Liebster Award

I've been nominated for a Liebster Award. What is this award, you say? I must admit, I didn't know anything about it until recently, and it's still a bit of a mystery how it all began. It's essentially an award by bloggers for bloggers, sort of a virtual chain letter. I love that it's based on peer-to-peer recognition, and it's a way to help introduce great blogs to a larger audience. To accept the award, there are a few rules I have to follow:

• Pass the award on to 11 bloggers (and let them know)
• Pose 11 questions to these chosen bloggers
• Answer 11 questions posed by my nominator (and let her know)
• Post 11 random facts about me.

So I send my heartfelt thanks to Christina at Greek Cooking for nominating my blog, and I will now return the favor. I am looking forward to following these 11 fantastic up-and-coming blogs:

• The Secret Life of Rhode Island Red
• Mamma Angela's
• The House Red
• Healthy From Scratch
• Scratchy Mama
• Food Retro
• Trials In Food
• From The Bottom of a Wine Bottle
• Cedros Productions
• Our Kitchen Island
• Happiness Made From Scratch 

My 11 questions for these bloggers are:

• Why do you blog?
• What is your favorite vegetable?
• What is your favorite utensil in the kitchen?
• What's your closest grocery store? 
• What were the last three things you cooked?
• Are you a baker or more of a savory cook? 
• Chocolate desserts vs. fruit desserts: discuss. 
• What is your favorite place to visit? 
• If money were no object, what restaurant would you most like to try?
• Best food movie?
• Last meal: what would it be?

Here are my answers to the 11 questions that Christina posed to me. Some of these were challenging, but I hope I did my best:

• Where were you born and where do you live today? I was born in New York City and I live in Massachusetts.
• What is your favorite cuisine? This week it's Indian and Mexican, but next week I am sure it will be different.
• Do you believe in zodiac signs? What is yours? I am a Cancer but I don't much believe in signs.
• What is the urge that makes you cook something in the first place? I usually have two sources of inspiration: seeing a great ingredient at the market, or reading a great recipe.
• Do you dare try something different than your culinary spectrum? I do try to push my limits, but the joy of cooking is that there are still endless possibilities within whatever limits you set in terms of ingredients or cultures.
• How many hours per week do you spend blogging? At the moment, it's around five or ten hours a week, depending on my teaching schedule (I teach cooking for kids and adults).
• Do you believe we actually shouldn’t be eating any meat at all? I don't think we should all give up meat, but I do think we should be eating fewer meat-centric meals. That way we can all afford to support the meat producers who provide better tasting meat, who treat animals humanely and who think about how animal farming impacts our environment.
• Are restaurants your favorite place to meet with friends? I love eating out, but I love eating at friends' houses more (except that now some friends seem to have the need to apologize when they cook for me, since I've been to cooking school and all).
• What is your hobby (except cooking)? Driving my kids around. No time for anything else.
• Who is your favorite actor or actress and in which film? Another hard one. I'll go with Meryl Streep, but only because she's played Julia Child.
• Do you believe that we eat to live or that we live to eat? Yes!

And finally, here are 11 random facts about me:

• I don't like snails.
• But I've eaten sea slugs in China.
• One of my greatest food experiences was a 13 course meal on New Year's Eve in Venice. 
• I live next to a river.
• I never stop being proud of my mother for being in the first class that included women at the Culinary Institute of America.
• I have a weakness for musical theater.
• My first concert was Men at Work.
• I've never seen the Godfather, Jaws or Rocky. 
• I was a practicing attorney for 12 years before I went to cooking school.
• I have the worst oven of anyone I know.
• I love to write.

So that was fun! Good luck to all the bloggers I nominated. I hope you accept the award, and pass it on.