Note: This entire menu is featured in our Gilded Fork: Entertaining at Home cookbook.

Some call it Fat Tuesday, others Carnavale, but no city quite captures the essence of Mardi Gras like New Orleans. This month’s menu is spicy, rich and full of Nawlins flavor, so set a festive table, gather your friends and laissez les bon temps rouler!

Color. Texture. Spicy. Sweet. We never need an excuse to celebrate, but we took special advantage of this month’s opportunity.

FIRST COURSE

Bon Temps Crab Cakes with Rémoulade
Suggested pairing: Beer
(see Pairing Notes below for further details)

MAIN COURSE

Mardi Gras Chicken and Andouille Gumbo
Suggested pairing: Beer

New Orleans Red Beans and Rice

DESSERT

Mardi Gras King Cake

COFFEE

Café Brulot

PAIRING NOTES

Rather than feature wine pairings for this particular menu, we think beer is a better match. Given the spicy, rich flavors in these Mardi Gras recipes, light ales or lagers will provide balance to the overall flavor and texture impact of the meal.

After dessert, go for a flaming cup of Café Brulot, the famous coffee drink of the Big Easy.

MISE EN PLACE

For those curious about the meaning of mise en place, it is a French culinary term for “set in place.” If you have ever watched a cooking show, or been inside a restaurant kitchen, you will notice that next to the cooking area, things are set up just so. Ingredients, sauces and critical elements are ready to be used, whether pre-cooked, pre-chopped, or ready as a garnish. This kind of organized setup enables a cook to focus on the actual act of cooking itself without distraction. Our intention with this section is to use the same approach at home, enabling you to host your own special occasions with flair.

A funny thing happened on the way to the end of 2009. We had posted a contest in October asking you for your dream dinner party guest list. We gave out the winning cookbook, and thought the contest was put to bed. Lo and behold, somewhere online that post was listed as a contest through December 31st, so all of a sudden we were flooded with new entries. Since we’re always delighted to have new visitors, we decided to re-open the contest and pick another winner from all the posts added in December.

Congratulations to Becca Alley! Becca, please send us an e-mail with your mailing address, and we’ll get that cookbook right out to you. Happy New Year — now you’ll have lots of menus for a year of entertaining!

We don’t know about you, but we’d rather avoid the mall this time of year. It’s simply not in our natures to stand in line at 6AM (unless it’s for something fabulous at the farmer’s market).

In case you feel that way, too, we’re doing something special for this year’s “Cyber Monday” sale day, so we invite you to peruse our offers below. Then we can all stay at home and revel in Thanksgiving leftovers and pajamas while everyone else does that standing-in-line thing.

Besides, we have a new venture to unveil in December, so the more time we can spend at the computer in pj’s, the faster we can share it with you! Happy holidays!

Living on the Edge…of Brownies

Is there a brownie lover in your life? One who fights for the ones from the edge of the pan? Inventor Matt Griffin understands those eager souls, and specifically designed his Edge Brownie Pan to deliver an entire batch of perfectly crisp edges and gooey centers. Matt’s pan has been featured on Martha Stewart’s daytime show and in just about every major food magazine on the planet, so this is a hot little item. At a price of $35, it’s also perfect for a smaller budget.

We have a limited number of Edge Brownie Pans available, and are offering free ground shipping for orders placed by midnight EST on Monday, November 30. (Cannot be combined with other discounts.)

> Order here!

Other Gift Ideas & Tips

If you are looking to get the most out of your gift purchases this year, we also offer Tondo balsamic vinegar by the case, which gives you a total of six (6) 250ml bottles (and $36 in savings). These bottles of liquid heaven can stand on their own as a lovely gift — just wrap them wine-bottle style in some pretty paper, decorate with bows and present them to dear friends.

If you’d like to make your Tondo bottles part of a gourmet gift basket, we suggest featuring a bottle of Tondo as the “star,” then adding a few inexpensive items like cheeses and some elegant crackers. We can’t think of a palate that would be disappointed.

> Order your case of Tondo here.

Cookbooks = Perfect Gifts

We are delighted that so many of you are purchasing our cookbook in multiples. We really do think it is a great gift for the holidays or any time of year. The Gilded Fork: Entertaining at Home offers 13 dinner party menus complete with beverage pairings and tons of cooking tips, which makes it useful for cooks at all skill levels.

