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Are you looking for a chance to add more recipes to add to your collection? What about winning a coupon book, Our Town and All Around and having your recipe featured in the upcoming cookbook *“EatingCleveland Favorites”? Check out the Awesome Recipe contest rules below.  You won’t want to miss out on this opportunity.

This is how the Awesome Recipe contest works:

Leave a comment on this post with your all time favorite family recipe. You must include the list of ingredients and the directions on how to make your awesome recipe.  We will be looking for the most delicious, creative, unique, and extraordinary recipe ever.  The contest will start today and end Friday, December 12,2008. 

Good Luck and Happy Cooking!

*(”EatingCleveland Favorites” is coming in April 2009)

Polenta is a great side dish for Italian meals that few people in this country have ever made, but it’s so easy to make that once you try it you’ll wonder why you’ve never made polenta.  Made with a ground cornmeal, polenta is boiled to seduce a velvety creaminess that is a great addition to any meal. 

The first thing you need to make polenta is ground cornmeal.  I prefer a course ground cornmeal because I enjoy the texture it produces in the final product.  When shopping for polenta, don’t look for polenta.  Look instead for grits.  If someone expects you to be making polenta from the cornmeal, you’ll end up paying a premium for it. 

My favorite brand is Bob’s Red Mill.  You can order off of their website or you can find it at your local grocery store.  My store keeps it in the health foods section. As you can see from the close-up picture, their product is very coarse, just what we’re after. 

(more…)

We had a lot of interest in our “Last Meal” contest to win one of the Our Town and All Around coupon books.  One of the entrants was selected at random to win on of the books and that winner was:

Patricia Smith who wanted this for her last meal - A salad consisting of mache, boston lettuce, cranberries, gorgonzola, walnuts, various veggies and a red wine vinagrette dressing. Then my favorite Aunt’s Maultaschen (Germany’s answer to ravioli or peirogi), Spatzle with Sauerbraten and red cabbage. I would end with homemade chocolate pudding with vanilla sauce and raspberries, and of course a shot of Kirshwasser to ease my bloated, aching tummy.

I also, out of the kindness of my big fat heart, picked another winner because, well damn it, it was one of the funniest things I’d read in awhile.  That winner is Mel who would have - Since I am allergic to shellfish, my last meal would definitely consist of something crustacean. And hopefully it’s all wrapped up in an awesome enchilada.

Congratulations to Patricia and Mel, I’ll be contacting you shortly for your addresses.

And thanks to everyone who entered, they were all great responses.  Keep your eyes open as we’ve got a bunch more of these books in the next couple of weeks.

A heads up from Debby Samples at the Cleveland Film Festival:

Food For Thought
Thursday, January 22nd 2009 at 7:00 pm
Hosts: Bill Guentzler and Debby Samples
$35.00 per guest / limit 75 guests (25 seats still remain!)

Join us for a loft party at Taxel Image Group’s photography studio in downtown Cleveland. Laura Taxel, food writer and author of CLEVELAND ETHNIC EATS, has recruited some film buffs who also happen to be the chefs at three of our city’s great restaurants. They’re going to share their tips for the perfect at-home dinner-and-a-movie date, imagine menus with suggested DVD pairings, and tell you about their favorite flicks and finger foods.

Wine, hors d’oeuvres, and desserts
(provided by Bob Sferra of Culinary Occasions) will be served.
To reserve tickets, contact Debby Samples at 216.623.3456 x14 or visit www.clevelandfilm.org.

One would think that with my previous experiences attempting to obtain fried chicken in Painesville, I would have learned my lesson.

Apparently not.

In an attempt to use a coupon from my wonderful Our Town and All around book, I visited my local Kentucky Fried Chicken on Richmond St. in Painesville.  Oh wait, I forgot, it actually a KFC.  Wouldn’t want anyone to know they fry the chicken.

So I pull up to the window and begin.

Ignoramus KFC worker: Welcome to KFC, go ahead with your order.

Me: Yeah, I’ve got a coupon for 4 extra pieces of chicken when you purchase 8.

Ignoramus KFC worker: Ok. Do you want a meal?

Me: Yes, please.  Can I get green beans and cole slaw for the sides?  Also, I need to make sure that half of that order is white meat.

Ignoramus KFC worker: Green beans and cole slaw, and the white meat will cost extra.

Me: That’s fine.

Ignoramus KFC worker: Ok, I’ve got a 8 piece meal with 4 extra pieces, heavy on the white meat.  Green beans and cole slaw for sides.  Is that correct?

Me: Yep, perfect.

Ignoramus KFC worker: Is it ok if we don’t have any white meat?

Me: What?

Ignoramus KFC worker: Yeah, we don’t have any white meat.  Is it ok, if there isn’t any?

