Food. Wine. Friends.

In that order for the evening.

First, food.

Valentine’s Day voluntary potluck tradition at the office continues under my watch. I haven’t heard much discussion of who is bringing what this year, which usually mean that table in our tiny break room is going to be PACKED with stuff. It always happens that way.

All I know is Celeste is bringing a chocolate cream pie. And I just put my champagne brie fondue in the fridge.

I stopped at home to hunt down a fondue recipe before I went grocery shopping. Brandon, recovering from a mini strep throat (poor baby), on day 3 of his vacation week (bastard), went with me to the store.

Shopping hungry was never a good idea in the first place. But shopping hungry after not having really eaten anything much for 2 days was a really, REALLY bad idea.

“Let’s just get a rotisserie chicken” turned out to be a basket full of ingredients for 3 dinners–Von’s fantastic stompin’ steakhouse chilli in sourdough bowl, homemade Chef’s salad, and cheese quesadillas.

I made the quesadillas…which we effectively dunked into a little bowl of chilli. The Chef will have to make her salad another day.

Now, wine.

Only one cup of champagne–well, it’s the cheap spumante, but whatever–is used in the recipe for the aforementioned fondue. The rest of it has to go somewhere, right?

I WISH I could make it all go somewhere. But I can only handle a glass this night.

After the kind of day I had, this little glass is perfect to cap the day off. Crazy, crazy, crazy, I tell you! Well, our big summit is only around the corner. What else are a couple of marketing girls to do!

My boss lady is getting sicker by the second and that stubborn crazy lady won’t take the day off. I swear to god instead of a Valentine, I’m going to get her some chicken soup tomorrow.

You know, nothing says BFF like donning a biohazard mask to deliver fresh chicken noodle soup to her desk. [ETA: She’s out of the count today. Good for her. And for us!]

And finally, friends.

I have made a few new ones recently from all sorts of different places. First up is Lori, the travel specialist and sister-in-law to my friend Emily. Lori arranged our trip, got us a great deal, and it was so painless. I promise to plug her shamelessly here. So, if y’all want to travel in grand style or on a budget, give Lori a call. Okay?

Then at Emily’s wedding, we sat with Brenda who is currently traveling through California. A former teacher and a current traveling writer and consultant, she reminds me a lot of Olaina. She has a blog and a writing center. So check both out.

And finally, a brand new friend made contact over email a few days ago. He shared his thoughts on my Mother’s Day piece I wrote for Thai-Blogs. As it turns out, not only he is a Thai living in the U.S., but he has just started a blog on his life and food, his career and passion. He said that it’s destiny that bring people together. Sure enough, it is.

After all, his Thai nickname is House.

Yes. I am serious.

ETA: Stumbled upon the blog of the photographer who did our Big Gala for the past few years, Vernon.  I figured I’d add him here too.

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