Vinny’s first give-away garners bouquets from Singapore

Happiness often slips in through a door you never knew you left open. That’s my calendar’s message this morning, and it’s proving true in many ways. Here’s one example. Vinny’s pleased to announce that his first attempt at a give-away is all tidied up. His prize, a copy of his book, goes global!

The winner is a reader in Singapore, who writes about her travels among the Philippines in her idyllic blog Island Hopes. Below is her post on Vinny’s efforts to link nutrition to  stories, for kids and their families.  This went up awhile ago, but somehow, I missed her link till now. Much appreciated, Kathleen!

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Meet Vinny

 I love checking the mailbox for mail even though 9 out of 10 times what I end up getting are advert fliers and bills. But that one, singular time out of 10, when something cool comes, well, that 1 time is worth all the disappointment of the rest.

So what treasure did I find inside my mailbox recently after having returned from yet another trip? Why, something that had passed through many hands and even flew across the Pacific Ocean. It was a package that had come from Canada, with an “ouch of a postage fee” on it. I don’t know what gave me the patience to actually take a picture before tearing apart the envelope. Perhaps it was the shock of how much it cost for the thin package to get to Asia.

Inside the humble brown cover hid a book starring none other than Vinny Grette himself! I had stumbled onto his website in Cook Up A Story and found out that the amusing 12 year old boy had an alter ego in food scientist Sharon Rudnitski. Having left a comment at her blog about the hilarious name, I later found out that I had actually WON Vinny’s book. I never win anything so I took this as a sign of only good things to come for 2013.

Since this called for a celebration, there was no better way than to actually try one of Vinny’s recipes: CHICKEN WINGS (Birdies on a Stick Recipe pg. 24)! The dry rub was great and as a fan of spicy food, I was cavalier with the cayenne where Vinny might have been shy.

Interestingly enough, Vinny seems to know a lot not just about food, but the science behind a meal. He peppers (pun intended) the book with all sorts of trivia*, jokes** and some short stories to whet your appetite to try something new.

So, if you’re having trouble cooking up a story for your blog right now, maybe it’s time to actually get cooking. And you might want to try one of Vinny’s adventurous recipes like Yackity’s Tibetan Pie. I think I’m going to make Jill’s Strawberry Smoothie (pg. 60) for now. Scurries off …

* TRIVIA
Did you know that American Indians used wood ash as a leavening agent? Conversely, Europeans used baking powder and baking soda.

** JOKE
Son: “Hey dad, why did the avocado go out with the prune?
Dad: “Why?”
Son: “Because he couldn’t find a date.”

And so ends the story of how Vinny traveled half way around the world to make a new friend.