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.
October 7th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
I would invite Shel Israel, Queen Latifah, Clint Eastwood, Mikhail Gorbechev, and My Mother.
October 7th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Charles Darwin, Richard Dawkins, Penn Jillette, Norman Borlaug, Carl Sagan
October 7th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Stan Lee, Franklin Roosevelt, Gene Kelly, Chef Mark and Jennifer Iannolo
October 7th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Great lists, all, but John, you know that brown nosing won’t increase your chances of winning!
-Chef Mark
October 7th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Doris Day, Betty White, Julia Child, Gale Gand, and Sara Moulton.
October 7th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
My mother, father, son, daughter and Jacques Costeau
October 7th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Edgar Casey, Sylvia Brown, John Edwards (The psychic, not the politician), Ruth Montgomery and Florence Shovel Schinn.
October 7th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
My wife Trish, Sarah Huska, Roberto Clemente, Napoleon, Jen Bilecki
October 7th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
My Father and Grandmother who are both passed away. I miss my Dads scalloped potatos and Grandmas fruit salad. I would also love to have John Candy, Sting and Jack Wild from HR Puffenstuff. Don’t ask!
October 7th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
I would love to dine w/ Padma Lakshmi, Rick Bayless, Tyler Florence, Bruce Springsteen, and Bryant Terry. I wouldn’t be able to eat or chew or make complete sentences but what fun!!!
October 7th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Wow, great list Sharon! I hate to brag, but I’ve actually met 3 of the people on your list!
Brian, I loved HR Puffenstuff. is that the kid with the weird talking flute?
-Chef Mark
October 7th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
David, I would also love to dine with Sarah Huska. She is my official Mini-Me.
October 7th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
I work as a lobbyist in Washington where brown nosing gets you EVERYWHERE. Just sayin’.
October 7th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
My daughter, her husband, my granddaughter, my grandson, and my mother. Family is everything.
October 7th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Muhammad Ali
Myles Davis
Hammurabi
Pierre Gagnaire
and Grace Kelly because I think she’s foxy.
October 7th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
Barrack Obama, Samantha Brown, Princess Diana, Bill Gates and Donald Trump (imagine the dinner table conversations that would generate!)Donald would probably fire Obama. Just for fun.
October 7th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
I wanted to add Marilyn Monroe, Henry VIII and Alfred Hitchcock but I could only have 5. And, I wouldnt want to watch Henry try to pick up Marilyn. I think she was too smart for him.
October 7th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
MLK, John Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, Gandhi and John Edwards (I agree, the psychic) that way I can invite who ever I want. Woo Hoo!
October 7th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
You guys are hilarious!
October 7th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
James Laube (wine), Michael Psilakis (food), Bette Davis (glamour), Dave Attell (humor), Stevie Ray Vaughn (music).
October 7th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
So tough to narrow it down, but here goes: My husband, Jesus, Tolstoy, Susanna Wesley, and Julia Child.
October 7th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Oscar Wilde, Steve Martin, Richard Hugo, Hank Williams and Dorothy Parker
October 7th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Well, of course my sweet husband would be there. I would want my aunt, who I never met, to come; Ron, the chef I work under, there would never be a dull moment, Lucille Ball, and Jane Austen. That should make for a very interesting crowd.
October 7th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Dinner: Walt Disney, Jimmy Buffett, Mark Twain, Benjamin Franklin, John Kennedy
*Drinks After: Genghis Kahn, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Julius Caesar, George S. Patton….Oh the egos, and a huge bar fight waiting to happen!
October 7th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
I would invite( and I just got a brand new dining room chandelier tonight, it’s gorgeous)
Joy Behar: Just a fun gal I’d love to “get into it” with
Cate Blanchett: To see if she could replicate talking in that perfect Katharine Hepburn voice she portrayed so beautifully in The Aviator movie
and do it all night long
Sheila Lukins: For her style, grace and one of the reasons I went into the business of food
Tom Sietsema: The Washington Post Restaurant critic. He is one of the nicest people I have ever met in the business and knows how to critique without ever writing that a bad dining experience was like eating dog food ( he is much more careful and eloquent in his writing)
Thomas Friedman: My fav columnist and writer. Intellectual, smart, but looks like a helluva nice guy, fun and a good listener
October 7th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
For those wanting to dine with Julia, I did! Back a few yrs before she died, I had the privilege of having breakfast with her!
