It's 7:30 in the morning . . .

. . . and I am getting ready to drive to Staunton. Big WMRA community doings (fingers crossed, pleased) hopefully in the works.

But no early morning take-off is going to stop WMRA's maniacal blogger! Just, perhaps, tempt her to blog quickly by borrowing heavily.

But first, one note of business, or "bidness," as Flannery O'Connor refers to it in Sally Fitzgerald's fine collection of her letters, The Habit of Being (which, incidentally, is the one book I'd want with me if I were stuck on a dessert island with just one book.)

Call for Essays: Please consider submitting a Civic Soapbox essay geared for the new year. What are your hopes, worries, plans for 2010? Or perhaps, what changed in your own life or your view of life in general during 2009? Serious, fun, autobiographical or contemplative; to use a famous phrase from a former president: Bring 'em on!


Now, on to the borrowing.

I found a wonderful profile of NPR's famous and fabulous Kitchen Sisters, which I enjoyed mightily and thought you might as well. To tempt you into clicking on the link and reading further, I've transcribed the first two paragraphs below. . .

Kitchen Sisters explore obscure culinary worlds in 'Hidden Kitchens' (latimes.com)
The public radio hosts seek out little-known food rituals.
By Jessica Gelt,

Food brings people together, just as much as a lack of it can tear them apart. What we cook, how we cook it and when we eat it says as much about ourselves as our body language and our choice of friends. How communities come together through food and the richness of the resulting culinary traditions is of particular interest to Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva, better known as National Public Radio's "Kitchen Sisters."

Since 2004, the women have been searching for and chronicling cooking and eating rituals in unexpected, under-the-radar places across the country. The stories began airing in 2005 as "Hidden Kitchens" on NPR's "Morning Edition" and spawned an eponymous book. Now with the winter holidays and their attendant family meals upon us, the women admit that, try as they might, they just can't get away from food. It informs nearly every project they touch.

If I've tempted you to read further, here's the link.