*Contest update/clarification – To enter this contest you only have to post a comment in order to win. If you want more then one entry to the contest then follow ANY of the other steps and the amount of entries to win is shown accordingly.

*This contest is now closed. Winners will be announced shortly.

With all of the drink recipes I shared with you last month I thought that it might be fun to share with you what I will sometimes use for cocktails when I don’t have a ton of time to prepare my party drinks (hey not everyone is perfect). To me Stirrings cocktail mixers are definitely a cut above all other cocktail mixers out there!

For starters, Stirrings continues to create new flavors to keep up with the contemporary bar scene while still holding onto the classics. What’s so great about this you ask? Well not only do they make mixing complicated drinks simple, Stirrings only uses the finest sugar, the freshest juice, and triple filtered water ( a little overkill if you ask me) to produce their mixers. Compare this to their competitors who use artificial colors, flavors, preservatives and corn syrup (don’t even get me started on that stuff) and it’s easy to see why I find this to be my go to drink mix.

Finally, for each cocktail mixer they create they also create a glass rimmer to go with it. The rimmers use either sugar or salt and have been flavored to match the cocktail mixer they were created for! Crushed peppermint for their chocolate peppermintini, sugar and graham crackers for their blueberry mixer (sort of a blueberry pie in a drink), and much much more!

Their passion for quality drinks is evident and has certainly been turning heads ever since they began turning out their mixers. If you haven’t had a chance to give these a try I suggest you enter my give away! What?! Yeah I bet you didn’t see that one coming. That’s right! I’m going to be giving away some of my favorite cosmopolitian drink mixers and rimmers gift sets to 3 of my lucky readers.

To enter this contest simply do any of the following:

1. Leave a comment about your favorite cocktail (1 entry)

and/or

2. Re-tweet this contest on twitter and post a comment about your favorite cocktail and twitter user name. “RT @GourmetFoodie a little giveaway for Stirrings Cocktail Mixers – http://tinyurl.com/d4b4wv” (2 entries)

and/or

3. Post a trackback link to this blog post and leave a comment about your favorite cocktail. (3 entries)

and/or

4. Do each of the above and get an extra 5 entries! (only need 1 comment letting me know you did them all)

Contest ends Monday May 11th midnight pacific time –
Contest is for U.S. residents only! If you would like to enter and are from another country but have someone who you want it shipped to here in the U.S. feel free to enter (Sorry, in the past I have found shipping food product outside the U.S. is pretty much impossible!).

Special thanks to Gourmet Indulgence for making this giveaway possible. So if you don’t want to leave your next cocktail to chance drop on by and get some today.

Ever since I was a little kid I have always loved drinking soda pop out of those old fashioned bottles. You know the kind; the ones that look like you picked them up out of a 1950’s diner. For some reason I always felt more special if it came in a bottle versus a cup with ice or a can; it just made it seem like you were getting a real treat!

Well as I have grown older I really haven’t grown out of that stage of my life. Anywhere I go, whether it is the grocery store, local gas station, restaurant or gourmet food shop, I always find myself wandering around to see if I can find that something “special”. My latest trip to the grocery store has led me to find what I must say is one of the smoothest, richest Black Cherry soda’s I have had in a long time.

I have always loved anything cherry flavored and I seem to find myself always buying or ordering something with cherry in it. I blame it on my grandparents who first got me addicted to Shirley Temples (7UP and Cherry Juice) when I was around seven years old.

My most recent discovery was Henry Weinhard’s Black Cherry Cream Gourmet Soda. I was first hesitant to purchase this product because I have never been a solid fan of cream soda’s, but that cherry label gets me every time!

I took them home and stuck one in the refrigerator (because THE ONLY way to drink a soda pop is ice cold, not watered down with ice cubes in a cup). Later that day I took it out of the refrigerator and popped off the lid. As a side note I have also learned that most soda pops that come with a lid you have to pop off with a can opener taste like “the real thing”. Right away you could smell the aromas of the cherries with just a hint of that vanilla cream scent. I took a swig and my taste buds were blown away! The soda was not heavy on the vanilla cream flavor like a cream soda is which I was worried about. I was immediately whisked away to memories of my childhood.

This soda is made with Oregon Bing and Black Cherries, Black Raspberries and Bourbon Vanilla. Right away you get the smooth flavor of the black cherry and then a pop of vanilla afterwards. I would recommend that any of you out there who love cherry and want a refreshing taste of the past to try Henry Weinhard’s Black Cherry Cream Gourmet Soda.

Like I had said before I am always looking for stores or restaurants that sell “real” cherry soda’s and if any of you have anywhere special in mind I would love to here where in the comments section. I love to travel and it doesn’t matter where this place could be because one day who knows, I may find myself there!

