AMP 150 Gift Card Giveaway

For those of you out there who happen to be Facebook friends with me, you might have seen a status update or two regarding a food photography shoot I had over the weekend. Chef Ellis Cooley from the restaurant AMP 150 approached me a little over a week ago and indicated that the restaurant was in need of photographs of their new menu items for a redesign of the corporate website. He asked if I and fellow foodie Edsel would be interested in doing a photo shoot. Feeling quite proud of how far I've come in my food photography in the last seven months of study, I quickly agreed.

I decided to drop off the finished photographs last night and since the weather was crappy (really, when will this rain end?) and the traffic going south on I-71 backed up, I decided to stay and try a few of the dishes I had photographed over the weekend. You might be tempted to think that with all of the food Edsel and I photographed over the weekend that we would have also tasted it, too. One of the dirty little secrets of professional food photography is that the food doesn't have to taste good, it just has to look good. Thus, if an ingredient doesn't contribute directly to the appearance of the food (like, say, salt), it wasn't added.

So, what did I order? First up was a Shrimp and Pea Risotto with Fresh Local Ramps:


Creamy, buttery, sweet, and garlicy. If I could sum up a dish in four words, those would be it. This was an amazing small plate that did much to feed not only my stomach, but also my soul. The rice was creamy without being mushy, the peas added little pops of sweetness, the shrimp were cooked without being rubbery, and the ramps (kind of like wild garlic) added a much needed sharpness to balance the entire dish. If you are interested in trying this dish, get to AMP 150 soon as ramp season will be over in a matter of weeks, not months.

My second small plate tonight was Poached Sea Scallops over Squid Ink Farro, Fines Herbs, and Fumet:


Again, this was all about texture and flavor balance. The scallops were tender and buttery, the farro had a slightly chewy texture that felt like a cross between barley and rice, and the squid ink, although dark in appearance, had a certain brightness in flavor. I can't tell you which one I enjoyed more as they were both outstanding.

Finally, to finish up my meal tonight, I decided to go with one of AMP 150's new desserts, Lemongrass Rice Pudding, Herbed Tapioca, Coconut Foam, and Passion Fruit Caviar:


As with all of the dishes at AMP 150, this was a clever combination of tart and sweet, creamy and chewy. The rice pudding had a soft, but still chewy texture to it. The herbed tapioca (readers familiar with Bubble/Pearl Tea will understand the texture) had a vegetal quality to it that worked well with the lemongrass and coconut. The passionfruit caviar was practically unsweetened, and as such, contrasted brightly with the sweetness of the foam and rice pudding. This dish was light and airy, yet not overly sweet and ultimately satisfying.

Now that I've whetted your whistle with some of the new menu items available at AMP 150, I think it is high time to announce the gift card giveaway! As part of the compensation that AMP 150 offered me for my photography services, they graciously agreed to include a $25 gift card to give away to one lucky reader of my blog. Considering that $25 is enough for one person to eat a complete meal at AMP 150 (which was pretty much what my bill came to last night with water), it's a great way to experience one of Cleveland's premiere dining destinations.

The contest will work as follows: starting now, simply leave a comment stating that you'd like to win the gift card. You will have until 11:59:59 PM on Friday, April 29th, 2011 (that's 1 second before midnight Saturday) to leave your comment. At 12:00 AM on Saturday morning, I will use random.org to randomly select the winner from all the posted comments. IF YOU LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IN YOUR COMMENT, I will contact you to tell you that you've won. If you only leave a name in your comment (which is entirely your option), I will post the winner's name and that person will have until Monday morning, May 2nd, 9:00 AM, to contact me and claim your prize. If no contact has been made by Monday morning at 9:00 AM, I will select another winner.

Bottom line is ... if you want to be entered into the contest and don't wish to leave your email address, make sure you check back to see if you've won!

Once the winner has confirmed their interest in claiming the prize, I will get them the gift card in the manner which is easiest for them (most people prefer the US Postal Service).

Good luck! Even if you don't win the gift card, take the time to check out the fantastic menu at AMP 150. Chef Cooley and crew are really doing some marvelous new dishes on the spring menu.

March of Dimes Contest Winner!

Well, the time for the March of Dimes ticket giveaway contest has come to a close and I am happy to announce that we have a winner. I received seventeen requests to be entered into the contest and using the random number generator at random.org, I selected a random value and matched it against this list of entrants:

1) Flo
2) Elena
3) Deanna
4) Bob
5) MH
6) Tami
7) Kristi
8) Amy
9) Rachel
10) Kelli
11) Rob
12) Dave
13) Jenna
14) Dianna
15) Shelbey
16) Jen
17) Cheryl

After consulting Random.org, here was the result:



I contacted Cheryl and she was quite happy to have won the two tickets to this year's event. Congratulations, Cheryl! Apologies to everyone else who entered but didn't win. Hopefully I'll be in the same situation next year that I can offer two more tickets.

