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LG Scarlet HDTV

Just wanted to give you guys a heads up, as our HDTV giveaway ends this week! In case you missed it, we are giving away a 52-inch LG Scarlet Series HDTV, in conjunction with ExpoTV.

Interested in entering? It’s easy - check out the contest rules, and submit your entry (you can enter as many times as you like.) The giveaway ends on May 8th at 11:59 PM EDT. Good luck!

Read More | Enter HDTV Giveaway

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chimichurri

How’s the weather, everyone? Summer made its debut in my neighborhood over the weekend, which means one thing: GRILLING. And lots of it. And one of the very best condiments for a nicely grilled piece of meat is definitely chimichurri. Originating in Argentina, chimichurri is a vibrantly hued sauce that is packed full of flavor, and as a bonus in the warm weather, it doesn’t require an iota of heat to make!

Ingredients:

  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 3/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
  • 1 cup (packed) fresh Italian (flat leaf) parsley
  • 1/4 cup (packed) fresh cilantro
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar

Preparation:
In a food processor, chop the garlic. Add the red pepper, parsley and cilantro and process until the herbs are finely chopped. Add the cumin, salt, olive oil and vinegar. Pulse until the mixture has emulsified and the sauce is bright green. Serve immediately on whatever you just took off the grill.


World renowned four-star executive chef, Eric Ripert, made an appearance on Obsessed with Samantha Ettus. Eric is the co-owner of Le Bernardin in New York, and appears on fairly regularly. He just released his third book, On The Line, which he talks a bit about in this episode as well. Definitely a great look into the history, and life, of Eric Ripert.

Read More | Obsessed

Just leave it to Diddy, hip-hop star, fashion mogul, and leader of Bad Boy Records, to bring such a scientific experiment into the forefront of our minds. Why the final word between KFC’s fried chicken and that of Popeye’s has taken so long to be settled is beyond me, but we need to thank the heavens above that Diddy was able to bring this important issue into light.

Now we won’t ruin the results, but we will say that we have to agree with his assessment that says KFC mashed potatoes and gravy beat Popeye’s version, while Popeye’s beans destroy those of KFC. But really, this is all about the chicken, is it not? Hit the video above for the results - we’ve kept you waiting long enough.


coconutshrimp

Yesterday in Chicago the weather was sunny and 65… in the middle of February!  It was spectacular.  I was inspired by the warm weather to create something that reminded me of summer or my favorite warm weather place, the Caribbean. 

The first time I ever tried coconut shrimp was at a restaurant I worked at in college.  They fried them up and served with a sweet plum sauce.  I absolutely loved them and ordered them almost every shift I worked.  My version requires no frying and it so easy and quick to make.  I also borrowed a great broiling technique from Ellie Krieger from the Foodnetwork, which works every time.

Some people say they are not fans of the texture of coconut, which I can kind of understand.  A great tip for flaky coconut is to throw it in the blender or food processor before using, this helps the coconut blend in well with the breading. I did not do this as me and Husband love coconut in any form.


Prep Time : About 15 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients

1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp (this just makes life easier)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup shredded coconut, I used sweetened and used a heaping 1/2 cup
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 egg whites
3/4 panko crumbs (japanes style breadcrumbs, found in almost every grocery store in the Asian section)
1 teaspoon ancho chili powder (which is a milder chili powder)
2 tablespoons canola oil
Nonstick cooking spray

Click to continue reading Recipe: Coconut Crunchy Shrimp


Our ProFlowers gift certificates giveaway has come to a close, and we wanted to quickly announce the winners. If you recall, all you had to do to enter was leave your best or worst Valentine’s Day memory on our forum, and we chose five winners randomly:

mynenni talked about her blind date disaster:

My worst was a blind date that a friend set me up on.  It was horrible; well not to start with.  He came to door with a big bouqet of flowers.  We then spent the day at Magic Mountian where we quickly ran out of things to talk about and I learned he was a major wimp when it came to rides (really?  then why did you bring me here?)

