**This giveaway has ended, and the three winners have been contacted! Congratulations to all who won and big thanks to all who shared your inspirations!***
I have met some of the most generous people and companies since starting this blog, and that’s never been more true than today, when two of them are donating prizes in this post, including a $100 gift certificate!
Let’s start with Cookware.com, whom you’ll remember from our recent giveaway of an immersion blender and a stock pot. It’s part of a larger chain of sites, which includes JustVanities.com, a shop that has everything you could need for updating a bathroom vanity at home. And exceeding their generosity in the last post, this company is offering one lucky reader a $100 gift certificate to use as you please at ANY OF THEIR SITES! I know. Right? Amazing.
And that’s not all.
Vicki is a fellow writer I met in grad school at DePaul, and out of the goodness of her heart, she asked me if she could donate a copy of the Gourmet Today cookbook for one of you readers. Just so someone could enjoy it.
And it just got me thinking. Shoot, if everyone else is being so generous, I don’t see why I can’t be too. So there are a whole bunch of great cookbooks I’ve either been given or bought or had for a while, in mint condition, and I’m adding two to the list of prizes, so a third person can get both of them mailed to his or her door:
- America’s Best BBQ
(reviewed in a previous post here)
- The Scandinavian Cookbook
, another beautiful hardcover cookbook from Andrews McMeel Publishing
HOW TO ENTER:
To make things super simple, there’s just one way to enter this time: answer the following question posed by Vicki, in 200 words or less, in a comment on this post.
Who inspires you to cook? And/or share a teachable moment in the kitchen.
- OTHER RULES/DISCLAIMERS:
- The contest
starts NOW and ends midnight CST, this coming Saturday, May 22.has ended! - The contest is only open to US residents.
- The three winners will be selected via a random number generator and
contacted via e-mail Sunday, with instructions for coordinating their prize.have been contacted! - No purchase is necessary.
- I will choose the winners from the qualified participants. I am the sole judge of adding entries to the list. Plagiarized content, trackback from splogs, spams, non-goal oriented comments, and comments containing abusive or inappropriate languages will not be considered.
- To award the prize, I must be able to contact you via the e-mail address you write from and/or provide. Your contact information will not be shared with anyone else (excepting, of course, Cookware.com, for the winner of that gift certificate; or Vicki, for the winner of her cookbook).
- Winners must reply within 1 week from the time notified to claim prize. Otherwise, he or she forfeits the prize, and it will be awarded to an alternate.
Top Image Credit: stopnlook
About Shanna MallonShanna Mallon started Food Loves Writing back in 2008, as a way to remember her grandma and write about her life through food. Since then it's become a place leading her to a lifestyle of eating whole foods, a new home in Nashville and the love of her life, Tim. Follow Shanna on Twitter @foodloves, keep up with Food Loves Writing on Facebook and stay inspired with the monthly newsletter.
It’s always the greatest surprise and joy to walk into the kitchen and see my cousins playing around with food. Or when they walk in to join me making bread or dinner. These kids are fearless and worry-free, and it’s these traits that I seek to emulate in my kitchen endeavors.
My husband inspires me! He tends to be a “snobby” eater, but it has inspired me to always be on the lookout for new yummy foods to try! It’s a good thing I came into our marriage already loving to bake and cook!
Blogs inspire me to cook! I love reading about other people’s kitchen adventures~
As my life situation changes, so too does my cooking inspiration. First, it was my parents–the mom who made amazing after-school snacks (homemade hot fudge, brownies) and the dad who rebelled from completely following a recipe. Next, it was a roommate who made ultra-personalized birthday cakes for all our friends. Now, it’s a boyfriend who’s learning his way around the kitchen but can still make a mean no-knead bread!
My mom inspired me to start cooking. She taught me fractions before they were taught in elementary school, as we made cookies, playdough, and holiday treats together.
Family. Tradition. Togetherness. There is nothing more fun or intimate than cooking with and for friends and family. Nothing makes me happier than watching family and friends enjoy a meal I have fixed especially for them. Mentally filing away each person’s favorite side dish, favorite desert, or favorite casserole is something I do automatically and fix when I know they are going to be around or when it is a special day for that person. It gives me so much joy to be able to share that little something with those that I love.
What a nice giveaway, Shanna!
My inspirations to cook: marriage, pregnancy and little mouths to feed. I didn’t have much of an interest in cooking until I was responsible for getting food on the table every day. Then, pregnancy drove me to explore better quality food – constant hunger inspires much creativity
Then, as my first child started eating solid food, I truly thought about everything that came in my kitchen in a new way. What IS that ingredient? Why should there be ____ in the yogurt/ketchup/hot dog….? Can I make that myself?
