Move Over Hollywood, It's Award Season in Bloggywood!

Food bloggers are, on the whole, a kind and generous group of people. We come from all cultures, countries, and walks of life. We share a basic, fundamental love of food. Be it the pleasures of eating, the labor of growing our own food, the drive to review the best places to find good food, or the simple human joy of creating food for others. We tend to follow each other... not just our recipes, but to share our lives, our joys, and our frustrations in the stories that accompany mouthwatering photos.

These days I not only keep up with my real life friends (for whom I am truly grateful ~ you know who you are) but I wake up wondering what luscious vegan dessert Amy will make (and I don't even bake vegan! She's that good); what Griffin will throw on the Big Green Egg this week; I ask my husband Thom (whose parents are from Austria) if he's ever had the recipes on Sofie's blog and then we discuss regional differences in food. He in turn asks me why I don't make duck bacon like Susan does.

I very grateful to have been awarded four blog awards this week by this wonderful community of cooks, writers, and photographers. The concept behind all the awards is to let a blogger know you enjoy their blog as well as to introduce readers to great blogs. The awards are:

I was awarded the Sunshine Award and the Kreativ Blogger Award by Ruth at Spring of a Curiouseed. She's a lovely blogger who posts delicious vegetarian recipes with a South American kick like these lentil empanadas.  Kayle from The Cooking Actress was kind enough to grace me with the Versatile Blogger Award. She is a creative cook with a heck of a sweet tooth (my kind of gal!) and Sofie at The German Foodie was kind enough to grace me with the Liebster Blog Award. You need to see her breads. They are gorgeous. Both Sofie and Kayle are also active (and tremendously helpful!) members of the Food Bloggers Network.

The rules for the Sunshine Award are: 

• Include the award logo in your blog 
• Answer 10 questions about yourself
• Nominate 10 bloggers
• Link your nominees to the post and comment on their blogs letting them know they have been nominated.
• Share the love and link the person who nominated you

1. Favorite Color - living in New England color to me is seasonal; I am however, quite partial to the blue spectrum. 
2. Favorite Animal - Chicken, duck, salmon, lamb, beef, pork... they're all tasty.
3. Favorite Number - 5. My first "real" job was at a movie theater. Our cash register only listed totals, not change. Anything divisible by five made life easier. 
4. Favorite non-alcoholic drink - tea. 
5. Facebook or Twitter - Facebook but I tweet, too. 
6. My passion - Thom. Oh. Not that kind? Well then cooking, of course! And travel. And chocolate. Oooh... traveling with Thom while eating chocolate... yeaaah.
7. Prefer giving or receiving presents - I actually prefer giving. (Although that shouldn't stop anyone from sending me an unexpected prezzie. They're lovely, too!)
8. Favorite Pattern - huh? No clue. I'm a solid color kind of lady. 
9. Favorite day of the week - whichever one Thom and I have off together and don't have a mountain of housework to catch up on... which is... uh... never. Boo!
10. Favorite flower - I love gerberas. But I also love roses. And I'm partial to hydrangeas since we had them in our wedding and they remind me of Cape Cod, which I love visiting.
    

The rules for the Kreativ Blogger Award are to list 10 facts about myself and then pay the award forward to six blogs. Fact: 

1. I have a degree in Culinary Arts (and a couple other degrees).
2. I don't have a favorite cooking job - they all had pros & cons - but I am grateful to the "quietly amazing" chefs who taught me the most about balancing one's sense of self with pride in the work. People like Chef Ashley McGee and Chef Alex Alfaro. 
3. I can recite the intro to Dante's Inferno. In Italian. This shouldn't be amazing since I speak Italian but I learned it in a horrible class with a horrendous professor so I'm amazed I retained anything. 
4. I lived in Bologna, Italy for two years. 
5. I try to use my Italian to speak Spanish. The results are... mixed and occasionally hilarious. 
6. I love driving cross-country and have done so three times. 
7. I cherish the memory of my Grammie so much that I have saved any scrap of paper with her handwriting on it. Grammie only had herself to give to us, but she gave of herself freely (great. Now I'm crying). 
8. My mother loaned me Grammie's engagement ring as my "something borrowed" for my wedding. My own wedding band is inspired by it.
9. I am happiest by the ocean or in an English garden. 
10. With all of my travels I have learned that home is wherever I am with Thom. 

The rules for the Versatile Blogger award are to:
Thank the person who gave you the award and link to their blog - Thank you very much, Kayle! List 7 things about yourself (check! See above) and pass it on as well as inform the blogger you've awarded them. 

I am passing these three awards on to the following blogs:  
A Little Bit of Everything
Around the Table
The Art of Cooking Real Food  
Baking & Cooking, A Tale of Two Loves 
Café Terra  
Griffin's Grub 
The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen
Healthy Foodie Travels
Hungry Couple
Life on Food 
Lovely Pantry
Magnolia Days
Mike's Baking
Mis Pensiamentos
The Plaid & Paisley Kitchen
Simply Southern Baking
The Wimpy Vegetarian

The Liebster Blog Award is an honor given from one blogger to another to show support for an up and coming blog. Liebster is a German word meaning "dearest" or "beloved." Thank you so much Sofie for nominating me! I am passing this award on to: 

Jaim's Kitchen - she's one of my favorite "across the pond" bloggers. 
The Part Time Housewife - Lauren is just getting started but already has a load of great posts under her belt
Juanita's Cocina - Jen is just great. Not only is she a lovely person but, as Ted Allen might say, she makes the food you want to eat. 
Table for 7 - I have no excuses to not post when Erin is chasing five children and making dinner! 

I sincerely hope you will visit all of these great bloggers and say hello. It's great to drool over the recipes but it's more important to form a community and I am grateful every day to be among such good company. 

Enjoy!