Foodie BlogRoll Contest: Win Super Sweets for Heart Health Month

The Prize: THE HEALING POWERS OF HONEY & CHOCOLATE PISTOLES 

Drawing on the latest honey buzz and interviews with medical doctors, beekeepers, and researchers, this charming and enlightening book (sweetened with stories about honey bees and humans) reveals 30 healing honey varieties paired with cinnamon and teas, tells you how to incorporate honey into Mediterranean-style, heart-healthy recipes such as Honey Custard French Toast, Honey-Glazed Game Hen, and Filo Pear and Honey Tarts, and provides more than 50 home cures that combat digestive woes to skin woes. Find out more about The Healing Powers of Honey book.

And Enjoy Intentional Chocolate Milk or Dark Chocolate Pistoles!
You can also win a 7 ounce bag of chocolate milk pistoles or dark chocolate pistoles.

• 100% pure Hawaiian Vintage dark chocolate accented by notes of plum and a hint of ecstasy!
• Infused with the spiritual energy of experienced meditators personally trained with the Dalai Lama.
• The first product on the market embracing the revolutionary new field of intention-enhanced food.
• Academic study found Intentional Chocolate increased vigor, energy by 67%.
• 50% of profits donated to organizations benefitting humankind.

Sweet Winter Contest: Win Chocolate Book & Chocolate Snowmen!

Two Chocolate Gifts for You!

'Tis the day before Christmas Eve and day after the first day of Winter. Chocolate is on my brain. Actually, during the holiday season through Easter chocolate is a big deal. Really big. I know this because it was discovered during my research for The Healing Powers of Chocolate (Kensington). Ah, those were the days when I received gourmet chocolate from around the globe on my doorstep via UPS.
Yeah, yeah, yeah (popular saying these days) I was in Chocolate Heaven every week, sometimes three times. I'm talking dark chocolate sea salt caramels from Fran's in Seattle to chocolate truffles from Ireland. Not to forget chocolate bars and bon bons from popular chocolatiers in California to New York and Florida to Chicago.
These days, it's coffee which isn't too shabby either. But chocolate is an awesome gift to give or receive. I chose these chocolate covered cookie snowmen from Enjou Chocolat. These cuties seem appropriate due to the snowfall in the Southwest/Midwest. Not so much here in the Sierra. It's 5 degrees and it will be a swim day/fire at night. Manmade snow at Heavenly for now. But I forecast significant snowstorms will follow in January and February.
Meanwhile, edible snowmen will have to suffice. And the chocolate? Well, it'll help boost those feel-good endorphins. Then, one day I'm certain a storm will come in, the white stuff will fall from the sky, shoveling will follow and walking the Brittany duo in knee high powder, and making a real snowman will happen. Till then, a book on the merits of chocolate and eating chocolate cookies is as good as it gets.  (Enter the contest on Foodie BlogRoll website and you just may win these goodies.)

Sweeten Up Your Life: Win The New Honey Book on the Block

Get the buzz on honey and the honey bee!
--Cal Orey, The Writing Gourmet

Very odd how I fell into the world of cooking and baking. Well, maybe not so strange. At different stages of my life I have been found in the kitchen--not following directions and like a mad scientist experimenting with ingredients. And now, it's unbelievable but I am one of thousands who are members of Foodie Blogroll and there are treats...
Ironically, as I sit here writing and watching "Food Network"'s "Chopped" I gobble up all the competition, especially when the chefs get flustered and are critiqued by the judges. I flunked the baking contest in junior high. My Boston Cream Pie got kudos from but the Mocha Yule Log was the winner. I survived, sort of. But I felt bad (like the contestants on "Food Network" do win the other chef wins). The winner's prize cake looked store bought. It was perfect. My homemade entry was lopsided (just a tad) but it was a complicated dessert with decadent layers.
Tomorrow, "What's Cookin' at Callie's Cabin" is in the Friday edition of Tahoe Daily Tribune, like it is every Friday. What's more, I dream of shifting gears and opening up a Mediterranean bistro in a coastal town. How weird is that? It's not happening in the winter of 2012 as I can see images of my cabin buried in the Tahoe snow--and two dog nights.
Meanwhile, Foodie Blogroll is offering my new book The Healing Powers of Honey (published by Kensington and purchased by OneSpirit bookclubs including The Good Cook Book Club) to 8 winners, one a week. Other foodie bloggers are simply paying it forward and mentioning my book on Twitter, Facebook, or their blog. (You can do that, too, on Facebook: Just type in Cal Orey and scroll down to see my post Sweet November.)
All this food chat has got me thinking food. As the temperatures drop, the appetite soars. But if you're savvy, you can still eat your fave fall edibles and stay lean and happy. True, I did munch on salt water taffy (last night but my excuse was pre-Northern California quake jitters). Tonight I'm thinking semi-homemade Apple Turnovers with a taste of the whimsical wildflower honey. Or maybe Cranberry Croissants with notes of orange blossom honey. The kitchen is calling out to me. And I do have a pantry stuffed with honeys from around the globe (yes, each one has a long shelf life). Honey power! What about Gingerbread with a Lemon Honey Glaze?