It's here!! My 100th post and a give-away!

Wow, 100 posts! I started this blog in the summer of 2007 when I was just discovering the world of cooking and food blogs. I took breaks here and there when work was really busy or while I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with this blog, but here I am today!

Don't worry, I'm not getting all emotional or anything. I promise.

Anyway, I think this past year is when I started taking it more seriously and started participating more in the blog community. It's been great getting to know more of you and I hope to continue to do so.

So enough of all this mushiness, let's get down to the goodies!

As you can tell, a lot of my food posts have a definite slant towards Indian/South Asian food. That's because that's what I grew up eating and as much as I love discovering or recreating favorites, I also like to share them with you guys.

I know a lot of people who like Indian cuisine but are often too scared to try it on their own. Believe me, I've been there. It seems so complex with all the different spices, but really once you have a good stock of the basics, you'll find that most recipes rely on some key spices in varying proportions.

So with the hopes of luring more of you into trying your hand at Indian food, I give you Spiceaholic's Cookbook & Spice Kit:



That's right, I'm giving one lucky reader:

• A copy of The Everything Indian Cookbook, by Monica Bhide, which is a great intro to Indian cooking.
  

• A few basic spices so you can start cooking! Starting at the top left and going down are ground cumin seed, tandoori seasoning, and garam masala. Starting at the top right and going down are panchphoran (a Bengali spice blend), ground coriander, and turmeric.

• A packet of my favorite lychee-flavored gummy candies (that's just for fun!).

Sound good to you? Can't wait to start cooking away? Wondering how you can be the lucky winner? Here are the different ways you can enter:

1. Leave me a comment telling me what your favorite Indian dish is or what dish you want to try.
2. If you have a blog, please link back to this post and clue your readers in to this give-away. Then leave me a new comment telling me you've done so and with a link to your site.
   
3. If you don't have a blog, send an email to spiceaholic80 @ gmail dot com with "Spices" as the subject line.

You have until midnight on the evening of Friday, May 8th to enter. I will be out of town that weekend, but will announce a winner no later than Monday, May 11th. The winner will be selected via the random sequence generator at random.org. Due to shipping costs, I do have to limit entrants to U.S. and Canada residents.

Good luck everyone! Hope to see both new and familiar faces. :D