Disclosure: I received ICBINB coupons, a Flip cam, and a gift card to create this video and pay for groceries.

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter contacted me recently to ask if I’d like to visit a local farmers market to gather items for a lunch party with friends afterwards—created with recipes using ICBINB, or course. I turn down a lot of PR offers, but this sounded like fun, and I had a tub of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter in my fridge already, so I do actually use their product. I also tend to be a recluse, so I thought this would be a good way to force myself outside and see what Chapel Hill has to offer.

There are several farmers markets near me. The Carrboro Farmers Market seemed to be the most popular one, but I heard parking was a mess. So I decided to go to the South Estes Market instead since it’s held in a mall parking lot with plenty of spaces. It was also on the way between my place [...]

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So, wow, the Bertolli Giveaway got 319 entries, which is the most comments I’ve received on a blog entry EVER. That includes the posts I wrote about quitting my job and my two book announcements. I guess the moral of this story is that the next time I have any big news to share, I should also give away an ice cream maker.

Seriously though, I must have spent an hour or two (grand total) approving all the first-time commenters that entered. I am grateful for all my readers and I thank you for visiting the site, but that didn’t stop me from crawling out of bed at 12:30am last night to turn off comments on the post after the entry deadline because I didn’t want to find 30 more emails in my inbox the next morning. Congratulations to Amy from Michigan who was the randomly drawn winner this morning! She has already accepted her prize. And thanks to Bertolli too!

In other news, look at the mutant, monster, strawberries I got at the grocery store yesterday. [...]

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Disclosure: I received a prize package from Bertolli for this giveaway.

I was a bit skeptical when Bertolli contacted me about their new webisode series, Into the Heart of Italy. I figured the videos would be stilted advertorials of no interest to me or my readers. Then I actually watched an episode and was surprised by how much I liked it. It’s, like, an actual show. (Warning: It also made me hungry. You probably shouldn’t watch on an empty stomach.)

Into the Heart of Italy is a series of 8-10 minute episodes that feature Rocco DiSpirito, Marisa Tomei, and Dan Cortese running around Italy making and eating delicious food—when they’re not being kidnapped by a Chicken Man. I always say, “If you go to Italy, beware of the Chicken Man!” I’ve always liked Marisa Tomei; I liked Rocco DiSpirito’s reality show The Restaurant that was on several years ago; And who doesn’t love Dan Cortese, former VJ and host of MTV Sports? You remember MTV Sports, right? What’s that? You’ve never heard of it? You were born [...]

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Some words and phrases should never be in the same sentence together, like “popsicles” and “green bean.” (Oh, wait, technically that should be “jelly ice milk bar” and “green bean.”)

Whenever I see odd food like this from a different country, I wonder what items in my own grocery store make foreigners raise their eyebrows in disgust. Any guesses?

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Uh, no thanks. I don’t think I will. My cat might be interested though.

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