I'm really not a boorish ingrate

Really...I'm not...I'm just as slow as molasses in on the Winter Solstace.

So imagine my surprise and glee to find out that I was nominated for a blogger-nominated award. Seriously: I was rendered speechless. Now treble that within a matter of a handful of weeks.

Seriously.

Within a rather short period of time three of my lovely readers decided to bestow awards or awards nominations on me and this little blog.

I'm not sure what to say but the only thing I can think of is thank you very much.

I'm never really quite sure who's reading me and why they do. Yes, I have my Statscounter thingie telling me that (surprise!) people stumble across this site and some actually come back (actually, I think it's 12 people who just happen to have their own Concord jets flying all over the place and checking in on my site), and I get comments and emails from you. It's quite a cheery thing and I really do appreciate the fact that people find some sort of joy in what I do--whether I've written something useful or you find the site amusing or whatever other reason, thank you for spending your time here.

This mini deluge of recognition also comes with the responsibility to pay it forward. I will break the rules and nominate one person per award, instead of multiple people--in total it would have been 17 nominations (and yes, I do the same thing when it comes to voting in my schoolboard trustees--I've never voted in the maximum number of people, just one or two at most).

Without further adieu, here they are:

Arte y pico
awarded by Joy of Almanzo's Belly

The Arte y Pico award is awarded for creativity, design, interesting material and contribution to the food blogging community.

"A witty and beautiful blog."

The rules:
- Pick five blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging community, no matter what language.
- Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
- Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and the link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
- Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of Arte y Pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

I'm awarding this to: Dagmar of A Cat in the Kitchen
Reading A Cat in the Kitchen is, to me, the equivalent of a breath of crisp, fresh air. Nothing on her blog seems forced: lovely photographs complement Dagmar's purely honest accounts of food and life.

Yum-yum Blog Award
awarded by Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies

"Jasmine from Confessions of a Cardamom Addict - omnivorous ramblings by a habitual eater. Jasmine, another fellow Canadian, writes with poetic beauty, wicked irreverence and journalistic integrity, all at once. She presents wonderfully delicious dishes with simply stated recipes, beautiful photography and a laugh out loud tale of how it all came to be."

The rules: award to five food blogs.

I'm awarding this to: Shaun of Winter Skies, Kitchen Aglow
Every time I visit Winter Skies I feel as if I'm welcomed by a with a big, warm hug. His references are fabulous--Tamasin Day Lewis, Elizabeth David, Nigel Slater--and, I think, testament to someone who has a true love and respect of the kitchen.

2008 Brilliante Blog Award
nominated by Jenny of All Things Edible

"I always have a hard time nominating people for these things, but this award seems to be fairly new, so I have some long time friends I can nominate for this."

The rules:
- Put the logo on your blog.
- Add a link to the person who awarded you.
- Nominate at least seven other blogs.
- Add links to those blogs on your blog.
- Leave a message for your nominee on their blogs.

I'm nominating: Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar
Annemarie is as charming and lovely in pixellated conversation as she is in her blogposts. A strong and image-conjuring writer she narrates her kitchen and life's adventures with warmth and the lightest of humourous flourishes.

Please take the time to visit the blogs who've nominated me and whom I've nominated. They are all on my personal blogroll and I enjoy every minute I spend there.

cheers!
jasmine