GIVEAWAY! Austin Food & Wine Alliance Wine & Swine!

Bonkers for bacon? Pining for pork belly? If so, you'll go hog wild over the Austin Food & Wine Alliance's 2nd annual Wine & Swine, a pigerrific event being held this Sunday, November 4th, at Pioneer Farms.  18 chefs will each be preparing a whole, locally-raised pig to use in a pork-forward dish for attendees to taste (check out the drool-inducing chef lineup and menu here).  In addition to the pork tastings, there will be live music; wine, cocktails and craft brews; farm tours (via hayride!); photo booth fun, and butchery and sausage-making demos - all included in the ticket price of $75 ($95 at the door). The proceeds from this event support the Alliance's culinary grant program.

My friends at the Alliance have very generously shared a pair of tickets to Wine & Swine with me to give away to a lucky reader!  You can get up to three entries, one entry for each of the following:

1.  Leave a comment below naming your favorite of the chefs participating in Wine & Swine (make sure you include a way to contact you if you win!);

2.  Tweet, "Enter to win a pair of tickets to @ATXFoodWineAlly's Wine & Swine from @foodiethenew40: http://bit.ly/UgWVFI".  Then let me know in the comments that you've done so (please include your Twitter handle!).

3.  "Like" my blog's Facebook page and let me know in the comments here that you've done so.

Entries will close at 7:00 p.m. CST on Thursday, November 1st, and I'll pick the winner that night.  May the pork be with you!

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Wine and Swine GIVEAWAY!

Happy Thanksgiving weekend, everyone!

I have so much to be thankful for this year. At the top of my list is the birth of my beautiful new niece, Anna, who at the age of one week, already has me completely and utterly smitten. I mean, how could you not love this face?

Self-indulgent aunt-swooning aside, though, I have something exciting to share with you all. A giveaway!

If you're a food lover worth your salt, you're probably emerging from your turkey coma, shaking your head at the mass quantities of vittles you ingested and simultaneously wondering, "What's next?" Well, the good folks at the Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival are here for you, with a delightful weekend of porcine delights that you won't want to miss. Voilà - the Wine & Swine Culinary Weekend!



The Wine & Swine weekend pairs pork and pinot (and other vino varieties, too) in all manner of piggerrific ways. They're kicking things off this Friday, December 3rd, with a Pork & Cork at the AT&T Conference Center, during which chefs will use all parts of the pig to create a flavorful feast paired with Old and New World wines. Saturday brings the Sip, Swirl & Squeal Wine Seminar, where you'll be treated to unique wines paired with a sampling of pork specialties. The weekend will culminate on Sunday with a real Hill Country Pig Roast, during which a herd of fantastic chefs (namely, Jonathan Gelman of the Driskill Grill; Paul Qui of Uchiko; Larry Kocurek of Kocurek Family Charcuterie; Josh Watkins of The Carillon; Jack Gilmore of Jack Allen's Kitchen; Rebecca Rather of Rather Sweet Bakery in Fredericksburg; Larry McGuire of Perla's and Lambert's; John Bullington of Alamo Drafthouse; and Jason Dady) will each be preparing a whole pig in his or her own culinary style to share with attendees. Add live music, craft beer, and wine tastings and set the event at a ranch in Driftwood, and you've got yourself a very Austin-y pig party.

The Festival folks have very generously provided me with a pair of tickets to the Texas Hill Country Pig Roast to give away to one lucky reader of this blog! To enter, simply leave a comment below with your favorite part of the pig. If you are on Twitter, you can get an additional entry by tweeting, "Enter to win a pair of tickets to the @txwineandfood's Hill Country Pig Roast from @foodiethenew40: http://bit.ly/iiZhsk"(retweeting my tweets about the contest works, too). Entries will close at 7:00 p.m. CST on Tuesday, November 30th; I'll pick the winner that evening.

If you'd like to attend any of the Wine & Swine weekend events, be sure to check out their website for more info and tickets!

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