The time has come. We have a winner and I know who it is!

That's right somebody out there just won this EatSmart Precision Pro Scale. It was an easy contest too. All you needed to do was follow me on Twitter and I put you in the drawing. I also have some more news. Since (sadly) not everyone can win this scale. I have decided to give you 10% off this scale if you get one from my OpenSky Shop. Just use the coupon code sippity10 at check out. I really hope you decide to get a scale too, because I want you to become a better baker along with me. Starting tomorrow I am going to start posting semi-regular posts about baking. All the measurements for these posts are going to be in weight. Because better bakers use weight. They really do, and now when we bake– so will we! So If you don't have a scale, get one and use the coupon code sippity10.

So on to the results. Now I could just blurt it out right here couldn't I? But how much fun would that be? Instead, I videotaped the drawing, live and all-in-one-take. Now I am going to make you watch the video to find out who won...HA! Imagine what this ingenius plot will do for my page view numbers...

So CLICK here to watch EatSmart Contest Results. Oh, and sometimes poor, sad Windows users have trouble accessing video on SippitySup, if that's you click on this link or go to the Video Archive tab at the very bottom this page. The top video should be EatSmart Contest Results. If you still have trouble go to my YouTube page via this link, or straight to the YouTube file via this link.

If you STILL can't view it, well leave me a message or a comment and I'll email you the results!

And if that lucky winner is (or is not) you, please do not let on in the comments section. Let's keep the tension alive as long as possible.

It may not surprise you to hear this, but I like to read blogs. I particularly like to read blogs by people who know more than I do. Which means I read a lot of blogs.

Not too long ago I was over at The Well Done Chef. I like this guy. He has strongly held opinions and he backs them up with real knowledge. That is a potent combination for respect in my mind.

A couple months ago he wrote a very helpful post listing “8 Reasons Why You Need To Use a Scale in Your Kitchen Today”. The post stuck with me because in my heart and in my belly I know that using a scale is far easier, much quicker and amazingly more accurate.

But almost all the recipes I ever encounter use volume measurements, so I do too. I can just hear my mother now: “well, if everyone else jumped off a cliff would you jump off a cliff too?” The answer to that smart-assed question is “no mom, I wouldn’t jump off a cliff”.

So why do I always use volume measurements– just because everyone else does? I realize using volume measurements is not as dangerous as jumping off a cliff, but it’s not really in my best interest.

Did you ever play that game? You know the one when somebody asks you if you could have dinner with anybody in the world, who would it be and why? People always answer with Einstein, Martin Luther King or sometimes maybe Bo Derek.

Well, if someone asked me to play I’d probably give him or her the names of some bloggers I admire. I am serious I probably would. Which may indicate a desperate need on my part to expand my little corner of the world, or it may prove what I have always suspected. I am a genius!

Because envision a dinner party where all the guests were actual experts in the field of cooking, decorating and entertaining. Can you imagine what kind of fabulous dinner party this group could throw together?

OpenSky not only imagined this dinner party, they made it a reality (well a virtual reality, which is where I live anyway…). They assembled a team of experts who know just how to throw the perfect dinner event. They call this group the Dinner Party Dream Team. Click on any of the products photos below to be taken straight to that shopkeeper! Or Follow this link to the promotional page for all the details.

The great thing about this dinner party is each member of this team is in charge of one aspect of this extravagant meal. They have chosen products they consider essential in getting this party started and have made these products available in their OpenSky Shops.

There is something important happening in the food blog world and I have volunteered my house for part of it. Here are the details from The Duo Dishes. Please participate, attend, donate or help get the word out in any way you can. GREG

Perhaps you’ve seen the Facebook page, Twitter hashtag #stirit28 or just received an email. There’s a movement coming together, and we hope it will include you–the foodie in you. No matter how you define foodie, we’re going to say it’s anyone who loves and appreciates the value, nutrition, sustenance, comfort and necessity of food. We understand and recognize the utter importance of food as it relates to our personal lives. As food bloggers, we are lucky to eat well, whether we do it lavishly or on a budget. Regardless, we are lucky. Following the January 12th earthquake in Haiti, the world was silenced by the devastation brought upon an already impoverished country. The recovery process has been slow and difficult considering the circumstances. People are trying to piece their lives together, but it will take months on the short-term side, years on the long-term.

