A Few Orders of Business, Plus Blog Awards (Part Two!)

Hi there!  So my dear friend has politely pointed out that it seems I have not posted in over a week.  Yikes!  Not to worry, life has just been a little hectic and I have been traveling, but am here with new posts and exciting Cilantropist updates. 


I am actually most excited about the fact that I have recently expanded my social media connections: I'm finally on Twitter!  Thats right, just divert your eyes for a moment over to my sidebar and check out the new little button with that cute bird that we all know so well.  If you love The Cilantropist (which I hope you do), then follow me on Twitter!  By following you can be sure to get notifications for all my new posts, plus extra witty and hopefully interesting commentary on foodie related happenings, restaurants I visit, and life in general.  Not on Twitter yet?  Scroll down a bit more on the sidebar and click to follow me with your preferred Reader.  And if you don't have Twitter or use a Reader, I plan to have both a Facebook page and the option for email subscription up and going soon.  Basically I want to give you, my readers, as many options to connect with The Cilantropist as possible because I really love connecting with you too. :)  


So on that note, I also just added my contact email to this page.  JennieFurla just brought it to my attention that it was sadly missing, and I definitely do not want to shut anyone out.  So if you like, shoot me an email, I would love to hear from you!  Ask me about a recipe, tell me about your favorite foodie experiences, or even send me a picture of your cat Princess Fluffy.  And if you try one of my recipes posted here, definitely tell me about it by comment/email.  To email me, just click on my profile and go from there.  


Next order of business: I received the Sunshine blog award from a foodie friend, Lauren Zabaneh of Foodie House!  So excited and honored to receive the Sunshine award from such a lovely gal.  I know she hasn't been blogging for long, but I think one of the things that really sets her apart is her inclusion of lots of really cool video content in each of her posts.  Her posts are always really interesting to read, and usually make me laugh too, and her food is totally delicious.  Be sure to check out these chocolate cupcakes in particular, YUM.

                   
I am ashamed to admit that I got this same award from the Baking Barrister last month, and I completely forgot to pass that award on.  Ugh, sometimes my mind feels like a sieve!  So without further ado, I would like to pass the Sunshine award onto the following bloggers because they make me happy, I think their blogs are awesome, and they have the wonderful tendency to spread cheery rays of sunshine to other foodie friends.  I decided to list 10 of them, since I got this award times two, and they are listed in no particular order: 


Laurie of Simply Scratch
Azmina of Lawyer Loves Lunch
Kait of Cooking with Kait
Brian of A Thought For Food
Roxan of Kitchen Meditation
Chef Dennis of More Than a Mount Full 
Jessie of The Messie Kitchen
Penny of Jeroxie (Addictive and Consuming)
Silvia of Citron et Vanille
My good friend Jill of Strawberry Spice


Please, please, please go and check out all of their blogs, I promise you that they are amazing.  I would love to write a little bit about each one, but I am slightly pressed for time so I just want to give a quick shout out especially to Laurie of Simply Scratch; hers was the first site that I ever saw my own blog listed on a blogroll and I was just tickled pink!  The little things... 


And on that note, my last order of business for the day is my blogroll.  I just listed quite a few more blogs that I love and I am adding more day by day.  So if you are looking for a new food blog to check out, this is a good place to start!


Happy (almost) Friday! 

Blog Awards!

WOW!  So, in short time here, I have received multiple blog awards from my wonderful foodie friends!  I feel incredibly honored that they bestowed these awards on me, and it is definitely heartwarming to feel loved.  Sort of like a cyber-hug, or maybe a pat on the back for working hard to make this blog a special place for food-lovers and new friends.  


On that note, first I want to thank Julie over at Mommie Cooks! for giving me the Beautiful Blogger Award!  Her blog is wonderful, and her three adorable little boys look like bundles of joy with smiling faces.  I like her food because it is approachable, yet elegant (check out her recent Black and Blue Sorbet!), and did I mention she sometimes includes photos of her cute-as-pie children? :) Thanks so much Julie!  

