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!
One of my favorite holiday memories is what Christmas Eve was at our house. Tomato, green bean, cheddar dumpling soup (tastes way better than it sounds!) served with buttermilk biscuits. Us kids had to clear the table, do the dishes, and dish up dessert for the adults prior to being able to go in to the living room. Once there, dad had the slide projector and screen set up and we would watch boxes and boxes of 35 mm slides pictures that he had taken over the years. Time in Korea for the war, in Australia visiting friends, us kids growing up. I loved this tradition in our family – and now that both parents are deceased, after 10+ years of having the slides, projector, and screen, my older sister has passed these to me. As the youngest I am now honored to revive this tradition and plan to do so this year!
A memory that has popped up this year was part of the “getting ready” for the big Christmas day. My family used to tape Christmas specials when they were on live TV (Frosty, Rudolph, Charlie Brown, all the classics) instead of actually purchasing them. So, every year we would pull out these VHS tapes that had anywhere from 1-3 different Christmas specials and movies and we would watch them in the weeks leading up to Christmas. The shows and movies were of course all great, but the best part were the commercials. Now, you may think that commercials are the worst, but once they become “vintage”, they take on their own nostalgia. The old 7-UP mascot? The hot new mini van from Chevy? The cast of ER wishing you Happy Holidays? Once you see these commercials 15+ years later, it brings you back to that age you first watched that show and how you felt as a child. Those are some of the best memories. Now to find some VHS tapes…
Favorite memory is of Christmas when I brought by boyfriend, now fiance, home for the first time. My dad told all embarrassing stories about me. My mom just made tons of food to feed everyone. My brother and I binge-watched some anime. It was nice to have him welcomed into the family so easily.
my favorite winter holiday memory is going home every year to my parents’ and making homemade dumplings for the new years. the mix is made with soft tofu, veggies, and noodles and we all gather around a round table with wine and make them all night!
My favorite holiday memory is from when my sisters and I were kids. We went to Vegas every year, so our tradition would be to all climb into the car on like the 23rd or 24th, we’d pile the seats full of blankets and pillows, and then head out at like 3am (my dad liked to start early to avoid traffic lol). We’d even take our presents with us so that we could open them in our hotel room on Christmas day. I know it sounds a little weird, but I loved it and I’ll always cherish those memories.
My favorite winter memory was when I was about 4. I had been playing in the snow all afternoon and my mom finally managed to wrangle us in. I went to the bathroom to clean up and I realized that my cheeks were red. I didn’t realize they were rosy from the cold. I just thought they were sorry! i tried to wash my face but soap want working. I started to cry and my mom found me furiously scrubbing my cheeks! I definitely learned something new that day!
I remember driving veeerry slowly in the snow out to my grandmother’s house in the country for Christmas at her house every year when I was a kid. She always made great food and spoiled us with lots of presents under the tree :)
I served in Peace Corps Senegal, and one of my favorite Christmases was there! We would all gather at the regional house with other volunteers for holidays. This particular one we had an abundance of volunteers who came. We all cooked tons of food all of which was surprisingly good considering what we had to work with. Of course we didn’t have enough plates so about half of us were eating off of (cleanish) frisbees. We ate (and drank) late into the night. Although I missed my family and friends back in America, there was something so special about being there that day sweating and laughing together as a “family.” I must admit I do enjoy the luxuries of cooking with good quality kitchen appliances now, but I also miss the innovativeness I possessed in those Peace Corps days!
Oh man, my best holiday memory was finding out I was pregnant with my daughter. My son was just 11 months old, and I took the pregnancy test in the bathroom of Toki Underground before eating my ramen on Christmas Eve eve.
My favorite winter holiday memories are of the Philly New Year’s Parade! Struttin’ in the streets to the brass bands and singing along with the string bands as they came down 2nd Street and hanging out all day and nights with the entire family- running in and out of houses to eat and stay warm. BEST TIMES EVER!