Do I have your attention?  Wipe the drool off your keyboard, I’ll wait

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to accompany some amazing women to the Kraft Kitchens in Chicago

That building up there.. Massive.  The building behind it that houses the Kitchens and the Kraft Store.. BEYOND AWESOME! The day that we were there, they were out back barbecuing for all the employees.. I seriously want to work there.  Just walking around the building makes you hungry and happy, all at the same time.

We got to tour the kraft kitchens, you can see most of my pictures in my Kraft Flickr Stream, there are some great pictures of our day.  We got to cook in the Kraft Kitchens WITH the ACTUAL Kraft Test Kitchen Chefs.  Amazingly fun, unbelievable experience doesn’t even begin to touch it.  I felt like a kid let loose in FAO Schwarz or Dylan’s Candy Bar.  It was a really neat thing to see that their pantry is stocked with Kraft foods (obviously) but also with the same NON Kraft products that you can find in any mom’s or dad’s pantry.  They are really dedicated to being accessible with their recipes and making foods that anyone can make with the same ingredients that you have on hand every day.

We got split into groups to work at the different stations and created yummy, easy dishes  like these unbelievably nomalicious appetizers:

I have no idea what was in them but they were insanely delicious. And YES, that is wine you see back there.  They paired each appetizer with a wine to complement it. SCORE!

One of the highlights of the trip for me, was that after we had played and eaten and chatted, the team from Edelman and some of the people from Kraft came and sat in a room with us and they did the most spectacular thing.  They asked us to tell them how they can help us, what we, as parents, would like to see from them as a company.  What do we want in their online forums? What do we want from their food, products etc… and then.. the most amazing thing happened.  They shut their mouths and they listened.

They didn’t pitch to us. They didn’t put on a big shiny, sparkly show.  There weren’t any special effects or attempts to distract us with NEWER BIGGER BETTER!!!! And I appreciated that.  They simply sat around a table with us, pens in hand, video camera rolling and they listened. And Boy, did we have a lot to say.

Here’s the thing.  I have been very lucky in the opportunities that have come my way, such as this one.  Not everyone gets these opportunities.

I wanna know.. if it had been you in that room, what would you have told Kraft?

Tell me in the comments and on Tuesday (Sept 22nd at 10PM CST), I’m going to use random.org to pick a commenter and that commenter is going to win a box FULL of KRAFT GOODIES!!!! Like all that stuff pictured up there!!!! PLUS ~ you’ll get an envelope full of coupons for even MORE KRAFT GOODIES!!!!!

1 comment = 1 entry

For a bonus entry:

Tweet this contest and leave the Tweet URL in another comment.

SIDE NOTE: if you have an iPhone.. you HAVE to download the iFood assistant from Kraft.  It’s 99 cents and it is amazing.. it gives you access to recipe, cooking videos and will even create an itemized shopping list for you! I LOVE mine!!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER OF THE KRAFT BOX OF GOODIES
email me your address so we can get it right out to you!!!