I can't be entirely sure, but it seems as though I am supposed to share this with 5 other bloggers, and then post a few random facts about myself.  So here goes!

First off, I would like to share this award with the following: 

1. The Baking Barrister: Ah, how could I know that she would pass an award on to me when I had already planned to pass this one on to her?  Obviously great minds think alike. :)  Check out her blog, and you will immediately be greeted by the most perfect giraffe cookies you have ever seen, plus witty repartee to make you smile.  

2. Chef Wannabe:  All of her food is beautiful.  All of it.  Her encouraging comments on my posts, and her willingness to share my self pity during gloomy So Cal days has made her one of my favorites!  I am jealous of her rustic wooden table and her lovely trinkets. 

3. Spicy Perspective: Both the food she cooks and her accounts of life experiences seem very real and down to earth.  Whether Sommer is talking about her family, her neighborhood, or her most recent meal, she is just someone you inherently want to like.    

4. Lemons and Anchovies: Jean's blog reminds me a lot of my own, like seeing a twin sister. :)  I think many of her feelings about food are similar to mine, though she seems to have cuter plates and more patterned linens which makes for interesting and good looking food styling! 

5. Delicious Delicious Delicious: A fellow competitor in the Not So Humble Pie contest, Mr. P is not afraid to make cupcakes and cookies with glee, and his photos are clean and bright.  The pink text on his pages makes me happy. 

And second, a few random things that make The Cilantropist special:

- I do my best to be ecologically conscious.  This means recycling, buying from local farmers markets, and even using non-chemical methods to de-pest my plants (more to come on this in a later post). 

-I am not just a scientist by profession, but it really is the core of my being.  I think much of my life is a crazy experiment, which thankfully has yielded great results so far. :)  As a kid, my parents definitely nurtured my fascination with biology, and a series of great teachers developed my passion.  Now, I experiment constantly in the kitchen (making recipes exactly according to the instructions is the exception rather than the rule), and I am always fascinated by plants, small bugs, animals, and all things biological.  I really like to follow the life cycles of things and watch them grow, and this includes warm blooded mammals like little babies too. 

-Despite loving biology and being able to closely examine things that may make weaker folk squirm, I am a big sissy when it comes to my own blood.  I come pretty close to passing out when I see my own blood, and due to the fact that I am pretty accident prone, this happens more than I would like.  (Wait til you see my next post...)

-I LOVE to travel.  My list of places I would like to visit is miles long, although I have traveled to some great places so far.  Close to home (ie. the USA), some of my favorites are Chicago, San Francisco, Death Valley, and Hawaii (all the islands); far from home, I sometimes think I left a chunk of my heart in Australia and New Zealand when I studied abroad there, and I love love love Paris.  And of course, I can't forget Norway!

-Living here in Southern California, I sometimes complain about the few gloomy days we have, but I secretly miss the real weather and seasons that I grew up with in Ohio.  I long for the crashing thunder and lightning of a good thunderstorm; when even a little bit of rain falls in San Diego, we just have car accidents and leaking buildings.  I also miss the changing colors of the leaves in the fall. 

-I was obsessed with pickles as a child.  I could literally eat a whole jar in one sitting.  Sick, I know.  Why my mother let me do this, I have no idea; at the time I was too thrilled to care. 

Ok!  Enough about me for right now, before I close this post full of self-disclosure and blog appreciation, I need to thank one more person.  The Baking Barrister also gave me not one, but TWO, blog awards!  I was thrilled to receive these from her, and it is great to get accolades from someone you respect and like already.  She is great for all the reasons I listed above, but now I love her even more because she wrote a whole post about about food dedicated to the season premiere of True Blood.  I pretty obsessed with that show myself (even one more reason why I am special), and I would tell you to get HBO just so you can watch it.  She even made pizza with ooozy, bloody beets.  I think this is outstanding.  So, many thanks to her for these blog awards, and I promise to include my list of recipients in my next post plus 10 things that make me happy.