Rach over at Rach’s Blog Bite is having a giveaway: 100 postcards, 4×6, full color on both sides, and the winner gets to design them herself!

Sounds awesome! Head on over to Rach’s site to enter by leaving a comment or posting about it on your own blog. Giveaway ends on May 24th, so get on over there!

Edit, 3/9/09: The contest is now closed. Thanks to all who entered, and thanks for the great tips and recipes! The winner of the Barefoot Contessa cookbook is …

LEANNE!

Happy cooking, everyone. Leanne, look for the cookbook in your mailbox in a few days.

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This lovely cookbook is on the table as the main dish in this week’s give away! To enter, either leave a comment on this post with with a tip on how you keep it simple in the kitchen…

OR

go to the Menu Plan Monday post and leave a comment with your favorite simple recipe (or a link to it)…

OR

Do both! And get entered into the drawing twice! (How nice am I… I know, I know…)

So get to it!

Contest ends at 10 p.m. central time on Friday night, March 6, 2009. Winner will be announced over the weekend (and contacted via email, carrier pigeon, and pygmy). Cookbook will be mailed Monday. Next Give Away will begin…. mmmm… soon thereafter.

*All tips & recipes may end up being compiled in some sort of future publication. I take your comment as your permission to use your tip/recipe. Leave your web/blog address in your comment if you’d like it credited/linked when I do so.

#3 Commenter: VIKKI from A Few of My Favorite Things blog.

Thanks to all who commented and congratulations to Vikki!

Next give away starts tomorrow. Check back to comment for you chance to win.

Win Rachael Ray’s Big Orange Book: Click here to go comment for your chance!

1.) You’re on a trip taking a tour through the jungle. You have a backpack with some food, some first aid supplies, a pocket knife, a flashlight and a couple bottles of water. Some how, you get separated from your group. By night fall you haven’t found your group and haven’t heard them looking for you. How long do you think you would be able to survive on your own?

How much food did we say was in the bag? Um, okay, probably as long as it took me to die from starvation. I think I could hide fairly well from ravenous creatures and such, but killing something to eat it would be difficult (no, I’m not a really good person, I’m just not good with setting traps made from vines and then killing my catch with a pocket knife). Now if my husband were along, we’d have a nice bungalow built in a week and be happily roasting a tiger over our rotisserie in the front yard… But that’s another story.

2.) Do you think it’s okay to lie to spare someone’s feelings? Why?

Hmm. Lying is not good, usually ever. But keeping your mouth shut is good, much of the time. I find that many of my friends have this idea that in order to be honest with their best friend/mom/sig. other they have to tell them EVERYTHING. No. Not true. Some things are better left way, way out of sight. Some times there is no way to express yourself on a particular subject without hurting someone else. Obviously there are time when getting the truth out is more important than sparing feelings. But there are also times when “self-expression” is just a narcissistic excuse for putting others down in a subtle way.

3.) If a talking (insert your name here) doll were made, what are THREE phrases it would say?
The life-size talking Annie doll would say: “I’m hungry,” “I need to pee,” and “Don’t be a victim.” I’m pretty sure the non-pregnant version would hang on to the last phrase, but the first two would probably change…
4.) If the super power to be able to read minds at your own will were possible, do you think it would be… cool and helpful, intrusive and wrong, manipulative or maddening? Explain why you would or wouldn’t want to be able to read anyone’s mind at your own will.

As tempting as it is… I think, overall, it would become intrusive and manipulative. I don’t think I could keep myself from really seeing what people were thinking, and then responding to that. And you know, I don’t want people to know what I’m thinking all the time. Or even most of the time. I can exercise self-control over my mouth and keep from saying really stupid stuff most of the time, but me and the brain are still working it out. So I think I would judge people unfairly by what was flitting through their minds and then never be able to forget it. I’ll pass on that superpower. Can we talk about laser-shooting eyes instead…?

5.) Drunk confessions, are they the things people can’t bring themselves to say sober or just crazy ramblings of an influenced and intoxicated mind?

In my experience, which isn’t vast, I find that drunk confessions have a definite element of truth. But as with the “reading minds” thing, when there are no inhibitions, people say what they think at the moment without considering the consequences. So there may be truth, but that doesn’t mean it’s the whole truth. Does that make sense?

6.) What brings out the worst in you?

Being very tired and up too late. I get really unpleasant to be around once I get past a certain point of weariness.

7.) Do you think long distance relationships work? Have you ever been in one before?

I am happily married to the result of a long distance relationship! It worked for me; however, we did live in the same place and become friends during high school. In college and after was the long-distance part, so we had some history that helped overcome the problem of really getting to know each other from 500 miles apart.

Overall, though, I think it can work. If there is commitment and some willingness to sacrifice a bit, (long drives every other weekend, anyone?), yes.

Did you remember to enter the contest? Click on the book!

This is my review copy – which reminds me, I need to write a review of this cookbook before I give it away. And since the giving away will happen exactly one week from today… (Note to self: write review).

To enter (and win, maybe!) simply make a comment below which includes one quick kitchen tip: some way you get things done in a hurry, are more efficient, use up leftovers, or some other savvy kitchen quick idea.

So on Friday, February 27, I’ll draw a random number from the comments below and that person will be the winner!

Note: I’ll compile all the tips and use them in some future publication, either blog post or article or ebook or newsletter. By commenting with a tip, you’re giving me permission to use said tip in said future publication. If you’d like, include your web/blog address and your first name and I’ll give you credit in said future publication. Okay. Semi-legal jargon over.

GET ENTERED TWICE: Mention this contest, with link, in a blog post, then comment or trackback with the post URL and I’ll add your name to the drawing again. That’s twice the chance you’ll win!