March of Dimes Event And Contest

In a lucky turn of events, I have been invited to be one of four guest judges at this year's March of Dimes Akron Signature Chef's Auction along with three other Akron culinary powerhouse names: Jane Snow, previous food editor of the Akron Beacon Journal and author of her latest book, Jane Snow Cooks; Lisa Abraham, current food editor of the Akron Beacon Journal; and Catherine St. John, owner and instructor at the Western Reserve School of Cooking in Hudson, Ohio.

As part of the promotion for this awesome event, Nici Hefflefinger has sent me the following press release and TWO FREE TICKETS to give away to a lucky blog reader. First, the press release:

"You can’t go wrong with the powerful combination of good food, good times and a very good cause! The area’s most acclaimed gourmet extravaganza, The March of Dimes Akron Signature Chef’s Auction, is returning this fall celebrating 20 years. Once again, this year's event presented by SYSCO Food Services is being held at the Quaker Square Inn at the University of Akron on Monday, October 25, 2010 from 5:00 to 9:00pm.

This year, over 250 guests will have the opportunity to sample a variety of delicious dishes prepared by some of the area’s finest chefs. Participating restaurants include: Nick Anthe’s, Chowder House Café, The West Side Bakery, The VegiTerranean, The Good Fork, The Harbor Inn, On Marketing Catering, Old Carolina BBQ, The Rusty Nail, Lucky Penny Farm & Creamery, Jenncancook.com, and Chocolate Mischief.

Following the tastings, guests will have the opportunity to bid on a vast and wonderful array of imaginative silent auction packages. The live auction will give the crowd a chance to have fun, get excited, and compete to win one of a kind experience packages. Highlights for this year’s event include a tribute to the 2010 Honorary Chair, Dr. Michael Forbes, MD. Director of. Clinical Research & Outcomes Analysis at Akron Children's Hospital. As well our 2010 FDR Humanitarian Award recipient, Nancy Myers, PhD. of Summa Hospital for her long standing commitment to the March of Dimes and her volunteer work in helping make sure that every baby is born healthy.

Most importantly, the Akron Signature Chefs Auction will continue to raise funds needed for the March of Dimes. For more than 70 years, the March of Dimes has improved the lives of babies. Founded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to fight polio, the March of Dimes funded research that led to the vaccines that eradicated polio in the United States. Today, by funding research, advocacy, education and community services, the March of Dimes is working to prevent birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.

Please help the March of Dimes by attending the Akron Signature Chefs Auction. Tickets are $95 per person or tables of ten for $950.00. For more information, contact Nici Hefflefinger at the March of Dimes at 216.643.3330 or via email to nhefflefinger@marchofdimes.com or visit our website, www.marchofdimes.com/ohio."

Now for the fun part, the giveaway!!!

This will work just a little bit differently than in times past. Instead of leaving a comment indicating that you'd like to be entered into the drawing, I am asking that you send me an email instead. Please use the subject line of "March of Dimes Contest" so I can keep these messages separate from my other messages. The other reason for this change is because these tickets are for an upcoming event (October 25th isn't that far off), I won't have time to give the winner a full week to claim their prize.

The contest will run from Sunday, October 10th at midnight until Sunday, October 17th at midnight (that's the beginning of the day, not the end). At that point I will take the list of email addresses I have received and using Random.com, pick a winner at random. I will then contact that person via email and they will have 24 hours to respond to my email. If they don't (and remember, email messages are timestamped), I'll continue randomly re-picking winners and contacting them until someone does respond.

Good luck everyone and I look forward to seeing you at what promises to be an absolutely fantastic event!!

Discounts And Gift Cards

I have a couple of items on today's agenda to tell you about, gentle reader.

First, I was contacted several days ago by Jason Owen, owner and proprietor of the website Hot Sauce Planet. Based out of Indiana, they sell a variety of sauces, from BBQ and hot to many, many more. He wanted to tell me that for the week of June 6th, all readers from Exploring Food My Way can receive a 10% discount on their entire purchase by using the coupon code "10off" during the checkout process. So, if you are in need of some summertime sauces to spice up your cookouts, take this opportunity to save a little cash and stock up.

Second, it is time to begin our next gift card giveaway. Last time I kept the contest open for two weeks and that just felt a little too long. Most of those who left a comment did so within the first couple of days. So this time around I'm going to limit the contest to one week. I am offering a $15 gift card to Musketeers Bar and Grill, located at 3027 Brecksville Road, Richfield, OH 44286. I won the gift card when I attended a Cystic Fibrosis fundraiser for my friend Jen, whom I've known since high school. Musketeers was generous enough to provide the space for this second annual event as well as some complimentary pizza, chicken wings, and salad. Having only had such a narrow spectrum of the items offered on the menu, I can't really speak to the rest of the menu, but hey, with $15 off for very little work, it's worth giving them a try.

The same rules apply as the last time. The contest starts at midnight on June 6th and closes at midnight on June 13th. I will use random.org to pick a winner from the list of applicable comments left on this post. To enter the contest, simply leave me a comment saying that you'd like to win the gift card. You may leave more than one comment if you want to increase your odds of winning, but make sure you leave a non-anonymous post or leave your name in an anonymous post so I will know who actually won. Once I post the name of the winner, he or she will then have one week to contact me and make arrangements to transfer the gift card.

