#NYTough P&G Giveaway (plus Amex Gift Card!)

 

The winner of the Gigabody giveaway is Jessica! She has been emailed; thanks to everyone for entering!

And with the conclusion of one giveaway, comes the start of another awesome one courtesy of our friends at Proctor & Gamble.

#NYTough P&G Prize Pack Giveaway

I am thrilled to be teaming up with Proctor & Gamble again, not only to give you the opportunity for a chance to win a P & G Prize Pack (which includes a $25 American Express Gift Card!) but because I love talking all things #NYTough, especially a certain toughness which is required around the holidays.

Hanukkah begins tonight at sundown, did you know that?!

I hate over punctuation but that exclamation point stems from my childhood.

I loved Hanukkah as a little girl more than my birthday (eight nights of presents!).

menorahs

Just the scent of a burning candle at any point during the year brings me back to lighting the menorah as a kid, which by the way, I was NEVER allowed to light by myself because my parents feared I would burn myself.

Hanukkah doesn’t get as much coverage as Christmas but looking back, I can’t say that I ever really felt all that left out of the Fa La La season.

While New York is quite diverse, we Jews make up a large part of the population.

Growing up, most of the kids in my school were Jewish and the kids who celebrated Christmas were few and far between.

So while I don’t really know from Santa on a personal level (I always wanted to experience Christmas morning!), we always did universal holiday-type activities anyway.

I loved taking car rides to look at holiday lights (and counting the lit up menorahs in the windows), baking holiday cookies and most importantly, getting together to celebrate tradition through Hanukkah parties and really good food.

hanukkah table

So much of my childhood was spent in Manhattan, especially during holiday times, at my aunt’s house (you may recognize her pretty table).

Tradition had it that I spent time in the city with my cousins for extended sleep overs during the winter breaks. During this time, we pranced around the Big Apple with all of the hustle and bustle of the holiday shoppers, went ice-skating outdoors, saw the Big Apple Circus each year that it came to town, attended Broadway shows and would walk through Rockefeller Centre to see the tree.

If you are at all familiar with Hanukkah, you are also familiar with the potato latke, also known as a potato pancake.

latkes

The whole point of Hanukkah (in basic terms here) is to celebrate the miracle of the menorah oil which long ago, burned for eight nights when it was only supposed to last for one.

For this reason, we celebrate through lighting eight nights of candles and eating foods fried in oil.

Tonight I will be hosting Hanukkah dinner at my house which means lots of potato latkes and lots of mess to clean up in my kitchen.

Life was easier when I wasn’t the holiday-making adult.

I honestly couldn’t do it without my Bounty paper towels.

If you have ever made potato latkes, you may know about both the lingering smell of oil and the messy process of making the latkes and then trying to soak up the extra oil prior to serving.

latkes

One Bounty paper towel to line your plate and then another on top of the latkes to blot the oil.

latkes

I use Bounty paper towels for every type of clean up needed in my house.

In fact, I keep a slightly damp paper towel on hand at all times should my son come near the kitchen, as was the case on Sunday when we baked our Hanukkah sugar cookies.

#NYTough Hanukkah Cookies

Trust me, if I could follow the kid around with a wet Bounty paper towel or attach one to his neck sort of like the bib they give you in the dentist’s chair, I would.

Between the holiday baking and cooking, I am down to my last roll of paper towels.

And I don’t know if it’s a New York thing, a Jewish thing, a New York Jewish thing or a universal parent thing but my dad likes to pick up the giant packages of Bounty paper towels for me so that I am never without a roll.

Bounty Paper Towels

Just like he is afraid I will burn myself with the menorah, I guess he still lives in fear that I may make a mess.

Giveaway time!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
If you are looking to make latkes tonight and need a recipe, my sweet potato latkes recipe is pretty awesome.

latkes

If I recall it correctly, I used quinoa flakes in place of flour and baked them with coconut oil instead of pan-frying.  

I am making them again later and will show you how they come out in tomorrow’s post!

**********

This post is sponsored by Proctor & Gamble. While I was compensated for my time, all memories, thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are my own.

If you celebrate Hanukkah, are you making latkes later? What kind?

Are you a big paper towel user?

 Do you drink hot chocolate while driving around to look at holiday lights like I do? 

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Comments

  1. says

    I feel like I go through a roll of papers towels day. Its crazy! I use them for everything. I love Bounty but we usually buy whatever is on sale since we go through them so quickly.
    When I lived on LI we used to drive around looking at lights. I don’t do that here in Baltimore although there is one area about 15 minutes away that apparently has one street with amazing lights. Maybe one year Ill check that out!
    Happy Hanukkah!
    Lisa @ Running Out Of Wine recently posted…What Helped Me Run A Faster MarathonMy Profile

  3. Vangie K. says

    Probably cleaning alcohol. I know it’s not really considered a cleaning product, but I always use it to disinfect doorknobs/computer keyboards during the fall and winter when so many germs are going around. Thanks for the giveaway:)

  13. says

    I can’t live without Barkeeper’s Friend. It’s the best stainless steel cleaner I’ve ever found. We go through paper towels like crazy though. I don’t even know how we use so many!

  16. heather says

    I have never had a latke but have always wanted to try them.. I imagine they taste like hashbrowns.. YUM!

  20. Rosie says

    I’m a GIANT paper towel user. I don’t like using a mop or similar much, b/c it is a hassle to dispose of it, ie not down the sink, etc. So I find it sooo easy and wonderful to go around with paper towels, and I can say I’ve tried them all and I’m in love with Bounty they are the best and the cheapest in the long run b/c they are sturdy and can handle your tasks without falling apart.

  23. Andrea says

    Febreeze scented trash bags! I SWEAR by them!! Makes my apartment not stink from the trash – which piles high in the holiday season 🙂

  24. Jen says

    I love Bounty…and I also get the HUGE pack b/c I’m afraid of running out 🙂 Bring on the Holiday Baking Mess! Yum

  28. Nina says

    Definitely paper towels. I tried going for awhile without buying them and just using dish rags, but there are some messes that can’t be cleaned up properly without paper towels!

  32. Nausheen says

    i can’t live with out dishwashing soap. With all the baking I plan to do in the next weeks, it’ll be very necessary

  34. Gina M (Wild Orchid) says

    Besides paper towels, I cannot live without ziploc bags for all of the leftovers and sharing of goodies!

    Thanks for the chance to win!
    Entered the rafflecopter form as “Wild Orchid”

    wildorchid985 AT gmail DOT com

  60. Melissa H. says

    I could not live without Bounty paper towels, but these comments also reminded me of the magic of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers!

  61. Em Mahr says

    There are a ton of cleaning items I can’t live without during the holidays, but I’d say near the top of the list would be dish soap. With all the holiday guests, I always have a ton of dishes to wash!

  65. Dawn Monroe says

    I cant live without Dawn Dishsoap because I have well water nad its the only kind that works.

  66. Betsy Barnes says

    I cannot live without Lysol disinfecting wipes. I use them daily, keep them in every room of the house 🙂

  67. Annette says

    I can’t live without my all-purpose spray. With cats I’m always wiping counters before and after I cook. Plus they’re messy eaters, so I always have to wipe the floor.

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