Wednesday, February 3, 2010

A celebration...and my first GIVEAWAY!

Today marks one year.

I'm not sure if this should be considered a birthday, an anniversary, or just a general auspicious occasion of sorts. A celebratory event? Sure.

Yes, I did sing a little tune before blowing out the candle. It's lucky. I think.
Celebration

One year ago today, Tales of a Kitchenphobe was begun.

This year has been filled with so much fun, laughter, and food. I've had my triumphs (
Magic!; There's always a first time for everything; Aaaaannnd....part two!; Cookies! Yay!). I've had my less-triumphant days (Back in the Kitchen; When things don't go as planned; Adding a crispy layer to already cooked food...sounds like a plan to me!). But in the end, I've always known that however good, bad, or ugly things turned out, there would be a place for it here. And that Adam would always sample it.

Okay, speech over. Now's time for the fun part.

I decided the best way to celebrate this milestone was to thank you. Yes, you, my dear readers, who have come along on this wild, usually delicious, sometimes slightly scorched, adventure. Thank you for accompanying me.

And then I decided an even better way to thank you all was through presents. Celebrate my first blogging anniversary with my first giveaway. It seemed fun and appropriate.

And so, one of you will receive a present filled with fun baking accouterments. More specifically...

Fun items

1 set of measuring cups
1 set of 4 different colored sugars (pink, orange, green, and blue)
1 container of multicolored sprinkles
1 set of 75 cupcake-themed cupcake wrappers
Baking-related stickers
(stack of blue plastic cups not included)

So for the past year, you have all heard about my cooking calamities. I'd like to hear some of your best kitchen mishap anecdotes. To enter to win the items shown above, please comment with your favorite tale. Also, please include your email address so I can contact you if you win! (I pinky-swear I will not use your email address in any other manner.) To keep things fair, one comment per person please!

The giveaway will be open for comments
until 11:59 PM (EST) on Wednesday, February 10th. I will announce the winner (chosen at random) the next day.

Are you excited? I am! Good luck to all!!!

5 comments:

Matt Lepek said...

My brother tried to make a red wine reduction sauce over some fish once. He boiled sugar and wine way too long burning it, ruining a bunch of m pots and pans and silverware. The best part was that once it was poured over the fish it created a black hard shell candy coating which made me gag. It was my bros best moment in the kitchen.

I also know Adam is a fan of my wings so I think it's time you started a tailgate food portion of your blog.

LuAnn said...

Without going into horrible detail, because the flashbacks are still all too real.......did you know that baking powder and baking soda aren't the same??? Neither did I. I love your blog, Happy Anniversary!!

Mary-Ellen said...

I am one of three siblings. We were all born within 2.5 years of each other. Therefore, the bickering, teasing and fighting was huge in our house. ANY chance to make fun of a sibling was a great day. I loved to bake when I was younger. Still do. I believe this event scarred me for life in the kitchen blunder department. I have to go back 40 years for this one. I wanted to make baked Alaska. The picture in my mother's Betty Crocker red and white cook book spoke to me. I had to do it. But logically I could not picture how ice cream could be put into a 400 degree oven and survive. Despite my fear, I took this project on with the innocence of the young. Ice cream will not melt in oven, have confidence, the ice cream will not melt in the oven. After making the cake, smoothing out the ice cream on top of the layers cakes, whipping the meringue spreading it carefully over every inch of the ice cream. Into the oven, fingers crossed... my sister and brother waiting for the big reveal! It was their lucky day, NOT mine! The ice cream oozed all over the cake, melted ice cream everywhere. I still cannot say the word baked Alaska without that twinge in my stomach. Luckily it is no longer a popular dish, but retro desserts are coming back, so I think Sara, you should try this + give me a successful piece.

Hannah said...

Hmm... My biggest kitchen mishap might have been the first time I tried to make butterscotch blondies. I must have used the wrong amount of baking powder or soda, because about 15 minutes into baking, they literally EXPLODED all over the inside of my oven! It was such a huge mess...!

Adam said...

Alright... As painful as it is to admit that I have had culinary mishaps, I had a run in with a couple of eggs as a preteen. While taking on the challenge of egg flipping, I ended up with exploded egg yolk all over myself, my stove top and my floor. I completely over flung the eggs, and in the split second attempt to catch them, they caught the edge of the pan near the handle. They bust open, sending yolk all over my hand and shirt, my stovetop and burner, and the floor.... It was one yolky, disgusting, yellow mess... And you can imagine the smell of burning egg yolk on an open flame.