Winner of the JELL-O Pudding Contest!!

Well, the exciting moment of truth has finally come for one lucky reader!

While it may not exactly merit the same amount of excitement that young Jackie Chavez felt when she won a contest and was chosen -- by the King of all JELL-O products himself, Bill Cosby -- to be the new official giggle of JELL-O in an upcoming TV ad, my winner is going to receive a rather enormous amount of pudding that they can eat while hunkered down and watching Cosby Show reruns. And that's almost as good, right?

People who took part in (or at least read the outcomes of my previous contests) may know that I tend to choose a winner based on rather elaborate methods, usually involving my cats.

This contest was going to be no different. And since my cat George has been involved in the last couple of contests, I figured it was time for my other cat, Stephanie, to get a chance to be the emcee. One thing you should know about Stephanie is that she loooooovvvves marshmallows. Yes, I know there are many obvious reasons why cats shouldn't eat marshmallows (the least of which is you end up with a really hyper cat). But my idea was that I would write the names of those who entered onto little slips of paper, and then I would attach a tiny bit of marshmallow to each...and whichever slip Stephanie licked first would be our winner!



Yeah, it seemed like a good idea.

The problem was that when actually faced with a field of marshmallow happiness, Stephanie decided that instead of licking any of it, it would be even more fun simply to roll around in it so that it all stuck to her fur. And then rocket through the apartment chasing each and every piece like a mouse. And then roll around some more, and chase some more, and...well, need I say more? Yeah.

Have you ever tried to clean marshmallow bits and strips of paper off a really hyper cat? All I can say is that it was not one of the best ideas ever. (The picture below is of course photoshopped. She wouldn't hold still long enough for a picture to be taken, but I thought I'd give you an idea of how she looked.)



Anyway, I was a bit exhausted after that adventure, so I opted to go the route I probably should have gone in the first place: the Random Sequence Generator. I omitted my own responses, and out of the remaining 25 posts the first integer the generator came up with was 16. Which means that the winner is...

(*insert imaginary fanfare here*)

... Ashley!

Congratulations, Ashley! All you have to do at this point is leave a comment (which I won't publish) with your email address, and I will contact you for mailing info -- and then your pudding will be on the way!

Everyone, join in and say nice things to Ashley!

Mousse Temptations by JELL-O: Chocolate Mint Pudding...AND A JELL-O MOUSSE CONTEST!!

Is there anything better than pudding? OK, yes, there may be a few things better than pudding...but you'd really have to do some serious thinking to come up with them.

Last year when JELL-O launched the Mousse Temptations line, I was lucky enough to be among the first to get a sneak taste. This year, JELL-O has added a new flavor to the line-up: Chocolate Mint Sensation. And once again, they were awesome enough to send me some to try.



I love the texture of the Mousse Temptations puddings. As you've probably noticed, texture is where sugar-free/fat-free puddings often fail, even when the taste is acceptable. But that's not a problem here at at all. They're whipped and airy, and just all around smooth. Maybe this is what eating a chocolate flavored cloud would be like...

OK, we know the texture is good. But how does it taste?

Well, first the aroma: I like that the scent is mostly chocolate with just a hint of mint. I was worried it would be overwhelmingly minty...but I need not have been concerned.

As for the taste, it's terrific. JELL-O has also perfected the flavor of their sugar- and fat-free puddings to the point that it's hard to tell them by flavor alone from their sugar sweetened, full-fat counterparts.

Tastewise, it's a nice deep cocoa flavor. (I am pretty sure it uses the Dark Chocolate flavor as a base). The mint flavor is pleasantly mild. You certainly taste it -- it's brisk and clean and leaves your mouth feeling cool. But at the same time there's no sense that it's toothpastey or medicinal.



Overall, it was quite good. The Dark Chocolate Decadence is still my favorite, but this flavor is definitely comes in next!

AND NOW FOR THE REALLY EXCITING PART...THE CONTEST!!

Yep, YOU can win some yummy JELL-O Mousse...and not just a teeny little taste, but a whole happy lot of it! The good folks over at JELL-O are so nice that they want one of my lucky readers to try not only this new flavor...but also the Dark Chocolate Decadence, the Chocolate Indulgence, and the sugar free Chocolate and Chocolate-Vanilla puddings as well!

Yep, that is a whopping five packs of pudding! And with six individual cups per pack, that's a total of 30 servings of JELL-O Mousse Temptations joy! Really, what more could one want? I dunno about you...but personally if it's a choice between world peace and winning 30 servings of über-delicious JELL-O mousse, I'd be seriously torn.



So what do you have to do to enter and win? Good question!

