Just nod if you can hear me. Is there anyone at home?
Wondering who out there is reading this blog…. aside from Jeff. Jeff and his wife, regulars at VOLT, mentioned to me one night a blog entry that I had published and deleted within two minutes. I said to Jeff, “that’s insane. You must have been online the second I hit publish because I deleted it immediately.” No one could have known. Except for Jeff. “Crazy,” I said. “Yes - crazy,” he said.

Oh, and the happiest group of people I have ever met who dined with us in the Conservatory on New Years Eve. They actually said, “Hey the blog ROCKS.” Hi group! I hope the horse is well. On my top 10 list for 2008 - you are #1 for the happiest group I have met in the Conservatory. I actually got close to a standing ovation for dimming the lights. Very cool. Thanks.

Which brings me to the topic of the “Kitchen blog.” I just discovered the kitchen blog myself so I wanted to give a heads up to at least Jeff and the happy group that if you look under the “Links” on the right of the page there is an entry that says “Kitchen Blog.” There’s some fun blogs from the kitchen and the funniest picture that I have seen was just posted. So make sure to check out words from the kitchen or sign up for email alerts there.

The first Saturday of every month, Downtown Frederick Partnership organizes festivities around a theme. This month, on January 3rd, the theme is Downtown Frederick Gives Back.

Downtown merchants have been asked to choose their favorite nonprofit to give back to during the evening. We are pairing with Share Our Strength, a national organization working to make sure no child in America grows up hungry. This is an organization that Bryan has worked closely with throughout his career and one that we believe is a perfect fit for us.

Just before Thanksgiving, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley held a press conference to announce a partnership with SOS with the hopes to make Maryland the first state to end childhood hunger within its borders.

We are donating a portion of proceeds on our lunch and dinner tasting menus to SOS:

For every lunch tasting menu we will donate $3 ($6 with wine pairing).
For every dinner tasting menu ordered we will donate $5 ($10 with wine pairing).

Normally reserved for only the Chef’s Dining Room, our tasting menus will be offered in all of the dining rooms for this special occasion.

To make this evening successful for all of the nonprofits, please make it a night out with friends, filled with shopping, cocktailing and dinner.

For a complete list of what all of the downtown merchants are offering please follow this link