Winner!

I'm happy to announce a fellow Minnesotan as the winner of the Better than Christmas Giveaway. Soon Amy Rea will have a big ole box of goodies on her doorstep!


Thanks to Marxfoods.com for sponsoring the give away and an even bigger thank you to all of you who entered, tweeted and facebooked about it. If you didn't win this time, fortunately you can BUY all of those wonderful products and follow their blog to find out about their own fun and special giveaways.

Better than Christmas: A Give Away

I'm happy to announce Les Petites Images second and most delicious give away to date.
The amazing Marxfoods has graciously provided me with the goods to give to one of my very lucky readers.

When the box arrived here I was in awe. It's simply ridiculous how many great things there are. It seemed like I just kept digging and digging as though it was Mary Poppins handbag. Though sample sized, these goodies could keep you busy in the kitchen for six months and will certainly spark some creativity.

The sweeteners alone are enough to make any sweet-tooth's mouth water...

Granulated Honey


Demerara Sugar


Vanilla Sugar


All of them together looking pretty


And then there were the salts: a plethora of specialty, rare, beautiful and oh-so-different types of salt. Salt you can use to make an extra special margarita, or add a spicy crunch to the top of a fabulous appetizer, or even as an addition to a fabulous home made truffle.

A "palette" of different flavors and colors



Hawaiian Red Sea Salt


Espresso Salt


Smoked Sea Salt


Lime Salt


Gray Sea Salt


Szechuan Pepper Salt


Hawaiian Black Sea Salt


Habanero Salt



That's quite a good give away isn't it? Salt and sugar? I guess spice would be an appropriate addition. So why not add, say, eleven types of dried chiles from around the world? Sure, no problem.


Clockwise from far left: New Mexican Chiles, Japones Chiles, Organic Aji Cereza Chiles, Ancho Chiles, Aji Panca Chiles, Habanero Chiles, Puya Chiles, Chipotle Chiles

and a few more...

Top to bottom: Ghost chiles, Smoked Serrano Chiles, Pasilla Negro Chiles


And then... (can you believe there is more?)

Finally there are the mushrooms. We all need a little umami in our lives right?

Shiitake


Maitake


Oyster


Porcini


Black Trumpet


Lobster


Chanterelle


Matsutake



And that people, is the greatest giveaway this blog has ever seen. Granted it's only the second giveaway I've done around here, it's still totally boss!

To qualify:
Leave a comment telling me which of the above products you are most excited to try in your kitchen and how you would use it.

Comments will close at 12pm central time on Friday October 9th. The winner will then be selected at random using the random integer generator at random.org to select one person by their comment number. If you blog, tweet, tumble or facebook (or any other form of social media for all I care) about this give away, leave a comment linking to your shout-out and enter to win up to 3 times!

Good luck!

And the winner is...

We have a winner! 23 people left comments or links to their re-post about the Les Petites Images first give away! Using random.org's random number generator the 15th comment is the lucky winner.


And that lucky person just happens to be Suzanne:




And now I've been challenged to lavender foam and inside out omelets.

Thank you so much to everyone who entered! I have now have a huge list of places in NYC to sort through, and lots of great cooking ideas. While I can't promise to visit all places or cook all dishes, consider your suggestions on the shortlist of finalists in my future. Suzanne, please DM me on twitter with your contact info... or maybe we can schedule a tweetup with you and other twin cities entrants!

Giveaways

In honor of my 215th post (yeah, well.... my 200th was a while ago, so we're sticking with 215) I've decided to treat you to the opportunity to personally benefit from reading my blog EVEN MORE than you already do (ha ha).

I started this blog right after Kyle and I celebrated our Honeymoon in Wine Country, California. A few months prior we marked our calenders and with great luck (and extreme perseverance on my part using TWO cellphones at once) Kyle and I got reservations at The French Laundry. Food Snobbery Heaven! I remember learning about The French Laundry a LONG time ago when I was browsing through the cookbooks in my parent's kitchen (you think I just became a food snob on accident?) when I stumbled across one that looked like a piece of art.

My mom explained to me how Thomas Keller served his patrons a 13 course dinner. THIRTEEN COURSES? My young mind couldn't wrap itself around the concept. But then she continued to explain. They are all very small, well thought out and incredibly detailed courses. Look at the details in those recipes; the ingredients; the time it takes to make each course. I was intrigued. And the pictures. Oh god the pictures! They are enough to make any omnivore's mouth water.

SO! In honor of the marriage that lead to the dinner which was part of the honeymoon that started this blog, I give you:

The French Laundry Cookbook Giveaway!






Simply leave a comment about what you'd like to see me cook and blog about in the future OR if you're NYC savvy leave a comment about what restaurant (big, small, gourmet or taqueria) I should visit in my upcoming trip to The Big Apple.

If you blog, tweet, tumble or facebook (or any other form of social media for all I care) about this give away, leave a SECOND comment linking to your shout-out and enter to win a second time.

The winner will be selected with a random number generator and the giveaway will close on July 3rd, 2009 at 12pm Central Time.
Good luck!

UPDATE: Comments are now closed. Winner TBA!