Me: No.  I just made a special order for white meat chicken.

Ignoramus KFC worker: Yes, I know sir (condescending little prick), but we don’t have any white meat.

Me: Then I don’t want anything.

Ignoramus KFC worker: Are you sure?  We can do the same thing without any white meat.

Me: No thanks.

Un-freaking real. What does it take to get fried chicken in Painesville?

Photo: nettsu

Dana, from kidsmealdeal.com, passed along a note about a deal running on her website where you can get your kids a free kids meal at Northeastern Ohio Steak ‘n Shake locations.  All you need to do is buy yourself a platter and mention the kidsmealdeal.com website.

Pretty simple.

Check out her site for more great deals.

This is our first giveaway of the new 2009 Our Town and All Around Coupon book, so make sure to leave your entry in the comments for a chance to win.

Gather a bunch of chefs together and the question is bound to come up: You’re on death row, its time for your last meal, what do you choose?

I’ll go first.

I’d choose roasted Yukon gold potatoes, braised short ribs, chorizo tacos (cilantro & onion), dried cranberries and a Pepsi.

What about you?  Leave your choice for last meal in the comments.  Everyone who does will be entered into the giveaway for the coupon book.  I will pick one at random to be the winner. Northeastern Ohio people only please.

We’ve got a winner.  Stay tuned though as we have a bunch more to give away in the next few weeks.

Just a reminder that the contest to win the free Penzey’s Spice kit shown above is still open.  Check out this post for all the details.

Election day…  You arrive at the location you have been assigned to vote.  You enter the building and are asked to check in, making sure you are in the right spot.  You then are pointed towards the area that has been set up for your precinct, and then the wait begins…  After you have finished voting, the nice people who work at the polls should have given you a sticker; thanking you for having come to vote.  

This years sticker was worth a lot!  Hopefully you were able to take advantage of the few food freebies.  By showing your sticker you were able to get a free cup of coffee at Starbucks, a free donut from Krispy Kreme, Chick-fil-A offered free chicken sandwiches, and Ben & Jerry’s was offering a free scoop of ice cream. 

I was looking online yesterday and came across a website that had a list of freebies from different areas of the US food and non food related.  They were pretty interesting, so I thought I’d share with you guys.

Phone calls. Credo Mobile, a wireless company that donates money to progressive causes for calls its customers make, will offer free outbound calls to current customers during polling hours in their states. The cost could be about $250,000, says spokeswoman Becky Bond.

Discount haircuts. Then, there’s Cristophe Schatteman, a top hair stylist known for giving former president Bill Clinton a $200 haircut on Air Force One. His salons in Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, Beverly Hills and Orange County, Calif., will offer all services — including haircuts — at half price today. A $500 haircut from Cristophe will go for $250.

Books-A-Million: Free cup of coffee after showing your “I voted” sticker.

Shane’s Rib Shack: A free “Celebrate America Meal”—3-piece chicken tenders, fries, and 20-ounce drink—to the first 300 customers at participating locations, according to their

Did you take advantage of the Election Day 2008 Freebies?  If you do not live in the Cleveland area, what freebies were offered in your neck of the woods?

Photo by: nailz1000

I’ve always been a big fan of restaurant coupon books, especially the truly local books.  The books are usually very inexpensive, only $25, and you can save more than you paid for the book in two restaurant visits. 

A book I’ve used for many years is the Our Town and All Around book that is published locally for the Cleveland area.  I can’t count the number of restaurants I’ve reviewed on this site that I’ve used the Our Town book.  Most of the restaurant deals offer buy one get one free meals where you can easily save upwards of $20 per meal.

The thing I like about the Our Town book is that they are a local company so many of the deals it offers are those that you are going to use.  I’ve just gotten my copy of the 2009 book and I can’t believe all of the great coupons for spectacular restaurants.  They’ve added this year new sections featuring Northeastern Ohio’s Wineries and East 4th St.  Here are some of my favorite restaurant deals featured this year:

• Bubba Q’s
• Grovewood Tavern & Wine Bar
• House of Blues
• Fat Fish Blue
• Bar Louie
• Saffron Patch
• Hoggy’s
• Loco Leprechaun
• Burgers and Beer
• Shula’s 2

I also love the golf and Westside Market sections, you can’t beat buy one get one free greens fees or free chorizo. 

This is the biggest book they’ve ever had and I highly recommend that you go over to their website and order one now.  They make great Christmas presents and if you know someone that’s going through a rough patch, the book is a great way to help them save some money.  Now is the time to order.

Eatingcleveland.com has teamed up with Our Town and All Around, so we’re going to be giving away a bunch of these books over the next few weeks. Stay tuned for giveaways and contests so you can win a book of your own.