Q&A, a Blog Award, and Only Two More Days to Enter the Giveaway!

Happy Halloween from the Hubby

Time for a little Q&A compliments of Wendy at The Weekend Gourmet and Lindsey at Gingerbread Bagels! If you haven't been to their blogs, I hope you'll take a moment and stop by to say hi!

Wendy is in Texas and seems to have an eclectic taste in foods just like me. I'm dying to try her Chicken Curry with Cashews. And Lindsey from Oregon is always tempting me with her tantalizing desserts and amazing baking skillllzzz! Check out her homemade Peanut Butter and Jelly Filled Donuts!

Now on to the Q&A...they each asked me to answer 8 questions and then pass on to 7 other bloggers and ask them to do the same. This is such a fun game of tag and a great way to get to know more about everyone.

Wendy's Q's and my A's:

If you could invite any three people (living or not) to a dinner party at your house, who would you invite…and why?

Ina Garten, Aarti Sequeria, and Ree Drummond...probably sounds soooo predictable but these are my favorite food goddesses and I would love to hang with them, have a cocktail, share some cooking stories and hopefully a lot of laughs.

What would be on the dinner menu at this meal?

All my favorite things even though they don't necessarily go together:

• My favorite cocktail - The Rangpur Gimlet!
• To begin I'd serve small plates of my Ahi Tuna Ceviche and Aarti's Friday Shrimp
• Then as a main course my almost famous Meatloaf with Creamy Cauliflower Mash and Roasted Brussels Sprouts
• Last I'd serve Ina's Lemon Meringue Pie!

Do you create iTunes playlists to set the mood when you have people for dinner? If so, tell me what songs you especially like. I do this and am always looking for new additions!

I'm so bad at this! I love music but when I go to iTunes, I can suddenly never remember the names of any songs nor who sings them!

What are your three “go to ingredients” that are always on hand in your kitchen?

Definitely garlic, my collection of O Olive Oil vinegars, and an assortment of approximately 20 different cheeses (not even kidding).

What’s your funniest kitchen/cooking disaster?

This is not a cooking disaster but it does have something to do with food and it was a disaster. One time years ago, I was responsible for arranging dinner reservations for a work function involving out of town business associates. I kept calling a certain restaurant that we occasionally ate at to make reservations but no one would answer. Since we were going to be there on an off night I figured they'd be able to seat us and went ahead and just showed up. We had two carloads full of people after a long day of meetings ready for a nice business dinner and when we pulled up we saw the restaurant had gone out of business!

What’s your favorite kitchen/cooking success?

The first time I baked a loaf of bread from scratch.

If you could be sous-chef-for-a-day for any chef, who would it be…and why?

I would love to be Ina's sous-chef-for-a-day! I admire her style so much, her meals are so well put together, and she makes it all seem effortless. I have learned a lot from her from watching her show and reading her cookbooks. If I could shadow her for a day - there's no telling how much better I could be!

What’s your earliest food memory?
Soft boiled eggs that my grandmother used to make us for lunch when we were very little.

Lindsey's Q's and my A's:
What's your biggest regret in life?
Taking my kids to McDonald's waaaaay too many times when they were little!


If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
That's easy - I already live here (Southern California)!


How many languages can you speak and what are they?
One. English. Barely.


What chef do you admire the most?
I admire Aarti Sequeria. She's down to earth, a very creative chef, and has a kind soul.


What's your favorite recipe from another blog?
There are simply too many favorites for me to pick just one..sorry!


What food blogger would you like to meet and why?
There are so many food bloggers that I admire. I'm constantly impressed, amazed, wowed,  awed, and inspired by the food bloggers I've come to know and love, many of which are listed in my sidebar and below. If I could only pick one, though, it would be Ree Drummond. This is kind of cheating because I did get to meet her at an event not too long ago, but I'd really like to have a re-do now that I've come to know her blog much better and have a much deeper appreciation for the incredible, amazing, and dynamic woman she is.


~Phew! I'm sure that was more than you ever wanted to know about me! Now it's time to learn about a few others. I'll leave it up to them to select the 8 questions from above that they'd like to answer. Meanwhile, if you get a chance mosey on over and check out what they've got cooking:

• Jules at JulesFood
• Debbie at DebaRooRoo
• Foivi at Donkey and the Carrot
• Sue at Couscous & Consciousness
• Michael and Cristy at Mr. & Mrs. P
• Edamame at The Year of Eating Consciously
• Honey at Honey, What's Cooking

I would also love to thank Carolyn at All Day I Dream About Food for giving me the sweetest award called the One Lovely Blog Award. Carolyn has a great blog with lots of healthy recipes - many of which are low carb and/or gluten-free. In fact, if her Chocolate-Glazed Mocha Shortbread doesn't look delicious, I don't know what does! Thank you so much Carolyn!