Pickles are tasty, aren’t they? Not just dills, but Vietnamese pickled carrots and daikon, kim chi, Japanese _tsukemono_, whatever.

I have a couple of favorite Seattle pickles. One is the spicy Parker Pickles from Woodring, sold at area farmers markets and Pike Place Market. These are the best pickles I’ve ever had for putting a sandwich or eating alongside–crisp, sour, and quite spicy. (They also make them non-spicy. You’re welcome, Iris.) Last night Laurie asked me to turn a couple of these into relish for our hot dogs. Good idea.

Renee Erickson of Boat Street Cafe has long been known for the pickles served at her restaurant, and she’s now selling them in jars under the Boat Street Pickles moniker. All of them are good; my favorite, predictably, is the onions. Iris likes the pickled prunes; she’ll pull one out of the jar and lick it clean. According to Renee, next in the lineup is pickled fennel; I can’t wait.

I’m not sure if there’s any way to mail order the Woodring pickles. Boat Street Pickles are available by calling Delaurenti at 800-873-6685. But I’d rather you seek out your own local pickles anyway. That is not some kind of euphemism.

Today on Culinate:

Looking sharp: How to buy the only knife you really need

> Recently, a couple of guys with a bunch of sharp knives cleaned out my wallet. It was a mugging of a culinary rather than criminal nature.

First of all, isn’t Mr. Clean an awesome corporate mascot? Like, I’m sure there are plenty of wacky mascots today, but they’re deliberately wacky. Although I just looked, and apparently Mr. Clean no longer wears an earring. Plus, the original Mr. Clean died this month at 92.

Anyway, In the same vein as my recent post about Asian cookbooks, I want to talk about cleaning supplies. Here’s what I use, and I’d be delighted to hear any upgrade recommendations.

**Orange Plus surface cleaner.** Works fine, smells great. Extremely cheap if you buy the concentrated refill.

**Windex.** None of the “natural” glass cleaners I’ve tried work as well on windows, mirrors, and especially chrome faucets.

**Method floor cleaner.** I bought this after Iris complained that Mop & Glo smelled terrible. It’s true. This stuff isn’t as shiny but smells infinitely better, and really, I just don’t care whether my kitchen floor is shiny.

**Swiffers.** The dry kind. Wasn’t this a great invention? Actually I use the store brand. I don’t use the mop or any other hardware.

**Magic Erasers.** Also the store brand. Nothing comes close for getting stains off walls. Also good for cleaning laptop computers, especially white ones.

**SOS All-Surface blue sponges.** I order these by the case. I know people say not to use sponges because you’re maintaining an unfriendly bacteria colony in your kitchen. Anyone have another idea for getting pots and pans clean? For general cleaning, I use large cellulose sponges that I buy at Walgreens, $4 for 30 sponges.

**SOS Tuffy.** The orange-and-yellow plastic scrubber pad. These things are so great.

**Planet Ultra dish soap.** See here.

**Ajax.** For the tub. It’s a harsh abrasive and will make the tub less shiny. Again, do I look like I care?

Today on Serious Eats:

Cooking With Kids: Edible Cats for Halloween

> “My corporate overlords at Serious Eats have demanded a Halloween post,” I told my daughter, Iris, 4. “What’s something we could make together to eat for Halloween?”

> “How about an edible cat?” she replied.

> “That sounds hard.”

> “We could use cupcakes.” This is her solution to everything.

1. A [book website](http://www.hungrymonkeybook.com/) will be launching soon, so you don’t have to read book-related minutiae here and can stick to my observations on flank steak and the like.

2. Many people have asked me whether I’ll be selling the book directly. I won’t. Any way you buy the book will make me equally (very) happy. If you borrow it from your public library, that is also great. If you have to request that your public library buy it, even better. (But don’t request it now; it’s too early!) If you steal it, that is bad mojo, unless you steal it from someone really mean.