Thanks to all of you who commented and/or e-mailed me with suggestions and tips on cooking. And to give myself a little credit, I can boil an egg! (Thanks, Rich!)

Fortunately for me, I have a partner who cooks. And cooks very well! We have unbelievable dinners on the most random nights. An exotic Mediterranean chicken dish on an average, run-of-the-mill Wednesday. Or grilled salmon with a homemade dry spice rub, grilled corn on the cob, salad with strawberries and mangoes on an ordinary Monday. Last night, for instance, we had a Thai dish with tofu, peppers, zucchini (from the market downtown!), rice noodles, cilantro and Thai basil. It had just the right spice and flavor, a tough balance to strike when cooking Thai food. I’ve got leftovers for lunch.

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Next Wednesday’s Front Burner column will have a rundown of the top food news from 2007. While I was preparing to write it, I jotted down a list of all the restaurants that have opened and closed around Roanoke during the past year.

The list was much longer than I thought (and way too long to print). Surprisingly, the list of eateries that opened was about twice as long as the “closed” list. So it seems that every time a restaurant closes around here, two more open to take its place.

Maybe this is why we’ve been lucky enough to see an increase in the diversity of cuisine around town. We have three Thai places, three Indian places, a Caribbean/Creole joint, three new barbecue eateries, a handful of sushi places and much more.

I’m sure I didn’t come close to thinking of every single restaurant that moved in or out of Southwest Virginia this year, and that’s where you come in. Tell me what I forgot. And while you’re at it, tell me which new restaurant you think is the best of the bunch! Or at least the most beautiful, or the most likely to succeed…

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