So I mentioned a bit ago how I'd had this lovely discussion with a woman named Lauren Devine of Fresh Preserving, the Ball Corporation's public face of home food preserving. We had a delightful chat that veered, in my very unjournalistic fashion, from recipe testing and development to getting started with canning to risk management and (my) whispered confessions on that point. Lauren stared with Ball as an intern and is now the company's official canning professional/cheerleader.

At the conclusion of our talk (the results of which I'll be posting in the next day or so) Lauren offered to send me a copy of The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. What a dear, I thought, and accepted on behalf of my legions of fans, adding that if she didn't mind too terribly much I might just have a little contest to pass it along. The next day two copies arrived in the mail, one inscribed to little old me. After reading the inscription I turned back to cover and noticed that Ms. Devine is a co-author of this encyclopedic home canning reference. And I hadn't known.

To those of you who don't know, this is kind of like meeting Jerry Garcia and, not realizing it, figuring him to be a lonely man away from home on business and inviting him to dinner (no, wait, I actually did this...finding out after the fact who he was and that his little band was in fact playing in town that night). Maybe it's more like unknowingly stumbling upon Martha Stewart in the local craft store and engaging in a bit of a chat over which glue gun is better for making, I don't know, whatever. Or sort of like bumping into Condoleeza Rice unawares and blasting those out of touch, inside-the-beltway folks in D.C.

Embarrassing, in other words.

I won't dwell, though, as I am not generally a dweller. Instead I think we should press on with all good intentions on this little drawing scheme. Agreed?

Here's the deal: leave a comment on this point and the post in which I relate the details of my discussion with Ms. Devine. Of all the folks who comment in both posts, I will draw one name and that person will receive a copy of The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving delivered straight to his or her door. I'll do the drawing this coming Wednesday.

What do you think? Good? This is a lovely book, filled with all kinds of neato things that can be made and enjoyed by beginners and experienced canners alike. Good luck to all!