Resolution Much?: The First-Ever Simple Spoonful Giveaway!
Well, howdy and how are ya and Happy New Year to ya! The Unicyclist and I had a mellow evening at home last night, watching a movie and enjoying each other’s company…and the company of Hippo. Neither of us has ever been very big New Year party people. The truth is, neither of us is a very big “party” person in general. Because we like to think of the New Year as a celebration of the year that was and a marker of what we want from the year knocking at the door, it just doesn’t make much sense for us to get our new year on at a loud, crowded place where the alcohol runs freely and the party carries on into the wee hours. So we do it our way, whether that’s a movie, a board game night with friends, or a camping trip. And it’s good.
Since what we do on the eve of the old year and the day of the new are often reflective of what we want from the coming months, I thought today would be a good time to offer my readers something to start the year off well. Plus, I really love spreading the love. And I think having a blog is really fun, and I hope my readers think reading a blog is just as fun. For all those reasons, I want to welcome you to the very first Simple Spoonful contest and giveaway!
What’s up for grabs?
Cookbooks! Delicious, vegetarian (or pescatarian), healthy cookbooks for all those of you who were looking for more ideas and support in your quest to eat healthy in the new year. I have three to give away, and I sure hope one of them goes to you. Money seems to be tight for a lot of people these days, and if affording a healthy foods education is the only thing standing between you and a better diet, I hope this can help.
You see, gentle readers, I have a couple very large shelves sagging under the weight of my cookbook collection, and it seemed like it was time to thin the collection a little. Over the years, my taste in cookbooks has changed. When I first became a vegetarian, I wanted “complete” cookbooks full of recipe after vegetarian recipe to give me ideas and inspiration. Nowadays, I feel comfortable enough with vegetarian cooking that I very rarely have interest in general cookbooks; now, I want specialized volumes on bread-baking, Lebanese dishes, Indian feasts, and Colombian cuisine. And I got some of those for Christmas, much to my excitement. However, that means it’s definitely time to give away some of the great general cookbooks to someone who can get more use out of them. Although the Cookshelf Vegetarian is new, the two Moosewood books have very definitely been part of my cooking education, which means you’ll come across notes on some of the recipes (am I the only one who loves used cookbooks with notes in them?), and in the case of Sundays at the Moosewood Restaurant, a few dog-eared pages. However, you will also come across a plethora of delicious recipes and tasty treats. I hope you will get as much enjoyment out of them as I have!
So, let’s meet the cast of characters.
First, we have the tiny Cookshelf Vegetarian, a pint-sized book packed full of gorgeous pictures and tasty-looking recipes. This is a good starter book for people who want to dabble, maybe try incorporating one or two meatless meals per week into their diets as part of their New Year’s resolutions. This little book shall be the second-place prize in the contest.
Next, we have two great pescatarian (mostly vegetarian, but some fish included) volumes from the Moosewood Collective, a group of 19 people who work together to operate the Moosewood Restaurant in New York and write cookbooks. Among their ranks has been Mollie Katzen, one of the best-known names in vegetarian cooking and the author of The Moosewood Cookbook, which was recently chosen by the James Beard foundation to be inducted into its Hall of Fame. In other words, the Moosewood books in general are classics and essentials in many kitchens. The first-place prize in the contest is Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites, a beautiful and practical hardcover book brimming with delicious recipes both familiar and exotic. Tuscan beans with sage, anyone? How about sweet potato and black bean burritos? Middle Eastern chickpeas with spinach? Curried rice noodles? Crepes? Frittattas? It’s all here.
Finally, as a bonus prize, I will do a random drawing from all entries for my trusty, but slightly battle-worn copy of Sundays at the Moosewood Restaurant, an exciting collection of recipes organized by region or ethnicity: Sub-Saharan Africa, Armenia and the Middle East, the British Isles, the Caribbean, Chile, China, Eastern Europe, Finland, India, Italy, Japan, Jewish cuisine, Mexico, New England, North Africa, Prevence, Southeast Asian, and the Southern United States. You could dive into a new chapter and region for each month of the new year!
