Seattlest has long been an on-again-off-again vegetarian. Our last fall from herbivorous grace came in our New York City-living days, when our girlfriend at the time's dad cooked us up a burger and some hotdogs. We didn't have the heart to say no, and they just smelled so good. Thank God, because we wound up moving to New Orleans, where life is meaningless without a good roast beef po-boy and all the juice it......

Dinner at McCormick & Schmick, the seafood chain, to kick off eight-month halibut season. Exec chef in Seattle, Eric Naruszewicz, a Boston transplant who was quick to get the hang of local seafood, crusts a halibut filet with curried cashews, serves atop field greens with honey-mustard vinaigrette, Asian pears and red grapes. There's lots of halibut out there, a whopper of a fish (up to 8 feet long, 4 feet wide, 600 pounds) that lives......

A sakana ichiba (fish market) at Shibuya station is our favorite Tokyo battleground. Close to closing time, customers hover around the refrigerator cases, scouting out the sushi and sashimi assortments--especially the packages of maguro, mutsu, and more. Then, at about 7:45, the man with the marker does the "makete" (discounting) action, slashing prices on fish that must fly off the shelves. We jostle for position, reaching for the best boxes of uni and chunks of......