Versatile Blogger Award

So there I was, a lazy Sunday morning,  polishing off the last of the ice-cream (home-made of course) from last night’s dinner party, and I turned on my laptop to discover I’d won an award! I felt so unprepared, so under-dressed, so overwhelmed!

Let me explain. The Versatile Blogger Award is a chance for bloggers to publicly commend the good work of other bloggers. The best bit is that as well as being nominated yourself, the rules state that you must share the love and nominate up to fifteen other bloggers whom you think are deserving of the same accolade.

But first things first, where are my manners, a huge from-the-bottom-of-my-heart thank you to the lovely Katie who nominated me for my award. Katie authors ChemEGirl Cooks. She is a Chemical Engineer who cooks fun, innovative, wheat and dairy-free food. And her sense passion for food is evident in all of her recipes.

Oh, food bloggers are such nice people! Who needs real friends anymore?! Anyway, without further ado, the nominations for the Mango Ginger Versatile Blogger Award are:

S       FDAathome: Fine Dining At home. David clearly has an exceptional palette and a great eye for presentation. He’ll get you cooking restaurant standard food at home. And he’s my new foodie pen pal, which is why he’s top of my list.

S       Mistress of Spices: Ramya (aka the Mistress) is a fellow Bangkokian and as a vegetarian is introducing me to the greener side of Bangkok life. Hope to meet her in person some day.

S       The Coconut Monkey: These guys are right up my street. They’re a London-based catering company and the blog includes some of their best recipes and reviews of other places too. They use all sorts of flavours but have a special penchant for all things Asian.

S       Feeling Food: The food on this sight is quite simply beautiful, not least because of the stunning photography. Sinead has a lovely way with words too.

S       Rita Cooks Italian: Rita is another Londoner and she does indeed cook Italian – and with mouth-watering results.

S       Coconut Raita: Reena gives the Indian flavours of her childhood a modern revival with clever and delicious recipes. I love how she waves the Asian Fusion flag!

S       The Scent of Green Bananas: Inspiring food reviews and beautiful photography from all over the place by Santos

S       All That I’m Eating: Caroline is a great writer and an exciting and open approach to food. There is something for everyone in this blog.

S       The Secret Food and Travel Reviewer: Sparky writes fun reviews of restaurants, mostly in London, which I love reading when I’m a little homesick for the Big Smoke

S       Dirty Girls Kitchen: These fun-loving, foul-mouthed girls make me laugh out loud! And they cook some very tasty-looking food too.

The rules ask that I also tell you seven things about me, so here goes:

1. In my day job I am an aid worker. I do this based from Bangkok and travelling across Asia, which is where the Asian Fusion inspiration comes from.
2. I love rock climbing, not least because it stops me ending up the size of a house from all the food I eat.
3. My food heaven is aubergines (eggplants). Glossy, purple, versatile, squishy goodness. They make me so very happy.
4. My food hell is porridge…urgh, makes me gag just thinking about it. Had I been in Goldilocks’ shoes, I’d rather have starved.
5. I have no sense of direction whatsoever. Being lost is a normal state of being for me.
6. I’m always cold. That’s why I had to leave London and move to Thailand.
7. Be warned. Often, when I appear to be listening or concentrating, I’m not. I’m actually thinking about food.

For you nominees, here are the Versatile Blogger rules which I am asked to share with you:

S       Thank the person who gave you this award. 

S       Include a link to their blog.

S       Next, select up to 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly. 

S       Nominate those bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.

S       Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself. 

There are also a few add-on rules:

S       In the same post, include this set of rules. 

S       Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination by posting a comment on each of their blogs

The Versatile Blogger Award is  a great way to introduce different bloggers to each other and to promote quality blogs that awardees and their readers may not have discovered otherwise.”