Category Archives: Contest

Free Stuff: Zagat Restaurant Survey

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The Zagat Restaurant Survey for New Orleans has gone live. Normally, you’re encouraged to rate restaurants and comment on them with a two-fold carrot. First, if they deem you witty enough, your quote may be used in the blurb on the restaurant. Second, if you rate/comment on enough restaurants and provide your address, you’ll get a free book when it’s published. Probably so you can check to see if confirm you were witty enough to make the book. But is that enough for the premium content provided by people like you? Heck no!

Knowing that you all are dripping with good taste (I mean you’re here) and fountains of knowledge about the local restaurant scene, Zagat approached us with a sweet deal for you. In addition to getting in print and getting a book, they’re going to give you the shot at $100 for Whole Foods. Here’s how it was explained to us:

Each time [you] vote for a restaurant, it’ll be counted as an entry to win the $100 gift card from Whole Foods. The prize will be awarded to the person who writes the most witty, creative and informative review (judged by Zagat).

Additionally, if [you] vote for 10 or more restaurants, [you]‘ll be eligible to receive a free copy of the 2013 guide when it’s published next year (provided we’re given an address).

Just follow this link: https://sites.google.com/site/nolarestaurantblogcontest/ to get started. Just be sure to get on it, as the contest is only open until next Friday, June 29th. Be sure to check their website for the contest’s official rules and other legal stuff.

As part of our full disclosure standards, you should know we aren’t receiving a darn thing for this, just giving you all a chance to win $100 for something you’re probably going to do anyway.

Free Stuff: PJ’s Coffee

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After one of the more glorious Springs in recent history, this month has brought us back to reality, with temperatures creeping ever higher. June, as we all know won’t be any kinder. Thankfully, the folks at PJ’s may have just the (free) tickets to beat the heat, free iced coffee, a party and the chance at your own coffee flavor. From June 1 to June 7 you’ll be able to download a coupon for a free 12 ounce Southern Wedding Cake Iced Coffee from PJ’s Facebook page.

So why the free coffee? PJ’s is celebrating one year since the launch of their first consumer (that’s us) inspired flavor, which was the Southern Wedding Cake.

In addition to the downloadable coupon, PJ’s is throwing a birthday bash for the Southern Wedding Cake coffee at the PJ’s on Maple (7624 Maple Street) on Friday, June 1st from 8:30-10:30, complete with free coffee samples, free PJ’s inspired cake from Sucre’s Tariq Hanna and a chance to meet PJ’s Roastmaster Felton Jones.

Once you’ve had the chance to re-acquaint yourself the Southern Wedding Cake coffee, PJ’s wants you to try your hand at creating your own coffee flavor. From June 1-15, PJ’s wants you to post your ideas for the next custom coffee blend on their Facebook wall. The top 5 flavors will be chosen by a PJ’s team and open voting runs from June 18th to the 26th. If your flavor wins out above all, you get an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the roasting facility and a year supply of PJ’s Coffee.

Enjoy your free coffee and best of luck in giving us our next PJ’s flavor!

*Check PJ’s Facebook page for any rules, regulations or disclosures associated with this contests.

Giveaway Winner: Who is going to the New Orleans International Beer Festival?

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The New Orleans International Beer Festival giveaway is concluded and we have a winner. Thanks to Random.org, we’ve randomized the commentors names to select a winner.

Congrats to Chris Vitenas for scoring a pair of free tickets.

Here’s the list as generated by Random.org

Chris V
Milt
Cate
Michael
Lindsay
Anna
Ashley
Polly
Andy
Rebecca
Jane
Maggie
Chris
Kevin
Josieann
Jedd

Timestamp: 2012-03-23 12:38:07 UTC

Giveaway: New Orleans International Beer Fest

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Got any plans for this Saturday? Say from 2 to 6? Well, you might now. You see, the folks from the New Orleans International Beer Festival have provided us with a pair of tickets to give to one lucky winner. One winner, two tickets, four hours, 50+ breweries, 150+ beers, unlimited sampling. That’s right, unlimited beer. For free.

So how do you win? Easy, between now and Thursday, March 22nd at 11:59 PM, find the list of breweries scheduled to appear at New Orleans International Beer Festival and the beers they are bringing (hint: click here) and tell us in the comments which beer from which brewery you’d like to try most. We’ll pick the winner at random Friday morning.

