I had a very unproductive weekend.

Saturday: Went to Blacksburg, couldn’t score VT tickets. Ended up drinking beer and eating wings, then taking a nap.

Sunday: Went to Lowe’s, bought pegboard to organize the shed. Opened shed doors, stared at complete mess inside shed, went inside and took a nap.

Okay, at least there was the cake. I feel as if I did accomplish at least one thing: I figured out the mystery behind the Cheerwine Cake recipe and produced a pretty delicious cake. One problem: Couldn’t find the Cheerwine. But I’ll get back to that later.

Every Cheerwine Cake recipe I could find on the Internet failed to specify exactly how to bake the cake part. It called for a box of Devil’s Food Cake, one cup of soda and a dash of almond extract. But no word on whether you add all the eggs, oil and water as instructed on the back of the cake box, too. It was an important question, because with too much or too little liquid the cake could turn out wrong. And eggs are a leavening agent, so I couldn’t imagine leaving them out.

Now I see that blog reader Deb was smart enough to go to the Cheerwine Web site and find the specific instructions. I, however, was without a computer this weekend so I had to lead my friend through my search over the phone. We ended up finding a recipe for Coca-Cola chocolate cake that said to substitute the cup of soda for whatever water is called for on the back of the box.

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On my way into the grocery store on Sunday, I saw them: the Boy Scouts with the popcorn.
Our pharmacist’s son was the one selling and we figured it’s a good cause, so we went home with a can of toffee/peanut popcorn just in time for this week, which kicks off National Popcorn Poppin’ Month!

The truth is, my husband doesn’t really like popcorn. Something about things getting stuck in his teeth and in his throat. The bottom line is that when we go to the movies, I get the bag of popcorn aaaaall to myself and he keeps his hands away. Which suits me just fine.

When I was a kid, my mother had some hideous orange plastic popcorn popper with a little built-in dish on top where you melted butter and let it drip down into the snack. I recall it being such a pain in the butt to pull the thing out and make the popcorn that we hardly ever had homemade popcorn at my house.

Maybe that’s why it was all the more exciting that one neighbor always handed out popcorn balls on Halloween. We’d always rush on past all the other houses in the neighborhood in an effort to get to the popcorn ball house before all the popcorn balls had been handed out. Then we’d double back.

Come to think of it, October really is an appropriate month to celebrate popcorn, not just because of popcorn balls. It’s the time to cuddle up on the couch — not recoil from your sweaty sweetie and the wooly upholstery — to watch a movie. Preferrably a scary movie!

Thanks to The Popcorn Board, I’ve got a few recipes for jazzing up an ordinary bowl of popcorn. If you have any popcorn memories or recipes yourself, let’s hear them!

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If you have a passion for cheese and wine (and really, who doesn’t?) you may want to plan a trip to Villa Appalaccia Winery in Floyd on Oct. 11 or 12 for a unique tasting event.

The winery will add a sampling of 15 cheeses for a special wine tasting that weekend, including a comparison of Virginia-made Tallegio cheese to its Italian counterpart.

The cheese samples will range from soft to firm to dry, and a different wine will be paired with each. As the winery’s Web site points out, most wine and cheese tastings feature cheeses commonly found in the grocery store, but sampling fresh-made artisian cheese makes this a special event.

I know that while I am fond of my everyday cheeses (even on a weight-loss program I still find ways to enjoy a little muenster and smoked mozzarella) it would be great to sample something unusual, learn how cheese is made, and how it pairs with various wines.

The tasting costs $15 per person. Reservations are required by Oct. 6 so the winery will have the right amount of cheese for each taster. Click here to learn more.

Now, if you prefer your cheese melted on top of bread or a tasty pizza (and really, who doesn’t?) then Villa Appalaccia can hook you up the following weekend, Oct. 18 and 19, with focaccia and pizzas baked in its two brick ovens. See the Web site for directions and more details.

Last night at 9:30 p.m., my in-laws came by on their way home from my sister-in-law’s house with the object of my desire: the chest freezer.

