuffleboard.

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Google Giada De Laurentiis; the first video result is titled "Jiggly Boobs." It's a three minute feature of the Food Network star's breasts bouncing up and down as she chops parsley. Groan.

Women are slightly more selective when choosing their favorite celebrity chefs. (Repeat: slightly.) Here are the lucky seven who make the cut:

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Curtis Stone The Australian chef regularly appears on television to share his expertise on healthy ingredients and grilling. But the moment this blue-eyed babe utters the phrase "shrimp on the barbie" in that adorable accent, women stop taking notes and start giggling like schoolgirls.

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It's hot. Too hot. Know what else is hot on days like today? ICE CREAM. Here's where to find it in our fair(ly sweltering) city.

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