“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard”

To all my readers,
Eighteen months ago, almost to the day, I started a food blog. Little Scarlet began for me as a hobby, and like the best hobbies it became delightfully all-consuming. I mean, what better way to spend the day than by reading and writing about great food? I guess you could eat all of that great food - and most days, I’ve been lucky enough to do just that. I’ve always been an adventurous eater, and running Little Scarlet gave me the extra motivation to seek out foods, flavors, and experiences I’d always wanted to try. And with some extra time on my hands, I’ve been able to share my stories with all of you!

But at the end of the day, I do have a day job – and finally, after years of hard work at that day job, I caught a break!

Goodbye assistant, hello associate! Goodbye days of busy work and paper shuffling, hello responsibility! Wonderful news all around… except for Little Scarlet.

To my steady readers out there, I’m sure it’s been obvious that my posting has tapered off a bit over the last few months. I tried to hop back in the saddle in December, but things at work and at home have been just too hectic for me to give Little Scarlet the time and attention it deserves. So instead of consistently falling short of my good intentions and lofty aspirations – not to mention making you all wonder why I fell off the face of the Earth and if I’m ever coming back – I think I’d best make it official: Little Scarlet is going on hiatus for a while.

I’ll still be checking Little Scarlet’s e-mail, so please keep sending me your thoughts and questions. I’ll also be more active on Twitter (hey, weekly posts may be too much for now, but I can handle 140 characters!!), so you can keep up with me there - @Little_Scarlet - to keep tabs on interesting articles, great meals, NYC food events, and national foodie trends.

You’ve all helped make the last year-and-a-half incredibly exciting and memorable. I can’t wait to write for you all again one day!

All the best,
Portia (aka “Little Scarlet”)

Cookbook Giveaway Winner!!

I have to tell you, I really loved reading the Comments that came in from this giveaway. So many wonderful traditions, I think I may have to steal a few for my own Christmas celebration!

But there can only be one winner and the results are in! A big thank you to everyone who entered, thank you so much for reading (and staying with me, even when posts become less frequent…) - the winner of Little Scarlet’s second giveaway is:

“Megdh”, you’ve won this copy of Bon Appétit Desserts and a one-year subscription to Bon Appétit! Please send me an e-mail at littlescarlet (dot) blog (at) gmail (dot) com with your shipping information so I can mail it to you. And if it’s not a secret, I’d love that recipe for your mother’s Russian tea cakes!

Thanks again to everyone who commented – have a very happy holiday and a wonderful New Year!

Bon Appétit Giveaway!!

If there’s one thing that all December holidays have in common, it’s that people can’t get enough desserts. Between bake sales and Bûche de Noël, figgy pudding and sugar plums, December’s full of reasons to indulge in your favorite sweets. And to get everyone ready for the holiday season, Little Scarlet is having its second giveaway!

Bon Appétit has compiled the very best of over 50 years worth of dessert recipes in their new book, Bon Appétit Desserts: The Cookbook for All Things Sweet and Wonderful.

With over 600 recipes, this master tome has something for every taste and every skill level. And to make things even easier, each recipe is graded on a “whisk” scale of difficulty, so you know right away if the recipe you’re looking at is easy (one whisk) or a pull-out-all-the-stops-spend-the-day-in-the-kitchen kind of recipe (four whisks).

Full of beautiful pictures and helpful hints, this book runs the gamut from cakes to pies, cookies to soufflés, ice cream to candy.

If you want to make chocolate chip cookies or vanilla cupcakes, it’s there.

Baklava cheesecake or Zabaglione Tart with Marsala-Lemon sauce? That’s in there too.

And the chapter on bar cookies & brownies means you’ll probably never need to consult another cookbook for any bake sale ever again. And even if you don’t bake that often, this book is so comprehensive, it’s really the ultimate reference guide for that one day a year when inspiration strikes and you just need to make your own ice cream – from scratch. (Did I mention there’s a whole chapter on ice cream & sorbet?)

And if you don’t bake at all? Well, it’s also perfect for prettying up the coffee table!

So now that I’ve got your attention, I’m going to sweeten the pot a little (oh yes, pun most definitely intended!) – as extra incentive to keep reading and ignore my total delinquency from time to time, the winner of this Cookbook Giveaway will also receive… a one-year subscription to Bon Appétit!!


Here’s how to enter:

The contest will run through the weekend, ending at midnight on Sunday, December 12 (open to the 48 contiguous United States). So between now and Sunday, here are the different ways you can enter!

• Leave a Comment on this post about your favorite holiday tradition, memory, food, most epic holiday disaster… anything you want!

And for extra chances to win, try these *one-time bonus entries* for a higher chance of winning:

• Follow @Little_Scarlet on Twitter. Come back and leave a new Comment on this post saying that you’ve done so.
• Become a fan of Little Scarlet on Facebook. Come back and leave another new Comment on this post saying that you’ve done so.
• Follow Little Scarlet’s RSS feeds in Google Reader, or the RSS feed site of your choosing. And then just come back to this post and leave a new Comment saying you’ve done so.
• “Buzz” this post (and Little Scarlet!) on Foodbuzz, by clicking here or here (and then click the “buzz it!”/“buzz'em” icon). And leave another Comment about it!

And if you just need to have this book and aren’t about to let a free subscription slip away from you, give yourself even better odds of winning with a *once-daily bonus entry*:

• Leave another holiday-themed Comment on this post
• Re-Tweet this post and Comment here with the link to that Twitter status (limit 1 eligible RT daily). To make it easy, you can either RT from our initial tweet (here) – or you can just copy and paste this: “@Little_Scarlet Bon Appetit giveaway! visit http://bit.ly/gyaulL to win the bon appetit desserts cookbook and a one-year subscription!”

Again, the contest will close at 11:59 pm, Sunday, December 12. The winner will be chosen at random by Random.org, and will be announced at noon on Tuesday, December 14. *Note: The winner will have to contact me by e-mail with their info by 10 pm Wednesday, December 15 in order to claim their prize (littlescarlet (dot) blog (at) gmail (dot) com) – otherwise, a new winner will be selected.


Good luck, everyone!!!

Poll of the Week - 11.29.2010

Well it’s been another unexpected break since I last posted, and I owe you guys tons of posts and then some. I’m getting my act together, though, and in the meantime – here’s a new “Poll of the Week”!

Between getting ready for Thanksgiving and getting ready for the Christmas season, I’ve spent a lot of time in the grocery store this past week. I love walking through grocery stores, looking at all of the fresh produce and soaking up holiday cheer. But the best days of all are when you stumble across Free Sample Day! I love when this happens, the whole store becomes one giant string of “free sample” serving stations - and it’s always on a day when I’m starving. It doesn’t get much better than showing up hungry to a store full of food and getting to graze your way through for free – especially in the days leading up to big food holidays, like Thanksgiving!

For this week’s “Poll of the Week”, Little Scarlet wants to know, when you’re lucky enough to show up on Free Sample Day, what’s your favorite kind of sample?

San Diego...

I’m still in San Diego, still working the neuroscience circuit. I’ve missed you all, but don’t worry - Little Scarlet will return on November 22, just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday!

See you all in a week!