Afterward, we stopped at a classy resteraunt for dinner.  I took my napkin and layed it across my lap…he took his napkin and layed it across the table.  It was torture sitting across from him trying to come up with conversation as he ate with his mouth open.  I have to figure that by this point he was trying to just be over the top horrible (I think we both knew it was not going past the first date); then at the end of the meal he put his face on the table (okay it was on the napkin he layed out earlier) and moved his head across to wipe his mouth.  NO HANDS!!!

At least he didn’t make me pay…

adamb0mb posted this memory:

All she wanted was to go see the UW vs WSU basketball game on Feb 14th.  I picked her up from work, went to a bar to meet up with some friends for drinks and shots.  Then she snuck in 6 airplane bottles of booze… and we drank at the game.  I don’t even remember who won, but we had a hell of a time!

auntiethesis recalled a dinner date:

My best memory is last year’s Valentine’s Day. My husband took me to a great restaurant and I totally blew my diet eating steak and mashed potatoes. It was the first time I’d ever had Creme Brulee, too. While we were eating, he surprised me with a tennis bracelet that I’d wanted forever.  It was a far cry from his usual Applebee’s dinner and a box of Stover chocolates.

Long-time reader gohan_bcc1 brought it back to high school:

My one and only valentine memory was getting to school in grade 12 and finding a really awesome gift in my locker. In my locker was a car model of my dream car (Audi R8) with a customized license plate to match my current license plate. It identical to my license including the plate # and the province and design. It was also an inside joke that the one we saw in the parking lot two months back was mine. It was really cool to see. Not only that but there was a note for me to go to the library and look on page 82 of the book of the last movie we saw. Which was actually Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix. Inside this book was a note saying this entitles me to receive a package being held at the office. I go to the office and get this package. Inside was a bunch of hockey cards each with a letter written on it. All of these cards were of my favourite team the Calgary Flames of course. There was a hint written on the inside of the package that said to spell out a date. So after hours of figuring this out it spelt out Tuesday March 6th 8:00pm. After seeing the date i realized it was the date of a hockey game for the Calgary Flames. I then got a text saying to go back to my locker. And sitting in my locker were two tickets to the game on that date at that time. Best gift ever!

sandyu‘s was short and sweet:

The best when my husband got out of the military, he was injured but he was alive and home.

Congratulations to all our winners, your $70 codes have been sent to you via Private Message. To the rest of you, we’ve got more giveaways coming, and if you need flowers, here is a 20% off (with free vase!) ProFlowers coupon. Oh, and don’t forget to hit us with your best, or worst, Valentine’s Day memory.

Read More | Best and Worst Valentine's Day Memories

pankocrustedsalmon

One of my favorite, recent creations is a light, alternative to fried fish that is easy but still packs a ton of flavor. Panko Crusted Salmon is a great go-to meal during the week that literally takes maybe 20 minutes to prepare and broil. In this recipe, I used Norwegian Salmon, mostly because it always looks so great at the seafood counter but also because the flavor is amazing. Most fish would work with this recipe but it is perfectly matched with Salmon.

Panko is the Japanese term for bread crumbs and in my opinion creates a much crunchier, crispier crust on anything. If you are looking for a better alternative to bread crumbs, panko is by far the way to go. They are light and flaky and can be used for toppings on casseroles or even filler to crab cakes (it can really replace anything requiring bread crumbs). I love panko crusted seafood but have also used these delicious, airy crumbs to crust chicken and pork chops. Panko can absorb seasoning well (as they are rather bland alone) and don’t make foods heavy like bread crumbs usually do. Panko is perfect when you want a crunch without frying and can be found at most grocery stores and all Asian specialty stores.

Panko Crusted Salmon
Serves 4
Prep Time : 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

4 Salmon Fillets (6 oz each)
Nonstick Cooking Spray
1 Tbs Rosemary chopped finely
1 Tbs Parsley chopped finely
Dijon Mustard
3/4 cup panko crumbs
Salt and pepper
Lemon wedges

Click to continue reading Recipe: Panko Crusted Salmon


macncheese

As a Foodnetwork addict I am constantly experimenting with great recipes from from my favorite shows.  On Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello on an episode entitled “Pot luck challenge”, Jan Birnbaum, chef and restaurateur, caught my eye with an upscale, hearty mac n’ cheese.

