Friday, September 12, 2008

6 Random Things Meme and an Award


T.G.I.F.! Why did it seem like such a long week?! So you don't hate me too much, the weather did not look like this when I left work today--it was actually gray and dumping down rain which is supposed to happen sporadically throughout this weekend. The good thing about Hawaii however is that in between the dumping the sky will be blue with rainbows!

I have been a bit behind with a couple of things, a meme I was tagged with a few weeks ago and an award I received a few days ago. Why not post them both and ease my guilty conscience!
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The Meme:
Tinker from Tinker Culture tagged me with the "6 Random Things About Me" meme. Her blog is great, lots of yummy, mostly healthy recipes and her cat Tugger is pretty darn cute. I think I have been putting this meme off because of the intimidation factor: 1) Does anyone really want to know 6 random things about me? and 2) How to pick six random things that are not "over sharing" and don't make people think of me as that "really strange blogger from Hawaii." Trust me I have A LOT of little quirks!
OK...here goes nothing!
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1) I hate pumpkin! The smell, taste and the texture. (The seeds I like but that is about it) As a matter of fact, people think I am strange because my favorite holiday is Thanksgiving yet I have a dislike of a long list of fall and winter holiday foods: the aforementioned pumpkin, eggnog, gingerbread, nutmeg, allspice, mace, molasses, yams and sweet potatoes just to name a few.
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2) I read Pride and Prejudice every year in January--it's a tradition, along with watching Bridget Jone's Diary sometime during the New Years Weekend. I also own about 5 versions of film adaptations of the book. Jane Austen was a genius!
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3) Two places where I can hang out for hours and spend a LOT of money--good grocery or natural foods stores and bookstores. My overstocked pantry and bookshelves support this fact. Because the grocery stores in Hawaii are not great (except we finally got a Whole Foods this week but more about that later), whenever I visit my family in Oregon, I spend hours visiting the stores there. Actually anywhere I travel I love to go to grocery stores and look at the local/regional items even more than I like to go to museums or historical sites
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4) Although I often can't remember where I parked the car or put my cell phone, I have a strange ability to remember random facts and trivia especially about movies, books, celebrities and pop culture. I kick butt at Trivial Pursuit and any other trivia games. It is so bad that friends and family call me to settle arguments or to ask me who was in such & such movie and the vast majority of the time I can answer them.
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5) I once ate most of a bowl of raw chicken. I was in Japan with some people from work having dinner when a small bowl of thin sliced sashimi on ice was put in front of me. I started eating it and couldn't figure out the texture and quietly asked the waiter what kind of fish it was. He said: "No fish!" so I asked again; "No fish!" I tried one more time; "No fish! Chicken!" Down went the chopsticks--I couldn't help thinking I just ate a bowl of salmonella!!! Nothing happened; actually Japan, home of eating the deadly, poisonous fugu fish is probably one of the safer places to consume raw chicken meat but it was a bit much for me. I had a really hard time eating chicken for quite some time and it still isn't my favorite protein to cook or eat today.
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6) I am an incredibly fast reader. You can't tell since I am slow pretty moving on changing the currently reading and just read gadgets on the side of my blog but usually I am reading 2 to 3 books at once and have finished half a dozen or so before I change the gadget. When I was young one of my older brothers would never believe I actually read books because I finished them so fast so he would read a chapter and "test me" to see if I really read it. Of course by the time he finished that chapter, I was half way through another book--no joke. I read anything and everything and in addition to stacks of cookbooks you'll find all kinds of books of many different genres in the bookshelves and in stacks in my house.
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OK--that's 6 random and very wordy things about me! I am not going to tag anyone as it seems most of my food blogging buddies have done this one. But please feel free to leave a comment and tell me something random about you and make me feel better about my little random quirks!

The Award:
My friend, Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies, presented me with the "I Love You This Much Award".

She said I make her happy and the feeling is oh so mutual! Natashya and I started blogging about the same time and she is a fun, talented blogger who I admire so much for her incredible cooking abilities and photography skills. She has a great sense of humor and we seem to agree on a lot of things! I love to get comments and emails from her and she has really become a good friend. If for some reason you have never visited her site, I suggest you go and check it out here and you will see what I mean!
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Since Natashya passed it on to two of us, I am going to repeat that process and pass it on to two deserving bloggers out of the many of you out there who continue to make me happy by your wonderful blogs and your support and friendship.

