The first order of business is to inform you that 20 of the 23 consolation prizes from the 5th Blogiversary Comment Contest have been mailed out. I’ve already heard that a few of you have received them. If you’re still waiting for your prize, it should be in your mailbox in the next day or two.

I’m talking to you; Sharon C, Patti P, Karen P, Nancy B, Betsy S, Amy G, Maggie H, Vicki D, Sydney W, Ruth M, Tram M, Deirdre B, Maureen M, Bonnie F, Amy S, Nancy H, Sheila C, Jamie S, Gwen W and even grand prize winner Kathy R.

As for Amy K, Marissa H, and Jeff S – sorry, yours will be mailed next week when I get more of the product delivered to me from Amazon.

What was the consolation prize, you ask?

Japanese Seven-Spice! Enough for one batch of Grilled Edamame with Japanese Seven Spice, which will get the recipients addicted to THIS RECIPE!

As I reported back in August, I’ve had some work done on this site. It had to be moved from a private server to Go Daddy. That has been completed.

I also asked my new webmaster, Chris Tingom of Tornado Design to fix a few of the glitches and bugs that I’ve experienced on the site. (thank you Steve and Tram for the referral!)

One of the big annoyances was the inability to post a comment using your cell phone, which so many of you told me about. Even I got the message that my cell phone comment was not posted because it was viewed as spam.

NO MORE! Now you may leave comments with your cell – so please, let the commenting begin!

The next issue is the fact that “new post” emails are no longer being sent and received by those of you who subscribe to the blog. Chris is working on that, for all I know, this post may show up in your mailbox, if so, please let me know. If not, it should be there soon.

One thing Chris discovered, was that when you comment on a post and check the “Notify me of new posts by email.” box – you will receive the emails, as shown below. This was the email that Chris received after yesterday’s post. So that’s always an option!

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My abbreviated week at Rancho La Puerta, although short, was wonderful!

When Barb, Kim and I first went to “The Ranch” in 2008, I thoroughly enjoyed the week.

This time, I really realized what a special and beautiful place it is. I’m not the only one who thinks so. Rancho La Puerta is one of the Top 10 Destination Spas of 2014 according to Conte Nast Traveler. Granted there are three Top 10 Spas that are closer, all right here in Arizona (Canyon Ranch and Miraval in Tucson and Mii Amo in Sedona)  but “The Ranch” is darn close too, only 45 miles south of San Diego, just across the US/Mexico border in Tecate.

One of my favorite meals was a lunch consisting of garbanzo bean soup and roasted vegetable pita sandwiches. I tried to recreate the soup at home, I think I got pretty close.

Along with the recipe, I’m sharing a few of the many (as in over 200) photos I took, including one at my daily yoga class above and another of Kim and my bedroom below.

Thank you, Barb, for once again taking me along on another of your wonderful adventures. xox

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First off, I have to say, “Has it really been 13 years?”

Hard to believe.

That morning is as fresh in my mind and heart as it was 13 years ago. The thoughts and memory of it can flood my eyes with tears in an instant. Every anniversary I just want to scream out, “God Bless America.”

As adults, we learn that to truly appreciate joy, you must have had heartache. You can’t appreciate true beauty unless you’ve seen ugliness. If everything in life was perfect, we would not be able to appreciate it with all the sameness of that boring perfection.

Our family experienced that reality and life lesson last week.

As you know, the first week of September, I was in Rancho La Puerta with Barb and Kim. Late on Labor Day afternoon, we were in one of the two WiFi zones and I found a text that my husband, Dave, had sent earlier that day. From it, I sadly learned that my sister-in-law, Debbie, had died in a tragic car accident that morning in Illinois. Debbie is the wife of Dave’s oldest brother, Roger. All of Dave’s family live in Illinois. Roger and Debbie had been married for 41 years. Days later, I did the math and realized that Debbie had been in Dave’s life since he was just 13 years old.

I spent the next day scrambling to make the arrangements to get myself out of Mexico, back to San Diego, and then home to Phoenix. Dave made our travel arrangements to Illinois. I flew home on Wednesday and we flew to Chicago on Thursday.