One of the most memorable experiences of my life.
As a culinary professional AND nutritionst, it was too funny when she kept asking me to pass her the butter and sugar while I ate my heart healthy bran muffin. She lived to 92 as you know.
October 7th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Mohammed, Jesus Christ, Adolph Hitler, Oprah, Gandhi
October 7th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Anthony Bourdain, Gordon Ramsay, Randy Rhoads, Ali, David Chang. Would make for some interesting table conversations no?
October 7th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
I would have to say I’d invite: Benjamin Franklin, Tennessee Williams, John Cleese, Kate Hepburn, and Oscar Wilde.
I think the conversation would be in turns intellectual and hilarious.
October 7th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Nikola Tesla, Clive Cussler, Jane McGonigal, Cyrus the Great, and Amelia Earhart.
October 7th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Well if I am inviting 5 guests, I am going to read into this a bit more and move forward with the understanding my immediate family would not be included in the guest list since they live with me and would not have to be invited to their own home for dinner.
The meal would be a traditional Passover Seder and I would invite my deceased maternal and paternal grandparents because I miss their traditions and would have loved it had they lived long enough to have shared them with their great grandchildren. Which leaves me with only one more guest, and since on Passover you are supposed to welcome a stranger to your table, I think I would extend the last invite to Thomas Edison because my non-Jewish husband will need someone interesting to talk to and someday, when my husband retires, he wants to be an inventor too.
October 7th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Satchel Paige, Kurt Vonnegut, Isabella Beeton, and my Great-Aunt Ruth.
October 7th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Roald Dahl, Tom Colicchio, Tina Fey, Jennifer Saunders and Douglas Adams–all people who write of their love of food in their own way and would be very interesting all thrown together.
October 7th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
My five guests would include Stephen King, Barack Obama, Stephen Colbert, and Oprah Winfrey. The fifth is harder to come up with, but dinner just wouldn’t be the same without my husband, so he can be #5.
October 7th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
My Mom, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Maya Angelou, Tom Hanks and Jack Black.
October 7th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
All the great religious leaders to help me figure out what happens to “non-believers” . You know damnation and all that. The List: Jesus, Buddah, Muhammed, Martin Luther, and Mary Magdalene. Yee ha, let the discussions begin!!
October 7th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
Dr Oz (don’t laugh at me, I love him!),John Lennon, Glenn Close, Stevie Wonder and Augesten Burroughs.
October 7th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Winston Churchill, Karl Lagerfeld, Isobella Rossallini, Julia Child and Eudora Welty.
October 8th, 2009 at 12:16 am
Judy, nice! including Jack Black.
That should be fun.
Tony Bourdain
Mario Batali
Stephen Colbert
Lolo Jess (My grandfather)
Kurt Vonnegut
October 8th, 2009 at 12:37 am
Shakespeare; Tom Waits; Erik Satie; Augustus John; the Buddha. They could bring dates, though; no? Otherwise, it’s a bit of a sausage-fest.
October 8th, 2009 at 12:49 am
memorable teachers of mine: 4th grade teacher mrs. horn; 7th grade spanish teacher mrs. gleason; 8th grade teacher ms. o’donnell; high school spanish teacher; high school teacher mrs. jones
October 8th, 2009 at 1:15 am
Sarah Palin, John McCain, Elliot Spitzer, Joel Halderman, and David Letterman.
That should make for an interesting conversation
October 8th, 2009 at 4:30 am
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade; sitting next to Sappho; sitting next to, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin; sitting next to, Mae West; (sitting next to me); sitting next to, Jimmy Durante.
October 8th, 2009 at 8:15 am
Joel Salatin, David Lynch, Chrissie Hynde, Tom Robbins, the Dalai Lama.
