This and That and Two Awards

Here are a couple of pictures from our camping trip at the most amazing beach in Ontario: Sandbanks Provincial Park on Lake Ontario. We had a great time building sand castles, jumping waves, getting grimy, eating s'mores, and even enjoying some leftover Le Cordon Bleu Creamed Leek and Potato Soup as an appetizer. But it's good to be home again and not have to worry about rain, critters, and poison ivy!

Ever since I joined the "food blogosphere" not so long ago, I've been amazed at the warmth, community, and friendliness of all the fellow foodies I've met.

A while ago, Clara from I Heart Food4Thought gave me “The Arte y Pico” award which translates to “Peak of Art”. I found this quote from the originator of this award:

"What is the meaning of the expression: Arte y Pico ironically, it translates into a wonderful phrase in Mexico, “lo maximo.” LOL! It will never find its counterpart in English, but if it HAD to, it would be something like, Wow. The Best Art. Over the top."

I'm so flattered and honored! Thanks, Clara. You're a sweetie. Check out Clara's blog. She has creative and amazing ideas, always rates the recipes she's tried with her husband, makes me smile everytime I read her posts, and even has another blog dedicated to cupcakes! Very ambitious!

Here are the rules for the award:
1. I have to pick blogs who deserve this award because the content of their blog is creative, interesting, and they inspire the blogging community.
2. Each recipient has to have their name and link back to their blog.
3. The recipient must display the award and link back to the blog that awarded them the award.
4. The recipient must also show the link back to Arte y Pico blog so everyone knows the origin of the award.

The hard part is picking since I read so many creative, interesting, and inspiring blogs. Here are my picks, in no particular order:

1. La casserole carree - Even though I can't read (or for that matter speak) French, I love looking at the beautiful food Vibi creates and shows on her food blog. Inspiring and stunning!

2. Technicolor Kitchen - English version - Patricia has amazing photos that make me want to head to the kitchen immediately. She's another ambitious blogger who maintains a Portugese version of her blog as well!

3. Almond Corner - Chriesi has amazing photos and a busy food blog that's always inspiring.

4. Bonbini - Thip shares her pastry art with us and truly inspires and wows me.


Recently, two foodie friends and fellow TWD-ers (Mary Ann from Meet Me in the Kitchen and Natashya from Living in the Kitchen with Puppies) gave me the Yum Yum Blog Award. {Update: Noor from Ya Salam Cooking created the Yum-Yum blog award to pass over to some of the fabulous blogs out there.} Mary Ann's blog has so many great food ideas and lots of kid-friendly ones that I'd love to try. Natashya is one busy foodie who participates in so many different food blogging events and isn't phased by it at all. In fact, her blog is continually changing as she shows us her latest delicious experiments in the kitchen. Thanks, guys!

I love being able to pass on these warm and fuzzy feelings to more food bloggers! I am to pass it to 5 deserving candidates with the intention that they post it on their site and confer the honour to other delicious food bloggers.

1. Redacted Recipes - Ann and Jack put together amazing food and photos on their blog. Plus, they've decided to join Whisk Wednesdays, so what's not to love about that!

2. The Sugar Bar - Diva takes amazing food photos and inspires me to try different food and recipes.

3. wrightfood - Matt's photos are crisp, clean, and delicious. He even has a cookbook ready for downloading.

4. Farida’s Azerbaijani Cookbook - Farida's writing about the food of her home country, Azerbaijan. How exotic is that!

5. Tony Tahhan - It's worth a visit to Tony's blog just to admire his pictures of the ingredients! Very yum yum.

Thanks for making my week extra special!