Before I make a meal plan, I always look ahead on my calendar. This week is particularly full of local events that I hope to attend:

It's Dine Originals Restaurant Week! Enjoy original prefix menus for just $10/20/30 November 7 -13 and support Local Matters at the same time. I think I'll treat Lil to lunch at Katzingers or tea at Mozarts.
This Tuesday is election day! We suggest voting No on Two but the most important thing is to participate in our democracy.
Thursday November 10, 2011 is Columbus Foundation's The Big Give. For 24 hours, donations to 600 nonprofits will be at least partially matched by a $1 million pool. Many of our favorite foodie organizations are participation including Clintonville-Beechwold Community Resource Center, Local Matters, Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association, and Wild Goose Creative. If you have a spare dollar or two, visit The Big Give website between 11 am Thursday and 11 am Friday and choose your favorite nonprofit(s) to double your money.
The November Too Many Cooks at Wild Goose Creative promises to provide food for thought as well as a tummy-full of tastes. Matthew of Good Idea Cooking is presenting six recipes featuring native Ohio foods in a presentation of 'What if the Pilgrims Landed in Ohio?' $10 at the door, 7 pm Sunday the 13th.
It doesn't happen until next Tuesday but I would guess that the Off the Menu: Flavors of Autumn dinner put on by Slow Food Columbus will sell out this week. The Refectory will treat adventurous eaters to a game-centered five course meal and wines for $75/member, $85/nonmember on Tuesday the 15th from 6:30-8:30 pm. Sadly, we will be out of town for this dinner.
<shameless self promotion> I will talk turkey and other birds on Sunday in a Whole Bird Cooking class at Franklin Park Conservatory. Students will learn by doing when they stuff, truss, carve, and eat a whole bird. $30 (members), $35 (nonmembers), 4-6 pm November 13, register by calling 614.645.5923.
Speaking of the tom, don't forget to make your reservation for a fresh local turkey for Thanksgiving.

On to our meal plan!

Monday - salmon cheeks, rice, peas

Tuesday - squash, onion, and cheese tart, romaine salad

Wednesday - swiss chard lasagna, salad

Thursday - pad thai with tuna nuggets

Friday - dinner with friends

Saturday - CMH Dinner Club (we're bringing an inventive 'sweetheart' recipe)

Sunday - dinner with family or Too Many Cooks or both

What are you eating and doing this week?

1) Amy Turn Sharp's essay Teeth Never Die nibbled it's way into my head and required re-reading after Lil lost her first tooth this week. Amy's is no parenting prattle but a trip down a twisted memory lane. 2) In Op Ed: The Raw and the Deep-Fried, Bear of Slow Food Columbus elevates a New York Times op-ed about TV stars Tony Bourdain and Paula Dean to a call to action around the truth of the state of American cooking: we want to believe in the characters Bourdain and Dean portray but we do not want to cook well and cheaply.

3) Michael Procopio of Food for the Thoughtless connects vampires, self-image, and chicken with humor and a great recipe in his post Die, Vampire, Die.

4) I read the New York Times article Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue? on Sunday morning and have not stopped thinking about it since. The women in my family (Lil and myself included!) are prone to indecision and this article clues me in to why and how to live with it. Fascinating stuff.

5) Bloggers Without Borders launched this week with A Fund for Jennie, to benefit the Perillo family after the tragic death of Mike (who loved peanut butter pie). Bloggers Without Borders is a nonprofit agency that gives legitimacy and support to fund raisers and networking among bloggers in need.

BONUS 6) First Food is Real Food Justice popped into my reader just before the Friday Five roundout was scheduled to run. Civil Eats gets it right again with this post about how newborns in food deserts also lack in breastfeeding rates.

What great words did you read this week?