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The American Lamb Jam Global Flavors Tour comes to Seattle on November 2nd at Bell Harbor. Over 750 lovers of tasty baby lamb will convene to talk about, cook and eat this delicious meat to benefit the University District Food Bank. Seattle-area chefs participating in this competitive cooking event include Cafe Juanita’s Holly Smith, Mike Wisenhunt of Brimmer & Heeltap, and Sam Crannell of LloydMartin. Seattle Weekly’s Food and Drink Editor Nicole Sprinkle will be among the judges for the competition. For those interested in an immersive lamb experience, one can sign up for the cleverly named ‘VIP Curriculamb’ Pre-Jam for $75. This gets you butchery demos, American lamb appetizers and home cooking tips from Chef Smith and rancher Reed Anderson of Anderson Ranches. Those desiring the non-VIP experience pay $60 to sample 16 globally inspired lamb dishes with a host of Washington brews and wines. Sadly, no one has come up with a proper Lamb Jam yet to rival Skillet’s Bacon Jam but clearly the market opportunity is there…

Finalists for the Fourth Annual King County Executive’s Small Business Awards Program will find out their fate today at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue. Nominees include several food oriented businesses in their respective categories including:

Rural Small Business of the Year: Local Roots Farm and Krainick Dairy

Small Business of the Year: Fremont Brewing Company

Woman Small Business of the Year: Stockbox Neighborhood Grocery

Exporting Small Business of the Year: KuKuRuZa Gourmet Popcorn

Microsoft follows their October Employee Giving Campaign with a new volume of their award-winning Microsoft Cookbook featuring recipes from employees around the globe. The cookbook itself will (ironically) be featured for sale on rival Amazon.com’s site for $35 beginning in November and all proceeds will benefit FareStart. Fortunately, there’s no mention of CEO Satya Nadella telling woman cooks to ‘trust the system’ or use their ‘special powers’ in the kitchen while believing that good karma will make their dinner will come out just right.

This Friday marks the 25th anniversary of Pike Brewing. Owners Charles and Rose Finkel are throwing – a parade – starting at 5:30p at Copperworks Distillery followed by a big brew-filled bash with oysters, multiple food stations, live music and, of course – specialty beer. Tickets can be purchased for $40 from Brown Paper Tickets and space is limited.