Versatile Blogger Award
We have been nominated for a Versatile Blogger Award by Nell from ineedafeed!
We are totally thrilled when anyone reads our blog, never mind when someone nominates us for an award. That’s made our month! Thanks Nell.
It’s especially nice to be nominated for this one as it is about recognising when people have something distinctive about their blog, and where their love for what they do comes through in the words & photos. We try really hard to take the most beautiful photographs that we can to really show how gorgeous food can be, and we also write with love. Not only are we writing for anyone who might care to read it, we are writing to each other. Two sisters communicating through food, gluttony and a shared sweet tooth. So thank you, Nell, it means a lot.
Now the way this works is that we have to write 7 facts which you might not know about us and then nominate some bloggers who we think are pretty special for you to discover. We will share the facts between us, rather than boring you with 14!
- Becky – I am a fussy foodie. If you read enough of my recipes it will become apparent that certain ingredients just never crop up. When I was a kid pretty much all I would eat was plain chicken. With chips. Carefully seasoned with ketchup. As an adult my palate is broader (not difficult), but I can still be something of a fussy eater. I’m lactose intolerant, don’t like fish, allergic to seafood, not a big curry fan… the list goes on! However, I like to think that might give hope to people who are fussy eaters themselves, in that you don’t have to like everything to be a good cook and love food. You just have to really like some things.
- Sally – I don’t like Italian food (except pizza of course). I know this is sacrilege but I find pasta boring & risotto makes me gag. I think I need to eat Italian food in Italy where they have the right produce, everywhere else it seems boring & tasteless to me.
- Becky – When I moved to Spain I brought only 5 cookbooks with me (from two shelves groaning under weighty tomes). These were by Nigel Slater, Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, Richard Bertinet and Delia. It’s a mix of old favourites, new ones with recipes to try, veggie recipes (for my husband) and Delia. I can’t move anywhere without Delia. Having her there is a bit like having your Mum or your Nan in the corner of the room so you can say “how do you make pancakes again, Mum?” and there she is with the answer. She’s a marvel!
- Sally – When I first left home I ate canned chicken soup for breakfast, lunch & dinner for about 3 months. I am not exaggerating. Like Becky I was a really fussy eater as a kid & mainly ate chicken, soup was the easiest way to ingest chicken. Luckily a flatmate from Asia took pity & started feeding me. I didn’t really like the food at first but ate it because I couldn’t face another can of soup. She did me a massive favour as I grew used to allsorts of ingredients & tastes. Now I will try anything, I have even started eating brussel sprouts.
- Becky – Some of the best things I’ve ever eaten include a breakfast of warm cookies with milk in Disney World as a kid, chicken noodle soup by a floating market in Thailand, a teeny tiny parcel of pigeon with cinnamon at the Fat Duck (amazing!), Portuguese chicken (of course) with portuguese bread, fresh raspberries from my garden, my nan’s speciality North of England dish Panacalty and pretty much anything Sally cooks for me. I can remember some meals better than most other events from my childhood. I should add that my memory isn’t the most reliable anyway… I have a habit of ‘remembering’ things from when I was a kid and them turning out to just be things I saw on TV. For example, it turns out I never went on a hoverboat through the everglades as a child. That was the credits from Gentle Ben!
- Sally – I really like learning new things but I don’t like school. I really get upset when people tell me what to do so I prefer to learn things by doing them. Cooking is a good example, I have been working in restaurants rather than going to culinary school. I learned both Spanish & how to run a restaurant by buying a restaurant in Peru (bit reckless really but it was fun). That is part of the reason we did this blog. I wanted to learn about social media. Becky has helped me loads as she is a genius at this sort of thing & I have spent interminable hours (when I should have been sleeping) on Pinterest.
- Becky – My other big passions are art, interiors, craft and making. I’m learning to knit right now and loving it!
Since starting to write the blog we have really come to appreciate the work of other bloggers. Being part of the community means we read food blogs a lot. Increasingly, this is where we get our inspiration and recipes & we turn to blogs when deciding what to cook for dinner. We love that bloggers tell a story & describe how the recipe came about & why it works. Blog posts can be a lot richer than recipes from books & include loads of helpful tips and recipe variations.
With that in mind here are our nominations (in no particular order) for the Versatile Blogger Award. Thanks to all of you for the inspiration, delicious recipes & mouthwatering photos.
arecipeforgluttony 
THANK YOU 🙂 What an honour to be nominated. I hope you’ll understand when I say my planned posts are stacked up to the roof so I won’t be joining in by giving answers, but so delighted to be given a mention. Loved all your answers – canned chicken soup for breakfast? Really?!!
No worries Sally we totally understand. The main thing was to recognise & give a shout out to the blogs we love. We are pleased to hear you have lots of posts on the way as we love reading your blog.
Yes I did eat chicken soup for breakfast (couldn’t manage fresh milk for cereals), teenagers are a bit feral aren’t they!
Thanks! I’m just heading off on holiday, so will try to deliver on my nomination, but can’t promise, at least for now – great to hear more about you though!
No worries, we just wanted to recognise the bloggers who make our day with their posts & you are definitely one of those. There is no deadline so if you feel like making some nominations when you get back we would be intrigued to see them.
Have a great holiday.
Thanks for nominating us. I love reading your blog and have really enjoyed the recipes that I have tried so far. Also, cooking sisters is kinda our cup of tea! Sally, I love that you just opened a restaurant in Peru! How brave! Becky, I really want everything on your list of best meals. Also, I did not know that you did pinterest. I just followed you.
Thanks so much we are pleased you like the blog & have tried some recipes. We have followed you on Pinterest too – love Your puppets
This was a great read! I’m off to investigate your nominees. 😀
Thanks for nominating us Nell – hope you like our choices. We have started following your choices, there’s some great baking stuff on them.
How sweet! And, Sally, I’m with you on No. 2. I guess I wouldn’t go so far as to say I don’t like it. It’s just way down on the hierarchy. I can never get over the fact that every bite is just the same as the last one. (Heresy though it is to say!)
hahaaaa I am so pleased to have found a fellow heretic (everyone else thinks I am crazy). You hit the nail on the head – every mouthful is the same. I know a lot of people find that comforting but not me.
Thanks so much for nominating Spontaneous Tomato! I’m honored. 🙂
I especially loved reading the #5 point in your list—you never know when or where you’re going to have the most delicious, memorable meals of your life! (And, Becky, like you I may not have the best memory, but I can definitely remember some specific meals better than most of the other stuff that was going on in my life at the time… it’s like I have a selective memory for good food.)
I wonder if a selective memory for food is a prerequisite for being a blogger. It is probably just a sign that we are all obsessed & long may it continue.