It’s been seven months since I started writing regularly for Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska. From fall’s end, through a late April snowfall, and now in spring, I’ve cooked and photographed and written, and learned a lot in the process.
I’ve also had a crash course in the world of food blogs; there are thousands. I struggle to make time to read my favorite blogs; the frustrating truth is there aren’t enough hours in the day to read all those I love.
The writing, the photographs, the recipes, all inspire me. From different countries and backgrounds, different ages and genders, different tastes and sensibilities, the width and breadth of culinary writing on the web never ceases to amaze.
In recent months, I’ve been honored to receive several awards from my fellow food-bloggers: Gay from Cakelaw in Australia (Excellence Award), Ivy from Kopiaste in Greece (Nice Matters Award), Peter from Souvlaki for the Soul in Australia (Arte y Pico Award), Manuela from Baking History (You Make My Day Award), and Manju from Three Tastes in Hawaii (Excellence Award). I’m humbly grateful. Gay, Ivy, Peter, Manuela, and Manju: Thank you so much!
All who gave me awards also deserve them, but I’m not allowed to give the same awards back. Instead, I’m making some new awards: to Cakelaw for Inspired Baking, to Kopiaste for Top Chef: Greek, to Souvlaki for the Soul for Outstanding Food Photography, to Baking History for Best Use of Historical Recipes, and to Three Tastes for Kitchen Creativity and Spiritual Healing.
With each award came a request that I pass it on to others. Instead of parsing out who gets which award, I’m awarding a combined Excellence-Nice Matters-Arte y Pico-You Make My Day (ENMAPYMMD) award to a few of my favorite food writer-photographers.
The ENMAPYMMD Awards go to:
Maria from Organically Cooked in Hania, Crete. Maria cooks traditional Cretan fare, and entertainingly describes the scenes and characters that make up her daily life. I’m drawn to Maria’s wry sense of humor and unique role as an insider-outsider in Crete (Maria is a native New Zealander of Cretan heritage.). Her stories are endlessly fascinating.
Susan from The Well Seasoned Cook in the New York area and Lucy from Nourish Me in Australia. I read today they are friends, which is fitting, as Susan and Lucy are the two best writers among all the blogs I read. I dream about having their abilities to evoke moods and flavors. Their recipes are always interesting, and their photography beautiful.
Riana from Garlic Breath and These Days in French Life. Riana lives with her French husband and daughter in the south of France and works harder than anyone I know to avoid consumerism and live life consciously. Riana and her family haven’t shopped since August 2007 except for food (and not even food in January and February). Though her choices may not be for everyone, Riana’s infectious enthusiasm is a welcome balance to the consumer-oriented world in which we live.
Lulu from Mama’s Taverna in California. Lulu makes me laugh. She’s a good cook with a great ear for dialogue. I eagerly anticipate her new posts.
Mag from Hommus with Tabbouli. Mag is Lebanese, but lives in Virginia. I ended up at Mag’s blog one day by accident and in it discovered one of the best English-language Lebanese cookbooks available. I love Lebanese food and Mag more than does it justice.
Núria from Spanish Recipes in Barcelona, Spain. Núria is one of the nicest people in the blogosphere and her traditional Spanish recipes are mouth-wateringly good. Núria’s extensive and very clear pictures make it easy to recreate her recipes in the US.
Ronell from My French Kitchen in France. Ronell is a skilled painter and her art and creativity inspire seasonal recipes and gorgeous photographs. Ronell’s blog has taken me from her herb garden and atelier to the banks of the Loire; visiting My French Kitchen suffuses me with a sense of peace and well being.
There aren’t any rules for the ENMAPYMMD awards, so I encourage awardees and readers alike to give them out freely to their favorite food writers and photographers. The more credit and encouragement we give our peers, the stronger all our blogs will be.
Bob the Bird-Watcher
21 comments:
Very inventive of you! Thanks again for your kind words and you deserve every one of those! Cheers.
Congratulations on all your awards Laurie. I LOVED the awards you have given back for creativity and such..
Thanks, Laurie! I can't believe I got one of the coveted ENMAPYMMD awards!