I just wanted to take a moment to say a big THANKS! to everyone who participated in the giveaway. I really enjoyed reading all of the great comments and got some great ideas along the way for some possible future post ideas! I hope that everyone enjoyed participating and took some time to read the other comments as there are some great chocolate creation ideas in there! I took all of the entrants and used my nifty random number generator in excel to create a truly random list of winning comments. So without further ado …. The winners are…..

1 Lauren
2 Shelly Borrell
3 Elaine – The Gourmet Girl
4 Molly
5 Noreen
6 Jane
7 Melanie
8 Gayle Bell
9 Ashley
10 Natalie
11 Lindsay
12 Maryanne
13 Mary Jenkins

Congrats! If you see your name up there and are not sure if you created one of the winning comments (as I’m not sure if there are repeat names in the comment section) check your email! I have sent out an email to the winning comment posters and am anxiously awaiting your response!

Hopefully, the winners of this contest will enjoy these delectable treats as much as I have! Happy Chocolate Comas!

That’s right. I am hosting our first of hopefully many giveaways here at the Gourmet Foodie Blog. I personally feel that this is a great way to give back to the readers who frequent this blog and keep it going! I love chocolate. I love the way that it smells. I love the way that it melts in your mouth and I love the way that it can make almost any dessert look eloquent! I love the stuff so much that I am constantly looking for the next great chocolate adventure.

Earlier this month I was on the hunt for some great chocolate truffles, as you might have noticed from my post on artisan truffles. I had heard a while back that Torn Ranch made a pretty good fruit ganache truffle but their wine truffles were to die for! So I hopped on the web and ordered some of the Torn Ranch truffles from Gourmet Indulgence and anxiously awaited their arrival.

When I opened the box they were delivered in and the smell of chocolate filled the air. The aroma was intoxicating and I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into them. I started with the ganache truffles which to me were surprisingly good. I loved the creativity with the flavors ranging from pear, to pineapple, to coconut, which were my favorite, (I’m a sucker for coconut as well).

When I had completely devoured the box of fruit ganache truffles I decided I should try the wine truffles immediately as to have a good comparison (that or I was on a chocoholic binge). I must admit in my opinion these were far superior in flavor. The wine was ever so present and created a taste and feel similar to that of a chocolate cordial!

Again I polished off the box and sat there for a moment half drunk from the wine and feeling the effects of an on setting chocolate coma. Worth it? Definitely! I had such an enjoyable experience that I couldn’t wait to share it with my readers and hopefully help give them a chocolate coma of their own!

I will be giving away (6) boxes of Torn Ranch Wine Truffle Assortment 8 cnt, (4) boxes of Torn Ranch Fruit Ganache Truffles 6 cnt and (3) boxes of Torn Ranch Fruit Gananche Truffles 12 cnt! That’s 13 boxes of chocolates going out to 13 lucky winners! I chose 13 because, well, that’s my lucky number and that happens to be how many boxes Gourmet Indulgence (the sponsors of our giveaway) sent me. To enter the competition simply leave a post in the comment section on this post about your favorite chocolate creation. I will then choose 13 lucky winners at random and notify the winners by email. The Giveaway ends February 28th 2009 and winners will be notified by March 7th 2009. Good luck!
*Must be a U.S. resident to win as its a pain to ship outside of the U.S.
*this Contest is now closed! Thank You to everyone who participated! Winners will be announced soon!

It’s not often that I find a chocolate that I really get excited about. However, I recently had the pleasure of receiving a gift of NewTree chocolate over the weekend. I have to admit I really hadn’t heard that much about the Belgian chocolate maker and now I feel as though I have been deprived! The Belgian’s have been holding out on us for years!

NewTree has created a line of chocolates that follow-through on their promise of a mind altering chocolate experience. Each chocolate bar has a unique name meant to inspire the effects of the ingredients. Their Vigor chocolate bar will leave you on a caffeine high for hours. One ounce of chocolate contains the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee; making this a great alternative to your morning cup! Unaltered coffee and chocolate has been a great match for years, just ask Barefoot Contessa. My favorite thing about this chocolate bar is the fact that the coffee does not overwhelm the flavor of the 73% cocoa making for a smooth and energetic feel during consumption.

Pleasantly pleased with my new finding, I raced to find more of these delicious chocolate bars, and found that NewTree has created a chocolate bar for each and every mood you could be hoping to experience! There moods (flavors) are as follows: Pleasure, Forgiveness, Rejoice, Blush, Renew, Tranquility and yes even Sexy!

Had a long day at work and want to feel renewed? Just open a Renew chocolate bar and let the sweet flavors of blackcurrant and dark Belgian chocolate erase the worries of work away. Want to feel sexy? Spice up your day with the taste of dark chocolate and the soft hint of ginger. Need Forgiveness? Lemon and cocoa make a great start! I mean honestly how can you stay mad at someone when they bring you chocolate for forgiveness?

I highly suggest you get your hands on some of these as the world would be a better place if we all just altered our state of mind with the taste of great chocolate! You can get these chocolates directly from NewTree Here or if you want to save a little bit you could also get them Here.