Congratulations to Julie F., who submitted her mother’s recipe for warm, soothing rice and raisins and won our Mother’s Day recipe contest.
Julie’s name was drawn today by my co-worker, Pete Dybdahl.
Julie wins a prize package consisting of a Pampered Chef apron, spatula, paring knife, measuring bowl and seasoning blend. She has also won Betty Crocker’s Cookbook for Women.
Thanks to everyone who entered this contest. I like Julie’s entry because it shows that even the simplest things our mothers made for us when we were growing up were made with love.
Julie, to claim your prize, please e-mail your full name and address to me at lindsey.nair@roanoke.com.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the great moms who read this blog!

It’s difficult for me to pinpoint the one recipe I learned from my grandmother or my mother that stands out as a favorite. Both of those women taught me so much about cooking and life.

If I had to, though, I’d say that my Grandma Nair’s carrot-raisin salad is near the top of the list. It’s such a simple recipe, but it taught me that you don’t always need exact measurements to turn out a delicious taste. And as someone who generally is not that fond of carrots, it showed me that with an open mind, an adventurous spirit and the right combination of ingredients, a person can learn to love a dreaded food.

I’ll attach a loose version of Grandma’s recipe below. But I’d love to know what one recipe you have that always reminds you of your mother, grandmother, mother-in-law, godmother or another very special woman in your life.

Entries must include the actual recipe. They will go into a random drawing to win a prize that’s a little more elaborate than my usual Cookbook Giveaway. This one (pictured above) includes the Betty Crocker Cookbook for Women and a Pampered Chef apron, measuring bowl, spatula, paring knife and herb seasoning blend.

The deadline for entering is 5 p.m. Thursday. I’ll announce the winner Friday morning.
Good luck!

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Ahhhhhh! Stop! We have three winners!
Terri Naff wins “BBQ Bash: The Be-All, End-All Party Guide, from Barefoot to Black Tie” by Karen Adler and Judith Fertig.
Kenn gets “Burgers: 52 Easy Recipes for Year-Round Cooking” by Sally Sampson.
And Melanie will receive “BBQ Joints: Stories and Secret Recipes from the Barbecue Belt” by David Gelin with a foreward by John T. Edge.
Thanks to everyone else who commented! Even if you didn’t win, I feel as if I did — I was able to hear from a bunch of folks who read my blog every day but rarely make comments. It’s so nice to hear from you guys.
Thanks for reading my blog. I hope our winners enjoy their books (e-mail your address to lindsey.nair@roanoke.com to receive them) and I certainly hope the rest of you will keep coming back.
I’ll have another Cookbook Giveaway very soon.
Enjoy this beautiful grilling weather!

I had such a hard time deciding who should win “Roadfood” by Jane and Michael Stern that I tried something new this time.

I wrote down the names of all the best entries on little slips of paper and had my co-worker, Stephanie Ogilvie, draw one from a basket.

And the winner is…….. Amy!!

Amy, if you’ll e-mail me your home address at lindsey.nair@roanoke.com, I’ll put this book in the mail for you.

Thanks to everybody who entered to win this time. The diner stories were awesome, from Marion’s 50s diner in Augusta to Lori’s honeymoon food at the Ohana diner in Hawaii. I also really enjoyed Greg’s story about being a newlywed and a stranger to Maine, where he found a friendly place that served killer seafood chowder. What I wouldn’t give for a bowl of that stuff today.

Thanks, everyone! My desk is stacked high with cookbooks right now, so stay tuned for the next giveaway!

Moving on, I wanted to address yesterday’s blog entry about the missing recipe for peanut butter fingers. According to Whitney, the reader who was looking for the recipe, we have found a winner!

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I spent much of the day on a farm in Pittsylvania County, so I’m just now checking back on the blog.
Apparently, the grilled cheese topic is still going strong. I even got a note from a friend and Kroger employee who jokingly requested that I give them a heads up next time I plan to write about grilled cheese so they can stock bread and cheese. I’m pretty sure he was joking, anyway.
In addition, my mother found herself at the West Virginia Welcome Center yesterday afternoon, where one employee said, “Aren’t you Lindsey Nair’s mother?” and proceeded to chat with her about grilled cheese sandwiches.
Since I’m short on time today, I think I’ll just introduce our next Cookbook Giveaway.
This week, the book isn’t exactly a cookbook but it sure is packed with good food talk. It’s called “Roadfood” by Jane & Michael Stern, and it has recently been updated with 200 new listings.
The Sterns call their book “The coast-to-coast guide to 700 of the best barbecue joints, lobster shacks, ice cream parlors, highway diners and much, much more.”
The Sterns did make their way through Virginia, but I won’t tell you if they highlighted any local food joints. That would just spoil the fun of reading the book!
To win this book, however, I’d love for you to tell me the best roadside joint you ever stumbled upon, and why. The deadline is 5 p.m. next Wednesday.

