Raleigh, N.C. — The “obsessive home cook” behind the Smitten Kitchen blog and cookbook will meet her Raleigh fans, including a very excited yours truly, for a discussion and book signing next Friday.

Quail Ridge Books and Music will host Deb Perelman at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 22.

We’ll be interviewing Perelman before her book discussion and signing, so what burning questions do you have for her? Leave in the comments section below and we’ll try to get them answered!

Perelman’s warm, funny prose and scrumptious yet simple images have welcomed thousands of readers into her tiny New York kitchen for years on her blog Smitten Kitchen. We’ve giggled as she puckered her way through overly sour lemon confit and candied grapefruit peels and cooed when her wee curly-haired infant held a perfect little brussel sprout in his tiny cupped hand. She has invited us into her home, plied us with luscious images of delicious food and then set us free in our own cramped kitchens to create beautiful meals without too much fuss.

Her sausage, lentil and chard soup might be my current favorite, as it recently turned a gloomy, rainy Saturday evening into a cozy, wine-filled dinner in with two of my very favorite people. We stuffed ourselves on its hearty, spicy warmth and gabbed until our eyelids went droopy. If that doesn’t spell wintry comfort, I don’t know what does.

Just in time for the holidays, Perelman released her first cookbook, “The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook: Recipes and wisdom from an obsessive home cook.” After repeated hints and winks and proclamations of how very wonderful I thought it would look beneath my Christmas tree, I got the book. Not on Christmas, but three weeks later when my whining had still not subsided.

And it was as lovely as I hoped. Filled with the anecdotes and the asides of a somewhat neurotic, perfectionist cook and her signature illustrative photos, it excites me the way a good cookbook should. I can’t wait to cook my way through it, savoring every tasty bite of my labors.

Perelman lends a sincerity to her cooking, writing and photography that I can’t wait to experience in the flesh. If you’re a Smitten fan, join us next Friday. The event is free and open to the public, no reservations required.

Now, who’s bringing the gooey cinnamon squares?