Winter, so much to be excited about. If you are lucky enough to live in the northern parts of these United States there is nothing like the first snow and the tremendous number of activities that suddenly become possible. Building snowmen, skiing, sledding, watching as the snow builds up outside your kitchen window while enjoying a slow-cooked, hearty meal (this issue we have the recipes you need).

         It is all so magical. Yet somewhere around February, as you bundle up yet again and head out to shovel yet another load of that magical snow you get the very real desire to think about anything other than winter. As your desire for something more festive takes over we have just what you need in our Groundhog, Valentines and Mardi Gras recipes.

         In searching for a town to feature for this issue that celebrates winter, it hit us that maybe it is the Penzeys One way to feature that small town at the heart of our recent election: Wasilla, Alaska. For a town with not that many people there are a surprisingly large number of cooks that we have come to know over the years. Wonderful people. I really do feel that there was something about the way that Alaska was portrayed through this election that seemed unkind. To us at Penzeys One, cooking is not about one side being right or wrong - it is about bringing sides together. Cooking is that act of kindness that heals us after a busy day.

         We thought that maybe by meeting the people of Wasilla again, this time through their food, you would get a chance to see why we have such respect for them. And for a group of people who have more than enough reason to be skeptical of talking to "the media," once they realized it was us, and we explained what we wanted to do, they opened their lives up to us. People are cool, especially those that cook and once again we have a bunch.

         Hope you like the issue,

Bill