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Blog entry by Heather Froeschl

At the Roanoke Civic Center today, Barack Obama told a story of how he couldn’t get his favorite, sweet potato pie, at a campaign munchie stop in Ohio. He explained that he did get some coconut cream pie and that the owner of the restaurant was a tried and true Republican whose business wasn’t doing all that well. Obama tried the coconut pie and encouraged the owner to try the Democrats for a change.

When he was hungry, going through Ohio, he stopped and asked where the best place to get pie was. How about here in Roanoke? Where’s the best place to get a piece of pie? And do they have Obama’s favorite? Sweet potato pie?

Blog entry by Heather Froeschl today.

Cold germs are already making the rounds in our office, so when Lindsey asked me to pinch hit for her today I immediately thought: Chicken Soup! It's cooler out today anyway and with winter just around the corner I figured a take on the traditional home remedy might be in order.

I asked around the newsroom to see who actually followed this age old advice and found most of us do. Though we go at it in different ways. Some of us, like me, prefer to just pop open a can of ready made chicken soup, the favorites include: chicken flavored Ramen noodles, Campbell's Homestyle, and Knorr's chicken broth. I never feel up to cooking when I'm sick, so give me a convenient way to do it. I'll never live up to my grandmother's homemade chicken vegetable soup anyway. The woman used home grown veggies and freshly dressed birds! I'm just not that domestic, try as I might, especially when feeling less than good.

One co-worker let on that he visits his favorite Chinese restaurant and gets some won-ton soup to go. Good idea! One of our dedicated staff does make her own chicken soup though, using her mom's recipe and only cheating a little by picking up a roasted bird from Kroger. I bow down to her!

It may be a folk tradition but science does admit there may be something to sipping hot soup, in particular, chicken. It is said to be an anti-inflammatory, which is something every cold sufferer can appreciate. The feelings of nurture elicited from a hearty bowl of chicken noodle or fragrant cup of broth are sure to soothe us almost as if dear Mom were near by to take care of us. It's a pampering gesture to make for yourself.

Some other things to ingest upon feeling a cold coming on, or to take in as you are getting the needed bed rest: ginger tea, hot black tea with honey, hot black currant juice, hot lemonade with honey, and hot ginger drink (recipe to follow). The hotness might be the key& soothing and steamy but there are medicinal qualities to the other ingredients. Look here:

Here's a nice page that offers other tips: eating.health.com/2008/01/30/cold-fighting-foods/

So does chicken soup really help? However you can take in more fluids and soothe yourself to sleep is sure to be beneficial. And it tastes mm, mm good too!

Recipe for Hot Ginger Drink:

1 or 2 teaspoons of honey and lemon juice

1 cup ginger ale

Heat in microwave and sip until gone (or you feel better).

I've been a baking fiend these days. I made the oatmeal-raisin cookie recipe that I posted on the blog last week, and they were delicious. They taste pretty healthy, too, because they don't contain a huge amount of butter or oil. They're almost like a breakfast bar.

Last night, I whipped up two loaves of Amish cinnamon bread using the starter my mom gave me about 10 days ago. I'll bet a bunch of you know exactly what I'm talking about -- the friendship bread starter that you babysit for days, then separate out other starters before making your loaves? It's like a food chain letter. I think we need more of those.

We're heading into full-on baking season now, and as I mentioned before, cookies are always a great option. I've discovered from your responses so far that many folks prefer oatmeal-raisin to chocolate chip. That blew me away. I expected it to be the exact opposite.

I'm still looking for some more unusual cookie recipes, though. We've talked snickerdoodles and lace cookies and molasses cookies. But does anyone know how to make lemon coolers or cookies filled with fruit jam or spread? If you've got a great cookie recipe that you have yet to share, please send it in. I'd love to include it in my column next week, but the deadline is looming!

The Painted Elephant was a bar and restaurant attached to the Comfort Inn in Covington. I think regulars at the bar (hey, not many bar options out that way) called it "the goat."

