Ok I have been putting this off for a while, but I need to write about it NOW. Maybe you have seen the awards that go around the blog-o-sphere before. They are a lot of fun. I know they were created to make friends, drive traffic to your blog and get your name out there. They don’t mean much to some people, but I think it is always a great honor when somebody says, hey I like your blog and this is how I want to show it to you. Recognition from one’s readers is always the best recognition one can get, right?

I am writing this because a new blogger friend of mine gave me such recognition this week. Ivy was born in Cyprus, but is now living in Athens. She is a very intelligent person (she speaks 4 languages) and she loves to cook. It’s amazing how much delicious food there is on her blog. Ivy’s blog, along with Peter’s and Peter M’s blogs, have convinced me that I need to eat more Greek food, which I will start squeezing in my menu pretty soon.

The award she gave me, the very first one this blog receives, is called the Excellent Award. And like any other award I have to give a thank you speech and pass it on to other 5 bloggers. Which is the fun part because you have to choose only 5 from the long, long list of excellent blogs and bloggers out there. So I want to take my parents for their support, my manager that pushes me every day, Jon that believed in me, the academy of course, and Ivy for thinking in me, even though we only know each other through comments in other blogs. What? That this is not the kind of speech I have to give? Oh well, I already gave it and there’s nothing you can do about it :-p

Now, here are my 5 nominees to receive the award from me, it was really hard to chose only 5, but rules are rules:

Bren’s FlaNboyant Eats – Latin fusion cooking with a chic twist. This blog is an excellent source of Latin food, especially Cuban and Caribbean food, written by Brenda. The design is great, the recipes are great and the hostess is beautiful, vibrant and a lot of fun. You guessed it right, Latin heat all around!

Always order dessert – Stories. Recipes. Mediocre food photography. I just found this other excellent blog a couple of weeks ago and I have to say that I fell in love with it, too. Alejandra is another beautiful, vibrant and intelligent person that finds time in her busy schedule to share with the world her cooking experiences. More Latin heat on the blog-o-sphere.

Spanish Recipes – Easy to cook and pic by pic. Yet another great blog with Latin heat by my adorable, and always fun to read, friend Núria. Her blog is one that I have been reading for a while and I get excited every time my Google reader tells me she’s written a new post. I don’t know much about Spanish cuisine, other than paella and tapas, that’s why it is always very informative to read Núrias recipes and stories about her life in La Madre Patria.

Sass and Veracity – Fat Free Opinions on a Food Centric Life. I have talked about this great blog and her lovely hostess before. Kelly’s blog was among the very first food blogs I started to read when I ventured into the part of the blog-o-sphere where foodies gather. For the longest time I just read, but never commented, until I gathered enough courage to do it. And I am glad I did it. She is one of the sweetest bloggers I have come across and her posts and recipes are amazing.

La cocina delokos. This is one of the two food blogs written in Spanish that I read all the time. I really wish I had more time to read more Spanish food blogs, but the day only goes so far. Delokos’s vegetarian recipes are really good. I don’t very much care for only vegetarian cooking but I have used some of his great recipes to accompany my cooking. Besides he has a different blog with no-vegetarian recipes for us meat lovers.

Is it five already? This is the part I don’t like because I have so many other favorite food blogs that I read and love. Jerry has been an inspiration and great support for my new blogging career. Lisa is one of the most amazing people I’ve met here and so are Helen, Emiline, Val and so many others. The list of all the food blogs I read is at the bottom of this post.

In other fun topics, Nina from Nik Snacks tagged me again to write five things about myself. I am not going to pas this to anyone, just like the last one, but this is a good opportunity to be selfish and talk about me.

1. I am very organized. I love organization in my kitchen and pretty much in every other aspect of my life. I clean, keep things in their assigned places and get mad if they “misteriously” move out of those places. I am not that bad anymore. I can pretend I don’t see messes (a blanket left on the couch is not a mess, is it?) and just go on doing other things.
2. The best job I’ve had was being a legal interpreter in Dayton, Ohio. It was cool to have access to judge’s chambers, jails, the back of the court house and every other place few people have gone before. I learned a great deal about the American legal system, languages, interpreting and translating and the best part was the fat paycheck I received every week. I might do that again in the future. But for now other projects have been keeping me busy.
3. I don’t like pretentious food. Maybe because my parents’ restaurant was a fonda, like I mentioned on my last post, and I learned that you can make great food with a few and basic ingredients as long as you pour your heart out in the process. Many people commented that when my mom was baking something her face irradiated happiness. Inexpensive food doesn’t mean inferior. Great food fills not only your stomach but also your heart and soul. That is the most important lesson I learned with Mexican food.
4. I never thought my blog was going to grow as much as it has. I started this blog almost a year ago, but then I abandoned it for a while because I didn’t think I was gonna be able to compete in the blog-o-sphere with my non-pretentious food. Fortunately I met a lot of great bloggers with the same philosophy that food is a celebration and not a pain in the wallet.
5. I want to blog for a living. Or I should say that I want to make my living doing what I love to do the most: cooking, writing and taking pictures. It is a dream and a goal that sometimes looks far, far away but other times looks so close that I can touch it. Even if I don’t reach that goal the experience is worthwhile because I am learning so much and meeting so many wonderful people. But we all are entitled to our dreams, right?