pass it (blog love) on!

I wanted to post inspirational pictures of Athens after seeing Jen's photographs of Boston. Ones that really make you say, "Wow, that looks like an awesome place to visit". Yeah...I don't have such pictures on my camera so instead, I'll show you what I've been up to for the past 5 days. See that Bible sized book? Oh and what about that smaller book that explains what the big one says? Class notes? I got those too! But finally, I'm free from the clutches of pharmacology for a couple weeks until it starts all over again.

One of the days I was studying (what is today? Friday?), Jen awarded me with the "One Lovely Blog" award. To know that people (for some reason) enjoy reading my blog is a tremendous honor and I hope to continue sharing my culinary adventures with everyone for more years to come.

So the rules of accepting this award are to:

1) Link to the person from whom you've received the reward

2) Nominate blogs you really like, preferably ones you have recently discovered

3) Leave a message to the nominees' blog telling them of their reward

Before I name my nominations: I enjoy reading ALL of your blogs, so please don't feel offended if you're not listed. I don't scroll down to the pictures of food, drool at the amazing foodporn and then comment about how tasty or delicious that looks. No my friends - I actually take the time to sit down and read what you have to say. The following (in no particular order) are some blogs that have really inspired me or changed the way I look at food or blogging in general.

1) Jen at Tiny Urban Kitchen

- I can't recall how I found her blog but it's been a joy keeping up with her posts. Her restaurant reviews, recipes (especially the Asian ones) and her photographs (oh the foodporn) are few of the many reasons to follow her blog. She tries to find both the pros and cons even if the restaurant isn't stellar and I've been trying to implement those techniques in my own reviews.

2) Jimmy at Eat It, Atlanta

- I probably ran into Jimmy's blog through Gene at Eat, Drink, Man. Both are local Atlanta bloggers who I have so much respect for. Not only does Jimmy cook really great stuff, his restaurant reviews are witty, pleasantly biased and an overall fun read. This week, he's taking on the Eat on 30 challenge which limits him to $30 this week to spend on food. If you live in Atlanta, why the hell haven't you bookmarked this page already?

3) Em at Kitchen M

- Em's a dietitian and food photographer living in the Bay area. I've been really enjoying her mystery ingredient posts lately but to be honest, all of her entries are awesome. Her photography is immaculate and I hope I'll be able to take pictures half her quality for my blog. An absolute inspiration.

4) Taylor at Passport Foodie

- Taylor eats and conquers food as he travels all around the US. I can't even begin to describe his photography because I'm not worthy. Need proof? Take a look at his photography site. I'm a real fan of his writing. Witty, sarcastic at times and unafraid to tell it like it is - real Bourdainesque in some way. I'm really looking forward to his French Laundry post to come.