CSN Giveaway!

In my family, there are generally quite a few gifts exchanged around the holidays. My mom has 4 sisters and her parents are still alive, and this generates quite a few presents. We even do a name pull but it can still get a little out of control. I like to think I'm an easy person to shop for; I generally love anything that anyone decides to give me (barring a noogie or a wedgie!), and I think that it is truly better to give than to receive. My brother has always been "the hard one to shop for" out of the three of us, and he usually ends up with gift certificates. Now, I don't like to give gift certificates if I can possibly help it, and I'm a gift certificate hoarder, so they aren't a medium that I generally deal in or with. I will admit to a certain amount of envy, though, when my brother winds up with some cash to blow at a kitchen store. I do make sure that I go with him to spend his gift certificates, because watching and helping him pick out kitchen gear is almost as fun as getting it for myself. One year we were leaving the store and he remarked that he couldn't think of much more kitchen gear that he needed as he had really nice knives and pots and we'd just selected an immersion blender and a rockin' bamboo cutting board to add to his kitchen gear collection. I looked at him agast. I mean, he truly does have everything you'd need and then some to cook just about anything you'd want to, but in my kitchen schwag loving mind I just couldn't imagine this. I mean, what about 8" cake pans (x3) and then some fabulous bundt pans? And you can never have too many rubber spatulas, or what about that silicone whisk that comes in rainbow colors? And Le Crueset has just come out with new colors . . . be still my heart. We decided that, as a lover of kitchen schwag, I was the target customer of kitchen stores, my brother . . . not so much. And it's true, I love different colors (I have mostly red, and a little bit of yellow in my kitchen, but oh how I love kiwi green and carribean blue, sigh) and kitchen store catalogs come and I love to look through them and eyeball all of the new and fun and different kitchen schwag. It's my suspicion that I'm not alone in this love of kitchen schwag, and that's a good thing, because now I get to give out a little kitchen schwag courtesy of CSN stores.

I had never heard of CSN before Jamie contacted me last week and offered to do a giveaway on this blog. It turns out that CSN is sort of like an uber one stop shop for home goods, furniture, office supplies, kids bedding, I really can't name everything that they sell. I figured that because this is a cooking blog, and I get a little bit of input, then the giveaway should have something to do with kitchen schwag. And . . . even though I'm not getting any fun new toys, I did poke around and find some things I'd like to have.

I do love a good apron, and CSN has a ton of cute designs. These were just some that caught my eye!

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The carribean blue color that I love so much. I've been pondering a batter bowl, it seems like such a great idea, don't you think?

I love mixing bowls! And I love colorful mixing bowls even more! Anyone who loves to cook or bake knows how essential mixing bowls are. I love that these nest togther -- nesting is a great thing no matter what, but when you have storage issues it's even better. 

 I love bamboo cutting boards. They rock. 

Oooh, an ice cream maker. Summer's coming, and just think of all the tasty creations you can make in this gadget.

OK, so who doesn't love to take a little magazine quiz every once in awhile? I took a quiz on my decorating style on Real Simple's website the other day (I was soooo procrastinating!). Here's what I learned about my decorating style (none of this was news to me):  it's a combination of "Cozy Casual" and "Sophistcated Classic" with a little bit of "Vintage Eclectic" thrown in. In other words, I'm all over the map. One thing I'm not, though, is "Modern Graphic." I just like "stuff" (all of that kitchen schwag) and toile a little too much to get into clean, modern lines. It's funny, though, because one of the CSN websites that Jamie mentioned was All Modern. So very much *not* the Singleton, but I do appreciate some modernism even if I can't apply it to my domicile. I might not be have a "modern" decorating aesthetic, but I do have a little quirky side, and I thought I'd share some of these "modern" picks, too.

This is a fun kitchen timer. I used to have one that looked like a chicken, and I loved it, but one night I accidentally set it down on one of my electric burners that was still hot (it wasn't long after I moved to DC and I was still very used to gas ranges). Needless to say, my little chicken melted to the burner and died a slow and painful death. I love this timer and they're essential if you forget about putting things in the oven like I do.

OK, so this is an Alessi paper towel holder and I think it's so cute. It's a bunny and a carrot! Enough said.

Here's another Alessi goody, this is a spice rack of sorts. I'm not going to pretend that I really understand it, because I don't, but I do like it. This would look great in a monochromatic, uncluttered kitchen (mine is none of those). You know, it could be that accent splash of color (I have no idea what I'm talking about but it works in my mind).

A funnel is one of those things that's so utilitarian and such a pain to store that I refuse to buy one. And then sometimes I need one and I improvise and liquid spills everywhere. This funnel looks like Pinocchio and it makes me smile. 

So, that's a little peak at some of the fun kitchen goodies you can find on the CSN website. And . . . as the title of this post implies, Jamie at CSN has arranged for one of you to pick out some of your own goodies. To that end, if you'd like to add to your kitchen schwag, just leave me a comment on this post and tell me either a) what one piece of kitchen equipment you'd bring to a desert island or b) what piece of kitchen equipment (practical or not) you're most wishing for these days. We'll let this go until 8 am EDT (agh! I am sooo not looking forward to the Daylight Savings Time transition) on Monday, March 15th. Good luck and tell your friends!