The first goes to Teresa at Mexican-American Border Cooking. Teresa is such a warm, friendly and supportive person to so many--she leaves me comments that make me feel happy. I love her site and learn a lot about Mexican cooking, history and culture from it, not to mention the delicious recipes. She has another great site, Mexican Chocolate Lore and More about one of my favorite subjects of course, that you should visit--but be warned, it will start some serious cravings!

The second goes to Foodycat. Like many of you, I started this blog to be able to connect and share my passion for cooking and the comments, feedback and good vibes that I receive really mean a lot. Foodycat is always out there, spreading positive comments and good cheer. She makes interesting and incredible dishes on her site and I love to dash over there for a peek at what she is up to. I have to have a tissue nearby to wipe the drool off my keyboard.

I love the sense of community out here in the food blogging world and these two are wonderful examples of it!

Max and I wish you all a happy Friday and a great weekend!

13 comments:

  1. cool random things and congrats on the award, well deserved.

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  2. Thank you so much! Your kind words mean a lot because I really enjoy this blog (and the thought of Max in your kitchen).

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  3. Sniff, you are so sweet.
    Our notes and exchanges are the highlight of my day. (I am like Charlie Brown at the mailbox!)
    I think your picks for the award are awesome and well deserved.

    ps, I am totally with you on #3, I can linger forever in good food stores.

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  4. Oh Deb, I love you too. My biggest wish is that someday I sell enough of my ebook so that I can afford to go to Hawaii and swim with the dolphins and eat by your side. You are such a beautiful person and I love reading your blogs. Sometimes you almost make me feel like I'm really there. Thank you sweetie.

    What's quiry about me? Good God, where can I start. I know.
    I'm a 58 year old woman who loves to cook and write. I love music and dancing too. Problem is, I also have Fibromlgia, so my muscles don't like to cooperate with me. Does it stop me from dancing? Nope. If I'm cooking, I usually have some music going on in the kitchen and before you know I'm wiggling around. Now I know that if I do this for too long I'll be down for the count with aches and pains that only meds can remove (and I don't like taking pain meds!). But I still dance. It's another passion of mine. Old people tend to be stubborn.

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  5. I'm telling you, I'd love to spend the weekend playing T. P. and reading quietly. I read P and P all the time-I keep a copy with me at all times in case I have a down moment or get stuck waiting somewhere. I don't care where I start reading, I'll just dive right in. The other book I keep in the car is Our Mutual Friend by Dickens. I love that one too. I don't care what page I start on. Congrats on the award, and I'm awfully sorry that you ate RAW chicken and that you don't like pumpkin. Otherwise, you're just perfect.:)

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  6. Congrats on the award (it's much deserved - we all heart you!)! This meme was really interesting - the pumpkin thing was not something I would have guessed (but then again, even the smell of ketchup makes me sick, so we all have our glorious quirks don't we?). I'm right there with you on the grocery stores and bookstores (oh Powells, how I miss you!) - in fact, I guess we'll be sharing in grocery store browsing together tomorrow!! I can't wait to see what other quirks you have up your sleeve....

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  7. Kat--thanks!

    Foodycat--you are very sweet and very welcome! Max says hi! ;-)

    Natashya--I really look forward to them too!

    Teresa--I hope you come over too--quirks and all! ;-)

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  8. Prudy--P&P rocks and I'll have to check out that Dicken's book. Glad you think I am close to perfect! ;-)

    Michelle--we could be there quite awhile and do serious damage tomorrow!

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  9. Prudy--P&P rocks and I'll have to check out that Dicken's book. Glad you think I am close to perfect! ;-)

    Michelle--we could be there quite awhile and do serious damage tomorrow!

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  10. Ha ha ha! I hope so, Deb, I hope so!

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  11. have you tried eating the sweet potatoes raw? i don't like them cooked but they are good raw. kinda like a carrot taste. wish i was in hawaii right now. i miss that place. time to go back

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  12. Colleen--I have not tried them raw hmm... I can eat them baked or deep-fried, french fry style OK--I still like regular fries better though!

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  13. Thanks for the random things - I too can spend way too long in food stores, fortunately my boyfriend is very much aware of this by now (and generally, to his credit, is very patient - although he does come and nudge me every now and then.) I also get tired of the "are you find everything ok?" - I'm looking. Yes, I browse food shops.

    Congrats on the award, and the dracula kitty! We gave Tugs a catnip high today - so much fun!

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