And in the mix, I have realized that I love the process itself. As the saying goes, necessity was my “mother of invention”.
Who inspires me to cook? Life, as a whole, inspires. I turn to baking when I’m stressed out or need to think. I very much enjoy preparing food or meals for friends and loved ones, because I was raised in a family where you show your love by feeding people. A good majority of the time, my Mister inspires, because he gets hungry at shorter intervals than I do and I love to prepare food for him. And then, sometimes the pantry inspires; you open the door and go “Hmm, artichoke hearts…”
I love good food, so that’s what inspires me to cook. Pretty simple
What inspires me to cook is the fact that my family expects it! And I do enjoy it, most of the time. When I’m in a rut, I can regain my enthusiasm for cooking by watching cooking shows on television (My favorites are America’s Test Kitchen and Everyday Italian.) and reading food and cooking blogs–like yours!
Truthfully, I wasn’t very inspired to cook until I got married and had to out of necessity. I have learned over the years to enjoy it. I find I don’t enjoy it when I am in a rush or have to quickly after a long day of work. But when I have time and plan ahead of time, I really love it. I have gone through phases of inspiration, but presently “Food Loves Writing” is my inspiration. And I honestly don’t say that to kiss up. (I mean it’s all random anyways
But really, it’s so helpful for me to see you try new things- hear the good the bad, and see all of the pictures of the process. Very inspiring! Thanks 
I’m lucky to have lots of good cooks in my life. My mom and grandma taught me what I know about baking. My friends have taught me that dinner can be delicious, fun, and stress free. I cooked a meal for myself tonight just to prove it.
What fun! This is my first blog-giveaway. I’m loving reading the entries. TASTE, beauty & smell inspire me. My mom was the chef in our family growing up. My sister and I cooked one night a week (heavily supervised) and my dad attempted a meal as well (usually microwaveable or disaster-proof). My teachable moment was creating my first gourmet meal: it took hours! I am, and always will be, in awe of my mom. Today, living on my own, not every meal is home-cooked and I still love going home to my mom’s. But I am getting improving. I enjoy cooking for the simple pleasure of creating something beautiful, healthful and delicious…and then sharing it with friends and anyone else I can corner to try my latest creation.
My mother. When we were kids we had a home-made meal every night and a brown bag lunch everyday. At the time, of course, I thought it was normal. Now that I’m an adult I don’t take her hard work for grated.
For me cooking is the language of the hone. Growing up in an Italian family it was a means of expression and communication with those you love. Whether you were saying, “congrats” with a special meal or “feel better”, even “I’m angry at you” (aka make your own dinner). It was part of communicating. Even now I use cooking for my husband the same way.
My first inspiration in the kitchen was my mother. When I was a kid, I’d just watch her cook everything from creole to chinese. She used to make character cakes for birthdays. She was just this amazing force in the kitchen. She does not cook as much as she used to, but we can still taste the love in her dishes. My biggest inspiration these days is my kids. I know that if I make something they enjoy, request or ask about, I’ve shared a good thing with them.
My great grandmother inspires me to cook. When I was a little girl we used to travel a few hours to the city to visit with her. She made the most incredible food. You just knew whatever she was serving was the BEST that you had ever had. When I got older I learned a little more; she came from France when she was just 19 and she had a little restaurant in San Francisco called the Tri-Color. People used to line up around the street on nights that she served liver and onions – if she could make that taste good, imagine her other cuisine. She was not classically trained- she just believed in good fresh ingredients put together with love and respect. And that’s what I try to do when I cook for my family and friends. I am forever thinking about how she would have done it and always trying to create the BEST something that anyone has ever tasted.
My friend Michelle inspires me to cook more. She is an effortless hostess and an adventurous cook every night of the week, even after a long day at work.
My mother inspires me. Putting food on the table never looked/looks like work and it’s never just thrown on a plate — always plated and looking like thought and care has been put into a meal. I always keep that in mind and I’m cooking for just me 99% of the time.
A question that set me ticking is what inspires u to cook or whats ur inspiration to-is it my love for goan Portuguese cuisine as much as worldwide culture cuisine….yeah i love to read up more about im about to simmer in the pot when possible-ok so its my love for food is it?It cant end at that surely,i may not be an excellent or over the top cook ,but the passion runs in my viens-im proud to say that i inherited this lineage than any other inheritence,my great great grandparents on both sides ,as far as i know the family tree,were lovers of good food,be it their excellent cooking or relishing or what have u……..and it was meant to be that i got in pulled& attracted to the kitchen before any other & i love being there…the excitement of being a teen was over shadowed by the excitement when i won a few prizes 4 cooking way before being a teen-its another story that in the category i won the first place there was only a single participant-me & where i won 2nd were jut a few participants but point is that i won(i consoled myself)…and i was all grins……happy and gay….and still am with blogoshere and meeting fantastic foodies ,virtually-a humbling expierience i cherish & love!!!!As also i mus add, wonderful blogs like urs!!!
