Get Poetic About Chicken: CONTEST WINNER!

Remember this contest we launched a few weeks ago in celebration of Mark's Healthy Shotglass Chicken Adobo recipe winning an award from Chicken Farmers of Canada?

Well, we have a WINNER!

Drumroll please... Our contest winner is: Melissa Hastie! Congrats!

CONTEST ALERT: Chicken Poetry!

Listen up, people -- we're having a contest, and it's as simple as commenting on this post with a hilarious poem about chicken! Try a haiku! Do an acrostic poem! It doesn't have to rhyme! As long as it has something to do with chicken and makes us laugh, you have a chance to win!

So why are we having a contest? Well, its all thanks to the Chicken Farmers of Canada, who've told us we have an AWARD-WINNING chicken recipe!

Mark entered his Healthy Shotglass Chicken Adobo recipe into a Chicken Farmers of Canada contest. All submitted recipes were cooked and tasted by a judging panel, and guess what? Mark's recipe won! We won a Cuisinart® Griddler® and we want to pass it onto our lovely readers!

The top 5 most hilarious chicken poems will become finalists, and the final winner will be chosen by random draw. You've got until 5:00 p.m. on May 24, 2010 to write your poem, but we urge you to post it right here right now... We're waiting --- make us laugh!!!

Yours in chicken,
-Stacey

Contest closes May 24, 2010. Open to residents of Canada 18 years or older excluding Quebec. Entry: Comment on this post with a poem about chicken. Prize to win: One (1) Cuisinart® Griddler® valued at approximately $100. One entry per person. Odds of winning depend on number of eligible entries received. Mathematical skill-testing question to be correctly answered to win. No purchase necessary. Full rules below.

Tasting Toronto Chicken Poem Contest
The Tasting Toronto Chicken Poem Contest (the “Contest”) is open to residents of Canada who are 18 years or older, excluding residents of Quebec.
The Contest Period starts on May 10, 2010 at 9:30 a.m. and ends May 24, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. No purchase necessary. All times are Eastern Times.
HOW TO ENTER – Comment on this specific blog post with a poem about chicken. Only one (1) entry per person.

PRIZE – Entrants are eligible to win one (1) Cuisinart® Griddler® valued at approximately $100.

FINALIST ROUND AND FINAL DRAW – The names of the top five entrants whose poems Mark and Stacey find most hilarious will be entered into a random draw. That random draw by a representative of Tasting Toronto will be made May 24, 2010.
The names of the winner and the four runners-up will be posted May 25, 2010 via a Tasting Toronto blog post. The winning entrant is responsible to verify if he/she has been selected. Selected entrants must make themselves known by 9:00 p.m. on May 28, 2010 draw by contacting tastingtoronto@hotmail.com.

If a selected entrant fails to make him/herself known by 9:00 p.m. on May 28, 2010 or to claim the prize as instructed, incorrectly answers the skill-testing question, declines the prize, fails to sign a Release of Liability as may be specified by Tasting Toronto or fails to present valid ID, entrant will have forfeited the opportunity to claim the prize and Tasting Toronto reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to select another entrant or to cancel the prize.

Prize must be accepted as awarded and are not transferable, redeemable, refundable or exchangeable for cash. Tasting Toronto reserves the right to substitute a prize of at least equal value in the event of the unavailability, for whatever reason, of the advertised prize.

To be declared a winner, selected entrants must first correctly answer, unaided, a time-limited, mathematical skill-testing question at the time of claiming the prize and may need to sign a Release. Contest judges' rulings are final and without appeal in all matters related to the promotion and the awarding of prizes.

By entering this Contest and/or accepting a prize, entrants consent to the use of their entry and name for publicity, advertising or informational purposes carried out by Tasting Toronto in any medium or format without further notice or compensation.

The Contest is subject to all applicable federal, provincial and municipal laws and regulations.

Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries. All entries that are incomplete, illegible, damaged, irregular, do contain offensive material or inappropriate content, have been submitted through illicit means, using any robotic, automatic programmed method that artificially increases the odds of winning or do not conform to or satisfy any condition of the rules may be disqualified by Tasting Toronto. Tasting Toronto takes no responsibility for lost, stolen, delayed, damaged, misdirected, late or destroyed entries, or for typographical or other production errors. Tasting Toronto is not responsible for any errors or omissions in printing or advertising this Contest. All entries become the property of Tasting Toronto.

Tasting Toronto is collecting personal data about entrants for the purpose of administering this Contest. No further informational or marketing communications will be received by entrants.

By entering this Contest, entrants release and hold harmless the Contest Sponsor (the “Releasee”) from any liability in connection with this Contest or, if declared a finalist or a winner, the prize.

This Contest will be run in accordance with these rules, subject to amendment by Tasting Toronto. Entrants must comply with these rules, and will be deemed to have received and understood the rules by participating in the Contest.

Nobody's home: Is the death of the home cook imminent?

Earlier this week, Tasting Toronto had the pleasure of heading down to Edward Levesque's Kitchen in trendy Leslieville, for a lively panel discussion around whether or not home cooking is dead. A keystone of the talk was Michael Pollan's article in The New York Times magazine: Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch, bemoaning the decline of home cooked meals. His most recent book is “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.”



As tasting is Tasting Toronto's primary mandate, we have to mention a couple of delicious chicken appetizers we sampled: Stacey's favourite was the chicken sausage medallion with cilantro and guacamole served on a spoon, and Mark's favourite was the chicken liver terrine with an onion jam. We also had fried rice balls, chicken pizza, egg salad, rosemary frites, chicken satays with coconut-sesame dip, and ample red wine.




The event was brought to us by the Chicken Farmers of Canada. Theresa Albert from Food Network Canada moderated the panel discussion.

The panel had three bright and awesome foodie folks who helped colour the conversation:

Anna Withrow, Food writer / Founder of the LIVERight Awards (did you know a young child with a fatty liver has the same amount of damage done to the organ that a 60-year-old alcoholic has?)

Amanda Laird, Food Blogger and Communicator

Ryan Anderson, Web strategist and PR Blogger from Fat Canary

Anna talked about the health aspects of home cooking; Ryan was sharing his adventures in making everything from scratch, including butter, in The Home Cooking Challenge; and Amanda was discussing the intricacies of ingredient substitution and other fun cooking adventures on her blog.

The increasing time squeeze, longer work hours, or more entertainment options of modern life has left less and less time and mental space available for cooking meals at home. The advent of the microwave and TV dinners has even led to a redefining of "cooking" to include actual preparation of ingredients versus plopping something out of a package and zapping it.

Not only is home cooking a much cheaper and healthier alternative to take-out, it also need not consume a lot of time to prepare. Simple examples include roasting a chicken, or just plugging in a rice cooker or slow cooker.

Stacey asked a question that was plaguing her: Does any one group (group meaning vegans, vegetarians, meat-lovers, etc.) cook at home more than the others? The always-lovely Alexa Clark noted that she knows some vegans who spend a lot of time in the kitchen and don't enjoy it at all. Some thought meat eaters cooked more at home. It was really tough to say. It also got us thinking about other groups (in the sense of ethnicity), and whether certain ethnic groups make a point of cooking meals at home more than others.

All-in-all it was a very cool event with great conversation and excellent food and wine. A perfect end to a Monday night!

Additional links:

Chicken Feeds - the Chicken Farmers of Canada Blog - http://www.chickenfeeds.ca

The CFC Video Podcast - http://www.chickenfeeds.ca/category/podcast/