WINNER UPDATE!: Love Letters + OliveBox Card Box Giveaway & Discount

First, thank you to Olive Box for giving me the opportunity to offer all of you a discount and a giveaway! I was so happy to share the love of snail mail. 

Second, our winner, chosen using a random number generator, is Elizabeth Harrison! Please send me your email [to theculinarylibrarian[at]gmail[dot]com ] so I can get you in contact with Olive Box about your prize! 

Thank you to everyone who entered... I will be doing more stationery giveaways in the coming months so keep an eye out right here! 

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Love letters. I love letters. I love love letters. I love writing love letters. I’d love to get a love letter that I would love to respond to with a love letter.

Valentine’s Day is around the corner and as I sit here and I think of it I cannot come up with a more paper-focused holiday. Do you remember being in grade school and, even before you wrote out your little Valentines, crafting the special envelope or shoe box that was used to collect all the cards from your classmates? I sure do.

There is just nothing like a love letter. There can be heart-wrenching texts, confessions of love in a Tweet, Instagram photos of romantic quotes, long emails detailing your irresistible ways…all of these things are fleeting. But a hand-written, carefully intended, sealed-with-a-kiss, sprayed with perfume love letter that comes by mail, that is meant to last, to be cherished and kept. To eventually be shown to ones children, grandchildren, published in books of great love letters. A missive read breathlessly – sometimes standing just inside the doorway, sometimes carefully taken in and savored while cozy in bed. . .

What could hold a candle to someone quietly taking the time to put pen to paper in your honor, licking an envelope, pressing on a carefully selected stamp and letting it go into a blue box. . . intended to reach your heart?

♥   ♥   ♥   ♥   ♥   ♥  ♥

As a lover and promoter of the love note and all forms of snail mail I am happy to tell you that OliveBox has given me a discount code to share with you all, my readers, to use on their new OliveBox Card Box! Unlike the regular OliveBox, which includes cards as well as little gifts, the card box is a set of themed greeting cards. A perfect way to get an unexpected mix of cards to send out to your loved ones all year round! (And a great way to find out about fabulous new stationers, if you’re as wild about mail as I am.)

The Discount: Through January 20th enter the code culinarylibrarian10 when you sign up for the card box and you will get 10% off your purchase (one per customer)! You have the option to sign up for the current Love Card Box (1-month) or a 6-month membership.

The Giveaway: In addition to the discount OliveBox is also going to send one of you your very own card box! Post your answer to the following question by 11:59pm EST on January 22nd and be entered to win. I will randomly choose and announce a winner the following day (January 23rd) and notify OliveBox, who will send you a card box! The question:

Who would you most like to receive a love letter from?

Living, dead, fictional- no limits…feel free to get creative! Leave your answer as a comment below or email me your reply: theculinarylibrarian[at]gmail[dot]com.

Good luck and happiest of LOVE lettering!

Mother's Day 2011: Kathleen's Roast Beef

Last year I discussed Mother's Day's role as a food holiday and told you a little bit about my own mother. This year I'd like to shine a bigger spot light on my Mommy (yes I still call her mommy a lot) and share one of her tastiest recipes. As you may remember from my first Mother's Day post, my mom has been the most influential person in making me the culinary enthusiast I am today. In October she accompanied me to the New York City Wine & Food Festival-- where we had an unforgettable time! She has been my biggest fan in terms of the blog and even had a special talk with Santa to get me a Cuisinart food processor for Christmas! 

In all, my mother is an indispensable part of my life. As such, I wanted to share one of my favorite things she makes with you all. Since I was little one of my top 10 meals has always been my mom’s roast beef with brown gravy, french-cut green beans, mashed potatoes and rolls (yes, exactly that way). My mom does an exceptional job cooking her roast beef to just above rare doneness and it is so, so good. I asked her for the recipe, telling her it was so I can make my own roast for sandwich meat (not untrue, but not my main purpose), so I could post it here to celebrate what a wonderful cook she is! A lot of the preparation is in the way she seasons the meat and then cooking it for just enough time and letting it fully rest. 

So here is the recipe for roast beef. You can serve it hot or make it for cold sandwiches. If enjoying it hot I’d be sure to whip up some brown gravy and your favorite side dishes—don’t forget the veggies! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. 

[FYI, this is straight from the horse’s mouth, she doesn’t write things down and this hasn’t been tested, so like I will always tell you trust your instincts!]

My mom in Little Italy in December 2010