CHEESESLAVE

2009 was an insanely busy year for me. Last Christmas, in 2008, I launched Real Food Media, the first and only blog network focused on traditional and slow food.

It was a year of growth and a lot of hard work. There were many weeks and months of 16-18 hour days and working every single weekend. There’s still a ton of work ahead of me in the new year but I’m looking forward to taking a moment tonight to toast how far we’ve come this year. (I’ll be toasting from the Lost Pines Resort, just outside of Austin, Texas.) Thanks to all of you guys for reading and commenting and for supporting the mission of real food!

All my life, I have loved shortbread cookies. I usually buy Walker brand, from Scotland, which are, thankfully, still made with real butter. I love the sandy texture, the sweet taste.

But most of all, I love the butter. Butter is not only delicious, it’s also very good for you.

Someone once told me I should change the name of this blog from CHEESESLAVE to BUTTERSLAVE. It’s a tough call. I love them both.

I’m excited to announce the winner of the Cultures for Health Excalibur Dehydrator Giveaway.

If you didn’t win, don’t feel bad. You can still get free shipping on any dehydrator, plus Julie is throwing in a free Greek yogurt starter culture!

This Christmas, I’m going home to Texas. First to Dallas to visit my parents, and then we’re all going on a road trip, 3 kids in tow, down to Austin. We’ll be getting our fill of Texas comfort food from my childhood: migas and Texas BBQ, pecan prailines, chili, quesadillas, and chicken fried chicken with fried okra, mashed potatoes and cornbread.

Nothing says Texas like pecan pie. Okay, that’s not exactly true. There are many things that evoke the spirit of Texas: armadillos, longhorns, Willie Nelson, chili, pickup trucks and gun racks, two-stepping, and nachos (invented in Texas). But pecan pie has got to be one of the very best things in all of Texas.

I’ve got another great holiday giveaway for you today. Julie from Cultures for Health is giving away an Excalibur 4-Tray Dehydrator! The retail value is $120 (actually it’s worth more than that because Julie is throwing in free shipping).

Right after I got my copy of Sally Fallon Morell’s Nourishing Traditions cookbook, my first two purchases were a bunch of starter cultures (kombucha scoby, sourdough starter, yogurt starter, kefir grains) and an Excalibur dehydrator. Little did I know the dehdyrator would be one of the best investments I ever made on my journey of cooking traditional food.

Regular readers, you know me pretty well. I’m not what you would call reserved. I’m opinionated, and I like to run my mouth. I can’t help but share things I am excited about. (And there’s always so much I find to get excited about.)

This week, like most people out there, I’m thinking about gift giving. And I’m so excited about what I’m going to be giving to many of my friends and family members this year. By writing this post, I realize I am spoiling Christmas for some of my family members. Oh, well. Sorry about that! I just have to share this.

Whoever gets this baby, you are one lucky, lucky person. I am crazy about my microfiber mop. If I could marry a mop, this would be the one. Go and read my other post about how much I love these Norwex products.

Good morning and welcome to Real Food Wednesday!

Head over to Kelly the Kitchen Kop and check out her post: My Top 20 List. She lists the top sellers from her Amazon associate’s program. Some great gift ideas!
Don’t forget — Kelly is hosting Real Food Wednesday next week!
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