Of course, if you’re signed up for our newsletter, you’ll receive exclusive pricing on the book, and other delicious deals between now and the end of the year. Don’t miss out!

We knew it was coming. In October it seemed far off in the distance, so we put it out of our minds. Now we look at the calendar and start to freak out inside…just a little bit.

The holiday season is upon us, so it’s time to get organized for the revelry ahead. Given that a normal holiday gathering with my immediate family means 20-25 guests, we’ve got this thing down to a science. We also have an industrial meat slicer, so I realize that we are a bit…unusual. But that doesn’t mean you can’t pull this off, too.

I joined Marsha Collier and Mark Cohen on KTRB Radio in San Francisco today to talk about tech tools to help manage the chaos, and wanted to give you an expanded list here as a handy reference tool.

Planning:
You’ve heard me say it before, but a little Type A goes a long way. Get it out of your head and on to paper (or your PDA/iPhone/latest gadget). We’ve created a whole section on Culinary Media Network to help you get started, from the number of guests to the style of your party.

I also discovered an amazing planning resource whose bells and whistles go far deeper than I imagined. You’ve likely received an invitation from eVite…but did you know what else is under the hood? Their tools enable everything from managing your guest list to creating a detailed timeline and checklist. They even have decor suggestions.

Calendar:
Set up a Google calendar for yourself with the title “Thanksgiving” or “Holidays,” and you can have e-mail reminders sent right to your inbox each day. You can also sync it to your other calendars so your tasks are like any other items on your to-do list. There are lots of tools online for this, so choose the one you like best, preferably one that is already part of your routine. If your form of organization and planning includes Post-It notes all over your desk, hey, I won’t judge.

Menu:
If you need menu ideas, there is no shortage of resources online for finding recipes, from our full recipe list to sites like allrecipes and Epicurious. If you would rather have a book in your hands, there is still time to order The Gilded Fork: Entertaining at Home to have at your disposal for menu ideas.

Shopping

Ingredients:
Believe it or not, I don’t particularly enjoy grocery shopping, particularly if I’m feeling rushed. Thankfully there are now plenty of online delivery services to take care of that piece for you. The downside? If you like fondling your vegetables (the part I actually enjoy), the control freak in you will have to let go and accept that someone else will be picking out your potatoes. If you’re on the east coast or in Chicago, check out PeaPod (or your local supermarket’s web site). West coasters can take a look at Safeway, which has created a whole Thanksgiving section just for you.

Turkeys:
I’m not a big fan of the frozen bowling balls known as supermarket turkeys, but use them when necessary. If you prefer something a little tastier, here are some options:

• D’Artagnan: Gorgeous fresh or frozen turkeys that are delivered to your door, with 14-16 lb frozen turkeys for $65.
• Lobels: An NYC staple for Thanksgiving, they ship fresh organic and free-range turkeys for $75 and up

Wine:
Now this is a favorite, and not just because it was started by some friends of mine. Called the “Netflix of wine,” WineQ is a wine-delivery service that lets you queue up your favorites, start your own wine club, and discover what your friends are drinking.

Hostess Gifts:
If you are the lucky recipient of an invitation to a holiday party, please remember good etiquette and bring along a gift for your host. He or she is working very hard to entertain you, so a little reward is in order.

We’ve got some lovely gift ideas in the Gilded Fork Boutique, especially our Tondo flavored vinegars, so you can peruse gift options there, or at some other favorites including Dean & Deluca, Harry and David, or iGourmet.

If you want to dress *yourself* up a little, take a look at what The Hip Hostess has on display. She also features some gorgeous home decor finds.

But What If I Can’t Cook?!
Ah, the age-old dilemma. Guess what? There are solutions for that, too. Now, you could make a restaurant reservation, but I’m a huge proponent of welcoming people into my actual home for the holidays. The good news is that we have an entire country full of personal chefs, and you can find them all on the U.S. Personal Chef Association web site. Chef Mark is right here in NYC, so don’t forget to see his offerings at ReMARKablePalate.com.

Most importantly, remember to take deep breaths and not to panic. Worst-case scenario, open another bottle of wine and pour some more cocktails. It will all be just fine.

