First of all, I planted an herb garden this weekend. I thought it was going to be hard and maybe I shouldn't reveal this so it seems more impressive but basically it involved taking the plants out of their plastic containers and putting them in terra cotta pots. Craig and I went to the nursery which I thought was going to be kind of boring but was actually pretty cool. Craig got a garden plot so we looked at veggies for him to grow. He offered to let me come help him with it and I told him I would but only if I could pick two of the things to grow, I don't have to weed, and also it's not a real promise I'll actually help. He agreed which reassured me I am the master of bargaining.
We went to the Portland Nursery. They have a gigantic amount of plants.
Craig wouldn't let me use the Radio Flyer wagon or one of the purple carts for our plants. Well, he would but I didn't want to have to pull it so I said it was okay for us to use the green one. Which I ended up pulling anyways.
Here is Craig holding all our baby herbs.
Later that day we went to dinner and saw Hanna which was awesome. I thought it was pretty violent for a PG13 film but I'm probably just an old lady now that I'm coming up on 26. I'll be talking about how coffee used to be only $3.50 when I was growing up in no time.
Also this movie is funny which it doesn't lead you to believe at all by the trailers. And I very much admire their ability to make it humorous without detracting from the parts that are serious business. That's a tough thing to pull off.
I have a secret I've been keeping just in case it didn't work out. Because I didn't really want to announce to the internet that this really awesome thing could happen if I were good enough for it to happen and then have it not happen and have to be like 'Sorry Internet, I'm actually sort of lame."
I applied for a job with Sur la Table's culinary program. Aaaaaand...I got it! I'll be a kitchen assistant so I'll do prep for cooking classes as well as assist with them. I sort of fell into applying but I'm so excited for the opportunity to be using some culinary skills professionally as well as be in a position to learn so much. It's part time so I'll still keep my current job as well.
In celebration I want to do a giveaway. This is not at all sponsored but I thought it would be appropriate to give someone out there a few of my favorite kitchen things from Sur la Table. I've never done this before so be patient, also feel free to offer advice if you've done a giveaway or participated in one before and think something could be done better. It will be a trial run learning experience.
Here's what I'm giving away...
First up we've got an ice cream cone shaped cookie cutter!
Next is a sparkly pink Le Creuset spatula. This spatula is a legit nice spatula that works well (none of that tough non-bendy rubber) but I'd be lying if I didn't admit I mostly like it because it is pink and full of glitter.
Cupcake cookie cutter! Super adorable to decorate. The cookies, not the cutter.
And last but not least, a ceramic paring knife by Kuhn Rikon. I'm newly in love with ceramic knives and I use this one for everything. You will be getting this awesome color that was not available when I purchased mine.
So now for the how-to. I want to make this fun rather than just use a random number generator to pick a winner so full disclosure, this is going to be totally subjective since I'm the one picking the winner. Leave me a comment telling me what you would use these tools to make and the answer I find most fantastic will win all four items. Remember, if you win you'll have to give me your address in order to mail them to you so if you think there's a chance I could be a murderer and you aren't going to want to give me a place to send these things you should probably not play. The last day to submit a comment will be Friday April 15th, 2011 and the winner will be announced Monday April 18th, 2011.
Oh, and my cat is still adorable. Just in case you were wondering.
Dude, your giveaway is totally awesome! I'm pretty sure I'm going to totally kill any chance of winning by being the first commenter because everyone else will read my comment and be all, "I can do so much better", but I'll take one for the team and comment first.
ReplyDeleteI would use the cookie cutters with my SIL and nephews and make some super awesome cookies. You better believe I'm gonna teach my nephews how to bake. Although I'd need to find some cookie and decorating medium that does not involved milk OR eggs so the eldest nephew can eat them. I'll also plop my SIL in a chair and hand her a glass of wine and the sparkley spatula to use as her scepter because the poor lady has been run ragged being a single parent because of my totally irresponsible BIL. If I could make the spatula into a wine glass, I'd do that, but since I can't, she also gets a wine glass.
I can't figure out how to work the knife into this scenario because little kids should wield knives, or something like that, so I will label it with my name and tell the husband he is not allowed to touch it under any circumstances as it's my special cooking knife. But I'd probably just keep it on the counter because it looks pretty and I'd just use it to cut banana bread or something equally as silly.
Obviously, I don't think you a murderer and if I win and you have my address I fully expect you to visit Tova and I :)
Also - contracts on the job!!! :)
(I'm also posting it from my Google account instead of my blog account because my answers too long.... )
I have been officially banned from acquiring kitchen devices, but I'm posting the link on my blog!
ReplyDeleteAlso Congratulations on the job!!!!
@Angela: That's not true, I mean, right now you've only got Tova up against you and she's not even allowed to win.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a vegan sugar cookie recipe but I don't think that'd be a hard thing to pull off. You might also be able to do an icing with powdered sugar and almond milk rather than cow's milk or cream...and you could use your own food coloring to dye it so you weren't buying decorating tubes from the store that could have dairy in them.
@Tova: Thanks Lady! I want to come revel in your kitchen. I was actually wondering today if I was going to turn into you and just buy kitchen stuff all. the. time. since I'll be going there to work.
Tova brought me over here and I have to say that I LOVE kitchen gadgetry and accouterments.
ReplyDeleteThat being said:
**I would use the ice cream cone and cupcake cookie cutters to make....wait for it..... COOKIES with my Things (that is my loving name for my offspring, in case you don't read my blog).
