It’s giveaway time! It’s a massive one guys and I’m pretty excited! For the past week or so I’ve been featuring recipes using Staub, Shun, Cuttingboard.com, Finex, and Kitchen Aid and now’s the time to finally bundle everything up and give it all away. Well, not literally, because you’re actually going to win new items, so there’s no real bundling, just figurative bundling.
win this staub!
I hope you’ve been following along – so far I’ve made Slow Braised Japanese Chashu Pork, Mini Puff Pastry Roses, Caramel Corn and Rice Krispie Mix, and Mint Snowman Marshmallows, but with these giveaway items you can make pretty much anything, which is perfect for the holiday season.
win this shun knife and cuttingboard.com boo’s block!
I love food – as I’m sure you know – and one of my favorite Christmas memories is of me, my brother, and Christmas chocolates. As little kids, come the first of December, we would get chocolate advent calendars. I still see them around now: those thin cardboard drugstore boxes featuring a Christmas picture with tiny numbered windows and chocolates hiding behind them. My brother and I lived for that moment at the end of the day when we got to pry open the cardboard for our long awaited treat. Our eager fingers would melt the chocolate ever so slightly as we tried to eat our chocolates as slowly as possible.
win this finex cast iron pan!
One year, we got it in our heads that we didn’t want to wait. We snuck our calendars down to the basement – it was cold and dark down there and I didn’t like it but my brother convinced me it was the best place to hide – and ate every single chocolate. We ate the entire month of December. And the thing is, we did it in a gentle, artful way where we could close back the windows so that at a casual glance, you couldn’t tell that the calendar was ravaged.
win this kitchen aid!
Maybe it was the sugar-high making us crazy, but we totally thought we got away with it. That is, until it was time for our nightly ritual with our parents. Needless to say, there was no chocolate treat that night. Or the next night, or the next. But, it was okay, because come Christmas morning, there were still presents under the tree. Apparently, our chocolate binge didn’t leave us on Santa’s naughty list, which was a huge relief, because, presents.
These days I’m more into giving than receiving so I couldn’t resist putting together this giveaway for you! I wish I could send everyone a Christmas present but since I can’t, I thought I’d do the next best thing and giveaway some of my favorite things. So, let me know your favorite holiday memory and maybe you’ll be the lucky reader who wins! Good luck!
Giveaway: I’ve teamed up with some of my favorite brands to do a massive giveaway. One lucky reader will win:
Staub 4 Quart Round Cocotte
Shun 6-inch Dual Core Utility Knife
Cuttingboard.com Boos Block Walnut 20×15 Cutting Board
Finex 10-inch Cast Iron Pan
Kitchen Aid Artisan Design Series 5-Quart Stand Mixer w/Glass Bowl in Pearl Silver
To enter: Leave a comment on the blog with your favorite winter holiday memory. I want to hear ALL the details! I’ll randomly choose a winner and notify them through email. Open to US residents only. (Sorry international friends, only American companies agreed to this one!) If you’d like some extra entries use the widget below to follow me on Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. Contest ends December 21st at 12pm PST. Good luck!
The giveaway is closed! I’ll be announcing the winner in the next week or so after reading through all of the comments. Thank you everyone who entered! There are some beautiful memories here!
Update: Congrats Chelsea, you won! Look for an email from me shortly!
Coming from a Chinese family where both parents never adopted the American traditions made me one that longs to feel whatThhanksgiving or Christmas is like. Growing up, Thanksgiving meant ramen or left overs because nothing would be open and Christmas meant wait till Chinese New Year or a gift that was randomly given at an earlier date. Don’t get me wrong, my parents are great, loving, caring but just not ones that adopted the American traditions. As I got older, my mentor from high school that I’ve kept in contact with has adopted me into her family traditions. In the past during this time I become numb and ‘a grinch’ during the holidays.But since she has adopted me to her family traditions I begin to understand the meaning of holidays. I look forward to the Christmas celebration of all the delicious homemade yumminess. The multiple home-made pies that are made. Cheese balls covered with almonds and of course the ham, the prime rib, the whatever goodness that will be at the center. Now as I begin to explore the culinary world, I too want to help my parents understand and experience these holiday traditions. Having the mixer or anything else would be a good excuse to get them started on building our holiday memories. It’s never too late!
My favorite Christmas memory is decorating the tree with homemade popcorn garlands!
My favorite winter holiday memory is decorating the house for Christmas. I get so nostalgic around this time of year and its so much fun pulling down our boxes of decorations, remembering where we were in our lives when we got that specific piece, and reflecting on how much has changed (or stayed the same!)
Every year since I could remember, finding a present for my Dad at Christmas was the most difficult. He was a frugal man who loved sunflower seeds and moon cakes. He couldn’t imagine going anywhere but McDonalds for 99 cent coffee. We approached 2011 and I had just married in Nov when my father, was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Eating and cooking was what he enjoyed but fell weak and he could do neither. I remember he would make my favorite vegetarian dish at Chinese New Year full of woods ear, mushrooms, vermicelli noodles, tofu and veges. My most memorable holiday memory albeit sad one, was my last Christmas with my Dad. After all the years of getting him clothes he hardly wore, coffee mugs he probably only used once and electronics appliances that he didn’t need, I finally gave him what he really loved. He was too weak to get out of bed, I fed him blueberries and I assembled pictures of our family and sat in the bed and we laughed and talked and hugged. He passed away 3 months later. I would love to win this getaway so I can make all the wonderful dishes my Dad use to make me so I can pass them on to my family. Thank you for letting me share my story.
i always loved making sugar cookies with my mom and brothers. they were thick and cakey, and we made colored frosting for them too. looking back, it was one of my favorite family times. :)
It wasn’t * the money I felt was special, it was the act – that he wanted me to feel like one of them, and not left out.
P.s. I was about 5 or so
I love singing Christmas songs as a family when my uncle plays the guitar
Growing up, my family did not make a big deal out of Christmas. I only remember plugging in the tree and watching the bubbles flow on the built on lights. Oh, and spraying fake snow onto the fake tree.
My favorite holiday memory is when my daughters make cinnamon rolls the night before so my husband and I wake up to the amazing smell of them baking Christmas morning
I treasure the tradition of making waffles together for breakfast every Christmas Eve