Roger and Debbie are “big-time” in their town of DeKalb, Illinois. Roger is the former city planner and Debbie was a retired professor from Northern Illinois University. Everyone knows them, as was clear from the 600 to 700 people who showed up to stand in line for over two hours at her visitation. Police offices, firefighters, NIU professors, faculty and students, CPA professionals, friends of the couple, and their two grown children, Tony and Megan. Even Starbucks baristas and T.J. Maxx employees came to show their respect and give condolences. Debbie was a proud Starbucks addict and an enthusiastic shopaholic!

To give you a glimpse into what kind of person Debbie was, here is a small excerpt of an article from the NIU website. To read the entire article GO HERE.

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Obviously, the loss of a family member is the heartache I mentioned at the beginning.

But that weekend in Illinois also brought immense joy! On Saturday, as we were all en route to the funeral, our niece, Katie, went into labor with her firstborn. Katie is the daughter of Dave’s middle brother, Tom, and his wife, Beth. Katie’s due date was Sunday, so her mother strictly forbade her from coming to the visitation on Friday or the funeral on Saturday. (As much as a mother can forbid a grown daughter from doing anything!) As always (YES ALWAYS!) mother knows best, as Katie learned early that Saturday morning when her water broke.

As Dave and I sat in the church pew next to Dave’s mom, Tom and Beth, and their middle daughter Mo, and her fiance, Brandon. Our tears were mixed with the joy in our hearts and minds thinking of Katie laboring at the hospital with her husband Eddie at her side. Sweet Kody Ellen was born just hours later.

My favorite moment of that eventful day was when I opened my Facebook feed later that evening and found this posted by new first-time aunt, Mo.
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We have a winner!

Kathy only submitted one comment, on the last day comments were accepted. Although she mentioned three recipes she liked, she only added a comment to the grilled fresh figs post and therefore had only one entry. Here is her comment:

Submitted on 2014/08/28 at 12:16 PM

I just made this on Saturday and it could not have been easier or more delicious. This is my first blog reply even though I’ve followed you for 3 years. I’m torn between the Watermelon shaped rice Krispy treats that got me some major wow points (not before my friend’s Labrador got to them counter surfing during the 4 th of July party). Or the Best Broccoli ever – as I struggle for easy good vegetable dishes. I love your blog!

Her comment and her win confirm my long-time belief that you only need to buy one lottery ticket to win the lottery. That being said, I appreciate each and every one of you who commented and participated in this contest whether with one comment or with all five!

A total of 23 of you played along.
There were 76 eligible comments.
Nine of you submitted 5 comments.
Seven of you submitted just 1 comment.
The remaining seven of you were somewhere between one and five comments.

winner draw  (CLICK ON THIS LINK)

Above is a little video of the Trader Joe’s Crew member, Akeem, drawing the winner from the stockpot.

The great news is that although Kathy is the grand prize winner, all of you are winners! I will be sending each of you a prize. I would greatly appreciate it if you would email me at LPGourmett@aol.com with your mailing address so I can send you your prize. If I don’t hear from you in the next week, I’ll email you asking for your address.

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You have only 8 hours left at a chance to win this great prize!

Eighteen of you are already in the running.

Amy G.
Amy K.
Amy S.
Betsy
Bonnie
Deirdre
Gwen
Jamie
Jeff
Maggie
Marissa
Maureen
Ruth
Sharon
Sheila
Sydney
Tram
Vicki

Ladies and gentlemen, your names are already printed out and put in the stockpot, ready for the chance to be drawn out, later this evening, by an unsuspecting cashier at Trader Joe’s.

In other news, I hosted our Neighborhood Bunco last night. This was the first time in the fifteen years that we’ve lived here that I hosted.

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Before we get to recipe #3 from the pork tenderloin in yesterday’s post, a quick update on The Give-Away. As of 9:00 p.m. Tuesday, we have 56 eligible entries and sixteen possible winners. Remember, you may comment up to five times and you have until tomorrow, Thursday, August 28, 2014, at 5:00 p.m. (PST) to enter. Click HERE to learn more.

Someone is going to win, don’t miss the chance … it may be you!

The third recipe from two pork tenderloins is a classic Cuban sandwich, minus the Cuban bread (French instead) and plus a panini press.

If you don’t own a press – no problem – a waffle iron (perfectly good) a grill pan (fine and dandy) or a skillet (better than nothing) all will work too.