**I would probably sleep with the spatula, as I have a thing for sparkly stuff. And then it is pink on top of that.
**But most importantly, I would worship you if I won the knife. You see I owned this very knife (it was a gift from a friend) in a lovely apple green color and it someway somehow has walked out of my kitchen, hence out of my life. 3 years later and I'm still sad about it. I don't like to feel sad.
Hmm. Despite my love for all things treat-ish, I am not that into making cookies. But that doesn't mean I don't want those cookie cutters! I would use them to make grilled cheese sandwiches. The spatula would be used for lavishly spreading butter on the bread. The knife looks great for slicing up sharp cheddar cheese.
ReplyDeleteAlso, yay for your job! That sounds perfect for you.
(Why did I answer this before dinner when I don't have cheese?)
There we go @grammargeek! I was hoping someone would say they'd make cupcake shaped polenta cakes or ice cream cone shaped ice cream sandwiches or something besides cookies.
ReplyDelete@johi: I have the green one but I think the teal is way more awesome.
OK, so... I love to bake, but cookies that require cookie cutters aren't necessarily my thing. I *do*, however, love to buy cookie cutters to use for cutting fondant/gum paste or as a stencil for decorating cakes. More non-cookie cookie cutter usage!
ReplyDeleteI recently broke my favorite orange spatula and have been looking for pretty pink ones ever since you first posted pictures of yours during a cooking post. I would use that spatula while making buttercream. And/or just display it all the time because it's totally adorbs.
I do almost zero of the actual cooking in our house and I wouldn't necessarily need a paring knife for my baking, so I might hide that awesome paring knife from Andy and then give it to him as a gift, since he's slowly building a set of good knives.
OK, I'll be sitting over here crossing my fingers until Friday! And even if I don't win, I'm going to have to go buy a cupcake cookie cutter because I'm now in love with the idea of decorating a cake with little cupcakes.
Sigh...I just typed up a really clever response (if I do say so myself) and then it disappeared.
ReplyDeleteBut I love that knife, and I might actually make salad if I had it. (I hate to make salad and it generally falls into the bf's hands.)
The cookie cutters I'd use for pancakes, because the bf loves them and it would make up for all the times he's had to make salad.
Pink and glitter speaks for itself. Awesomesauce.
(Also, congratulations on the job!)
ReplyDeleteLove what you have chosen to give away and congrats on being accepted into the culinary program! Also did you know Hanna was written by a guy in BC while he was in school for a project? He finished it after school and now it's a movie! :)
ReplyDeleteLet’s see... I love spatulas, i have two Halloween ones that are so cute that I must have a glittery one when i do all my baking.
I make cupcakes as often as i can! My girlfriend had me make her some for her wedding cake - which leads me to the cookie cutters. That same friend is undergoing surgery next week and I would totally make her up some fancy cookies as a care package for her! :)
The knife is just cool and I have been dying to try one! :)
My husband has been really into using strands of carrots instead of spaghetti noodles, so he would get the knife.
ReplyDeleteI'd use the cookie cutters to attempt to make ice cream cone and cupcake shaped pancakes, eggs, and obviously cookies.
As far as the spatula, I am a spatula whore and need it more than anything else in the world. It would be the perfect addition to our family and would like a long, healthy life, being used to cook and bake many delicious goods. Ask The Husband, I literally have 5 spatulas currently and am always looking to add on. That's what would happen in dreamland. In 4 year old girl's fantasy land (probably in reality) she would take it from the kitchen drawer and use it as a fairy wand, nose picker, and/or invisible friend (Shane and David the humans, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Kevin the pickle) transporting mechanism of some sort.
I really really really want the knife!
ReplyDeleteAnd, maybe, instead of mailing it tome, you come deliver it. And we can go shopping and enjoy the amazing Bostonian summer.
:D
-- see, you get a vacation out this! WIN WIN
Checho
Oooooo...pretty knife!! Pretty spatula! I am completely helpless to resist everyday items in bright colours. My husband convinced me to purchase our first laptop by saying we could get it in apple green. No joke. I would treasure that knife.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE that knife. And using the time-honoured wisdom of elementary school aged children everywhere, I would, of course, then have to marry it. Or think it over at the minimum. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about polyandry, but I would ask it to move in with me at least. I'm sure my husband would have some difficulty adjusting, but in time he would come to accept it. I could spend long Sunday afternoons with that knife, chatting, and laughing, and doing crossword puzzles, and then taping the crossword puzzles back together where he got a bit overzealous. We could go out in the evening, and cut a rug. And he would tease me because I'm not as good at it as he is, and I would say "cut it out!". And he would. And then he'd give it to me, because he's sweet like that. And at the end of the day, we could curl up in bed together and spoon. Because he is also willing to try to be different, just for me.
And with all our inevitable half-knife, half-human children running around...er...walking slowly around (because they're sharp objects, and we'll be good parents I'm sure), we'll need to make a lot of birthday cookies and themed pancakes and such, and we will need non-boring cookie cutters (because no child of this union is likely to end up boring), and spatulas. And a glittery pink spatula would be enough to actually convince me to bake them all myself rather than buying them from the corner store and spritzing flour on myself like they do in that commercial.
And with such a loving family and so many hands around just ready to pet things, our cat might need a companion to avoid being overloaded by love and affection, so your cat would fit in just perfectly. He is a very handsome cat, and I'm sure we would adore him.
...What do you mean the cat wasn't part of the giveaway list?