It's Aloha Friday: An Award and You REALLY Do Need To Try This!

I love this food blogging community--the kindness, the support and all the recognition that everyone provides each other--it just makes you feel good. The wonderful Laurie at That's Not What The Recipe Says was sweet enough to pass on an "E for Excellence Award" to me, which means a lot when it comes from such a talented cook, writer and all around foodie! Laurie started blogging about the same time I did and she has some really incredible recipes and great photos on her blog. One of these days I am going to make her Holupki (Ukrainian cabbage rolls) now that I know how to make Kaldomar (Swedish cabbage rolls) so we can have a global cabbage roll battle (just kidding about the battle but her rolls really do look incredible--I think she would win!)

As always, the tough part is choosing who to give the award to as there are so many excellent bloggers out there deserving this award. I am going to go ahead and give it to two great blogs by two new blogging friends of mine. One of the reasons Laurie passed on the award to me was because of the COOK THE BOOKS club that I am helping to host so it seems fitting to pass the first two awards to the wonderful bloggers who really kicked the book club into gear:

Rachel of The Crispy Cook: Rachel has my dream job, owning and running a used and rare book store. She is a wonderful cook and a voracious reader so we have a lot in common. She cooks gluten free and has some wonderful recipes on her blog.

Johanna of Food Junkie Not Junk Food: Johanna is an archaeologist, lives in Athens Greece and has an amazing blog written in both English and Greek. The photos and food on her site are incredible.

Stop by these two great blogs for a visit and to congratulate them and consider joining us for COOK THE BOOKS and reading our first selection; La Cucina: A Novel of Rapture by Lori Prior. You have until December 15th to read the book and come up with a recipe inspired by your reading. I promise it will be fun! For more details on COOK THE BOOKS go here.

Thanks again Laurie for the wonderful award!

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On another note:

OK, I know I have posted about this before (like here and also here) and it isn't really a "recipe" but you really have to try this combo NOW for a easy dessert or snack. You probably have all you need for it--a baguette, good olive oil, dark chocolate (or chocolate chips) and some sea salt. I made it for a snack for Mom and I tonight and although she was lukewarm about trying it because she thought it sounded strange, she ended up really liking it.

It's simple; toast the baguette, drizzle olive oil on it, place some chocolate pieces or chocolate chips on top and place in microwave for 15-20 seconds until chocolate is melted and spreadable. Spread chocolate so it covers baguette and sprinkle some sea salt slightly over the top. Eat warm and enjoy.

Happy Friday Everyone! Max says whatever your idea of fun is, go do it this weekend!