Homemade Thai Curry Paste and a KitchenAid Hand Blender Giveaway

 Today I am celebrating a very special birthday and I hope you will join me.  It’s not my birthday (that comes next week), nor is it the birthday of any of my loved ones.  But it’s a special day nonetheless, as three years ago today, All Day I Dream About Food was born.  It was an ugly little newborn, I have to admit, and I was a very unsavvy, inept new blog mother.  I did all sorts of things wrong, from design to photography to recipe development, and I was rather neglectful in those first few months of bloghood.  Really, it’s rather astonishing that the poor thing grew out of its infancy and into what it is today.  Which I hope to say is a robust childhood and that it has a lot more growing to do!  We seem to be on a roll together, my blog and I, and I don’t see it slowing down any time soon.

Suffice it to say that my blog is very special to me.  It has, at times, been a source of stress, but I suppose that can be said of any relationship.  More often than not, however, it is a source of great joy to me.  It has brought me many, many things, including a wonderful community of friends, readers and other blog acquaintances.  It has helped me hone my skills in the kitchen, with words and language and with a camera.  It has opened up some amazing professional opportunities and introduced me to a great many products and ingredients I am not sure I would have discovered otherwise.  And it holds me accountable to my daily diet.  In short, I love the darn thing and I am very proud of it.  So many happy returns of the day, dear bloggy-blog.  May we get to celebrate many more together.

To help me celebrate, I enlisted the help of the good folks at KitchenAid.  I could go on and on about how much I love KitchenAid products but I will try to refrain from boring you.  Suffice it to say that the product we are giving away today is just as great as all their others and is a truly multi-purpose kitchen tool.  Their 5-Speed Hand Blender is no simple immersion blender, my friends, and I am seriously impressed with all the functions and the power it contains.  I love my big mixer and my big processor, but sometimes I hate the though of getting them dirty when I just need something quickly chopped, whipped or blended.  The KitchenAid Hand Blender comes with attachments for all of that: whisk, chopper, frother/beater, and two different blades for shredding, blending and pureeing.  And then all you have to do is remove the attachment portion and clean that.  Easy Peasy.

I tried out every single attachment and I give them all a thumbs up.  I’ve used it to make lattes, smoothies, soup, and whipped cream.  And when I discovered I was out of Thai curry paste one day, I whipped some up with the chopper.  I adore the chopper attachment, because the blender fits right into the top of the chopper container, keeping the mess to a minimum while still being quite powerful.  I honestly think this might be one of the most versatile kitchen tools I own.  And now you have a chance to own one yourself!  Scroll down for the entry rules.

I’ve never thought to make my own Thai curry paste, it’s one of those things I’ve always bought at the store.  But I wanted to make some Thai curry chicken wings (I will share the recipe for those in a few days, because they were amazing!) and discovered that I had only the smallest teaspoon left in my jar.  I was reaching for the phone to call my husband and ask him to pick some up, when it suddenly occurred to me that I might have the right ingredients to make my own, or at least a close approximation.  It took all of about 5 minutes to make, and of course I made my version without any sugar.  It tastes fantastic and is a great sauce or marinade on chicken, fish and tofu.  And you can adjust the heat to your own liking, which in our house means pretty darn hot indeed!

 

I received a 5-speed hand blender from KitchenAid to review.  All opinions are my own.