Giveaway wrap up, "Yank" your corn chowder, plus more of our questions answered by The Yankee Chef!

Have you entered the GIVEAWAY for a copy of "The Yankee Chef," autographed by Chef Jim Bailey? 

You still can!!!!  Click here: a Rafflecopter giveaway

(My daughter was so obliging to photograph me "from above," since I insisted that "the experts" profess this will make me look as thin as possible.  Have you tried that trick?)

The giveaway is wrapping up, but you can enter through the weekend, ok?

In the meanwhile, Chef Bailey has a few more things to chit chat (do men say that?) with us about.

How to "YANK"your Corn Chowder.  It's The Yankee Chef''s other favorite meal.
(Click here if you missed his recipe for his #1 favorite which is a yummy lobster dish.)

"Corn Chowder. So simple and you can add whatever you like and make it even more hearty or delicious. 

For example, instead of using plain milk, many use canned milk (evaporated), or they like their chowder thickened (by whisking in roux made with1/4 cup melted butter with 3 tablespoons flour for every 2 cups dairy used in the recipe). 

I often add cooked vegetables such as peas, corn, carrots, green beans. 

Use fried pancetta or proscuitto instead of bacon if you want less fat in the chowder as well."



Ok, I confess:  I asked about the history of the Whoopie Pie.  

"The history of the Whoopie Pie (as mentioned in my book) is debatable and often times unreliable. Many claim Maine and others claim PA as the birthplace. I may have to give it up to PA although, because when they were first called Gobs, it was in PA by the Amish. I adore Amish cooking because they parallel Yankee thrifty ways. My favorite Whoopie Pie has to be Lemon, which is in the cookbook."

"I must end this interview by honoring someone who has always had the brightest outlook of anyone I ever knew (with the exclusion of my father and mother). In this lady's eyes, 'wrong' wasn't a detrimental curse that you had to bear the rest of your life. In fact, in her eyes, if you made a mistake in your life, regardless if it was intentional or not, it tempted her into giving you a call just to tell you, "I love you Dear!"

 Now you would never mistake kindness for meekness in this lady, on the same hand, she would let you know in the kindest way possible the alternatives to your actions. This lady truly has a personality that instantly lets you know that you have a friend for life in her. NO wonder my father adored her and her husband. 

I know my Dad would have had a much tougher time dealing with his teenage years without her, and when Dad and I spoke of her and her husband, I had never seen such adoration for anyone more-so than he showed for this couple. Even with Dad gone a decade, this lady still exudes the same motherly warmth, parental security and ancestral pride in family as she did when she proudly agreed to take my father in. I will always love and adore Aunt Marion and Uncle Woody."

(Big humongous thanks to Jim Bailey for popping by the yellow couch to talk food and his great new cookbook, "The Yankee Chef."  It's inspiring to see people who dream big and do work that matters.)