Ringing in 2011 with a Top 10 list, and a Giveaway!

Happy New Year friends!  2010 has officially come to a close, and what a year it has been.  On the rollercoaster of life, this blog has been a consistent high point, and I get such happiness from sharing my love of food with each of you every day. Throughout this past year, I hope The Cilantropist has given you delicious recipes that helped you experience the simple joys of eating well and sharing good food with friends and family.  I have so many exciting ideas to share with you in 2011, and I can't wait to get started; I hope you will continue to pull up a comfy chair and follow along with me on my adventures.  

But first, lets take a little look back at 2010 and your favorite posts and recipes!  I chose the Top 10 based on pageviews, twitter, reader comments and emails; not surprisingly, many of the top posts were from Project Food Blog, where I made i my mission to put my very best food forward and improve the quality of my blog by leaps and bounds.  So, without further ado, here are the The Cilantropist's Top 10 post of 2011!    

1. The post where I shared my lunch menu for A Presidio Picnic, with Italian Pressed Sandwiches is by far the most viewed post on The Cilantropist.  The post includes a recipe for Sopressata and Provolone Italian Pressed Sandwiches, which I also made for a post-Project Food Blog Celebration, and is the most popular recipe with readers.  For the lunch, we also enjoyed Parmesan and Gruyere Cheese Straws from Barefoot in Paris by Ina Garten, as well as Spiced Pear and Cranberry Pocket Pies.  The Pocket Pies were a huge hit as well, and I can't wait to make them this summer with peaches! 

2. My Shredded Red Cabbage Salad with Pistachios is consistently a reader favorite and definitely the most popular salad on The Cilantropist.  I have had so many readers and friends tell me they made this salad and they just raved about it.  Me?  I have made it at least 10 times.  I just can't get enough.  The recipe is adapted from James Peterson's Cooking, which is a fantastic go-to cookbook that includes expert recipes for everything under the sun. 

3. This is the most commented post on this site with 104 comments! Many home cooks and bloggers have told me they made the marshmallow recipe with great success, and I myself have made it five times now.  I originally shared my experience of Making S'mores from Scratch: Homemade Marshmallows and Graham Crackers, after camping with friends in the Laguna Mountains of Southern California.  Children looooove these marshmallows.  They are pretty popular with adults too.  (Try adding them to your coffee or hot cocoa!) 

4. I made this White Chocolate Layer Cake with Apricot Filling and White Chocolate Buttercream as a celebration cake for our lab when got a big grant to fund our research.  Everyone was definitely impressed and the cake tasted like I had bought it from a top notch pastry shop.  I think this post is so popular because I also included some step-by-step photos, and my tips and suggestions for making layer cakes.  

5. As part of Project Food Blog, we were tasked with remixing pizza; this Brie and Bacon Piadina with Balsamic Fig and Onion Marmalade was my way of changing up a traditional pizza and sharing a popular type of Italian flatbread from the Emilia-Romagna region near the Adriatic Sea.  The Balsamic Fig and Onion Marmalade would be amazing on any sandwich or with other roasted pork, and the combination of brie and bacon is always a winning one.  The basic piadina recipe was from Grilled Pizzas and Piadinas by Craig Priebe and Dianne Jacob.

6.  The bounty of gorgeous fall fruits at the farmers market inspired me to make this Pomegranate and Persimmon Salad.  But really, I think the reason this post was so popular is my quick 45 second video on How to Remove Pomegranate Seeds.  Check it out, and be empowered to eat a pomegranate!

7.  In this post, you can watch a step-by-step video on how to make Homemade Ladyfingers and a Pomegranate Charlotte.  This was the first time I ever recorded a video for The Cilantropist, and it was so much fun!  If you haven't seen it yet, definitely check it out.  This charlotte is certain to impress guests for a party, so keep it in mind for your 2011 gatherings.  And if a charlotte is not your style you can also use the homemade ladyfingers to make a Lemon Berry White Chocolate Trifle!    

8. When I got my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker at a thrift store for only $10, one of the first recipes I made was this Dense Dark Chocolate Ice Cream.  The ice cream was rich, and tasted almost like a thick, dark chocolate brownie.  Mmm... Later, after I made homemade marshmallows (see Top 10 post #3), I used the Dark Chocolate Ice Cream to make Rocky Road Ice Cream.    

9. This Tom Yum Goong with Homemade Nam Prik Pao (Thai Hot and Sour Soup with Prawns, and Homemade Roasted Chile Paste) was one of the most satisfying recipes I have ever made, both from a personal and taste perspective.  The Nam Prik Pao is fiery!   

10. This recipe for Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies is the most searched for term on The Cilantropist.  Make them, and you will know why.  They are my favorite chocolate chip cookie to date.

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I hope you enjoyed my Top 10 list from 2010!  And now... for the giveaway!  One lucky reader will receive the cookbook of their choice from the following list: 

Barefoot in Paris: Easy French Food You Can Make at Home, by Ina Garten

Cooking, by James Peterson

Grilled Pizzas and Piadinas, by Craig Priebe and Dianne Jacob

Do you recognize these cookbooks?  They are the three cookbooks that I used to make some of the recipes from my Top 10 posts!  I wanted to share them with you because I have found them to be great resources and I wanted to show you how much I appreciate you.  


So how can you win???


Because I write this blog for myself and for you, my lovely readers, I want to know exactly what tickles your fancy.  What do you like to eat most?  Do you have a sweet tooth?  Or are you a hardcore carnivore?  Do you like recipes for parties and entertaining, or are family-style meals more suited to your lifestyle?   


So to enter this giveaway, tell me two things: 


1.) What types of recipes would you like to see more of on The Cilantropist?


AND


2.) What is your all-time favorite recipe to make?  (Anything, sweet or savory, easy or challenging!)


...For a bonus third entry, you can become a new follower on twitter or subscribe to this blog using the links in the sidebar.   


The giveaway will be open until Friday, January 7th at 9pm PST, and I will post the winner on Monday January 10th.  I am sponsoring this giveaway, so it will only be open to residents of the US and Canada for shipping reasons; feel free to comment even if you can't win because all your feedback is important to me.

Most importantly, THANKS SO MUCH for an amazing 2010!