Smokin' Pete's at Fare Start Chef Spectular June 25

Eric teaching students at FareStart how to sew a pig stuffed pig.

We are thrilled to participate in this year's Guest Chef Spectacular put on by FareStart. It's an amazing event where all the guest chefs of the last year put out 800 "tastes" for participants roaming around gorging themselves on delightfully prepared bites.

It's also a fundraiser for this very important and awesome non-profit started in our town, but now being duplicated all over the country. We had a blast last September teaching students how to smoke a whole hog. Now we get to join some of the best chefs in Seattle for this special night.

If you haven't bought tickets, do it! You get to eat til you bust for a great cause! That's a win-win in my book.

Here is the flyer. For tickets click here.

Skewer Love Valentine's Day Dinner post on Char-Broil

**Repost from 2012****
My Valentine's Day post this year is featured on the Char-Broil Live site. The recipe is for Grilled Lamb Skewers with a Cabernet sauce, grilled Heart Pita (yes!), and a Watercress, Grilled Onion, and Chevre Salad.

Check out the full post. It was delicious. My kids and I gobbled it up and left nary a scrap for poor daddy.

As you may recall, last year, in a near full-gale storm, I grilled Heart Burgers for my kids and had to give my grill some love first. In the rainy Pacific NW, it's important to grill year-round to combat moisture and mold in our grills. So go on. Get out there and grill your honey something special!

Silence is Golden

My little DIY clip art. Here's, um, to simplicity.

Happy New Year. I mean it. I wish all of you an amazing year. I've read many of my friends posts about kicking 2014 out with gusto, but I've got to say - 2014 was lovely for me. So much so that I simply wish 2015 to be a continuation of 2014, or the next phase of what was started in 2014.

That means I'm...

• Writing more (working on polishing picture books and continuing to write my YA novel)

• Launching our second catering & wholesale brand (Fresh Betty, here she comes!)

• Growing Smokin' Pete's BBQ catering (or in the case of 2014, keeping up with the growth)

• Hiring and training good staff to match the growth (training being my weakness, I intend to put more time and energy into this crucial part of owning a business)

• Working out a lot more (yes!) and eating mindfully (repeat after me: ribs are not a snack)

That's a whole lot of more on my plate, a plate piled high and spilling over already. It means I have to make some concessions. I don't know if it's possible to do less housework. Not unless I want to start knitting dog hair sweaters, and, ew, no, but I won't feel guilty about hiring help in that department.

I also am taking at least a year off from blogging for Char-broil. I've loved working with them - they really treat their bloggers well - but I fell behind on assignments, or was rushing to get them in on time - and that's not my usual modus operandi.

I'll also be posting less on She-Smoke this year. Yeah, I know, if wasn't like I posted a ton last year, but I need my already too-spare writing time for fiction projects. I have some cookbook ideas simmering on the back burner (snort, giggle, slurp...mmmm, scribble, scribble, scribble), but this year is the year of the novel, (and picture books, and the poetry I write when I'm stuck on the first two).

Hmmm, I didn't mean for this post to be a whole New Year's resolution thing, but the bulleted list really makes it official. Hello 2015.

And so, to circle somewhat forcefully back to the title of this post, when I'm quiet, it means I'm working on good things.

May your year be filled with good things too.