The recipe makes four sandwiches, even though you only see three being made in the photos. That is because my panini press could only hold three sandwiches at a time. The fourth sandwich was made later.

Connor and I loved these sandwiches so much that we had them for dinner one night, then lunch the next day, and dinner again that second night. In fact, I’m craving one as I type!

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Pork tenderloin is the best. It is so versatile, plus it cooks quickly and goes a long way.

Pork tenderloin comes two to a package. I used the two tenderloins to make three separate meals. Each meal serves four, plus an extra seconds.

Meal #1 is simple grilled pork, seasoned simply with salt and pepper. About 3/4 of one of the tenderloins was used for this. Meal #2 used half of the other tenderloin to make a pizza.

The salt and pepper grilled pork and the pizza recipes are below. The rest of the tenderloin was used for meal #3, which I will share with you tomorrow. If you are a lover of pork, you could also try some other pork dishes as well. There is a delicious recipe for pork loin roast that you might be interested in trying. Some of these are available on the internet.

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Before we get to the tacos, a quick update on The Give-Away. As of 9:00 p.m. Sunday, we have 35 eligible entries and eleven possible winners. Remember, you may comment up to five times and you have until Thursday, August 28, 2014, at 5:00 p.m. (PST) to enter. Click HERE to learn more.

What is that you say? Do you need another incentive to play besides the fabulous prize? OK, you want it, you got it. Every Single Person who plays along will win a prize! That’s right, you play, you win.

The grand prize remains the same, the chef’s knife and the apron, but even if you don’t win big, you will still be a winner!

That’s how much I appreciate each and every one of you for your loyalty these past 5 years. xoxo

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To celebrate 5 Years of the Les Petites Gourmettes Blog, we’re gonna have a little “comment contest.” (BTW, the official birthday was August 16th, in case you want to mark your calendar and send me a card next year)

All you have to do to be eligible to win is tell me your favorite recipe that I’ve posted over these past five years (see exact details on precisely how to do that below.) It shouldn’t be too hard, there are over a thousand recipes to choose from.

It can be a recipe you’ve made … I hope you’ve made at least one that you’ve liked!

If you’ve never cooked a darn thing from here or you are new to the site, it can be recipe that looks especially tasty and that you’d like to make or have someone else make for you in the future.

Here is what you’re playing for:

One 7″ Heston Blumenthal stainless steel Santoku chef’s knife
   and
One Ballymaloe red apron

Here is why I have these two beautiful items to give away …

When I signed up for the all-day cooking class at Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland, I received an email with instructions to bring a chef’s knife, apron, and towel for the class.

I forgot.

So, the night before the class, I purchased the required items in The Ballymaloe Shop.

Believe me, the last thing I need is another apron or another chef’s knife. The towel, I’ll keep as a memento from the class. One can never have enough towels!

The knife and apron were gently used only one day, by me, at Ballymaloe. (See it there on the counter in the photo above?) The apron has been washed and maybe I’ll get around to ironing it before I give it to the winner… maybe not.

The price tag is still on the knife, 59.95 is the value … and that was in euros!  I don’t recall the price of the apron, but all in all, it’s a brilliant prize!

British and Irish people say “brilliant” all the time, I’m trying to incorporate it into my repertoire.

Here’s what you have to do to be eligible to win:

Find the post for that favorite recipe of yours and leave a comment on that post. Any comment will do, hopefully, something nice, like, “I made this and it was the best thing I ever ate.” Or maybe, “Linda, this recipe is a winner and I want to be a winner too. Pick ME!”

However, you’re feeling at the time is perfect.

You may enter up to five (5) times, leaving a comment on up to five posts. NOT five comments on one post, five different comments on five different recipes.

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Remember, tomorrow I’ll be having a 5th Blogiversary Contest. Be sure to come back and participate to be eligible for a great prize!

Tough woody rosemary stems make wonderful and flavorful skewers for the BBQ. The first trick is to take care to get thick woody stems and not fresh soft stems.

See the difference in the photo above? That top rosemary branch is what you’re looking for.

Trick number two is to soak the rosemary stems in water for at least 20 minutes before grilling. This will prevent the stems from burning to a crisp before the food you have skewered on them is cooked.

Finally, trick number three is to put foil down on the grates of the grill, under the rosemary leaves at the top of the skewers to keep them soft, fresh, and char-free.

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