I am lucky enough to live near Everett’s Food and Meats on 38^th Street and Cedar Avenue in south Minneapolis. It’s lucky because they have a great meat counter with actual butchers … yes, I said butchers. This little store is really an old-school butcher shop with a good smattering of groceries.

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Last night I was at a charity function that featured a sampling of chefs. It was the usual gig with scattered stations of chefs offering tasty food on small plastic plates. While some of the plates were perfectly balanced, a few were laden with a giant chunk of meat that would prove to be more than a bite. Lord knows I don't always strive for ladylike ideals when snacking, but wrestling to bite into a chewy hunk of seared protein as sauce drips down my dress is not fabulous on any night. Cut it, you say? With my cute little plastic fork as I stand bustling with silent auction bidders? No, I'll just half-bend over and hope my hair shields my Neanderthal technique of grabbing the burning bite from my mouth with my fingers. This Fresh Forkin' Friday I'm scrubbing my dress.

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The countdown has begun. It's just over two weeks to Thanksgiving and you've got creamed corn on the brain, dontcha? Let's face it, turkey shmurkey, it's all about the sides.

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What I could use this Fresh Forkin' Friday is a little deluge of rain. Just a smidgen of cold badness would be better than the awfully bucolic sunny warmth we're being offered up. See, I have a giant stack of November food magazines, and I have to get through them and start assembling ideas and inspirations for The Feast. This is best done with slippers and a hot toddy and no feeling of guilt that I should be putting the kid on the bike one last time before we shut in. Brussels sprouts or creamed corn? Whole wheat rolls or herbed ciabatta? These decisions are best made when there's no chance of a walk in the woods. Focus. Focus. 

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Those with milder intentions for the weekend might want to hold a different kind of celebration. Why not honor the Day of the Dead and hold a Dia de los Muertos Feast? Traditionally celebrated on All Souls Day and All Saints Day (Nov. 1-2) the ancient tradition marks the return of those passed with a welcome party featuring a bounty of skeletons, food, and music.

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C is for cookie, and that's good enough for me. This Fresh Forkin' Friday I am on a cookie mission. It's a rough job, but someone has to traverse the metro in search of the yummy goodness being baked around town to be featured in a photo shoot for the December issue. I'm up to the task. I have the skills. I have sniffed out some amazing ginger molasses cookies from Salty Tart but whose French macaroons will make the cut? Do I include the legendary pumpkin cookies from D'Amico, given their limited availability? Which sickerdoodles are worthy enough to grace your holiday plates? I'm on the job people, I working for you with glass of milk in hand and blue monster leanings in my heart.

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Arctic char is so hot right now!

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This Fresh Forkin' Friday marks the beginning of the end of the season for area farmer's markets. Mill City will ring it out this weekend with a Fall Harvest celebration including pumpkin painting and the Goose Chase Cloggers! The Midtown Farmer's Market is open until the 31st for your pumpkin-buying-apple-bobbing pleasure. Kingfield Market will rock until the 25th, and close with a pumpkin carving contest. Both the Minneapolis Market and St. Paul Market will sally forth through November, and into the festive December for St. Paul. But worry not, Local D'Lish will again host a winter market every other Saturday through the chill.

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The Fine Living Channel, which is owned by the peeps behind Food Network, is destined to become the Cooking Channel by mid-2010.

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This Fresh Forkin' Friday I am madly planning my work and working my plan. I'm cooking for an Oktoberfest party this weekend and that means pork, ja wohl! I'm cooking a pork shoulder overnight in a trough of Surly Furious. I want to pull it, so that the beer lovers can put it on the pretzel rolls and stroll from bonfire to band to beer keg. But because this isn't about barbecue and sauce, it's a little harder. I'm used to dousing the pulled pork in a thin Carolina vinegar sauce to help keep it moist, but there aren't a ton of German versions of this. What I've come up with is a thinner version of Bruce Aidells beer and horseradish mustard. Hopefully it will be tangy and earthy while still letting the pork come through. Wunschen mir Gluck!

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