Dinner party nightmares. We’ve all experienced them: Someone puts a plate down in front of you, or arrives at your door with a little “special something” to serve during the party. As good guests and hosts we try to oblige, but the gag reflex is in full effect and it’s all we can do to endure the experience.

Since it’s Halloween week, we’re delving into the realm of the scary with this week’s Gilded Fork Cookbook giveaway.

What’s the most frightening thing you have ever been served (or brought to serve) at a dinner party? Post your comments here, and the one that makes us cringe the most will be announced as the winner on Monday, October 26th.

Go to it!

P.S. If you’d rather not participate in this most disturbing display, you are welcome to purchase the cookbook (did we mention that every copy is signed by us?) in our Gilded Fork Boutique.

Also, to avoid being the source of said nightmares, we recommend said cookbook. We also have lots of recipes and entertaining tips here on Culinary Media Network.

After a few days at BlogWorld & New Media Expo in Las Vegas, we definitely came away inspired by old friends and new, re-energized by the strides they are making to enhance this lil’ experience we’re all having on the interwebs.

Looks like we’re not alone. We had some great responses to this week’s giveaway about who inspires you most in new media, and the Gilded Fork Cookbook goes to…

…Sean Park from Take Thou Food! (He’s also @TakeThouFood on Twitter.)

Sean has been inspired by Ree Drummond from The Pioneer Woman, a site I recently discovered for myself — and fell in love with for its beautiful design, photography and healthy pinch of sass. As someone who “channels Lucille Ball and Ethel Merman,” Ree has inspired students on Sean’s campus to get in the kitchen. As Sean says, “A lot of my friends around campus who had zero interest in cooking really got into it after discovering Ree’s site. She makes it look easy and the step-by-step photo/instructions helped my friends get inspired.”

I hope you will take a look at her work and Sean’s, because both convey the kind of passion we like to celebrate! Congrats, Sean!

P.S. That Beat Cancer effort? It made the Guinness Book of World Records as the most widespread social media network message in 24 hours. Well done!!

As promised, we’re going to be running a different contest each and every week until the end of the year, as as a prize, you can win your very own SIGNED copy of our Gilded Fork: Entertaining at Home Cookbook!

This week, we’re in Las Vegas attending Blog World Expo ’09, the largest gathering of bloggers, podcasters, and other New Media types around, and having a great time connecting with friends both old and new. Among others we’ve had the chance to hang out with Grammar Girl, CC Chapman (one of the photo contributors to the book), Ariel Hyatt from CyberPR, Jason Van Orden, Chris Brogan, Rob Blatt, Howard Greenstein, Jim Turner, Rick Calvert (The head honcho of Blog World), Jen Kushell from YSN.com, and so many more. One of the things that we’re reminded of at these events is just how many enormously talented people are out there producing great content, and helping others perfect their own use of the media.

In particular, Christine Lu and Chris Noble are spearheading an effort this week at Blog World to beat cancer! By promoting the use of the hastag #beatcancer on twitter, they’ve managed to get a number of big companies, including eBay, PayPal, and Miller, to donate money to the effort, and in the process, they’re trying to beat a world record for most mentions of a single hashtag in one week.

So we thought we’d ask you: Who do YOU think is doing a great job in this cyberworld? Who do you admire for their great content, their commitment to a cause? Who puts out amazing shows on a regular basis that you love to consume and can’t imagine living without?

Add a comment to this post with the ONE person you admire the most, and give them some link love. And while you’re at it, be sure to pingback this post with one of your own so the person you’re giving love to knows you think they’re great. We’ll take all the comments and pick one at random on Monday October 19th at Noon EST, and that commenter will win a copy of our Gilded Fork Cookbook.

Of course, we know you’ll comment just to show appreciation for someone cool, right? But who knows, you just may win a signed cookbook!

Welcome to our one-stop resource for your entertaining questions, quandaries and helpful hints. We know how stressful the entire process can be, but our goal is to do as much of the work for you as possible — we’d rather you spend most of your time enjoying yourself and the company you’ve invited into your home.