Don’t forget to sign in with a valid email address when commenting so we can track you down. And one entry per person.

New Orleans International Beer Festival
Champions Square
March 24, 2012
2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Contests: zak! Serving Bowls Winner

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Congrats to commenter Meghan for scoring your own set of Emeril by zak! Table Art serving dishes.

And that will officially finish off all of our duties for Emeril and his newly released cookbook, Sizzling Skillets and Other One Pot Wonders (if you haven’t gotten yours yet, it is available here).

We now return to our regularly schedule content of eating, drinking and hang out in New Orleans. In case you haven’t had enough of all this, we’ve got a piece in the works that looks back at this whole experience.  In the mean time, head on over to any of the other Emeril bloggers to check out their journey through Sizzling Skillets and Other One Pot Wonders.  All 19 others are listed to the right. 

Full disclosure details available here.

What’s Cooking: Chicken and Black Beans with Chorizo

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As our feature of Emeril’s Sizzling Skillets and Other One-Pot Wonders comes to a close, we managed to save the best two dishes for last (in my opinion).  First up: Chicken and Black Beans with Chorizo.  This dish is SOOO flavorful.  We marinated the chicken overnight in a delicious blend of spices and some sherry.  The black beans are chock full of aromatic vegetables and a hearty helping of spicy chorizo.  For a weeknight, this one took a little too long to cook, so $1.25 and I didn’t sit down to eat until super late.  But most of the heavy lifting comes in the form of marinating and baking in the oven, so if you’re home with a little bit of time on your hands, you can pull this together pretty easily.  $1.25 was partial to the black bean/chorizo bottom layer and we’re already planning on using it for our pulled pork nachos!  Get your copy of the cookbook here for this recipe and all of our favorites from the past few weeks.

Don’t forget about our giveaway of the Zak dishes!  Only a little while longer to enter to win.

Come back tomorrow for the knock out final dish.  We can’t wait to eat it tonight and tell you all about it tomorrow!

For full disclosure information, click here.

Contests: Cookbook Winner and Emeril by zak! Table Art 7-Piece Serving Bowls Giveaway

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Congrats to commenter Michelann for scoring your own copy of Emeril’s newly released cookbook , Sizzling Skillets and Other One Pot Wonders.

We’re closing in on the end of our three week experiment digging into Sizzling Skillets and Other One Pot Wonders (if you didn’t win it is available here).  To celebrate the cookbook and this amazing journey, we’re giving away a set of Emeril by zak! Table Art serving dishes. While these dishes are perfect for entertaining and decorating, I tend to use them in my prep stage most.  When a recipe calls for a number of ingredients to be added throughout the recipe, I’ll prep them all first and drop them in individual bowls or on plates.  These bowls are perfect for that and, as they are dishwasher safe, cleanup is a breeze.

For even more ideas, check out what Emeril has in mind with the video below:

To win the Emeril by zak! Table Art serving dishes, all you’ve got to do is comment on any of our Emeril posts from now through Friday, September 30 (be sure to supply the proper email address in the comment form so we can reach you).  For each post you comment on, you’ll get another entry.  (One comment per post, PLEASE!)

Just like with our cookbook giveaway, we’ll be adding more Emeril posts through the end of the contest period to give you more posts to comment on and pick up even more chances to win.  Also, feel free to Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and/or subscribe to us here (see the upper right corner of the page).  After Friday, we’ll let the folks over at Random.org pick our winner since they did such a great job with picking our cookbook winner!

This contest is only open to U.S. residents.  Sorry to our international friends!  Full disclosure details available here.

What’s Cooking: Slow-Cooked Pulled Pork

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Our next selection from Emeril’s Sizzling Skillets and Other One Pot Wonders is the Slow-Cooked Pulled Pork.  What a PERFECT game-day dish!  Saturday night we made a delicious spice rub and prepped the Boston butt roast.  Then on Sunday morning we popped it into the slow cooker on our way out the door to the Dome and it was ready for us when we got home.  We added a sweet slaw and some macaroni and cheese on the side to round things out.  Our group loved the sandwiches we made and I’m sure $1.25 is eager to make some pulled pork nachos with the leftovers!

