First and foremost, I hope you’ve all been busy sharing some good times with friends and family during the past few weeks, and that you’ve celebrated your respective holidays with lots of great food, frivolity and a little reflection as well. We just returned from celebrating a most lovely Christmas with my mom out of town, and it was wonderful to be with her and to have the chance to spend some quality time together. Thanks for having us mom, you’re the best and we love you!

Second, I’d like to share a great surprise that happened on my way out of town for the holiday. I discovered that I’d been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by Sharyn at The Kale Chronicles and also by Eva over at Kitchen Inspirations. Wow! What an unexpected honor, and a super Christmas present, to boot! Sharyn’s blog, The Kale Chronicles, features her inventive recipes using ingredients from her CSA box, and for each post she creates bright and charming watercolor illustrations to go along with the subject, a unique and quite wonderful approach. Eva at Kitchen Inspirations is a graphic designer like myself, and hails from Canada. Her blog features some diverse and terrific sounding recipes along with lovely photographic images (she’s quite a stylist and shooter, too), as well as tales of her travels and culinary adventures…it’s a terrific read. Thank you both so much for honoring me with this special award and congratulations to you both on your nominations as well. Continue reading →