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I’m continually inspired by blogs and food from around the world. How people create recipes from local ingredients, some I’ve yet to try just makes me want to do more and try more, and never eat the same thing twice (except my homemade macaroni and cheese of course).
My husband also inspires me. When I set out to lose weight he introduced me to cooking for health, for fuel and it’s just taken off ever since. I love cooking for him and continually looking for new ways to keep us both happy AND healthy.
Trying new things inspires me to cook. I love trying new things, and seeing if they work out. I guess you could also say the opposite of that is true as well – cooking something that I love, that is a family favorite makes me want to cook it for my family! When my kids ask what we are having, and I tell them – and they say “oh yum!” that’s inspiring!
My grandma inspires me to cook. I didn’t know her too well in her cooking prime because she had Alzheimer’s for much of my childhood, but I love hearing stories of her amazing baked goods from my parents, and there are a few that I do remember (especially her Springerles and blueberry buckle! I also remember being very young and getting cooking instructions from her: stir in one direction only or everything will unmix!
What inspires me to cook? Sometimes I think everything does.
My mom used to call me the pickiest eater on the planet. Nothing was a meal without meat. Vegetables were bitter and icky and to be avoided, with the exception of potatoes, corn, and maybe some cauliflower. Fruit was okay but vaguely undesirable. Mushrooms were chewy and slimy and weird. Nuts were right out. Fish was too fishy. All carbs must be ultra-refined and highly-processed. Etc. Etc.
But somehow through cooking, through experimentation, I came to love every kind of food. (Well, almost.) I can hardly turn around without finding a new recipe I want to try, a new flavor combination to experiment with. I find I want to try everything, savor everything, experience everything.
Alas, I still set off the smoke detector sometimes while making stir-frys.
Since I started my baking blog, and began attending culinary school, I have been regularly inspired by fellow bakers. Many of my ideas are conceived via beautiful foods I see in other blogs. The late writer Laurie Colwin said, “No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers.” I believe this is completely true. It’s certainly true for me. Your blog is one of many that inspires me.
Food inspires me to cook! One look at ripe tomatoes makes me want to whip up my mom’s tomato-basil tart. Have photographs of delicious looking meals on your blog? I’ll invite 8 friends over and cook up a storm. Sometimes Bon Appetit’s spreads can send me into a full-tilt baking frenzy that I cannot control. I copy, expound upon, make something new and different. Then, I thrust it all upon friends near and far.
My grandpa inspires me to cook. He used to own his own little homestyle-cooking restaurant when I was a little girl. I always wanted to be just like him. He always used to let me help him make the chocolate pies (he served the BEST pie!). However, when he was diagnosed with diabetes and had a stroke, he had to sell the restaurant. Now I want to keep up the family legacy of good cooking, but do so in a healthier way. Hopefully a way that will keep me from developing the health issues that he now has (diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease). And someday, my chef fiancee and I will pass that on to our own children!
Avoiding starving my children inspires me to cook. I am a mediocre cook at best but am able to get a meal on the table breakfast, lunch and dinner.
I inspired myself to start cooking. It really was no external force that made that happen for me. When I went away to college, I had to learn to cook for myself, and while I watched roommate after roommate order pizzas or cook up a pot of macaroni and cheese, I decided to take this opportunity to eat healthy and make salads and sandwiches. After college, I came home to a house where my mom ate at work everyday and I had lots more time to cook meals. In that time, I was also diagnosed with a digestive disease that forces me to take more consideration of what I’m putting in my body. All of this together has inspired me to cook and enjoy food to its fullest when I am able to.
My husband inspires me to cook. He encourages creativity in all things, he eats EVERYTHING, and he knows how much I enjoy time in the kitchen dreaming up meals.
My mom taught me to cook, and it’s a connection I will always have with her–something she planted in me so long ago which continues to bloom and flourish in new ways all of the time.
Cooking tip? Cold-brewed coffee is my current obsession: add grounds to a french press, fill with water, put it in the fridge overnight. Press in the morning. Combine one cup of coffee with a half cup of water and ice. SO GOOD. I guess that’s not really cooking…is it?
My mother inspired me to cook! She was a fantastic cook! She even came home one day and announced she’d bought a little family restaurant from a sweet old couple who were ready to retire and had no family to take over the business. She/we all worked hard to grow that little family restaurant into quite a local success. It was a great 27 year run!! She is now retired!