All you have to do is leave a comment in this post telling about your favorite JELL-O pudding flavor. (It doesn't matter which variety, nor whether it's the kind you make yourself or one of the snack pack flavors). The contest will be open until midnight PST, October 9th, 2010, and the winner will be announced Monday October 11th 2010. See the rules below!

The winner will be asked to submit their email address via a comment (don't worry, it will NOT be published), so that I can contact them for mailing information. Your information will be shared ONLY with Hunter P.R., which will be shipping the winner their prize directly.

Rules and other important contest info:

* The contest is open to U.S. residents only. (My apologies to my Canadian and overseas friends.)

* Only one entry per person.

* The winner will be chosen by me at random by whatever means I find amusing at the moment -- quite likely by some method involving cats.

* The winner will have until October 19th to contact me, or a new winner will be picked.

* Again, the winner's shipping information will NOT be posted, and will be shared ONLY with Hunter P.R, which will be shipping the prize package directly to the winner.

Good luck!!



PURCHASED FROM:
Sample From Company

CALORIES:
60 calories per cup.

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Sugar free.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
kraftfoods.com

Winner!! Campbell's V8 V-Fusion Giveaway!

OK, it's time to announce the winner of the contest!

George wanted to judge this contest, he really did. The only problem was that he hit the latkes pretty hard and was feeling sluggish. And as cats are apt to do, he spent the last 23 hours asleep...on my black sweatshirt...which now looks like it mated with a panda, what with all the white fur stuck to it...



So with George down for the count, what were we to do?

Well, a little known fact is that George actually has a brother! His name is Fmung, and he is a red-eared slider turtle.



Most of the time they keep their distance, as one of them is always trying to bite the other. But Fmung (pronounced exactly the way it is spelled) is the elder, so in theory he is the wiser brother. In reality, he is the bitter brother. He really wanted to be a Ninja Turtle but he is just really bad at martial arts (though he does look cool in a mask, so figure that one out).



Anyway, Fmung decided that he and he alone would be the sole judge of the contest. It was a tough choice that he spent minutes deciding (in turtle time, minutes are quite long). The dilemma: How do you pick between entries such as a teenage boy who gets a superhero costume meant for a little kid, and...

• Vegetarians who are given a gift of meat?

• The gift of inflatable faux-reptiles (Fmung was not sure if that was really cool, or really uncool, or so uncool it became cool)

• George probably would have sent the cat calender back because he wasn't in it, but Fmung sympathizes because he would never have a cat calender on his desk either.

• Receiving a vacuum cleaner as a possible suggestion for how to shape one's future. (I would hope it was a Dyson. My mother is very tough on vacuum cleaners and has even managed to kill a Kirby. But try as she does, her Dyson simply will not surrender.)

• Fmung himself would rather like a penguin ornament, so he thought that was a pretty good gift to start with....

Well, you get the idea.

But one gift (or rather, the lack thereof) did stick out in Fmung's mind. And that was poor Meg, who got a gift card envelope, with no gift card at all. He thought there was something very Dr. Seuss about that, and that if anyone deserved juice, soup, and cute little things to carry the soup and juice in, it was Meg!

So congratulations to Meg! And a big thank you to everyone who entered. Meg, please send me a comment with your email address (it won't be published) and I will contact you for your shipping info. (BTW, I gotta hear from you by Sunday, December the 20th, otherwise Fmung will have to pick an alternate winner out of those who entered.)

Now, everyone leave warm fuzzy comments for Meg!

V8 V-Fusion & Campbell's Soup Give Away: Part Deux!

Wowzah! We have ANOTHER Campbell's Give Away contest!

Did reading my last review make you want to try some V-Fusion juice for yourself? Did you wish at the same time that you had some Sponge Bob Chicken Noodle soup for the kids? Did you also wish you had a reusable lunch bag and a water bottle for the kids (or the kids at heart) to eat and drink out of? Man, it's like Campbell's read your mind!

The fine folks at Campbell's want to make that dream a reality. And they are offering the chance for one lucky winner to win:



Two large 46-ounce bottles of V8 V-Fusion of their very own! (One Pomegranate-Blueberry, and one Strawberry-Banana! YUM!!!)



Three assorted Campbell's kids soups, with lotsa yummy noooooooooooodles! (Kids like it when you pronounce it that way.)



A reusable water bottle! (Not some El Cheapo plastic one, either -- this one is made of durable metal that will endure rough handling and giggle mockingly at its abuser.)



An insulated lunch bag to keep hot lunches hot and cold lunches cold!

Now really, people, anyone whose life isn't complete with all this stuff is just plain spoiled rotten.

