The Count of Monte Pancake: A Sweet and Savory Treat for National Pancake Day (and a Hungry Jack/T-Fal Giveaway)

I was compensated with product for this post, though the views expressed are all my own

Update: This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to the winner, Jackie! 

It seems as if there's a food holiday for everything. If, say, you want to take off work to observe National Wiener Schnitzel Day, then please mark your calendars for September 9. Or if you'd like to arrange your next vacation around a month-long celebration of salad, vinegar, or hamburgers, make sure to request your paid time off for the month of May.

Meanwhile, I am considering declaring my adherence to a pancake religion of some kind (it's as good as any) as this February 17 is National Pancake Day and I could really use a day off. Mind you, I have no quibble with a pancake holiday whatsoever, especially given the fact that I've been invited to celebrate it - and T-Fal's 60th anniversary - by the folks at Hungry Jack and T-Fal.

Mother's Day Macaron Giveaway from Sucre {Ah, Alliteration}

Like a lot of food bloggers these days, I regularly get requests from publicists asking me to share their respective products with my readers.

"Please review this flavorless processed snack food!"

"I think your readers would love to hear about the latest innovation in microwave dinner technology!"

"Here are some uninspired recipes featuring [insert food product here]. Please share with your readers!"

"We are offering one lucky reader a chance to win this coupon for gum, valued at 25 cents!"

Do a cursory search through the Tasty Trix archives and you'll notice that I invariably ignore these requests. They tend to display a staggering lack of understanding of what I write about, what I cook, and who I am.

But exceptions prove the rule. Case in point: The email I got from Sucre in New Orleans, offering to send  one of my U.S. readers  their signature 15-piece macaron collection in time for Mother's Day.

Well. This was more like it.

Gourmet Rhubarb and Pepper Jellies from Iceland: A Holiday Giveaway

When Poppa Trix and I were in Iceland, we met a really cool woman named Eirny Sigardurdottir, who owns Búrið, a lovely and quirky little cheese shop in Reykjavik. If you're ever in Reykjavik and you have have a hankering to put together a cheese feast, that's your spot, as I suspect Eirny knows more about cheese and what goes with it than just about any other person on the planet.

An Ode to Texas Red Chili for a Very Wordy Wednesday, and the Cookbook Giveaway Winner

I had no idea that I was so influenced by pop culture until a recent episode of Top Chef set off a deep and undeniable craving in me for something that I had never even had: a proper Texas red chili. In the challenge, cheftestants were tasked with creating their own bubbling vats of chili, and they were judged harshly by the hungry rodeo-going Texans, especially if they put non-traditional ingredients into their dish.

Number one on the verboten list? Beans. As one Texan put it, "Anybody who knows beans about chili knows that chili ain't got no beans."

Sri Lankan Beetroot Curry and an Awesome Cookbook Giveaway

Remember a few weeks ago I promised you a giveaway of my favorite new cookbook, Skiz Fernando's Rice & Curry: Sri Lankan Home Cooking? Well, here it is! I knew this book was something special the second I cracked it open, and as it turns I'm not the only one: In the time since I set up this little giveaway, the book has been named by the New York Times as a notable cookbook of 2011.  

The author has kindly given me permission to share a recipe with you to give you a little taste of what you'll find in the book. If you've never had Sri Lankan food, you'll notice that while it does share certain ingredients and flavor profiles with Indian and South Asian cuisines, it's definitely its own thing. Plus, many of the dishes in the book are unique to Fernando's family and you won't find them done exactly the same way anywhere else.

Duck, Duck, No Goose: An (Almost) Wordless Wednesday Feast (and the Pitaya Giveaway Winner)

Okay, kids - this is about as wordless as I can get for Wordless Wednesday. Presenting: What Poppa Trix and I had for Thanksgiving. Ta-da!

I admit,  putting up a post about Thanksgiving food is ....   arriving rather late to the party at this point, but I'm hoping that perhaps these dishes will provide some inspiration for a fabulous holiday meal, or an anytime mini-feast. It all came together in just a few hours and caused minimal chaos.

Herby Turkey Leg Confit with Dragon Fruit, Pomegranate & Chili Gastrique and a Giveaway That You Really Need!

Look, I am not self-delusional. (Usually.) I realize that a big hunk of meat on a bone accompanied by a brownish sauce is not the world's loveliest food. I tried to plate it in an appealing way, I really did: That jaunty angle! The clever dots of gastrique! That cute green plate!