Do make sure you check back to see if you've won. With the AMP150 gift cards, only one of the three initial winners contacted me and after a week, I ended up picking two new winners!

Good luck!

MORE AMP 150 Winners!!

Well, technically not more ... I didn't happen to acquire additional gift cards. What did happen, gentle reader, was that only one out of the three gift cards were spoken for. And given that I gave a one week time limit on claiming the cards, here I am in the interesting position to pick two new winners from the list of already submitted (and closed, by the way) comments on the original posting for the giveaway. As a reminder, there were 41 comments from which to choose. In the original drawing, comments number 5, 25, and 32 were selected. Sarah, commenter number 5, snagged her card within a day of me publishing my results. Hopefully, the next two winners will dutifully claim their cards. Like before, they will have one week from today, so Sunday, 5/23/10 at exactly midnight.

Just like last time, I have employed the use of random.org to pick our two new winners. And they are (drum roll please) ...

1) Comment #23 - Iya -- CLAIMED!!

2) Comment #13 - BONNIE K -- CLAIMED!!

Once again, simply shoot me off an email to my address and tell me how you'd like me to get the cards to you and I'll be happy to take care of it sooner rather than later. Congratulations on our two new winners and I hope they have a great time and a great meal at AMP 150 soon.

AMP 150 Giveaway: And The Winners Are ...

Thanks to everyone who entered the $25 gift card giveaway to the fantastic AMP 150 restaurant. The time has come and gone for the contest and now it's time to announce the three winners. If your name has been selected, you have one week to contact me at my email address. The simplest way to get your gift card will be by providing me with an address in which to send the envelop. If that doesn't work for you, then I'd be happy to entertain other options, like meeting up in a coffee shop or the like. I am currently working near the Case Western campus during my days and would be happy to do a lunch time or post-work meet-up if sending me your address makes you feel uncomfortable.

Before I do announce the winners, I also want to point out that future contents will only be one week long instead of two. While I did get a few extra entries this past week, the bulk of comments were left within the first week. Plus, two weeks just seems like such a LONG time, doesn't it? I definitely think that future contests will more than likely be only a week long.

OK, enough chitter-chatter. As of midnight, May 9th, 2010, there were officially 41 comments left on my original post. Through the use of the random number generator at random.org, here are our three winners:

1) Comment #32 - Chef_Brian

2) Comment #5 - Sarah - CLAIMED!!

3) Comment #25 - Chris

Once I hear from all three winners, I will officially close out the active winners link on the top right hand side of the blog. If any of the winners do not contact me within the week allotted, I will pick additional winners as necessary and update this post.

Congratulations to the winners of the gift cards! I know you will have a crazy good meal at the expert hands of Chef Cooley. And for those of you who didn't win, I know it sounds a little hollow, but check out AMP 150 anyway; this new culinary addition to the Cleveland scene is well worth your time and money.

Giveaway Reminder

Just a quick reminder that the giveaway contest for the three AMP 150 gift cards valued at $25 each ends this coming Sunday, May 9th at 12:00 AM. If you have yet to leave a comment on the original post or would like to leave an additional comment to improve your odds of winning one of these gift cards, please make sure you do so during this week. Winners will be announced next Sunday morning.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading and look for my Parasson's review post tomorrow morning. I finally managed to get something other than the much adored spaghetti with meat sauce.

Freebies And Giveaways And Contests, Oh My!

Welcome to the first (of hopefully many) giveaway here on Exploring Food My Way!

I have in my possession three $25 gift cards to the recently opened AMP 150 up near the Cleveland Hopkins International airport. I originally thought about having three separate giveaways and asking readers to answer trivia questions in order to qualify. Then I quickly came to my senses and realized that if I wanted maximum participation that I should make it as easy as possible for you to channel your inner Arnold Horshack and shout "Ooh-ooh-ooooh!" Sadly, no extra credit points are being offered if you can identify the TV show I just referenced, but you will get a commiserating look from me because you, too, are now officially "old."

To that end, if you would like to participate in the giveaway, simply leave a comment on this blog post saying that you'd like one of the gift cards. You must identify yourself in either the name you give or if you select "Anonymous", you'll need to identify yourself in the actual comment portion. If you don't, I have no way of identifying who you are if you win. The contest will be open from Sunday, April 25th 12:00 AM through Sunday, May 9th 12:00 AM (EST). At that time, I will use a random number generator and pick three comments and announce the winners in a separate blog post. The winners will then have one week to contact me via email in order to supply me with a postal address so I can send out the gift cards. Feel free to leave multiple comments if you want to increase your odds of being selected, but as I want AMP 150 to get as much exposure as possible, I am going to limit one card per winner.

And speaking of exposure to AMP 150, I wanted to invite you to come back on Monday morning and read my review of an amazing six course mushroom dinner featuring the wonderful products being grown at Killbuck Valley and being prepared and served by Chef Ellis Cooley. It was an incredible meal and as a by-product of that dinner, I have these fantastic gift cards to give away.

Good luck!