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Those of you who took part in the Alejandro's expansion discussion need to check out the comments section on that posting from last week. Owner Lisa Nucamendi posted a lengthy and informative comment on their plans for the second location, with a promise that they do not intend to let their original concept get watered down.
Check out what she has to say.

In other news, this past weekend was an exciting one in downtown Roanoke, what with the Taubman Museum opening and the Roanoke Arts Festival. But there was one kind of art on display as part of the festival that many folks would not immediately expect to see: culinary art!

The chefs and students at the Culinary Institute at Virginia Western held an open house on Saturday with complimentary hors d'oevres and cooking demonstrations. I stopped by for a while and ended up staying a little longer than I had anticipated because I locked my keys in my car. What a dolt.

While there, I sampled some roast beef on crostini with blue cheese topping, vegetable pizza, shrimp scampi and other finger foods. I also caught a demonstration by one student who showed the crowd how to whip up an easy chicken Marsala. She rolled chunks of chicken in seasoned flour, then sauteed them in butter until they were done and set them aside. At that point, she added more butter to sautee mushrooms, then deglazed the pan with Marsala wine and chicken broth. At the end, she tossed the chicken back in and let the sauce reduce to thicken. It was quite tasty.

In all, the food was not bad. But I think it was the chance to show off that awesome new facility up on Henry Street to the general public that was most valuable. A great addition to the festival.

We always thought Mrs. Claus just stayed at home, ironing her husband's red suit and bringing his slippers to the fireplace when he got home from a hard day at work, right? Of course, it is to be assumed that she's a great cook, considering how jolly and round the Clauses both are. But did you know that she's actually making money off her recipe collection using a clever mass e-mail technique?

I'm not even sure if Santa knows about this. Maybe she's doing it and saving up all her money so she can buy her OWN sleigh and reindeer crew. Whatever the story, many of you probably remember receiving an e-mail forward around this time last year that contained a huge list of cookies. Each and every cookie name was a live link that took you to a recipe for that cookie online. I believe we talked about it and marveled over the genius of the idea.

This year, the same kind of e-mail is going out, but it contains a list of cakes. When I clicked on each cake name, it took me to a recipe. And this year I notice it always takes me to the same Web site, www.northpole.com.

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I went to lunch with a friend yesterday, and conversation turned to our Thanksgiving plans. She was much relieved to be spending the holiday at home with just her husband and daughter. It seems she's looking forward to cooking what she wants to cook how she wants to cook it and enjoying it all in a calm, quiet atmosphere.

Many of us look forward to Thanksgiving so we can reunite with all the relatives for some quality time, but to others, it just means stress and dealing with strained relationships. Apparently, my friend is one of the latter types. But she had another reason to be happy about a small Thanksgiving at home: she won't have to eat one of the two dreadful dishes her mother-in-law always insists on making.

The one she described was a Jell-O salad, which she says always comes out an unnaturally brownish color. I gathered that everyone has a helping just to appease the mom.

I've been lucky that a) I have met very few dishes I don't like, and b) we always had mostly delicious dishes during the holidays; stuff we looked forward to all year. Like my mom's broccoli casserole, which contains enough cheese to more than cancel out the health benefits of the broccoli. I do recall that Mom and Dad made oyster dressing and chestnut dressing, which I don't care for. But I wasn't required to eat it and Grandma always made traditional dressing, as well.

Am I the only one who never had to force down a nasty helping of something at Thanksgiving? Or are there others who had to bravely eat a dreadful dish every year to avoid insulting Great Aunt Edna?

Where is this day going? It's evaporating like water on a hot griddle.

I do promise you, though, that this recipe I'm about to share is worth the abbreviated blog post. Not only does it look delicious, it calls for butternut squash and apples, which are both in season now! And what better way to spice up a cool fall day than with a dash of curry?

This recipe comes from a cookbook I'm reading called "Grazing Along the Crooked Road." Stay tuned to my next Front Burner column for more information and recipes from this fascinating book.

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I had an interesting article forwarded to me yesterday from a friend. It came from The Times Online out of Great Britain. The headline: "Barack Obama's Kenyan family to celebrate by slaughtering bulls, chicken and goats."

Extremely interesting to me was the fact that Obama's paternal relatives were planning a big celebration feast even before the polls had opened in America: "Losing has never been considered in a country gripped by Obamamania for the best part of four years," wrote Times reporter Rob Crilly. "Ever since their 'lost son' was elected to the Senate, everyone has been expecting him to become president."

But this is a food blog, not a political blog. So I'm even more interested in the goat. Not to mention the four bulls, 16 chickens and "assorted sheep and goat" that were to be consumed at this event. Apparently, the writer of this story showed up at the Obama family home with a goat as a gesture of friendship, but he couldn't go out and buy just any goat. It had to be a goat with big, er... well, a well-endowed animal. Because that's a sign of good breeding in Kenya.

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Not sure if you guys and gals have heard the news yet, but Alejandro's Mexican Grill in downtown Roanoke is planning a second location -- this one on Williamson Road. The owners are placing fliers on tables at the downtown location that scream "Same founders, same taste, bigger place!!!"

I wish I could be really excited about this expansion, because I love Alejandro's and I'm so pleased that they're doing well enough to consider a second restaurant. On the other hand, I love Alejandro's and I'm worried that they are considering a second restaurant. Why? Because part of the appeal that the downtown location has is that small taqueria feel -- it's cozy, it's quaint, it's unfettered and it's different from any other Mexican restaurant we have in Roanoke.

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Nah, I'm not talking about giblets or charcuterie. Although this blog entry does include both chicken and pig!

A few food-related odds and ends have passed my desk or drifted across my mind in the past few days, so I'll take this opportunity to round them up for you.

1. Chick-fil-A has announced that their menu is entirely trans fat free. Also, on a barely related note, they have teamed up with the Kennedy Space Center complex to offer kids a four-part toy Kennedy Space Center that will come in pieces with kids' meals. Kids have to collect all four parts to build their own space station.
2. Wildflour Cafe on 4th Street in Old Southwest Roanoke is in gumbo mode. Apparently, their gumbo is so popular that they felt the need to put out a flyer saying it will be available on the first Thursday of every month between October 2008 and May 2009.

If there's any left over on Thursdays, they'll carry it on Friday, too, until it runs out. It's described as "Mike's Famous Louisiana Gumbo," brimming with chicken, sausage, shrimp, peppers and vegetables and served with authentic dirty rice and bread. Check it out. If you have, let us know if it's really that good.

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