By Jacque Burke

For being such a short month, February manages to bring us a lot: Valentine’s Day, a day off for President’s Day (so what if it stinks a little of Mao Zedong? I’ll take it!), and if your profession falls under the umbrella of hospitality, February also brings the Food Network’s South Beach Wine & Food Festival in sunny Miami. This weekend, our great industry will descend upon SoBe wielding their festival passes, luggage full of their most glamorous summer clothes, a huge appetite and a desperate need for a tan.

I, however, will be staying here in New York having my own weekend of fork-slinging fun that I am affectionately referring to as NoBe from here on out.

While Allen Brothers brings fresh-from-the-plane SoBe partyers the Burger Bash on Thursday, I’ll be taking myself to DuMont Burger in Williamsburg for a DuMont Mini Burger with caramelized onions and gruyere cheese.

As Laurent Tourondel raises a glass to Cocktails and Claws at his happy hour on the roof of Miami’s Betsy Hotel on Friday, I will be sidling up to the bar at Hotel Delmano in Williamsburg for Jeff Hanson’s Elderflower Tequila Gimlet.

Instead of taking a seat at Eos’ Haute Holistic Dinner on Saturday hosted by Chef Michael Psilakis, Dr. Etti Ben-Zion and Terry Zarikian I’ll be tucking into a plate of Green Spelt with Swiss Chard and Red Beans at Eat, the Greenpoint enclave that was reviewed recently by The Underground Gourmet.

And on Sunday when everyone is boarding that plane bound for New York, I’ll be sleeping late.

What I’m:

Reading:                The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Watching:              Munchies episodes on VBS.tv

Eating:                  Will Prunty’s Olive Oil Bundt Cake with my own special twist, 3 tsp. of cardamom.

Listening To:          My Brightest Diamond, Bring Me The Workhorse