Well it wasn’t easy. First I had to convince Gary that choosing a contest winner was more important than his nap.

To make the drawing as fair and random as possible I printed out all the comments and cut them into strips. I placed them upside-down (so Gary couldn’t read them) -- although he managed to flip over a few anyway!

Gary examined them carefully (as you can see in the photo below), the winning criteria being whichever slip of paper he actually bit into. The first clear bite-hole would result in the winning entry (kind of like a “hanging chad”). And yes, we have a winner: congratulations to: katiejo !!! (katiejo: please e-mail me with your mailing address and I’ll get a copy of Vegan Fire and Spice out to you right away.)

And to Jane’s new rescued kitten William: despite my efforts to have Gary remain unbiased, he did read a few of the comments and after reading yours he has persuaded me to send you a cookbook, too. So, we have a second winner: Jane – please e-mail me your contact info, too, and keep taking care of all those kitties!