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!
My family doesn’t really celebrate Christmas anymore so my fondest memories are from childhood. One year, after dinner, during a really cold winter, we all bundled up and took a car ride into the city to see the tree at Rockefeller Center. What my uncle didn’t account for was that parking in the city, even during Christmas, is not possible. So, while he drove around and around (cause we’re Chinese and cheap and didn’t want to pay for NYC parking) the city blocks, us kids had to run like mad to take photos in front of the tree. Luckily, nobody was out and about so we did a mad dash, took some silly, goofy pictures, and jumped back in the car to go home and drink hot chocolate. It was wonderful and one of my brightest memories of Christmas.
I discovered at a young age that there was no santa claus. I guess it was easier for everyone – no milk and cookies to be made the night before, nor parents needing to hide presents and sneak them under the tree the night before Christmas. One year, I spent Christmas at my cousin’s place and with no curfew that night, we stayed up pretty late watching tv and playing games. Presents were already under the tree, no cookies were placed out and there was no wood burning in the fireplace at my cousin’s place. All was as it was expected to be for our Christmas. But as my cousin and I dozed off late in the morning, there was loud shuffle noise that woke me up in a startle. Figuring it was my aunt, I tried to go back to sleep but then i heard it again. I quietly went outside to the living room to see if anyone was awake but it was pitch black. I went back to bed next to my cousin and figured it was just the wind. outside. But I found myself waiting to see if i would hear the noise again. The next time I heard it, it was so loud my cousin woke up as well. We both laid there thinking what if there were robbers trying to enter the house? We let our imagination run a little bit where we became the heroes when we heard a man’s deep voice outside along with some bells ringing and more feet shuffling. After debating for some time whether or not to go outside to confirm whether it was a myth come true, we convinced ourselves what all children believed. Even if Santa was looking for a chimney and even if Rudolph was making all the stomping noise, it was best not to expose them and stop them from their work. We tried out best to fall asleep so Santa can work his magic but ended up staying up filled with giggles and laughs.
Of course, the next morning we realized my cousin lived in an apartment building in the middle of rowdy Queens. But even now, we always think back to that one Christmas we believed in Santa.
I remember going to my grandparents and playing with the toy train that ran around the Christmas tree, until I got my dog and then he chased the train
My favorite holiday memory – Christmas parties in elementary school, the classroom festooned with construction paper reindeer and Christmas trees. Chocolate cupcakes with white frosting and red and white Christmas sprinkles. Santa Baby playing in the background (just found out recently what the song lyrics to that song was…when I was in 5th grade I thought it actually had to do with a baby). Candy, so much candy. Everyone working on tennis ball tube nutcrackers filled with candy as gifts for their parents. I filled mine with peanuts, because to my dad, peanuts are the best candy. I think he liked my gift.
My favourite holiday memory is ongoing as it involves the norms of my culture. Cleaning the entire house, shopping for new curtains, furniture and appliances, the hustle and the bustle. The food – sorrel, ginger beer, baked ham, pastelles, black (fruit) cake- which we have every year. The music – both traditional parang and soca parang. Celebrating with my family and friends. Being welcomed into everyone’s homes to celebrate the season. And although I tried celebrating in another country one year, nothing could compare to Christmas at home, the way I’ve always known it to be and all of the work that goes into it.
My holiday memory is a very simple one. Each saturday before christmas, I would go over my grandmothers house to bake traditional italian cookies, and prepare the spinach and meat pies for the next week. It was something I looked forward to once December came around. I’m happy now I can continue that tradition with the younger family members that are starting to appreciate cooking and the holiday season
My favorite holiday memory is getting together with family: lots of people in a tiny, overheated house!
When I was little, my family and I used to work together to decorate the house, put together the Christmas tree, and have family parties. We no longer do this because we’re all separated now but I remember one Christmas, I was hanging the lights around the window near my front door when my mom asked me if I wanted to put the star onto the top of the tree. I was overjoyed! My dad lifted me up on his shoulders (by picking me up on my elbows then lifting me over his head & onto his shoulders) and I topped the tree with a big yellow star. Unfortunately, the tree was unstable and began to tilt… to the point where the entire thing almost knocked over!! It was so much fun and I would do anything to go back and relive that moment.
My favorite winter memory was spending time with my grandma before christmas without my parents or my brother. She would pick me up and we would bake and cook and eat all of the tasty winter treats and I got to spend all of the time alone with her, which was a huge treat! I wish we still got to spend time together.
My favorite holiday memory is the one year we decided to cook a giant pot of pho, forgoing all the usual holiday ham and fuss. It was my first semester after medical school, and I all I wanted was to go home and do absolutely nothing. The simplicity of that year was enriched with swapping family stories as we refilled our bowls for seconds and thirds. Not only was my stomach warmed from the spices, but mostly from the love. Rather than spending the next day in a food coma, I felt rejuvenated.