Blogcation

Each summer in major cities across Europe, residents flee the heat of their concrete jungles and retreat to cooler climates along the coast or in the mountains. The practice is so prevalent that some restaurants shut down entirely for the stretch of late July to August. Sure, not everyone takes a 6 week vacation every year, but pity the poor souls who toil through their regular routine while everyone else is lounging on the beach in Lagos or hiking in the mountains of Interlaken.

Across the pond in the good ol' U.S. of A., those poor souls we speak of are ... well ... us. The Big Easy doesn't shut down simply because you start sweating through your shirt on the walk from your front door to your car. That's what God made seersucker for. Instead of shirking our normal routine, we do things like create our own version of running with the bulls, offer prix fixe dinner deals to encourage people to eat out more, and throw a 4 day international cocktail binge.

But even your faithful bloggers need a break every now and then. It's for the best, trust us. You've probably noticed that our lame attempts at humor have failed more often than usual. It's called burnout, people. A week or two off allows us to recharge our creative batteries and deliver a better product for you readers.

But the We Live to Eat Contest continues on through this week. This Friday will be the last preliminary round of voting, so get in your entries before it's too late. Also, don't forget to vote for the winner in Part IV. After that, we move into the FINAL ROUND.

Try not to miss us too much.