So, what do you have to do to win these cookbooks? Simple. In the comment space below, flex your creative muscles and write an ode to your favorite fruit or veggie. For the creative writing majors, I should clarify that I’m not looking for any fancy stanza pattern or rigid meter; I just want some poems singing the praises of produce to start of 2009 with some fun here at Simple Spoonful. Your ode might even be a haiku, like this one about broccoli.
Broccoli
Stunted, flow’ring trees
Food for small apatosaurs
So green and so good.
Or perhaps a limerick. Think about the potential for these starting lines:
There once was a parsnip from Cambridge
Who lived in my Whirlpool fridge…
The can rhyme or not rhyme. They can be funny or serious. They can be deep or hilariously shallow.
I have faith in you guys. I mean, if there can be an entire book devoted to haiku about SPAM, surely we can play around and come up with a few about fruits and veggies. It’s a new year! Don’t delay—grease your creative wheels and give it a whirl!
This contest closes at midnight Pacific Time on Sunday, January 4th, and then readers will vote to choose their favorites. I hope it’s you!
Happy New Year!
16 Comments so far
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Now for the fine print… are family members allowed to win?!
Weeeellll…..that’s a fair question. My take on it is that since I’m not deciding the winner (the audience is), I don’t see a problem. Hey, all you readers out there: Please drop me a note if that seems unfair, and we’ll re-evaluate.
I will keep all kith and kin out of the random drawing, however. That’s just good sense.
By the way, Auntie Sooz, I suspect that you and T would be dang good poets. In fact, I would not be surprised to learn that one or the both of you had written some Spam-ku back in the day. I entreat you most earnestly to consider bending your wordsmithing to the produce poem. ‘Cuz I think you’d produce something totally comprised of awesomeness and I rilly rilly want to read it.
Gosh, the only veggie poem I know involves beans & tooting, thought I’ve always thought it was a winner!
We’ll have to put on some thinking caps & see if anything produces itself!
What a great idea to share your cookbooks and make room for new companions
Okay, well, I’ll take a shot at the poem:
Mango. A smile. A laugh as the juice trickles down my chin.
Mangos, yellow, red, and the deepest orange. Sunsets and sunrises at any time of the day.
Squishing the soft skin between my hands as the pulp mashes within, only to squirt out the top into my mouth and onto my friend’s face.
Sustaining me, soothing me, a joy throughout the years.
Scraping the pit with my teeth, drawing out each sweet bit of fruit until the fibers stick between my teeth. Scraping the skin with my teeth and laughing at the teeth marks left behind.
Joy in kachumber, in sweet mango sauce, in mango lassi and mango salads.
Nothing short of simple happiness.
Humm, I think there might be a slight obsession with this fruit, hee hee!
I love this challenge! Combining two wonderful things — veggies and poetry. Below is my entry:
Open Letter to a Carrot
Trust me. You’re fine
just the way you are. Pulled straight
from the soil, bumpy
and dirty. Crooked
like an accusing finger. Ignore
those people who ask you
to be smaller, more child-like.
Uniform and smooth, in easy to swallow
bullets. What they do to you
is violence, shaving
your distinctive features, suffocating
you, hundreds at a time, in re-sealable
plastic bags. I prefer our easy
mornings together. Scrubbing your uneven
skin. Picking off the thin white threads,
your immature roots. Slicing
you in half to reveal rings inside
crisp orange flesh. Don’t worry,
you will always be
my sweet, imperfect favorite.
[...] I decided to write an open letter to a carrot, because carrots are my favorite vegetable in the whole world. Feeling veggie-inspired? Check out her contest here. [...]
Holy poetry, Batman! You guys are knocking my socks off. I can’t wait to see what else comes in…
Those of you who feel less than Poet with a capital P, have no fear. As Jessica herself has said, “poet” is a verb. You are one if you write.
Write a poem or rhyme or limerick just for fun. I’m really hoping someone takes on the parsnip from Cambridge…it seemed like such a cute little vegetable! You have until Sunday night–plenty of time to play with words…and with your food!
