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I love silly press releases. Nothing brightens up a sleepy Monday morning (or in my case, a sleepy Tuesday that feels like a Monday) like a ridiculous notion disguised as a good story idea.

This morning, I came in to a gem titled "Diners bring home doggy bags more often during the recession." It came from a public relations representative who works for a New York restaurant called Brasserie. This is my favorite part:

Even Brasserie’s Park Avenue clientele is now taking home the last few morsels of steak frites that would have normally been tossed.  Once considered taboo, extending a meal to the next day is the recession-friendly choice for getting the most bang for your buck when dining out.

When and where have doggie bags been taboo? I guess in the kind of hoity toity restaurants where customers couldn't be bothered to either eat their entire chunk of prime rib or be responsible enough to save part of it and bring it home for a great steak 'n' eggs breakfast the next day. I understand, however, that some diners are traveling and it's not convenient to have leftovers on the road.

Still, I have always been a fan of saving part of my restaurant meals and taking them home. Even if it's just a section or two of a quesadilla, it makes for a good snack later on. My husband and I have a habit of eating half our sandwiches when we eat out and taking the other half home for later. I firmly believe it has saved us both money and calories.

What do you all think? Is it tacky to take a doggie bag home from a fancy restaurant? Am I being too hard on this poor PR person?

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend so far. Last night, my hubby and I enjoyed a big dinner of steak, baked potatoes and pancetta-wrapped asparagus. It's Dad's recipe, and boy was it delicious.

To try it yourself, lightly steam fresh asparagus spears and toss them in olive oil with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. You will need a slice of pancetta (almost as thick as a typical slice of bacon -- if you get it too thin it will fall apart) for every four asparagus spears. Wrap four spears in each slice of pancetta around the middle, then fasten securely wih a toothpick. Grill each bundle on medium heat, turning frequently, until the pancetta is evenly cooked and looks crispy.

I promise you guys will go nuts over this if you haven't tried it before. Look for pancetta in the bigger, nicer grocery store deli departments around town. I found mine at the Daleville Kroger. I am pretty sure they have it at Ukrop's and Fresh Market, as well.

By the way, tomorrow is a furlough day at the Roanoke Times so there won't be a Fridge Magnet entry. See you on Tuesday!

These flippin' bears really think they are something special because they were released by the Just Born company especially for Valentine's Day. Just Born is the crazy company that makes marshmallow Peeps.

These bears are all high-falutin because they are "chocolate mousse" flavored instead of plain marshmallow like the originals, those little yellow chicks. See how the bear on the far right can't even bother to have his picture taken? He's all rolling his eyes to the side like he has better places to be.

When I took the bears out of their package, I thought the chocolate odor was a bit contrived. Really a bit fake. I didn't bite anyone's head off about it, though. Truthfully, I don't care for Peeps.

I hope you guys and gals all get much better Valentine's Day gifts than these bears. But it was all I had to offer, so HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY with love from me and the Fridge Magnet blog.

The non-profit group Blacksburg Partnership has announced plans for a new food, wine and art festival to take place for the first time on Saturday, May 2. The event will take place at the new First and Main shopping center.

For more details about the event, head over to the New River Notebook!

Last week, I had coffee with Jackie Legg, the woman who helped start Ukrop's prepared food service more than 20 years ago.

Jackie was the one who sought out many of the recipes that are still prepared in Ukrop's central kitchen in Richmond today. She said many of those recipes came from her family and friends and have been tested and tried over the years. That's why she can't help but take it a little bit personally when she hears customers say they do not like the prepared foods at Ukrop's.

In particular, Jackie can't understand why anyone would say they can find better chicken salad than the stuff sold at Ukrop's. She wants to know where that better salad can be found in the Roanoke area, so if you have an opinion on that, share it.

As long as we are on the subject, Jackie gave me a Ukrop's cookbook that features the recipe for their chicken salad. Drum roll, please.... chicken breast, celery and mayonnaise. That's it, according to the book. But Legg says that basic recipe for chicken salad can be the beginning of an array of food creations. Here are some ideas:

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The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services would like for you to know that Virginia peanuts are safe to eat.

Today, they put out a press release saying "Virginia peanuts, because of their superior quality, are generally sold as shelled or in-shell peanuts, and these products are safe to eat. They have not been implicated in the recent recall of manufactured products using peanut paste from a single supplier."

VDACS has good reason to want people eating Virginia peanuts. According to the most recent data from the National Agricultural Statistical Service (2007), peanuts are one of the top 25 farm commodities in the state. During that year, there were 21,000 acres of peanuts harvested in our state for a total of $12 million in cash receipts.

Not to mention the fact that they are darn good. I don't think I've had a peanut I enjoyed as much as the big, jumbo salted Virginia peanuts that always show up at our house during Christmas. Ironically, the latest issue of Cultivate, the Virginia Farm Bureau magazine, features a cover story about a Prince William County couple who own a chocolate shop called Chocolaterie Wanders. They make chocolates using almost all Virginia products. Not surprisingly, one of their favorite Virginia products to incorporate into the chocolates is peanuts!

Support Virginia farmers and don't turn down those peanuts.

Saturday is Valentine's Day, which means many couples will be making a beeline for their favorite restaurants. Other couples will be staying as far away from their favorite restaurants as possible in an effort to avoid the crazy crowds.