But I realize this is not my finest food styling hour. I hope though - I really, really, really hope - that just this once you won't eat with your eyes first. Because this is seriously the very best turkey dish I have ever had, and Poppa Trix felt the same way. And we do not use superlatives lightly.

Oyster Mushroom Risotto and a Really Cool Giveaway Especially for Mushroom Lovers

It seems as if every food blogger and his or her cousin has a variation on a classic mushroom risotto recipe. Well, here's mine: I grew the mushrooms myself. And not in some damp forgotten corner of my basement or due to some shocking transgression in personal or domestic hygiene. I grew them in my own kitchen, on purpose! 

My little foray into urban farming is thanks to an innovative and earth-friendly company called Back to the Roots. (No, I am not being paid to say that.) Their grow-your-own mushroom kit, made out of recycled cardboard and coffee grounds, lets you grow up to 1 1/2 pounds of gourmet oyster mushrooms in your very own house. You don't usually find this type of mushroom fresh in stores because they are so perishable. Intrigued? So was I; that's why I told them I'd stop by their booth at the D.C. Fancy Foods show, only I over-scheduled myself and never made it.

I felt so bad I contacted the company to see if they'd like me to review their product on my blog, and they did me one better: They sent me one kit to review and one to giveaway. Lucky you! I'll choose one reader at random to win, and I'll tell you the rules at the end of this post.

Indo-Chinese Sichuan Fusion: Spicy Mapo Paneer for the International Incident Sichuan Party, Plus a Dragon's Hollow Wine Giveaway!

I am a bit late to this month's Incident Party, as I honestly thought it wasn't happening. You see, our fearless foundress and hostess Penny aka Jeroxie recently lost her dad. My mom died in 2006, and I unfortunately know a thing or two about the grieving process: It's long, exhausting, unpredictable, and  utterly nauseating.

But then I found out the Incident gang was going ahead and posting in support of Penny, and I'm all for that. Watching someone grieve is a helpless feeling, because there is nothing at all you can do. That said, it's important to show your support, so if you have a moment please go stop by Penny's blog, check out her tribute to her father,  and give her some love. I know she will appreciate it. Penny - this post is for you.

Before I get to my dish, I've got a really cool giveaway at the end of this post. It's a bottle of Dragon's Hollow Chinese wine. As far as I know, it's the only fine wine produced in China - but it makes sense, as it's on the same parallel as Napa and Bordeaux. I met David Henderson, the company's founder,  at the Fancy Food Show, and after tasting his delicious wine (at 10 am!) I set this giveaway up. More 2 year blogoversary festivities! As always - you have to get to the end of this post to see the goods.

Hansik: A Korean Pop Up Restaurant Experience with Chef Akira Back at the Summer Fancy Food Show, My Two-Year Blogoversary, & a Giveaway

Above: Me, chilling in the kitchen space of Hansik with Chef Akira Back (far right)and his staff

Below: A Korean treat wonderland in the Korea Pavilion

I am, at long last, back from my self-imposed two week blogging respite/hiatus ... and I come bearing gifts! There, that got your attention. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Now, I certainly wouldn't want to bore you with every last excruciating detail of the past two weeks, so I'll skip to the good stuff: I went as a member of the press (both as a food journalist and as a blogger ... so many personas, so little time) to the Summer Fancy Food Show in Washington, D.C., where I was faced with a dizzying array of foods from 2,400 exhibitors hailing from 80-plus countries. And I had to try to taste it all! The horror.

Sugared Mexican Buns and a Nick Malgieri Cookbook Giveaway

As this posts, Poppa Trix and I are somewhere in Krakow ... drinking beer, eating at a milk bar, devouring kielbasa, or simply sleeping it all off. But I didn't want you to miss me too much! So, because you didn't get to come on vacation with me, I am giving away a copy of Nick Malgieri's latest book, Bake!, to one lucky reader!

Viennese Gnocchi Baked in Pumpkin Cream, Plus my Very First Giveaway (and it's a good one!)

Regular readers of this blog may recall that last year I promised to share the recipe for the luscious Viennese gnocchi baked in pumpkin cream that I got from Chef Mike of Weinhof Wieninger, an upscale heuriger located in Stammersdorf.  I also promised to share with you his secret to a perfectly pillow-y potato gnochhi. And so, prompted by Poppa Trix's birthday, for which I cooked up a recreation of our heuriger feast, I am now finally making good on my promise.