Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Giveaway: Heston Blumenthal! Also I'm Back For Good (or Evil)

Because 'free' and 'food' are two of my very favourite four-letter F words.

Thank you for your patience - erratic non-blogging behaviour will end now as I leave the hallowed halls of law school behind! And here is a not very cunning nor subtle giveaway to win back the favour of my favourite friends (i.e. obsessively foodie and I don't have to change out of my PJs to talk to you): a hedonistic Heston competition!

The next best thing to being his woman?

Recently (by shamelessly subscribing to myself), I've realised that the 'subscribe' function to this blog via email is not as reliable as I'd hoped - there's a time lag of at least 24 hours and sometimes the post just never shows up. This is a shame, especially with my last post on top Melbourne market eats, because by the time the post appeared in my inbox, the market for that weekend had closed! 'Liking' my Facebook page (link on your right) is really the quickest way to get real-time updates, and here are two incentives:

Incentive One: The Fat Duck Cookbook

In hefty hardcover!

I'm waiting for my own copy to arrive and it's destined to be one of the many (many) cookbooks I have that I try maybe once and then relegate to wistful reading (while resentfully eyeing up my subpar tiny kitchen). Luckily, Heston is a fabulous writer so there's much pleasure to be had from vicariously cooking, say, 'sardine on toast'.

Sardine on toast

Incentive Two: Total Perfection: In Search of Total Perfection

In paperback!

This is one of the best and surprisingly, funniest, reads I've ever had, detailing Heston's very involved attempts to 'perfect' some very ordinary dishes like roast chicken, spaghetti bolognese, and fish and chips. Reading it was also the inspiration for the chicken and batter bomb that exploded in my apartment when I was infected by the bug to perfect 'fried chicken'. Bonus? Colour photographs and full, final recipes - I don't suppose you ever imagined you'd need ten hours to make a single plate of risotto. Or dry ice while cooking chilli con carne. Or protective googles for your treacle tart.

The Rules
  1. 'Like' my Facebook page if you haven't already done so (if you have, proceed to Step 2).
  2. Leave a comment on this post telling me: what dish would you like to perfect and why?.
  3. You can stop now and you'll automatically go into the draw to win Total Perfection: In Search of Total Perfection. If you'd like to win The Fat Duck Cookbook, proceed to Step 4.
  4. Get your friends, family, MX flirtation, secretary's children to 'like' my Facebook page as well. For you to win they must 'like' it AND let me know who sent them by tagging your name on a post on the page or shooting me an email at melbournemunchkin @ gmail.com (no spaces). Something along the lines of "Dwight Schrute sent me here because you bought his beets" or "Gob Bluth sent me here to win some free book! Come on!" or even a simple "Yada yada sent me here".
  5. The person who sends the most new likes my way wins the cookbook!
  6. Competition ends 12/12/2011 at 12:12pm. Winner will be announced on my Facebook page, and I'll send you a Facebook message/email as well. Open to anyone in the world though you might want to check with me first if I'd be shipping to an igloo or Bedouin tent.
That's simple enough I hope! Certainly simpler than anything you'll learn from Heston. This is an entirely non-sponsored giveaway. In case you're wondering why Heston fever has hit a canine-level pitch in this household, it's because I'll be off for a holiday to London (baby!) in a little over a month and dining at his new restaurant: Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. You'll hear it here first of course. Don't worry, I'll still be posting up mostly Melbourne munchings even while I'm away. I imagine the immense backlog of posts is good practice for my future legal career.

On that note, new post in three days!

16 comments:

  1. Is "treacle" pronounced "trackle" or "treekle"? I've always wanted to know.

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  2. Vee Ann: How funny, we should have joined forces on this one. I always wanted to know whether it was tree-sel or tree-kle, anyway it's the latter.

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  3. I'd like to perfect hainanese chicken rice! Reason being, chicken rice has always been a family meal in my home. My mom would cook the chicken, the rice and the soup while my dad will use his trust cleaver and round wooden chopping block to debone the chicken for us. My task would be to "help" my dad eat the meat left on the bones =P If I could perfect it, I'd definitely cook a whole chicken rice meal for my parents when I'm back home =)

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  4. LOLWHUT?! Omg I can't believe it! Cooking/gutting a fish and all in a LBD and pumps lololol... Who is this woman?! Btw, your reference to The Office is made of epic WIN!! Seriously one of my fav shows hehehe...

    And YAY for giveaway! I really hope I win at least one of the books hahaha... They sound like a great addition to have! Btw here's my entry:

    I'd really like to perfect the CHRISTMAS TURKEY...! I've only made it once (for the first time on my own) last year and while it was okay, there's still lots of room for improvement. And I know I'm still young now, so by the time I get older, I really hope that my turkey would be so good that it would be the stuff of legends to feed all my friends and family for Christmas dinners in the future, haha! VERY tricky bird because of the size/all the prep methods/loooong list of ingredients but hope I get there one day!! =D

    Btw I CAN'T WAIT to read your holiday posts and ESPECIALLY your Heston dinner!!! Have a great break, Vee. You deserve it! =D

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  5. hm.. when will you be in london? and for how long? :)

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  6. Kev: Oh yum I love chicken rice so much - I think at one point I had it for lunch everyday for a month. Can I suggest you try Poh's Masterchef chicken rice recipe and send me the results?

    Winston: That's Heston Blumenthal's girlfriend, Suzanne Pirret - saucy isn't she! You're ballsy - I've never yet attempted a turkey for Christmas dinner, just a lamb leg one year and pork belly another because you're right it's SO tricky!

    Lenard: January, just for a while :)

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  7. i would like to perfect my three cups chicken. made it once but was not happy with it. my sister loves three cups chicken a lot but the version that i made did not satisfy her. :(

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  8. oh bummer. :/ ill be there in december.

    well, have fun in dinner by heston. do review it. i on the other hand, will be going to denmark for a wedding and have reservations at Noma :)

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  9. Waaaa I want to go to Fat Duck tooo!!!! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

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  10. Yay, welcome back! Okay, I've liked your FB page. :)

    The dish I would like to perfect is... cooking the humble steak. I can cook most meat, but I hardly ever cook a steak and I wouldn't know how to do it justice.

    And OMG I hadn't realised he split from his wife. Wow!

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  11. Would love to improve and perfect my cooking and baking skills in Chocolate desserts like those amazing and extraordinary desserts Heston does (Charlie the Choc factory). My family loves chocolates and it would be excellent if i'll be able to create a chocolate dessert for our Christmas gathering.

    Thanks in advance! =)

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  12. msihua: I'm actually going to his new restaurant because the Fat Duck's a bit far from London! But I think it'll be just as fab plus Heston himself is spotted there pretty often ;)

    Agnes: I learnt how to cook a steak from Gordon Ramsay videos! Highly recommend them!

    Brenda: Ooh I adore chocolate desserts! The more intense the better (i.e. more chocolate and less of every other ingredient!)

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  13. So ... law school done and dusted; got a job yet? :)

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  14. Do you think Heston looks and acts (ie cooks) like a chemist ?

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  15. the very simple poached egg. so I can serve it for breakfast :D

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