Our tantalizing food photo of the week was submitted by blog reader Sean, who wrote:

“This is how I like to eat my Lox. In this version of the Lox I have a toasted bagel, cream cheese, capers and smoked salmon, of course. Then I add a little red onion, Tabasco, boiled egg and garnished with dill. Before I put everything together I sprinkle lemon on the salmon.”

Yummelicious. To see the Fridge Magnet’s fine collection of food photos, hit the Flickr site.
Please contribute your own photos! If you’d rather not join Flickr (it’s free), feel free to send them to me at lindsey.nair@roanoke.com.

Have a tasty weekend!

The photo of the week was submitted by blog reader Kat (a.k.a. The Boss).

She rubbed this salmon with a mixture of French salts, then grilled it slowly on a cedar plank.
The side dishes are roasted garlic mashed potatoes and sauteed spinach that came from a Franklin County farm. Kat says it only cost 99 cents per pound.

“We first heated the pan and used pork fat as our oil,” she wrote. “Then I browned some garlic in that and tossed the spinach in. After seasoning with some salt, the finishing touch was juice from half a lemon. The tartness made everything taste bright and fresh.”

Do you have a beautiful food picture? If so, submit it to my Flickr group or e-mail me at Lindsey.nair@Roanoke.com. Have a great weekend!

Feast your eyes on this beautiful rare, grilled tuna.

This photo was submitted by blog reader Sean for my new feature, the Friday photo of the week!

Since I started soliciting your food photos, I’ve received nearly 20 tantalizing pics. They range from Rich’s bacon-wrapped wild turkey breast to Nona’s famous banana pudding to Carrie’s colorful beef cacciatore.

Because I can’t feature them all on the blog, I’ve decided to start a group on the photo sharing Web site Flickr.

If you want to see all the photos, all you have to do is go here.

If you’d like to join in the fun and add your own photos to the group, all you have to do is create a Flickr account and follow the directions from there. If you need any help, please feel free to let me know!

Those of you who would rather not mess with creating a new account but still want to send food photos are welcome to e-mail them directly to me at lindsey.nair@roanoke.com.

Of course, if you can also submit your recipe to the blog, that would make this feature even better!

Yesterday, we noticed that online hits on last year’s corned beef story were going strong this week, so I thought I’d resurrect the old Q & A for those of you who are starting to crave corned beef for St. Patrick’s Day and were wondering about its origins. I’ll attach the Q & A after the jump.

Every year about this time, I start thinking about my dear Grandma Nair stabbing holes in the corned beef roast and stuffing them with whole garlic cloves. Mmmm, I can just picture the steaming slices of corned beef beside a pile of cabbage and potatoes.

For a good-looking corned beef recipe, check out the Meal Planner in this coming Sunday’s Extra section. Meal Planner guru Susan Nicholson has a tasty honey-mustard glazed corned beef recipe that looks like a winner.

Also, in case you missed it, we published a few more Irish recipes in the Extra section today. They are for Irish Beef Stew, Dublin Coddle (a layered dish of sausage, cabbage and onions with bacon) and Irish Pound Cake. That pound cake recipe looks like it’ll actually turn out a 3-pound cake. It calls for golden raisins, dried currants, dried cherries, chopped almonds and a brushing with Irish whiskey when it comes out of the oven.

If you missed those, you can still check them out here. Just look to the left of the page under my picture.

Does your family eat anything special for St. Patrick’s Day?

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You are all correct, Jamie Oliver’s restaurant in London is called “Fifteen.”
Unfortunately for the rest of you, Mary Moore was quickest with her keyboard. She wins Oliver’s latest cookbook, “Jamie’s Italy.” Congratulations Mary, and I’m so sorry the rest of you did not win. I hope you aren’t too disappointed. I’ll do another cookbook giveaway next week! Keep reading!
Mary, to claim your book, please send your name and address to my e-mail at lindsey.nair@roanoke.com.
Have a great weekend!