October 8th, 2009 at 9:35 am
Judith Jones, John Wesley Powell, Susan Werner, Dan Barber, Dave Eggers
October 8th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Kathryn Hepburn, David Sedaris, Georgia O’Keeffe, Gertrude Stein & Langston Hughes.
October 8th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Oh…only 5…that’s short….O.K. My hero cook Rick Bayless…the guy can not only cook but an an awesome activist for change! Second…Anthony Bourdain…he’s a psychopath, but funny has heck! Ruth Reichel is third…she’s the ultimate foodie and I’ll be she has stories to tell and is about out of a job anyways…she needs a good meal. Lastly Mark and Jennifer! You two would be the life of the party….you can bring your traveling slide shows to entertain us! O.K. I can’t just do 5 so I’m leaving the lights on for Jose Andres, Steven Rachlen, Debi Mazar, John “Doc” Willoughby, and Ian Knauer. Wow this is hard! We’re having stew anyways…there will be enough for everyone!
October 8th, 2009 at 9:38 am
My mom who passed away
Michelle Obama
Will & Jada Smith
Richard Dawkins
October 8th, 2009 at 10:20 am
Maurice Sendak, Shel Silverstein, Neil Gaiman, Maya Angelou, Yoko
This was quite hard to narrow down. ^^;
(Really had a hard time cutting out Dave McKean, Margaret Mead, Eleanor Roosevelt, Dorothy Parker, Neko, Bjork, and Kurt Vonnegut)
October 8th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Gordon Ramsay, my mom, our ancestor who came from Germany, founded the town and made whiskey, Alice May Brock (of Alice’s restaurant fame), and Barbara Winter (who knows how to tell good stories) – all people who have inspired me to become more than I was.
October 8th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Ayn Rand (philosopher), Anthony Burgess (author), Winsor McCay (author), Walter Disney (creative leader), and Rod Serling (director/writer).
October 9th, 2009 at 1:15 am
My Five:
Anthony Bourdain; My Grandfather, Ignazio Dantino; Franklin Roosevelt; John Muir OR Henry David Thoreau; Eleanor Roosevelt.
October 9th, 2009 at 1:20 am
Hunter S Thompson, for the obvious reasons, Jilia Childs, because I’d need a foodie to represent, Charles Darrow, because if you can’t get good conversation out of a great civil rights attorney, you’re shit outta luck, George Carlin so Hunter doesn’t feel alone and I’m kept in giggles, and Mata Hari, because every table needs a storyteller.
October 9th, 2009 at 11:43 am
My mom, she started our cooking school 36 years ago. Julia Child, because I miss her humor in the kitchen. Auguste Escoffier, just to hear how things were back then. Thomas Keller, to see if I can live up to his standards and my Dad who never misses a good meal
October 9th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Nita,Ginny,Doc,Diana,Jessica
October 9th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Hi all, thanks for all the wonderful guests lists! As promised, we closed this contest at Noon EST on Friday, and chose a winner at random (we literally closed our eyes and scrolled, then pointed to find the winner!) You can learn who won here: http://www.culinarymedianetwork.com/gilded-fork-cookbook-winner-oct-9th/
Stay tuned here on the website next week for another cookbook giveaway. We’ll be mixing it up with different tasks for you, so keep on your toes!
-Chef Mark
October 10th, 2009 at 4:09 am
Sonny Bono, Patrick Swayze, George Washington, Helen Keller, John Wayne
October 12th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Jesus (the stories he could tell…)
Erma Bombeck (she could make anyone smile)
Mark Twain (infinite wisdom)
Cleopatra (always been curious if the stories were true)
My husband (We share all “big things” together)
October 13th, 2009 at 12:03 am
Doc,MOM,Ginny,Nita,Jerrie Lee
October 13th, 2009 at 3:43 am
I would invite my grandmothers (both dead), Julia Child, Justin Timbelake, and Chelsea Latley.
