Happy Birthday, Julia! + Giveaway

One of the writing prompts for the 30 Day Blog Challenge asked me, if I could have dinner with anyone in history, who would it be and what would we eat? I chose Julia Child, and for the sake of not rewriting an already written post, you can read my full explanation here.

| yes, that's me dressed up as Julia Child |

Well, as it turns out, August 15th would've marked Julia Child's 100th birthday (she passed away in 2004, just 2 days before her 92nd birthday). There are a lot of ways that people are celebrating it, including PBS who has asked home cooks to celebrate by cooking one of Julia's dishes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. In an article by Robin Shreeves, titled "8 Ways to Honor Julia Child's 100th Birthday," she gives a few (or 8, to be exact) ideas on how you can celebrate Julia even if you're not a foodie or a cook.

One of my favorites is to go to your local Sur La Table, where they are hosting cooking classes across the country that specifically focus on Julia's recipes. The class is a bit spendy - about $70 - but if you love cooking and want to celebrate that way then more power to ya!

Not much of a chef? Well why not dine out, then? Restaurants across the country are celebrating Julia Child's Restaurant Week, starting now and running through the 15th. You can find a comprehensive list of restaurants by state here. This is definitely more up my alley, and a little friendlier on the pocket book, to boot!

The other ideas Sheeves listed are great, too, but she challenged readers to come up with their own ways to celebrate. Since I just hit the 70 GFC followers mark, and Mrs. Child's birthday is just around the corner, I figured what better time than now to do a fun giveaway! Below is my first attempt at using Rafflecopter for a giveaway, so bear with me if there are a few glitches. Also, please forgive me for not allowing a little more time to enter the giveaway - but hey, that might be good for you because less people will find out about it in just the few short days it's running. :)

The prizes for the giveaway include a DVD copy of the movie "Julie & Julia," inspired by the book of the same name by Julie Powell. I read the book back when it was published in 2005 and really enjoyed it, so when the movie came out I was elated to hear that two of my favorite actresses would be playing the starring roles - Meryl Streep as Julia, and Amy Adams as Julie. It's a fantastic film, lots of fun, and great watching for any foodie.

The other prize is a $5 gift card to Starbucks. Why? Because Julia Child was LOUD. She was BIG. She had ENERGY. And what better way to get a big dose of energy than to slam back an iced caramel macchiatto, extra caramel, hold the whip?

...or you could just get a scone.

There is one mandatory entry - you must follow the blog on GFC. But you can get additional entries by following on Facebook and Twitter, as well as tweeting about the giveaway. Yahoo! Each entry is worth a different value amount, so technically you have the ability to get up to 35 entries in this one giveaway. Best of luck to you all!

a Rafflecopter giveaway