We bought the freezer from Sarah because, as I continue to collect bags of frozen tomatoes and freezer paper-clad venison roasts, my regular old freezer keeps getting smaller and smaller. Upon returning from the grocery store lately, it’s been a feat of sheer genius just to wedge in a few more Lean Cuisines and a package of burger.

Just opening the kitchen freezer at times lately has been a dangerous proposition. Flying pork ribs feel pretty much like a big rock hitting the toes. And an overstuffed freezer can tax the appliance and affect the quality of your foods.

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In the news this week: McDonald’s struggle to decide, amid concerns that the dollar value menu is not generating enough income, whether the double cheeseburger should go up in price or become the double burger, sans cheese.

Obviously, they face a considerable dilemma. Customers are going to notice if the price goes up and they are most assuredly going to notice if the burger comes without cheese. I know I would! Cheese me!

But they certainly aren’t the only restaurant chain or food producer that’s feeling the heat from the puttering economy. TIME magazine reports: “Soaring commodity and fuel prices are driving up costs for manufacturers; faced with a choice between raising prices (which consumers would surely notice) or quietly putting fewer ounces in the bag, carton or cup (which they generally don’t) manufacturers are choosing the latter.”

For example, TIME says, some Kellogg’s cereal boxes have shrunk by 2.4 percent, the Wrigley’s 17-stick PlenTPak is now the 15-stick Slim Pack and Tropicana’s OJ containers are going from 96 ounces to 89.

I haven’t really noticed any smaller containers at the grocery store, but then again I have not specifically been looking for them. Maybe that goes to show that a lot of consumers aren’t going to raise a stink if the boxes or bags are a couple of ounces shy. On the other hand, I sure as heck have noticed the prices creeping up.

What do you all think? Have you noticed any shrinking food, and do you think smaller containers are fairer than higher prices?

News of the weird from the BBC: an unidentified chicken in Cornwall, England has laid an egg that is four times the size of a normal chicken egg.

The egg, which was found at Julie and David Hewitt’s farm, weighs 8 ounces and measures 8 inches in circumference.

If this is for real, then one of the Hewitts’ 30,000 chickens has been working overtime. The couple told the BBC that they aren’t sure which one of their chickens actually laid the egg. No comment on how one would go about determining that….is one chicken walking funny?

Oh wait, I said NO COMMENT. Sorry.

This does make me think, however, about my recent infatuation with farm fresh eggs. I’m pretty sure that as long as I can get my hands on country eggs, I’ll never buy grocery store eggs again.

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Here you see the latest new product from McCormick, the spice company. It’s a “crusting blend” made with panko bread crumbs.

The blends come in three flavors: French onion, pepper and herb; Italian herb and cheese and garlic, lemon and rosemary.

The blends are used for creating a tasty crust on chicken, fish, pork or beef. I pried mine open and took a wiff and it smelled pretty good.

Since I’ve been covering food, I’ve noticed that the McCormick folks always seem to be riding the wave of the latest trend in spices. I know that’s their job, but I have grown to appreciate the way they try to bring gourmet spice options to the grocery store at a fairly affordable price for everyday cooks.

First, they had the smoked paprika everyone’s using. Then, they introduced a line of gourmet salts and salt blends. I have some of their French grey salt and Mediterranean spiced sea salt in my cabinet at home.

Panko is an extremely popular breading ingredient these days, so I’m not surprised to see this product. I do think that at 6.5 oz., the containers are a little small. How many chicken breasts do you suppose that’ll coat?

When I tasted a pinch of the Italian herb and cheese, I noticed that it is quite pungent. Perhaps one could mix the crusting blend with a little plain panko to stretch it further.

If anyone tries one of these blends, please let us know what you think!

My big sister, Kim, called me on Saturday with a question.

She was in her grocery store in Spartanburg, South Carolina looking for the ingredients she would need to make a cake she’d found a recipe for in her local paper.

Kim’s a sucker for anything key lime, so when she saw the recipe for Key Lime Cake, she was all over it. Since it actually turns out green in color, it also seemed like an appropriate treat to make for her co-workers just before St. Patty’s Day and Easter.