You've picked up a lot of awards in just 7 months, but it's not surprising because your pictures, writing and recipes are all first-class. I hope you know that this means that you can never stop!
Lori, all your awards were well deserved and you deserve even more. I enjoy reading your posts and have learned a lot from you and like you I wish I had more time to visit friends' blogs and read all their posts.
Congratulations Laurie, you've gathered quite a collection of awards. And congrats to all of your award recipients! They are all well deserved.
Oh, and give Bob a scratch on the chin for me.
You sweetie, you! Thank you very much for the recognition, Laurie. What a treat! Best wishes on all your well-deserved awards, and a kiss to Bob. (My very first cat was "Bob" - an orange tabby, too!)
Well, I'm not at all surprised you have a swag of awards, Laurie! Seven months young? Gosh, how time flies...
Am very humbled. ENMAPYMMD has a certain ring to it, don't you think?
Thank you also for another glorious image of your beautiful Bob.
Congratualtions on all your well deserved awards Laurie! You've rightfully earned every one of them.
And thank you for a wonderful surprise, I feel very honoured!
And thank you also for ll the great new links...you're right, there are so many great foodblogs out there and far too little time to discover them all.
ronell
You're a marvelous example of "thinking outside the box" -- combining awards and inventing new ones! You've certainly deserved the ones you've gotten, and I'm looking forward to browsing some new ones from the ENMAPYMMD awardees while I'm waiting for the taro bread to rise... Kiowea the Gecko Watcher mews his regards to Bob, too!
Mahalo nui loa for the KCSH award.
Dear Laurie, thanks very much for this lovely award. If I were to give out an award to anyone, yours would be "BEST FRIEND".
That business about not enough time to check out other people's blogs is so true - i wish i could just sift through other people's writing all day long...
Hey Laurie,
Thank you so much for the award and for your lovely words too :) You're a sweetheart and you deserve the best and more and more awards! Congrats!
Laurie, you are a dynamo! It's amazing how much work you do each day, I am in constant awe of you and then you turn around and compliment me. I'm blushing! I should be giving you an award or at least sewing you an apron with a medal on it! Merci from France
Wow Laurie, thanks so much for your superkind words :D You brought some sun to my rainy days (we are no longer having problems with water reservoires, Spain is looking like Scotland now... all green :D)
Your award is fun and very original!!! And what I like is that you give a bunch of blogs I didn't know about and sound great to me... shall go and visit! Love the pictures of the house and the fox... What a beautiful place to live at!!!
What a marvelous idea!
Well done! (And they all deserve it... as do you!)
PeterG, thank you!
Val, I had a lot of fun deciding on the awards.
Lulu, you are most welcome! Never stop? Now that sent chills down my spine...I'm imagining myself in the nursing home, with shaking voice asking for assistance in typing out a post for pureed fasolakia...
Thank you Ivy! I finally broke down and set up Google Reader and I think that will help make it easier to read my favorites. Now I don't know why I resisted it for so long.
Cheryl, it was fun making the selections! (Bob is most appreciative for the scratch!)
Susan, you're welcome! (I wanted to name him "Red" but my husband didn't like it so we went for "Bob" - funny you had one too.)
Lucy, I do think ENMAPYMMD is kind of snappy!
Ronell, you deserve more awards than I could give - your talent shines through nearly every post.
Manju - I hate being in a box! Taro bread sounds so interesting, I better head over to Three Tastes now and see what you are up to!
Maria, awww, now I'm blushing. Thank you!
Mag, thanks!
Riana, dynamo is exactly how I think of you! Your inventiveness never ceases to amaze me.
Nuria, glad your water is back and I'm glad you liked the award! I was just telling my husband how much Bob looks like a fox streaking across the green landscape - but in reality he is a cat!
Katie - glad you liked it!!
Hahaha.. I love your combined awards. And congrats to you for all the awards you've been given recently! :)
Thanks for all the super links to a few new sites. The blogs that you have awarded, gets my vote too. As for all your awards, I am green with envy....well done!
i've just mentioned this post in my blog - it seems a pertinent time to comment on it. you will like what you see!
PS, I just needed to let you know you have been passed on another award for all your hard work and love of blogging. Your blog is definitely "yummy". :D Val
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