All of these items make great stocking and tummy stuffers! (Well you probably shouldn't eat the bag or the bottle, but if you are dumb enough to do that, you should skip this Give Away and apply your talents to something more on your natural level -- like running for an elected office, maybe.)

To enter, leave an comment telling us about the funniest holiday gift you've ever received.

QUASI-LEGAL STUFF, AKA THE RULES: The winner will be picked at random, purely based on whatever method amuses me at the moment. (My cat George will probably pick the winner again. Unless he doesn't.) Bribes won't help you, but they will cut down on my Christmas expenses, so I'm perfectly willing to keep them. Lastly, friends, family, and people I don't like are not eligible to win. (Although I have a feeling that friends, family, and people I don't like aren't that interested in trying to win.)

Winner will be announced on Sunday, Dec 13th 2009. The winner will be asked to submit their email address via a comment (don't worry, it will NOT be published), so I can contact them for mailing information. Winner's personal info will not be auctioned off to the highest bidder on eBay, sold to Somalian pirates, bartered for Pez, or otherwise shared in any way. One entry per person. Entries start Sunday, Dec 6th 2009, and will be accepted until Friday, Dec 11th 2009, at 12:00 AM PST.

Finally, if the winner fails to claim their prize within seven calender days from the above-mentioned announcement, they forfeit and I will choose another winner as I see fit.

Winner of the Campbell's V8 Soup Give Away!

Woohoo! Will soupy happiness never cease???!?

I know that all of you who entered have been waiting with bated breath to find out if today is your lucky day...and that those of you who didn't will probably shed a tear or two wondering how you let such an opportunity pass. For shame!

And a few of you are probably wondering what the hell I am talking about. For those curious, the fine people at Campbell's wanted to share the veggies and the love. And they have graciously offered my readers the chance to win not only some of their very own V8 soups, but also a spiffy pedometer and a health journal (just click here to read all about it).

So how does one make such a momentous choice as to who wins the cool Campbell's stuff? Let me tell you, I spent untold amounts of time and energy pondering this one. (Really, I did.) Then I decided that in the spirit of bad reality TV, I would have to designate this august task to a special guest judge.

So without further ado, our esteemed and discerning judge is...



...George the cat.

As you can see by the intense look on his face, George is both serious and deeply thoughtful. That is why he posed for the above portrait atop our genuine early-1930's art deco enamel topped kitchen table...the backdrop we use for most of the food photos, and remarkably similar to the kitchen table seen in one of my favorite movies, "A Christmas Story." He was insightful enough to recognize that the simple yet elegant black-and-white color scheme of the table -- and the black and white WalMart salt and pepper shakers -- perfectly matched his own color scheme, thus lending him an air of Olympian dignity rarely seen anywhere this side of...oh, I dunno, Star Trek, maybe. (I don't know what the banana and chopsticks symbolize. Maybe George will deign to tell me someday.) Anyway, the point is that George is wise. And intellectual. And COOL, dammit.

George's backup, in the unlikely event that he might have wished any advice, was his favorite companion and chew toy...



...Doofy Dog!

I can assure you they undertook the assignment with all the dignity and reverence it merited. (In the name of full disclosure, I feel the need to admit that I am in fact George's human -- and Doofy Dog is what is referred to as his 'bottom bitch' -- but this decision was solely up to him. It would have been most presumptuous of me to interfere.)

True to his Spocklike logic and intellect, George chose the winner in an impeccably scientific manner. We humans, as per George's careful instructions, printed out the names of all those who entered onto small pieces of paper:



Then George assumed a dignified sitting position in the middle of the living room, and at his command, we lowly two-legged ones allowed the the slips of paper to waft down like stardust from the gods upon his noble head...



After staring around at the newly-fallen paper slips with what a layman might assume was confusion -- but was actually intense deliberation, I can assure you -- George slapped his paw down upon one of them, thus indicating that he had chosen the winner. (Doofy Dog just sat there in the background looking...well, doofy, to be honest)



And without further ado, the winner George has chosen is...

Squish!



Congratulations, Squish! You will soon have the belly warming, veggie-filled goodness that is Campbell's V8 soup in your eagerly awaiting tummy, a truly cool and neato pedometer on your hip, and you can write all about it the old-school way, on actual PAPER!

WOOOOOOOOOT!!!! BOOOOOYAAAAH!!!

Squish, please submit a comment along with your email address (it will remain unpublished), and I will be in touch with you for your mailing info.

George is confident that you are all pleased with his choice, and says if you would like to send him fan mail he will try very hard to take time out from his busy day of chasing his own tail, sleeping and hitting the catnip to get back to you. If he can be bothered, that is. Remember, as nice as y'all are -- you are still mere humans, after all.



Now, show Squish some love.





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