At any rate, I don't have a lot of fond memories from working at The Painted Elephant. I was just out of high school, it was my first restaurant job and one of the bartenders made it his personal goal to turn every shift I worked into hell.

However, in addition to my first crush on a line cook (when you work in restaurants through college, these things happen), I also discovered that hiding on the otherwise not-memorable menu was a sandwich I kept craving and craving. It was a grilled vegetable sub, which seems pretty simple but has never been duplicated in a restaurant I've visited since.

This sub started with slices of squash grilled on the grill. They served as the base, or "meat" of the sandwich. On top were sauteed mushrooms, peppers and onions. And it was all topped with melted provolone cheese and fresh lettuce and tomato. Simple enough to make at home, probably. But I've never had a veggie sub or sandwich that good in a restaurant since.

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Fridge Magnet is currently caught in some weird limbo between our old blog server and our new blog server. We're switching servers because the old one has been very slow and cantankerous lately. As a result of the switch, the Fridge Magnet URL has changed slightly. It is at BLOGS.ROANOKE.COM/RTBLOGS/FRIDGEMAGNET/.

We're supposed to have a "patch" of sorts that is automatically diverting you to the new URL even if you type in the old one or have the old one bookmarked. But, technology sometimes doesn't work the way it should. So please do me a favor and CHANGE your bookmarks. And when you leave a comment on the blog, please make sure you're at blogs.roanoke.com/rtblogs/fridgemagnet/.

A few comments are stuck in limbo and we're trying to push those through as best we can. But if you make a comment and you don't see it approved within the day, please consider posting it again on the correct site address.

Thanks for your patience!

Unless you've been in hibernation for the past few months, you are painfully aware that the economy is in a frightening tailspin.

Yesterday, I found out that a dear friend of mine was laid off from his state job. He has a wife, two little girls and a new home in Roanoke that he recently transferred to from Staunton. My heart goes out to that family and the others who are beginning to see real, tangible effects in their own lives. It's getting closer to home every day.

The purpose of this is not to depress everybody on a Friday. It's just to point out that lots of us are probably noticing higher grocery bills and thinking hard about how often we order take-out, go out for cocktails or treat ourselves to a nice dinner.

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Okay, folks, it's time for you to declare -- Not whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, an Obama fan or a McCain supporter. It is time for you to declare your cookie allegiance.

I'll go first: oatmeal raisin. Hands down. If forced to pick a second and third choice, it would probably be preacher cookies and white chocolate-macadamia nut cookies.

October is National Cookie Month. But if ever there was a food that could support an entire year of tributes, it is the versatile and delightful cookie. Three hundred and sixty-five different cookies could easily be named for every day of this proposed National Cookie Year. And then some.

In fact, if I started naming cookie types now, it would probably take me about as long as it took Forrest Gump's pal, Bubba, to name all the shrimp concoctions he knew.

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You're looking at a picture of my dinner last night: Thick-cut pork chops grilled with McCormick's Cinnamon Chipotle Rub and finished off with Wertz's apple-cinnamon barbecue sauce.

A natural accompaniment to this dinner, of course, was sauteed apples. I chose to use two Mutsu apples that I purchased from a farmer in downtown Blacksburg on Saturday. The Japanese Mutsu (also known as Crispin) is good for cooking and needs no sugar, so it's ideal for diabetics.

On the side: Birds Eye steamed, seasoned brussels sprouts. It was the first time I've used those and I was impressed by the flavor. Although I did feel a little bit guilty about the plastic tray and box I had to throw out.

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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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I've got a question for all of my readers who work in downtown Roanoke.

Since the market building closed for cleaning and renovation on Sept. 20, has it changed your lunchtime routine?

Are you eating at other restaurants you don't normally patronize? Or has it turned you off restaurant dining completely?

I would greatly appreciate your thoughts on this matter.