Bright redish-orange tomatoes
firm, ripe and juicy
The redder, the better!
Emma would eat them, but I won’t let her.
I enjoy your slices in the purest form—
alone and swimming in a bowl of Italian dressing.
Buford ate one or two, he is confessing.
Hot house, on-the-vine and roma are the best.
I don’t prefer the ones from the West.
Homegrown and from the South create a tomato food fest!
Soup, marinara and ragu,
how do you like your tomatoes?
Ok Here it goes: (follows loosely the tune from Cinderella, “In my Own Little Corner” sorry Mr Hammerstein & Mr Rogers) Laurel, you did say “SINGING the praises of produce”
On my own little corner
in my own backyard,
I can grow whatever I want to grow.
On the wing of my fancy
I can plant anything
And my garden will grow, row upon row.
I can plant a young kohlrabi or a pea pod,
I’m the greatest gardener in the land.
But I’m a person who has always bought her produce,
From the local store but no, not anymore.
In my own little corner
In my own backyard
I can grow whatever I want to grow.
Be it green beans, cauliflower or red rhubarb,
I can grow them in my own little garden row.
I’m a gardener that the veggies love to grow for.
Veggies are a thing I really like to munch
Be it radishes or carrots
Or a green cuke,
I will put them in a salad just for lunch..
In my own little corner
In my own backyard
I can grow whatever I want to grow.
I can dig in the dirt all alone and happy
When I meet an earthworm digging in her hole,
Then I’m glad to be in my own little garden,
All alone in my own backyard.
It’s difficult to reconcile the nature of the limerick with a paean to a vegetable; the best I can do is say that perhaps the parsnip deserves its spicy reputation:
There once was a parsnip from Cambridge
who lived in a Whirlpool fridge.
He made passes at lasses,
took bribes, flunked his classes,
and his memoir was never abridged.
[...] kitchen experimentation, don’t forget to stop by the first Simple Spoonful contest and get a chance to win a cookbook from my own collection! All entries must be in by tomorrow at midnight Pacific [...]
I can’t believe no one has gone the easy way and stolen ‘This is just to say.’
So I will!
I have eaten
the blueberries
that were in
the white bowl in the fridge
All of them.
I picked each myself
from small, dry
bushes.
Forgive me
I didn’t want to share.
They were delicious
so tiny
and so tartly sweet.
And a haiku to he blueberry as well. My favorite fruit of all time.
“Blueberry power,”
I said when young. Now it’s called
antioxidants.
Kale
Oh kale, you sneak into the magazines and foodie blogs so sheepishly. Like you are surprised by all of this new attention. I know it was rough for you to wait your turn and watch that Boston lettuce, that obvious spinach, those silly rabe things all steal the spotlight. They had no idea of what you were capable of….a hearty salad, wilted with garlic, added to soup, spiced on your own. Oh my, you were so patient and clever. And they never suspected a thing.
Yo, DJ
don’t kick da beet!!
da pppptttt-pppptttt tssssst
da pppptttt-pppptttt tssssst
here’s a little rap,
with a succulent beat,
about a tasty root
so earthy sweet!!
This little beet
is a double treat
greens on top,
and underneath
a juicy feat!!
Saute their greens,
and cook the meat.
red or gold
Yo,
behold!!
boiled… broiled…
this beet ain’t
SPOILED!!
Slice it
Dice it
throw it in a
Soup
suckin down some borscht
while ya sit on yur
STOOP!!
red and ROUND,
my hands stained
PINK
No matter yo
‘cuz this beet
STANKS!!
Yo, Check da beet…
da ppppttt-ppppttt tsssst
da ppppttt-ppppttt tsssst
This is hilarious. I already have the Moosewood cookbooks but I can’t help but say a little something about my friend the avocado:
Ever since I learned to
Twist out your pit
It’s been love.
Too bad hubby doesn’t
Know you’re ready
Only when you’re soft.
He buys you unripe
And I have to wait
And wait.
Hey, Michelle! Welcome back.
Hope the vacation was amazing.
Why are avocados so perfect? Oh, how I love them…