El Premio Arte y Pico

I feel so honored and humbled...the lovely Deb, at Kahakai Kitchen just awarded me, and four other lucky bloggers, the El Premio Arte y Pico award (and this was even before we met each other! I promise!). I have never received an award before, so I'm blushing, shuffling my feet back and forth, looking down at the floor and just completely beside myself that someone out there would choose to give little ol' me and my little ol' blog an award. Thanks so much, Deb! Since I've been gushing a lot recently about Deb's site, I'll just say go and check it out on your own if you haven't already - and I can tell you from experience that she's as great in person as the posts on her blog and the sweet comments she leaves on other's sites would have you believe. You can see her award and the other bloggers she chose on her post.

Upon trying to figure out what El Premio Arte y Pico translated to in English, I came upon the original site. I'm adding the link to that and the *rules* of the award (though I condensed them...which I probably wasn't supposed to do, but oh well, nobody is perfect, eh?), since they seem to have gotten lost amongst all of the passing on. The phrase itself supposedly translates to something like: "Wow. The best art. Over the top!" The rules are as follows:

Rules:

1. Choose 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award, creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogger community.
2. Each award should have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone, and a link to the blog which bestowed it upon them.
3. The award-winner and the one who has given the prize should include a link to "Arte y pico"blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

Now the best part of receiving the award: getting to choose 5 other bloggers whose sites and posts are a creative inspiration to me. There are so many wonderful blogs out there, and so much amazing photography, but I also wanted to pick bloggers that not only had great photography, but inspired me in other ways too. So here are my 5:

1. Cookiecrumb, at I'm Mad and I Eat. I've been reading Cookiecrumb's blog now for years (she was, in fact, one of the first blogs I ever read) and she never ceases to inspire me in so many different ways...to eat locally (this woman made her own salt, people!), to cook without recipes, to make the most of what's available to you (even if it's 100 pounds of pears), and recognizing the beauty in the ingredients of the food as much as the food itself. Plus, she makes me laugh every day and there's nothing better than that!
   
2. Karen, at Rambling Spoon. Karen's photos and descriptions take you all over the world from New Mexico to Laos, Thailand, India and beyond. Plus, she's a Gourmet contributor, an author of two books (I'm planning on buying both as soon as I get my budget figured out here), and an incredibly humble, intelligent and sweet person to boot. She not only inspires me to cook, but makes me want to travel the world!
   
3. Ilva, at Lucullian Delights. Ilva and I started our blogs around the same time and have been visiting online ever since. I love the simplicity and clean lines of her blog, making her incredible pictures center stage. She lives in gorgeous Tuscany and shows her readers a little of her life every day, along with simply prepared and delicious food - showing that even with a few ingredients, you can make a masterpiece. Her site and her ideas are always inspiring!
   
4. Tanna, at My Kitchen in Half-Cups. Not only do I love having Tanna visit my site because she leaves such warm and supportive comments, but Tanna's site seems to be different than most of the other blogs I visit. Her background always has to do with what she's cooking up in the kitchen that day, and every post is filled with great quotes, thoughts and often the most beautiful breads. She inspires me to want to bake my own bread every time I read about hers!
   
5. Ann and Jack, at Redacted Recipes. Ann randomly stopped by my site one day and I'm so glad she did because then I was able to find their blog! Their pictures are beautiful (they can make anything look delicious) and they are always trying new recipes and participating in all kinds of events - churning out all kinds of fabulous-looking food. They make me want to jump in the boat and join in everything (if I only had the time). Plus, I'm a sucker for their header - it's so cute!!