October 19th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
oprah,Doc,Ginny,Nita,Laurie
November 2nd, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Hannah,Leah,Stacy,Judy and Cara
November 7th, 2009 at 7:35 am
george clooney brad pitt tom criuse matt damon and roger ebert
mverno@roadrunner.com
November 7th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
my grandparents
November 8th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Michael Douglas (he can bring Catherine Zeta-Jones along), Michael Buble, Guy Fieri, Susan Lucci
November 16th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
I am a mystery lover and I would invite: Agatha Christie, first Nancy Drew writer who hooked me on mystery ie: Caroline Kane, Kathy Reichs, Caroline Hart,Elizabeth Peters.
rhondastruthers at yahoo dot ca
December 1st, 2009 at 10:50 am
I would invite my mother, Agatha Christie, Mark Twain, Julia Child, and my grandfather (he led quite an interesting life but by the time I was old enough to want to know about it, he was already bad with Alzheimer’s disease).
December 4th, 2009 at 4:51 am
I would love to dine with George Clooney and Everyone of the Iron Chefs
mightynaynay(at)cs.com
December 21st, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Agatha Christie, Nero Wolfe, Carolyne Keene(The real one please stand up), Princess Diana, Peter falke
rhondastruthers at yahoo dot ca
December 26th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Mario Batali, Hilary Clinton, Caridad Pineira, Bobby Flay and Rachel Ray. I hope some of my guests offer to help in the kitchen.
bgcchs(at)yahoo(dot)com
December 28th, 2009 at 9:44 am
Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George Bush, Barak Obama, Diane Sawyer.
December 28th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Thank you so much for having this contest. I really appreciate it. I’d invite John Wayne, Greta Garbo, Mae West, Johnny Carson and Judy Garland.
December 28th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Mark Twain, Albert Einstein, Lewis Black, Pablo Picasso and Jean Basquiat.
December 29th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Jennifer Aniston, Halle Berry, Taylor Swift, Marilyn Monroe, and Will Smith.
December 29th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Esther & Jerry Hicks, Dr Seuss aka Theodore Geisel, Johnny Depp, Paula Deen and Ina Garten
December 29th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
I would invite Thomas Jefferson, Frank Lloyd Wright, President Obama, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Julia Child.
December 30th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Rachelle Ray, Joe Mauer, Joe Montana, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston
December 30th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Thanks to everyone who is posting responses to this contest. It’s already ended, however, and we gave the cookbook away to the winner.
December 30th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
How could it have ended?? It’s Wednesday December 30th ?
December 30th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
This contest was for the week of October 9th. The post about the winner is here. We’re not sure why suddenly people are adding to this comment thread — was it posted somewhere with inaccurate information?
December 30th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Tell you what: Since all of you took the time to come over and post your thoughts (and we love that part), we’ll give away another book from among the new entries. We’ll post the winner January 1. Thanks for checking out our site!
December 30th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Daniel Craig, Hugh Jackman, Dwayne Johnson, Jeremy Renner and Scott Wolf
December 30th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Tim Burton, Guy Fieri, Lady Gaga, Lupe Fiasco and Johnny Depp. THis a different mix!
December 31st, 2009 at 6:36 am
I would invite some leading ladies that have always insterested me Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Britney Spears, Sarah Palin, and Jesus to bless our meal.
December 31st, 2009 at 7:15 am
I would invite my mom, my grandma, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley and my Hubby’s grandpa.
December 31st, 2009 at 8:37 am
george clooney,brad pitt,denzel washington,david duchovney,tom cruise
December 31st, 2009 at 12:18 pm
My mom, dad, allen(brother), bryan(brother), and crystal(My best friends)
December 31st, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Well, since this is still going (and I would love this cookbook), the 5 people I would invite is Kurt Cobain, Abraham lincoln, Phyliss Diller, Seth Green, and Jessica Alba
jason(at)allworldautomotive(dot)com
December 31st, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Fun!
I would invite my husband, Michelle Yeoh, Alice Walker, Lynne Rossetto Kasper and for variety Stephen Colbert
December 31st, 2009 at 2:55 pm
princess di audrey hepburn elvis presley frank sinatra and gene kelly thanks
December 31st, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Jerry Seinfeld, Will Smith, Drew Barrymore, Ellen DeGeneres, and George Clooney.