We all know a food blog just isn’t a food blog without delicious pictures of food. We also know that at some point every week, each of us sits down to such a beautiful meal or snack that it would be a pity to not capture the exquisiteness on film for all to see. That’s why I’m launching a new feature on the Fridge Magnet blog called the Photo of the Week.
I urge you to submit your food photos to me by e-mail at lindsey.nair@roanoke.com. Submit as many as you like; I will pick one each week to feature on the blog. Then the rest of us can drool all over our keyboards.
The inaugural Photo of the Week was sent in by regular reader Amy Hanek. Amy prepared these chocolate heart cakes topped with ganache and drizzled with chocolate. I dare you to tell me you don’t want one right now.

Are you about to dig into an eye-popping beauty of a meal or snack? Then, STOP! Before you do, take a photo first, and e-mail it to me at lindsey.nair@roanoke.com.
Your photo could be featured on the Fridge Magnet blog as the Photo of the Week.

It’s picture day on the Fridge Magnet blog!
As promised, faithful blog reader Lori floated a few Peeps in a mug of hot cocoa and took some pictures for us all to enjoy. Now, I was imagining that Lori would use the chicks, which would look like they were going for a ducky little swim in the cocoa. Instead she used the bunnies, which look like they are doing the backstroke or something.
If you’ve got a fabulous food pic, e-mail it to me in jpeg format at lindsey.nair@roanoke.com and I’ll share it on the blog.

I’ve decided to award this week’s free cookbook to frequent blog reader Henry.
Henry offered up several fine ideas for jazzing up dishes with products that most cooks keep on hand on a regular basis.
For that, he gets a copy of “Mealtime Magic” by Joey Green.
Henry’s comment was:

Boullion.

You can jazz up gravy with a shot of Cream of Chicken soup. Of course, these are casserole standbys.

I especially like the suggestion that boullion cubes can be substituted for salt in various recipes. I can see myself adding boullion to all kinds of steamed veggies to add flavor without fat.

Henry, shoot me an e-mail at lindsey.nair@roanoke.com to claim your book. Don’t forget to include your address!

I have a $25 gift card to Provisions with Flo’s name on it. Flo left the 1,001st comment on Fridge Magnet since the blog began in March.
Sherry, who was the 1,000th person to comment, never replied to my announcement that she had won. Boo!
Flo, email me at lindsey.nair@roanoke.com to claim your prize!

The folks over at Slashfood or the Amateur Gourmet might accuse me of making a milestone out of a mole hill here, but I don’t care. While I was away from the Fridge Magnet blog last week, someone left the 1,000th comment!
Since the FM blog was first launched in March, we have chewed on a whole smorgasbord of topics, from Buffalo wings and pound cakes to new restaurants and service pet peeves.
I promised before I left for the holiday that our 1,000th commentor would win a very special prize. I’d like to announce that the 1,000th comment was left on Dec. 21 by Sherry, who wrote in to talk up the tasty home cookin’ over at Thelma’s Chicken and Waffles at Orange Avenue and Williamson Road.
Sherry wins a $25 gift certificate to Provisions! All she has to do is get in touch with me at lindsey.nair@roanoke.com to claim her prize.
UPDATED: We never heard from Sherry, so the prize goes to the 1,001st person to comment, Flo. Flo needs to e-mail me to claim her prize.
Happy New Year!

I never heard from Donna Alley, the reader who sent in the Broccoli Casserole recipe last week. Therefore, the free cookbook “A Passion for Baking” by Marcy Goldman goes to our first runner-up, Carrie!
Carrie, if you will e-mail your mailing address to lindsey.nair@roanoke.com, I’ll stick the book in the mail.
Everyone else, I’m going to announce the next cookbook giveaway tomorrow, so check in.

Many thanks to all of you for sending along your favorite Thanksgiving recipes.
The first person to respond was Donna Alley with Broccoli Casserole. Donna, if you’ll e-mail me your mailing address at lindsey.nair@roanoke.com, I will send that book along straightaway.
Never fear, the rest of you! I’m going to give away another book next week. So stay tuned!
I can’t believe how many delicious recipes came through last night. The only other request I have is for a little bit more information about why these recipes are so special to your families. Has it been passed down through the generations? Does everyone lend a hand to make it every year? Do you have to hide it to keep somebody from dipping into it before dinner?
If you guys have any more context for why these recipes are family traditions, I would love to hear it. And if you have not yet sent a recipe and a story, please do!
The deadline is Friday, November 2!