But realizing they were in a position to help Chrystal of The Duo Dishes, Bren of Flanboyant Eats and Courtney of Coco Cooks, have formed Stir It 28: Food Bloggers Align for Haiti Relief–a blogger based fundraising effort to bring money to Haiti. As food plays a very large importance in our lives, we strive to raise money to bring food, water and other necessary supplies to the people of Haiti, which will hopefully do a small part to aid in the short-term relief efforts. These wonderful women are calling on all food bloggers to help make this a nationwide, international even, movement during the month of February. From February 1st through the 28th, we will do our best to come together as a unified group, along with the food community at large, to help bring relief to the island nation. All money raised during the month will go to Share Our Strength and Yele. Here’s how you can help:

As promised some notes on my Panamanian Cooking Adventure. I am sorry it took me a month to get this to you. But that's how life is, huh? You always gotta wait for the good stuff!

I was invited by Boquete Gourmet to come to Panama and lead a cooking demonstration. Not one to fear a little adventure– off I traispsed. My concept was to present 6 recipes from classic reastaurants of Hollywood. There is plenty of detail about my choices in previous posts. CLICK here for the original Panama announcement or on the purple links to posts about each recipe.

Panama City is a 5 1/2 hour flight from Los Angeles. We took the red-eye, so I slept on the plane and it seemed we arrived lickity-split (who slipped that Ambien into my cocktail?) to the Panama City Airport! It is big and modern and easy to navigate. We soon got our rental car and before you knew it, we were on the road. It's a good thing we got an early start because our destination was still a full 8 hours away by car. We were off to Boquete, and it's way up (over?) at the Costa Rican border. I am sorry I don't have photos of this part of the trip, but I was a bit nervous about the cooking adventure and was a little lax on my photography, duties.

It's time for another Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24 event. This time I decided to present a four course dinner party. Now, don't yawn and click away because there's more to it. Hold on and pay attention. You see I am going to do each course two ways. One of the recipes will be "traditional", "classic", or a bit "expected". But the other version will take all those expectations and razzle-dazzle you!

I'll start with a Classic Swiss Fondue. My recipe is based on the version that first appeared in Gourmet magazine in 1966. Earning it the right to be called a classic. Version number two is going to take a creative turn with a vaguely Irish twist. I do this to honor The Daily Spud because she is constantly inspiring me with her creativity. I call this Farmhouse Cheddar and Irish Stout Fondue with New Potatoes.

For the soup course I am taking a beloved favorite Grandma's Chicken Noodle Soup and attempting to do it  justice. After all, this soup has a lot of baggage. I hope I can juggle it all alright. But every culture has Grandmas, so my second version goes south of the border (way south). It's called Aguadita (Peruvian Chicken Soup).

For the main course it's a good old Traditional "All-American" Meatloaf. This is Martha Stewart's mother's recipe (supposedly) and it's a good one. But who says meatloaf has to be meat?  I think Salmon Loaf en Croûte should count and it's my second (totally original??) entry in this category.

Lastly dessert. I am starting with Old-Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies. I adapted this one from Savory Sweet Life. Alice claims it's the best– and she may be right! But I if I am going to steal a recipe from a blogger I better return the favor with something that has my own stamp on it. So I am turning up the heat on these iconic cookies with my version of Chili Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies.

This challenge is a little bit ambitious for me, (but not for Eric Rivera... he'd have done 24 menus, 4 courses each, 2 versions of each recipe– and still gone out dancing afterwards)... I need a little help.

However, my friends don't know this. They think they are here for a "typical" Greg Henry dinner party. Instead I am enlisting their help tonight. I am getting them here nice and early and together we are going to do all the last minute cooking chores. I admit I did a lot ahead of time, which is a smart move for any dinner party. But there's still more to accomplish. I hope it won't be too much of an imposition.

Speaking of imposition, I have set up a rather elaborate "photo studio" in the pantry. This ways we can get top notch photos as we finish each dish. Of course this means people may have to wait a few minutes before we eat each course.

And lastly I am just exhausted, so I am going to ask them to each write a short essay on one of the courses, comparing and contrasting what they just ate. I think it sounds like fun... let's go.

I sorta promised myself I wasn't gonna do this. But then curiosity took hold and I decided I'd do the research and keep the results to myself. But then the results seemed sort of fascinating and I wondered why they were this way.

So here you go the Top Ten most viewed pages from SippitySup in 2009. In the number one position is How to Remodel a Kitchen in 905 Days. My kitchen is great, I know it is. But really? The TOP post? I almost didn't even make that post.

