Red Carpet: Free For All

By now the excitement for Valentine's Day (8 days) and the Virtually Groundbreaking People's Choice Award Show (12 days) should be mounting.  We've covered a lot of ground this week, including ideas ranging from mail bags to mail boxes; from cookies to Tafffy Apple Salad and a hundred scrumptious desserts in between; and from Valentine's activities to other award winning (but cost efficient) ways of recognizing your loved ones. 

Tomorrow I'll ask you to see red once more as we put put the finishing touches on Valentine's Day and the award show.

Today, a minor departure from the format you've grown used to this week.  It's Free For All Friday and, while I do have two topics to get us going this morning, they are not neatly divided - one valentine's day, one award show.

The first topic is an outgrowth of feedback from all of you.  Yesterday Brian commented on the countless yummy recipes shared by highlowaha readers and casually mentioned how nice it would be to create a Highlowaha cookbook.  Within minutes I received emails from three readers supporting Brian's idea and explaining that they too would like to own a copy.

Tera, a loyal Highlowaha reader, is a woman of action.  Not only did she agree a cookbook was a great idea, but she volunteered right there on the spot to coordinate the cookbook for us.  That's what  I love about this community of ours.  We truly are a community - each person, using his/her talents to chip in and make this blog more than it could ever be if I was working alone.  Powerful.  Very powerful.  I hope you 

feel it too.

So... the first Free For All topic I'd like to raise, for the good of the order, is Highlowaha's first edition of a cookbook.  What should the contents be?  Only recipes that have been shared on our blog to date or any and all favorite recipes of Highlowaha readers?   Should it include all the Snack Throw Down and Olympic recipes?  What about photos?  Do we want the cookbook to contain pictures of all the cookies featured on the blog, to date, or is the cookie and icing recipe enough?  Tell us what you think!

Second.  Valentine's Day is a week from tomorrow.  We've given some air time this week to thoughtful treats for friends, teachers, neighbors, and colleagues, but so far little attention has been given to creative gift ideas for our ultimate valentines - husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, or fiances.  Tell us about the best gift you ever gave or received for Valentine's Day or what you've got cooking for this year.

Below is a picture of a remanent of my gift for Richard last year (he kept it, which I think is kind of cool)...

I covered the old paint can with red felt and ribbon.  Once decorated, I filled it with all things necessary to, "Paint the Town Red."  We had reservations at a hotel Murder Mystery Dinner party, cocktails before, coffee after, and a small serving of chocolate covered strawberries. 

That's it for me.  Feel free to post a different Free For All topic, of your interest, or comment on one of mine.  Oh, wait.  One more thing.  For added fun, search the graphic at the top of the page for as many valentine-related words as you can find.

Signing off until tomorrow...