Milestones & awards

With a hundred and fifty posts under my belt, now is probably a good time to catch up with a few award shout-outs. Quite a few months ago, while I was in the throes of the final stages of wedding planning, the always humorous Conor of Hold the Beef presented me with this happy, happy blog award:

Which made me reflect, despite certain undesirable events which have taken place over the past two years, on the many things that make me happy. And by nature I am a person of sunny disposition, so here are ten things which make me happy:

1. Receiving packages in the mail, even when it is just something you’ve bought yourself.
2. Cups of tea.
3. Blue skies and puffy white clouds. (And rainbows.)
4. Sunbeams and aubergines. Oh, and the understated comedic sensation embodied by a certain Mr Perfect.
5. Getting a recipe right the first time and the end product actually looking and tasting like how I expected.
6. Surprises from Monsieur Poisson – like this boxful of Adriano Zumbo cakes.

7. Meeting food bloggers and realising they’re just as lovely, talkative and funny in real life as they are when hiding behind their computers. And especially when they treat you to Adriano Zumbo’s mini-chocolate mousse cake.

8. ‘Strangers’ leaving comments on this blog. As in, people whom I don’t know in real life and not just friends being polite by visiting.
9. The comfort of knowing that some relationships can and will last forever. “To infinity, and beyond!”
10. Good food, awesome friends and excellent conversation punctuated by lots of laughter.

And now, to share the happiness around, here are some blogs which bring a smile to my face whenever I read them:

• Belly Rumbles
• Café Campana
• Scandi Foodie
• Cookbookmaniac
• The Food Book

Just to up the happiness factor the lovely Jenny of Panda & Cakes, whom I finally had the pleasure of meeting not so long ago, gave me this Sweet Blog award:

I will now be sprinkling some sweetness-laced dust around to these blogs:

• Starloz
• tangerine eats
• Vondelicious!
• yygall’s table
• a food lover’s journey

I believe I was actually meant to name ten blogs for each award but I, uh, got a bit lazy… For a more comprehensive reading list, please peruse the blog roll to the left. Thank you for your kind support and for reading my continued ramblings about food. There is most definitely more of that to come!

happy cooking & happy eating!