The first week of February offers seafood and wine tasting events, a scrumptious sounding chocolate festival and of course, Carnival celebrations around the world!




Portland, Oregon plays host to the Oregon Seafood and Wine Festival this Friday and Saturday, offering Oregon wine and seafood demonstrations and tastings, as well as a Dungeness crab (the sweetest, most delicious crab in the world in my opinion) Cracking Competition.

Seafood is also being celebrated February 1-3 in Everglades City, Florida at the Everglades Seafood Festival. Festival events include live music, carnival rides, craft booths and seafood to try such as catfish, stone crabs, blue crabs, shrimp and frogs legs.

If seafood isn't your thing, you can always head on over to the Carolina Chocolate Festival in Morehead City, North Carolina this February 1-3. This festival offers events ranging from chocolate tastings, to gala dinners and cooking demonstrations to a very tempting sounding "chocolate spa night," with all of the proceeds going to charity.

February 5, Mardi Gras, (Fat Tuesday) brings the culmination of Carnival events in cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Cologne, Nice, Venice, Quebec, Trinidad and Tobago, and New Orleans. The vibrant swirl of music, costumes, food, drink and dancing will finally be over, marking the beginning of 40 days of Lent.