The original recipe called for shrimp, which I was all about, but after visiting the seafood counter at Whole Foods, husband and I couldn’t resist the lobster meat (shrimp vs. lobster? no contest). So we splurged justifying that this would be our Superbowl Sunday feast.

Here is my adaptation of Jan’s recipe:

Ingredients

  • 1 box medium shell pasta
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 cup tasso ham or bacon (I used bacon)
  • 5 large shallots, minced
  • 1 clove garlic, mined
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup white wine (see review below)
  • 2 cups cream
  • 1 cup grated fontina
  • 1/2 cup grated Cheddar (I prefer mild but sharp would be great too)
  • 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
  • 6-8 oz lobster meat cut up in good bite size chunks (we bought the precooked tub at the seafood counter)
  • 2 cups gently packed spinach
  • Kosher salt and ground white pepper
  • Hot pepper sauce, to taste (recommended: Tabasco)
  • 1/2 cup bread crumbs ( I used panko, my new favorite thing)
  • 1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley leave

Click to continue reading Recipe: Lobster Macaroni and Cheese


Mophie Juice Pack 3G giveaway We hit you with our Mophie Juice Pack 3G review a couple of months ago, and even did a Juice Pack 3G video. Since then, we’ve continued enjoying how free we feel with the Juice Pack powering our while we are out and about. Worries of a dead battery have all but disappeared, and that’s with Push mail, calendars, and contacts running.

Now we want one of you to be able to share in that experience, which is why we are giving away a Mophie Juice Pack to one Gear Live reader. Since it’s an iPhone accessory, we figured we would center the competition around that. Here are the rules:

Here’s how to enter to win:

  1. If you don’t have one already, sign up for a Gear Live account
  2. If you don’t have one already, sign up for a Twitter account
  3. Add the Gear Live Twitter account to your follow list
  4. On Twitter, post a tweet about out contest and link to this page. In the tweet, include the phrase “#gearlive”.
  5. Once that is done, leave a comment here in this post with a direct link back to your Tweet, and also let us know what your favorite iPhone app is. Be sure you are signed in to your Gear Live account before you leave the comment.

Here’s an example of an appropriate Twitter entry:
“Entering to win a Mophie Juice Pack 3G from #gearlive http://jvu.qlnk.net/”

Now, as to the actual contest dates. The contest starts today, January 28th. You have until 11:59 PM PST on February 4th to enter your comments here on this post. We will then announce our winner, chosen randomly out of all valid entrants and bonus points, on February 5th. Good luck to all, and remember, this contest is only open to residents of the United States and Canada.


HP Mini 1000

So, our HP Magic Giveaway winner was awesome enough to give back to the community, thus invoking a second giveaway. We’ve got an HP Mini 1000 here, along with a bunch of software as well. Specifically, here’s the prize package:

We’re going to use the same entrance criteria that we used last time, since that seemed to work so well. Here’s how to enter to win:

  1. If you don’t have one already, sign up for a Gear Live account
  2. If you don’t have one already, sign up for a Twitter account
  3. Add the Gear Live Twitter account to your follow list
  4. On Twitter, post a tweet about our contest and link to this page. In the tweet, include the phrase “#gearlive”.
  5. Once that is done, leave a comment here in this post with a direct link back to your Tweet. Be sure you are signed in to your Gear Live account before you leave the comment.

Here’s an example of an appropriate Twitter entry:
“Entering to win an HP Mini! http://059.qlnk.net/ #gearlive”

BONUS ENTRIES: Want more chances to win? Share the link to our contests on the following sites, and leave us a comment linking to those as well:

  • Facebook: Shared Link
  • Del.icio.us bookmark
  • FriendFeed: Use Post a Link
  • Your blog: Have a site? Link to our contest on it!

Remember: The bonus entries are just that - bonus. In order to be eligible to win, you must complete the core Twitter requirements.

Now, as to the actual contest dates. The contest starts today, December 5th. You have until 11:59 PM PST on December 11th to enter your comments here on this post. We will then announce our winner, chosen randomly out of all valid entrants and bonus points, on December 12th.

Aaaaaand - we’ve got our winner!


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