Furthermore, only one of my personal favorites of 2009 even made the Top Ten, Remembering Beets so Red It's Fusilli. Which got me thinking about what's popular versus what's "good" in my opinion. I have never been very good at choosing "the best" in any category. Inevitably my favorite movie of any given year gets very little box office... I can't explain it. Perhaps I am just dumb...

But gauging what people like is an important talent in the world of food isn't it? I mean if I were to consistently put foods and recipes up here at SippitySup that had very little interest to most people, I'd soon drown in my own hollandaise!

Bloggers gauge their success by popularity. Bloggers recieve awards based on how effectively they can get readers to support them. So in that sense blog success is more like The People's Choice Awards than they are the Academy Awards. And there is nothing wrong with that, right?

So if I want to be a successful blogger (and I do) I need to get better at aligning what I like with what my readers enjoy. Hence, this list. Are there lessons here? Can you explain them to me?

I have some more great news. My shop at OpenSky has been given a cool new look, and I don't mean just some sort of virtual paint job either. Sure, OpenSky is new a new and exciting community driven, virtual shopping experience filled with shops from online experts you know and trust. Which in itself is a great idea. But the folks at OpenSky are not ones to "sit around on their laurels". Nope, because they have been listening to you (me, us...) and have already made big improvements to the site.

There are more exciting developments coming so check back often. Anyday now I expect to have a magic button in my sidebar that will take you directly to my store. If you have any other ideas please let me know. That's what I am here for so don't be shy.

Now if you know anything at all about retail, then you know that whenever there is a big announcement like this there is also a Big Sale. So in honor of the redesign CLICK right over to my store and use the coupon code REDESIGN to get 10% Off anything at OpenSky.  This coupon will be good through the end of January.  So I implore (demand??) that you CLICK right over and check out the new digs.

And in case you missed one of the purple links above CLICK here. Click. Click. Click. GREG

Dateline: Bocas del Toro, Panama

Here I am in Panama! I am using an unusual keyboard. Forgive my typos. Besides the great trip, I have more great news. Sup! is a finalist for a HOMIE at Apartment Thearpy. It is an honor because some of the other nominees are among the biggest of the big boys among food bloggers (pardon the expresion, because they are all talented women!) So I am here to beg for your support for the lone man in the group. Vote for SippitySup. It´s not as if I totally deserve the support given the heavy-weights involved, but I promise to uphold the duties of the crown with honor! Besides, I am in Panama, and I am web challenged and cannot pimp the vote. I cannot tweet, I cannot email. I cannot even vote. Nothing...THIS POST TOOK ME 3 DAYS at various internet cafes that barely functioned. So you see, I can only rely on you!

In case that is not enough, I have a video! So vote for Sippity Sup by CLICKING HERE. I do not need to win, I just do not want to be humiliated... so vote tweet and retweet.

I made this video, Happy Noir Year,  one year ago and I just could not resist pulling it out again as my lone attempt to pimp your vote. Besides the message is relevant this year as well as last. Maybe more so.

It is a mock noir film that follows a hapless band of lost souls as they seek out the pleasures of a New Years Eve on the streets of Hollywood. However, in their search for the lure of days gone by– they discover an inner strength that carries them through the holiday! CLICK here to watch video.

This video was also the inspiration for my cooking adventure with Boquete Gourmet. I came down here to Panama to lead a demonstration of classic recipes from the legendary haunts of Hollywood. The evening was a wonderful success and new friendships were formed. What a great way to start a New Year!

Well it's almost time to say buh-bye to 2009!

You know how we do that at Sup's! house. Well the same way you do of course, with something a little bubbly. Somehow the Champagne industry has managed to convince us all that it just is not a celebration with out a few floating, sparkling bubbles. Maybe I am just gulliable to their wiley ways, or maybe it's an actual fact. But I have decided that bubbles are festive. Bubbles are fun. Bubble mean celebration. Although this happy little fact does not mean all that sparkles shines. So when it comes to my bubbles I prefer the kind that float all the way to the top. Because not all sparkling wine is created equal and it's possible to get all the fizz with out the pop!