If you're staying home to make a romantic dinner, I'd love to hear what you'll be cooking. I think I'll stick with that plan this year, but I'm still trying to decide what to make. It might be a good night for a big hunk of red meat right off the grill.

For those of you still looking for a night on the town with your sweetie, here are a few options I've heard about:

* Metro! in Roanoke: Valentine's Day specials in addition to the regular menu
* 202 Market has a new City Bar lounge menu that is not Valentine's Day related. They will also have a fixed price tasting option on Saturday in addition to the regular menu.
* Tony Pope Bistro & Wine Bar: A 4-course tasting dinner, with wine, for $65 per person. Pope recently overhauled the menu and is now featuring all French bistro foods at lower prices.
* Local Roots Cafe is offering two tasting menus featuring local food. The 5-course menu is $69 per person; the 10-course option is $159 per person. Wine costs extra.
* The Isaacs Restaurant will have several appetizer and entree specials, as well as a chocolate-banana cheesecake, in addition to their regular menu options.
* Hotel Roanoke and its sister hotel, the Inn at Virginia Tech, are offering tasting menus, live music and lodging packages with sweet extras like champagne and strawberries.
* Blue 5 is offering a limited menu at $50 per person, which includes a complimentary dessert and champagne toast. Entertainment by Valerie McQueen and Friends.
* Bread Craft bakery is selling a treat box consisting of homemade marshmallows dipped in chocolate, chocolate-covered strawberries, chocolate-covered apricots and chocolate nut clusters for $10.95. Order as soon as possible.

I'm not intentionally leaving any restaurants off this list; this is just what I've heard about so far. If anyone wants to add a Valentine's special to the list or recommend a favorite romantic spot for others, feel free!

I'm guessing that while many Southern cooks have had experience with dried beans (especially pintos), we don't always keep a bag of lentils on the shelf. Personally, I never considered them an important ingredient to keep on hand. We never had lentils when I was growing up; the closest we came was Mom's split pea soup, which I surprisingly loved as a child.

I seem to be running across more and more lentil recipes these days, though, so perhaps it's time to familiarize myself a bit more with this great meat substitute.

A little background from "Food Lover's Companion": Lentils are a staple in the Middle East and India. There are three varieties of lentils, the French or European lentil, which is brownish in color and still has the seed coat on; the Egyptian lentil, a reddish-orange variety without a seed coat; and the yellow lentil. Red and yellow lentils can be harder to find than the brown variety, but I'm sure if you can't get them at the grocery store, you could find them at Mediterranean Gourmet in Grandin Village, Halal Foods on Williamson Road or one of the several world food markets in the Roanoke and New River valleys.

Lentils have an advantage over other dried seeds of legumes: they can be cooked from a rinsed state in as little as a half-hour, making them a viable option for weeknight dinners. I suspect that's why Susan Nicholson, who writes the 7-day meal planner we publish on Sundays, has been incorporating more lentils into her recipes.

The Feb. 22 meal planner will include a recipe for red lentils over rice. Like many lentil recipes I've seen, it calls for intoxicating spices like cumin and turmeric, which add nice flavor to the vegetarian dish. I also have a favorite cookbook called "High Fiber, High Flavor" by Rosemary Moon that includes several tasty lentil recipes. I'm going to share one for Armenian Soup, a spicy lentil soup sweetened with apricots and golden raisins. Hope you enjoy!

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I really cannot go on to another topic until we get some more kitchen disaster stories. The comments so far have had me laughing my butt off, with tears almost rolling down my cheeks. I'm craving more!

I find that the more I think about it, the more of my own mistakes I remember. I made an Irish soda bread a couple of years ago that looked so beautiful. But when I bit into it, it tasted like a salt lick. I really think if I'd have thrown it out in the woods, it would've attracted deer. I never did figure out what went wrong -- did it have something to do with the baking soda? I'd followed the directions perfectly and I knew the recipe wasn't wrong because it was tested and tried by someone else.

I guess this goes to show that not all recipes are correct. We put all of our trust in recipes, thinking that if we follow them to the T, they'll turn out right. Well, that isn't always the case. That's why it's important to taste your dish as you go along (if it isn't a baked good). Don't be afraid to experiment, like Other John did with his spelt biscuit/scone/cookie concoction!

Keep on sending those hilarious stories. They help beginner cooks to understand that mistakes will happen in the kitchen no matter how long you've been cooking. Oh, and Michelle, that picture with yesterday's post is of someone's blueberry cookies gone badly awry.

www.cookingbytheseatofmypants.com

We've all done it -- tried to use skim milk in place of buttermilk, failed to let the cake cool long enough before removing it from the pan.

A wonderful conversation with two readers yesterday got me thinking about these kitchen disasters. I have always wanted to believe that the more times a cook messes up, the better a cook she becomes. Besides learning experiences, kitchen failures can also be moments of hilarity that are never forgotten in a family. Or never lived down.

I fail in my kitchen on a pretty regular basis (just ask my husband). Only two weeks ago, while trying to make potato nests for my Super Bowl story, I turned out hash browns instead. But one of my favorite food disaster stories is when my pal Stacy tried to make her first bundt cake. It came out a steaming pile of... well, cake and apples. Yes, Stacy, I'm bringing this up again --but only to urge all of my readers to cough up their most embarassing kitchen disaster story.

You know you've done it -- fess up!