But Kim had a question. She couldn’t find key lime juice at her store and wanted to know if I thought she could just use lime juice instead.

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Happy Chinese New Year!
According to my friend and editor, Kathy Lu, today is traditionally the day to make and eat Chinese dumplings or potstickers.
Kathy’s father is Chinese and her mother is from Taiwan, so she remembers her mom going through this long, arduous process of making dumplings from scratch in her childhood kitchen.
Kathy says her mom started with flour and water for the dough, and the consistency had to be just right so it didn’t fall apart when the dumplings were boiled.
After the dough is ready, it has to be rolled out in individual little rounds, then stuffed with a mixture of ground pork, scallions, ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil. Other meats can be used or vegetarian dumplings can be made with cabbage, mushrooms and other veggies.
Because it is such a time-consuming process, Kathy’s mom used to make hundreds of the things at once and freeze whatever wasn’t immediately eaten.

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Even if I wanted to ignore this dark chocolate peanut butter and banana peanut butter, I couldn’t.
It’s been turning up in some unexpected places.

Of course, I wouldn’t voluntarily choose to ignore any kind of peanut butter because it’s probably one of my favorite flavors, particularly when incorporated into a delicious peanut butter cookie or peanut butter pie. Mmmmmm.

I just don’t understand people who don’t like peanut butter — like my husband. What’s the deal?

The P.B. Loco Dark Chocolate Duo and a jar of Sunland Banana Peanut Butter Spread turned up in my mailbox a couple of weeks ago. But after sampling the two and sharing them with some co-workers, I shoved the jars in my desk drawer and temporarily forgot about them.
That’s what a busy holiday schedule makes me do.

But then, this weekend, I was wandering through the grocery store looking for queso dip ingredients when I passed a table and a woman offering samples of…you guessed it, chocolate and banana peanut butter.

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We’ve talked turkey and swapped recipes, so now it’s time to settle on the menu for Thanksgiving and head out to the grocery store. What will be on your table on Turkey day?

Here’s my menu:
Brined, roasted turkey with giblet gravy
Mom’s Thanksgiving stuffing
Mashed potatoes
Green bean casserole
Sweet potato casserole
Grandma’s Darn Good Salad
Cranberry sauce
Crescent rolls
Pumpkin pie
Apple-Cranberry pie

The house was cold, I had a half-day off and I hadn’t cooked a nice dinner for my husband in weeks.
This Monday, after returning from the second marathon wedding weekend in a row, I decided to go to the grocery store, pick out a nice roast and haul out my Lodge cast iron Dutch oven.
I’m so glad I did.
After years of trying to get a crockpot roast to turn out exactly the way we like it– juicy and tender and falling apart– I just couldn’t get it to work. Then I purchased my Dutch oven during a sale at Northwest Hardware, and I’ll never go back.
I’m sure crockpot roasts turn out very nicely if you do it right, but I cooked the darn things for 8 hours and still didn’t get the consistency I liked.

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In case you were wondering if I have fallen off the face of the Earth, I have not. I am, however, personally responsible for killing several trees because of the amount of Kleenex I have burned through in the past two days at home with a nasty cold.
I haven’t had a cold like this in years. Something tells me the frigid, torrential downpours on Ocracoke Island this past weekend and my friend’s wedding ON the beach IN the cold drizzle have something to do with this particular illness rocketing past basic crud into out-of-this-world crud. But I’m happy she’s happy.
I am not too happy, however, about the quality of my eating these past two days. If I have to ingest one more cup of tea or bowl of ramen noodle soup, I may go insane. This is coming from someone who loves tea and soup. But not being able to make a delicious, homemade pot of soup makes a big difference.
This afternoon, if I can muster enough motivation, I may run to the grocery store and pick up enough ingredients to try out a butternut squash soup recipe that’s running with my column tomorrow. And I’ll try to check back in later today or tomorrow morning with those extra winter squash recipes I promised.
If you see me in the store today, run…do not walk…away from me as fast as you can.
If you’ve got a tried and true recipe to combat the winter crud, I’m listening!