What I am trying to say is it's time to pick a special wine for your New Eve Celebration. I know you want it to be good. In fact I know you demand great taste and sparkling quality. You could go out and pick up a Krug, a Dom Pérignon or even a Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé. You could even drop $100.00 or more (way more). I am quite sure you would get an outstanding bottle and you would indeed have the makings of  a special evening. And if you are in a position to do that, and the celebration calls for it– this is certainly one of those evenings to go for broke.

However it is possible to get a lot of bang for your buck. All it takes is a little bit knowledge and you too can separate the pop from the fizzle. So I've brought in my brother Sip! to give us a few pointers. Take it away Grant.

The time has come. We have a winner and I know who it is!

That's right somebody out there just won $50 in FREE meat from Omaha Steaks. It was an easy contest too. All you needed to do was become a Twitter follower of @Omaha_Steaks and I put you in the drawing.

So on to the results. Now I could just blurt it out right here couldn't I? But how much fun would that be? Instead, I videotaped the drawing, live and all-in-one-take. Now I am going to make you watch the video to find out who won...HA! Imagine what this ingenius plot will do for my page view numbers...

Besides being fun, a video helps keep me honest. Not that you really needed to worry about that; but still it's best to have all possible security measures in place.

So CLICK here to watch Omaha Steaks Contest Results. Oh, and sometimes poor, sad Windows users have trouble accessing video on SippitySup, if that's you click on this link or go to the Video Archive tab at the very bottom this page. The top video should be Omaha Steaks Contest Results. If you still have trouble go to my YouTube page via this link, or straight to the YouTube file via this link.

If you STILL can't view it, well leave me a message or a comment and I'll email you the results!

And if that lucky winner is you, please do not let on in the comments section. Let's keep the tension alive as long as possible. Instead, send me a direct email and we'll work out the details to get you that meat I promised. Thanks Omaha Steaks...

You want to hear something funny. SippitySup has a rank of 4332 in Panama. It's my best rank per country in the world. Which means that SippitySup is a very popular site in Panama. It seems so random, but it’s true.

I start with that little fact because I have some exciting news; SippitySup has been invited to Panama to lead a cooking demonstration for a group called Boquete Gourmet. Somehow little tiny SippitySup has managed to catch the hearts of a group of food loving ex-pats living the high life near the border with Costa Rica. Boquete is a beautiful town adjacent to the mighty Volcan Barú, and I am very honored and excited to be invited.

Boquete is a peacful little mountain community that is often described as Paradise. In fact Forbes magazine recently rated Boquete as one of the top 10 places to retire in the world. Harper's Bazaar says, "Panama is the most beautiful retreat in the world and almost undiscovered."

Well Sup! is about to discover it in a big way!

I think you know by now that I tend to spout my opinions rather loudly sometimes. Well this time my rantings about choosing a nice steak paid off, and you could be the beneficiary!

You can bet that the friendly folks at Omaha Steaks know something about choosing a nice steak and I guess they liked what I had to say on the matter too. Because they want to go one step further in helping you choose a nice steak, they want to give you $50 worth of free steak. Now that is indeed what I call nice steak!

They have provided me with a coupon for $50 of free meat. I get to give this coupon away to any one of the readers here at SippitySup. I get to design any sort of contest I like too.

I could ask each one of you to send me a baby picture of yourself, which I could then publish on SippitySup with lots of embarrassing comments attached. Or if I wanted to I could make you wear all pink for an entire week and then choose the person who was the pinkiest to receive the free steak. That would be a good one, huh?

Two Sups! Up

The Holidays are here and Sup! is getting giddy. You might not think it were so, but I love this time of year… Fa, La, La, La, Lah…La, La, La, Lahhhh!

This season is going to be extra special too. Because I am involved with a new kind of online shopping experience called The OpenSky Project and I get to pass some specials and discounts on to you.

Here’s an example.

GO NOW TO http://holidays.theopenskyproject.com/ You will see a place to enter your email address and the name of your favorite shopkeeper. Which is SIPPITYSUP of course!  Once you have filled in the blanks, hit submit. Then watch your inbox.

Within 48 hours, everyone who enters a valid email address and SIPPITYSUP will receive a coupon code. The first 50 people to shop willl receive $15 off any purchase over $20. A select few VERY, VERY early birds will even get FREE shipping (that could translate to 75% off a well chosen item). All the others will receive coupons for 10% to 50%, or $15 to $100 off any OpenSky purchase (minimum purchase prices and expiration times will vary by coupon). The quicker you sign up, the more likely you’ll receive a better discount. So don’t wait.