If you can't make it on Sunday, please consider donating to the relief fund.  A complete list of participating restaurants and donation details can be found at their website www.forkthefire.org

I am so sorry. I haven't been treating you right. I love everything about you; I built you from scratch and I care about my subscribers, hits per day and ROI and all that other technogeek stuff.  I know I've been cheating on you.  I blog other places... and I know you see that.  I even post about it here on YOUR pages.  And I never got those business cards that point people right towards you.  But please don't think I don't love you anymore.  I really do and I think about you every day. 

I do have to point out to you that you are, well, a blog, and that guy I live with is a real human person.  And that I have a day job.  And a wedding business.  And a top secret project that only you and one other blog know about, but that I will let you tell the world about it soon. 

Well blog... just don't hate me.  I'm sure it will get better in the next few weeks. But I do have lots going on, including about 3,000 miles of air travel and seven nights of hotel stays in the next 10 days. But I'm bringing my camera with me so there will be pictures, and I'm moving the computer closer to the common area so I don't feel so alone when I'm blogging.  I feel enough of that when I'm driving around in my car all week.  And just because you can't break up with me, not quite yet, here is a little picture, just for you.  It's an oldie but a goodie.

xoxo,

Kate

This week is about change for your sign. Uh-oh.  Kate doesn't like change. Okay, that's not true, I just didn't know what to say to that. So much is going on in your life that you may feel a bit overwhelmed. As a matter of fact, I have been feeling a bit anxoius.  I wonder what this is all about?  Let's read on: But as your thoughts turn to your family members, you could be surprised to realize that you really want to get everyone together, spur of the moment. Well... last week we had Kyle's family over for dinner.  And most of my family lives in Texas.  Please advise. Baked cod casserole is a great way to get the benefits of white fish without the hassles of the grill. Plus, if you serve it with simple steamed broccoli, you have a homemade meal with nutrients galore. Wow, some healthy advice.  I appreciate it, though Baked cod casserole?  I think I'll just return to Sea Change if I want a fantastic cod dish.

Of course I need a roasting oven I can keep in the living room!  

Becca may be the only person on earth to love cats as much as (dare I say more than??) me. 

The traditional Febgiving toast!

The World Premiere of Cornish Gamehenge. God I love puns.  

You know it's a real party if there are commemorative menus!

Taking our turns at trying out the canned oxygen (for sale at Lunds and Byerly's) in Grapefruit flavor...  Okay, I took like 20 turns.  I really wanted to feel something, but I'm pretty sure the wine I had to drink that day was already making me feel a bit... loopy. 

This week, you've got a lot of luck in money and career matters now, but don't count your earnings and opportunity before it arrives huh?  What do you know that I don't know? Should I play the powerball?  what does that have to do with food?  . Your relationships with others will keep you functioning on a very high level. This horoscope is supposed to be about food, right? Did I click on the right button?  Make sure to reconnect with your most valued friends and family over food you make at home, or that new Vietnamese place you've been meaning to try I'm going to Sea Change with my mother and sister in law... but that's not vietnamese, or home made.  I'm really disappointed in you this week horoscope.  If you want to take the week off just let me know.  I'm very flexible with schedules. 

So in honor of my Mom, who worked really hard and sacrificed a lot to bring me into this world (story for another time) I'm giving someone a birthday present.  Because it's me, it's a food related present (I'll give you a minute to get over your shock.  Feeling better? Good.).

When I was looking around for companies and people to support this blog with awesome products to giveaway, I only looked towards companies and products I believe in.  Sadly for some of you that means I won't be giving out a life time supply of McDonald's Big Mac's anytime soon.  What it does mean is that if you trust me (and why wouldn't you) you can be pretty sure I think the products I'm sending your way are trustworthy.  Oh god, I'm so excited for this one!

This blog all started during/after my honeymoon back in October '07 when I needed something to occupy my time (because being a small business owner, owning a 117 year old house and working full time just wasn't cutting it).  One of the coolest places we stopped while on our lovefest in wine country was a little place called the St Helena Olive Oil Company.  They specialize in delicious food, and the interior of their building is like Anthropologie meets food.  GORGEOUS!  When they agreed to ship some of their delicious products to me I WAS ECSTATIC!  I'm so proud to be able to spread these amazing products with you. 

I could go on and on about how delcious the olive oil is (it is the absolute best I have had outside of the country of Italy.  AND it's fresh.  Harvested in November '09.  That's only 3 months old people.  I promise you the crap you buy at the grocery store isn't that fresh).  It's grassy and sharp and if you served it to me at your house I would snatch the bottle and run out the door leaving my personal belongings to you as payment.  The balsamic is the real deal.  Again, not the stuff you're buying at the grocery store.  It's tangy, a little sweet and is ever so slightly syrupy. And the butternut squash sauce?  We made pizzas with it.  One of the best pizzas I've ever had at home (you can see a picture here) and then we used it on pasta.  And I'm thinking tomorrow we'll use the rest for some risotto.  It's slightly sweet, with the nice bite of roasted bell peppers shining through the butternut squash flavors.

So, who wants it?

Comment below and tell me about your most memorable food experience while travelling.  Don't forget to leave your EMAIL ADDRESS in the space provided.  Comments will close on Friday, February 19 at 12pm CST and a winner will be chosen at random by Random Number Generator.  If you blog, tweet or facebook about this give away you MUST repost a link to your shout out on this blog to enter a 2nd, 3rd or 4th time.  If you do all four, four separate comments.

This week:

You have a lot on your plate this week, literally and figuratively. And this is different from every other week.... how?You've got to make personal appearances at events, oh yeah, people are always chopping at the bit to get a glampse of me and at the same time, make sure your relationships aren't left out in the cold. You may not always get along with your significant other, well, hopefully he's nice to me!  My birthday is tomorrow.  But you knew that, because you're my horoscope but there will be plenty of good food You never need to remind me there will be good food.  I eat well at some point during every week of my life. If you're dining in, try Cajun-crusted snapper fillets, which couldn't be simpler and add a subtle buttermilk flavor to the tender white fish. Cap that off with a chardonnay I'm not crazy about cajun just for the sake of cajun, but we'll see what happens.

So this is a salad my good friend Chris made at the Evolution of Food Dinner.  It was so good that I made it again the next night for dinner.  Except I don't have easy access to ordering from restaurant distributors, so I couldn't get my hands on Frisee.  But I do love me some Arugula so I went down that route instead.  I fried up two slices of bacon (though the meat of choice is the picture above was lardon/pancetta, which is more authentic and appropriate, but guess what, bacon is still delicious) and mixed the leftover bacon grease with some cider vinegar, sliced up some pears and some local aged sheep milk cheese (instead of the delicious Manchego Chris used) and it was SO good.  Definitely being added to the winter salad rotation.  I also bought a comice pear that I didn't think was ripe enough, but once I sliced into that baby, it turns out it was perfect.  Thanks for the inspiration Chris!  For more pictures and thoughts about the Evolution of Food dinner head over to my article on the Heavy Table. 

And in case you missed it last week I now have a weekly feature Foodography over at the City Pages Hot Dish Blog where you can see a glimpse into my food related activities for the week.  This week involves homemade butternut squash pizza.  Yum!