If you purchased our Gilded Fork: Entertaining at Home Cookbook, you have 13 menus to choose from, so that’s a good place to start. Now there are some details to be dealt with, so we’ve compiled our favorite how-to articles and printouts to help:

Planning 101: The Power of the List – A little Type-A goes a long way
The Magic of Ambience – A how-to for decor, from table displays to music and lighting
The Good Host: Grace Under Fire – How to pull it all together without tearing your hair out

OK, so we like lists. Our reasoning behind this little bit of Type-A behavior is that once it’s on paper, it’s out of your crowded brain and less likely to be forgotten (and overwhelming). Here are some we love:

Household List
Shopping List
Master Calendar

Now all you need to do is get to it! If you want to riff on our menus a bit, feel free to peruse our full list of recipes for some ideas, as well as a great list of cocktails including wine, liquor and non-alcoholic varieties.

If you have questions, please feel free to post them below and we’ll do our best to answer you quickly. You can also find us on Twitter (Jennifer and Chef Mark), where we are often doling out tips, recipes and other tasty suggestions. We’ll continue adding to this entertaining page as we find new items for you, but for now we think this is a great starter kit. Into the kitchen!

Well, you guys really came through, and with 54 comments, we got the most for just about any post here on Culinary Media Network! This week’s inaugural Gilded Fork Cookbook Giveaway was all about your perfect guest list for a dinner party. We asked which 5 guests you would invite to your dinner party (of course we assume you’ll be preparing one of the dinner party menus in our Gilded Fork Entertaining at Home cookbook!).

We had some great answers, including some pretty unusual guest lists! What struck us more than anything was the juxtaposition of some of the people, and the fact that most people picked at least one or two folks from their real lives in their “dream team”.

We picked one poster at random (seriously, we closed our eyes, scrolled through the comments, and put our finger on the screen!), and this week’s winner is….

Diego Moya from www.cookdiegocook.com

What’s great about these kinds of contests is that a whole bunch of people come out of lurking and post on the site, and we get a little more insight into the fascinating people who are reading and consuming our content. In this case, Diego has an insightful blog with his thoughts about food and cooking, and some pretty darn amazing photos of the food he cooks and grows in his garden. We urge you to go check it out. And while you’re at it, go through the comments of many of the other folks, and check out their blogs. Some great stuff by some great people.

Hey Diego, contact us at info@culinarymedianetwork.com and let us know where to send your cookbook, and how you want it dedicated!

Come back next week for another Gilded Fork Cookbook giveaway. We promise that we’ll mix it up each week, sometimes asking a trivia question, sometimes it may be a scavenger hunt on our site, or heck, we may even ask you to submit a video! We’ll be giving away one cookbook a week until the end of the year.

HOWEVER, if you like what we’re doing here at CMN, there’s no reason why you can’t head over right now and order your own signed copy. We’ll even dedicate it however you want it. So buy one for yourself now, and enter each week to win one for a friend. Or buy one for a friend now and come back next week to see if you can win one for yourself!

Also, remember that we have a great affiliate program, where you can earn a commission on all orders you send our way, whether it’s for the cookbook, Tondo balsamic vinegar, flavored sea salts, artisanal olive oils, or even gift certificates.

Though we are loathe to say it, the holiday season is almost upon us, so we’ve set our sights on making it a bit more fun. And since we happened to publish a shiny new Gilded Fork: Entertaining at Home cookbook, we’d like to help ease the stress.

By giving away free cookbooks.

Between now and the end of the year we’ll be posting a Question of the Week (which we’ll also link to from our blogs, Twitter & Facebook). Post your comments here on the CMN site and we’ll pick a random winner to receive a free cookbook. First question is at the bottom of this post to kick things off.

Or, hey, if you don’t want to think that hard, you can just buy a book. And tell your friends to buy them too, because the books really want to go to good homes.

To be sure you’re following the action, here’s where our questions might turn up:

Food Philosophy
ReMARKable Palate
Jennifer on Twitter
Chef Mark on Twitter
Facebook fan page

Good luck!

Question of the Week #1: What 5 guests (living or dead) would you invite to your perfect dinner party?

Jennifer’s guest list: Ayn Rand, Julia Child, Claude Monet, and my new pals David Rosengarten and Colleen Coplick

Chef Mark’s guest list: Jacques Pepin, David Sedaris & Amy Sedaris, JRR Tolkien, & my good friend Jaden from Steamy Kitchen!

Now you — GO! Post your guest list below! We’ll pick a winner at noon on Friday, October 9.