Since we can’t give you the full recipe, I thought I’d give you a little note on technique.  The recipe calls for making slits in the pork butt and putting pieces of garlic in each one to add flavor.  In order to do that, you have to peel the garlic, but you can’t smash it to oblivion in the process.  Whereas normally I give the garlic a hard press and easily pop the pieces out of the skin, you have to be a little more gentle in your approach in order to keep the cloves whole.  So, I gently pressed the garlic with the side of a knife, just until I feel it give way a little bit.  Then I peeled the skin off, sometimes with a little more trouble than others.  Then I easily sliced each whole clove in half lengthwise in order to spot them all over the pork roast.  No need for one of those crazy garlic peelers, just a chef’s knife and a little patience.

Easy does it!!

Peel off the skin

All clean!

Prepping the roast

The yummy spice rub

After marinating overnight

8 hours later its ready to eat! Gotta love that slow cooker!

We opted to strain the cooking liquid and separate the fat. We poured the gravy back over the meat to keep things moist.

The finished product

Don’t forget that we’re giving away a copy of the cookbook!  Check out last week’s post for more information.  You’ve only got today and tomorrow left to enter!! 

Full disclosure for our Emeril’s Sizzling Skillets participation available here.

Contests: Emeril’s Sizzling Skillets and Other One Pot Wonders Cookbook Giveaway

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As of now, we’ve highlighted 5 different recipes from Emeril’s forthcoming cookbook , Sizzling Skillets and Other One Pot Wonders (available for preorder here).  To date, we haven’t been able to share all of the recipes we’ve cooked up, but here is your chance to get your hands on all of the recipes.  For free! 

That’s right, we’re giving away Sizzling Skillets!  All you’ve got to do is comment on any of our Emeril posts from now through Tuesday, September 27 (be sure to supply the proper email address in the comment form so we can reach you).  For each post you comment on, you’ll get another entry.  (One comment per post, PLEASE!)  Crazy bonus twist, we’ll be adding more Emeril posts through the end of the contest period to give you more posts to comment on and pick up even more chances to win.  After Tuesday, we’ll let the folks over at Random.org pick our winner.

Also, feel free to Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and/or subscribe to us here (see the upper right corner of the page).  It won’t give you any additional entries, because we’d hate to rope you into following us on one or more of these social media thingies if you aren’t really interested.  Of course, those are good ways to keep tabs on when our next Emeril’s giveaway will be (hint: soon)!

This contest is only open to U.S. residents.  Sorry to our international friends!  Full disclosure details available here.

Emeril’s Cooking Party: We’re In and Full Disclosure

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Earlier this month we entered to be a part of a promotion for Emeril’s new book, Sizzling Skillets and Other One-Pot Wonders. We found out the other day that we’ve been selected to participate, which is pretty exciting in our little part of the universe. While we will be making this food and providing honest feedback on the recipes, full disclosure is our #1 requirement around here. So here is what our participation in this means for us (and you):

1. Over the next 3 weeks we will have 3 posts a week featuring recipes from the book. The recipes we will select come from a pre-approved list of recipes from the book. I assume this to be a best-of-the-best of the universe of recipes in the book [Update: We can make any recipe from the book, we're only allowed to give out 3 recipes].

2. For our trouble we will get additional promotion of our blog and posts by the company and other participating bloggers. We will also receive or be eligible to receive the following:

■ONE pre-publication copy of Sizzling Skillets and Other One-Pot Wonders to use to cook from for the three-week-long program
■ONE jar of Emeril’s Original Essence to use while preparing recipes from Sizzling Skillets.
■ONE set of Emeril – by zak! Table Art 7-piece Flame-Shaped Serving Bowls, for beautiful presentation of the one-pot wonders you cook up.
■The top performing blogger, as selected by T-Fal, will be awarded an Emeril by T-Fal Slow Cooker once the three-week blogging project is over
■$50 grocery reimbursement

For your troubles in checking in over here, we’ll be giving away:

■ONE additional copy of Sizzling Skillets and Other One-Pot Wonders to offer as a giveaway through your blog, Twitter feed, or Facebook profile.
■ONE set of Emeril — by zak! Table Art 7-piece Flame-Shaped Serving Bowls to offer as a giveaway through your blog, Twitter feed, or Facebook profile.

So be on the look out for our posts featuring Emeril’s new recipes and our contests to put these things in your hands.