Elle's New England Kitchen

I'm so thrilled to say that I've been awarded two more awards this week! I know I've said it before, but when I started blogging back in February, I didn't think anyone would care to read what I had to say, or look at the food I was making. But the food blogging community is full of amazing people that genuinely do care, and like to read and see what other people are cooking. Everyone I've encountered has been very supportive, kind and helpful. Seriously, not one sourpuss in the bunch!

Diva at The Sugar Bar has awarded me the “Arte y pico” Award. It's awarded to blogs for their creativity, design, interesting material, and that also contribute to the blogger community, no matter what language. Thank you, Diva! She has a wonderful blog, and a very cool blogging event that she just started that has to do with beauty products that sound/smell good enough to eat, and translating those flavors/scents into food. Fun, right? So go check out her blog, you won't be sorry!

And now I pass them on to five blogs, and here are the rules:

1)Pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award with their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogger community, no matter what language.

2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3) Each award-winner, has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

4) Post the rules.

My five go to:

1) Veggie Girl
2) Delicious By Nature
3) Vicarious Foodie
4) Parsnips Aplenty
5) Okara Mountain
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And second, canarygirl has awarded me with the Blogging for a Purpose Award. Basically, this award is designed to commend blog writers that are thoughtfully sharing their insights with the rest of the world. If you haven't checked out canarygirl's blog, you definitely should! She makes the most delectable food, ever. I've never made a recipe of hers that I didn't love--they're all fabulous! AND, she's having a giveaway right now--you can win a copy of her gorgeous cookbook! So...what are you waiting for? Get your butts over there and check out her blog--you won't be disappointed with her recipes, I can promise you that. And enter the giveaway!

I'm passing this along to some of my favorite blogs:

1) Pixie at You Say Tomahto I Say Tomayto
2) Amy at Delicious By Nature
3) Giz and Psychgrad at Equal Opportunity Kitchen
4) Tiffany at Life After Gluten
5) Lori at Made Healthier

Thank you so much, Diva and canarygirl! I appreciate it more than you know!
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And I've been tagged by George at Culinary Travels of a Kitchen Goddess. Farida at Farida's Azerbaijani Cookbook has started a new tag called "Look What I Made." Basically, make a short list of recipes you've tried from other blogs. It's a great way to see discover other blogs and see what other people are cooking. Farida says:

"This is a great opportunity to give kudos to the fellow foodies whose recipes we used and inspire them to post more of their yummies. A way to say thank you for what they do. I also think this tag will help us discover some interesting recipes and blogs out there. There are a lot of delicious recipes hidden somewhere in the archives, and this tag may actually give them another chance to shine."

So let me look back and see what I've made!

1) Decadent Chocolate Cake and
2) Chocolate Ganache from Whole Grain Gourmet
3) Whole Wheat Brownies from Made Healthier
4) Raw Vegan Brownies from 28 Cooks

I'm sensing a trend here--are you? Chooooocoooolaaaaate. hahaha!! What can I say, I have a love/love relationship with chocolate.

5) Seared Ribeye Steaks with Chimichurri Sauce by Zen at Chefs Gone Wild

So there are five I've made, and now for my tags:

1) Grace at A Southern Grace
2) Lyb at And then I do the dishes
3) Deborah at B More Sweet
4) Ginny at Just Get Floury
5) Erika at What Else Can I Cook?


Whew, that was a lot to cover, wasn't it? I didn't think I'd ever get it finished, with all the links and stuff. It's 9:45 pm, and I started this around 4 this afternoon. Interruptions, I tell you. My family actually thinks I should feed them! ;)

I'll be back tomorrow with a food post (at least that's my plan). But how about a little teaser?

Yep--all of that juice and zest goes into one recipe, and it's sooo tasty that I hope I have some left for more photos of the actual finished dish! ;)

Goodnight!

It's springtime in New England!

And you know what that means, don't you?






So pretty! The flowers are blooming, the birds are arriving back from the south, the snow is melting....







WRONG!


This is what we woke up to this morning.




Side porch:
Views from side porch:




The park across the street:



The deck in our backyard (notice the pitiful cooler on the right that's just waiting for warmer days so we'll fill him up with ice and cold drinks again...):




I'm in love with New England. I really am. I wouldn't trade living here for anything in the world. And there's something I need to confess. ..

I'm a total freak that L-O-V-E-S snow. I was just telling some friends the other day that I was hoping we'd have one more substantial snowfall before the warmer weather really settled in. Funny, too--the tulips in our front yard are already about 3 inches tall! My daughter and I were just looking at them yesterday. Now they're covered in snow again! Hahaha! Take that, tulips! (Don't get me wrong, I love our pretty tulips, but I also love snow.) I know, I'm a freak.

The kids even have a snow day today! They were thrilled, of course, hehe.


Bonus! A cookbook pimp!




I've known Nikki (Canarygirl) for over 5 years now, and she is one of the best friends a girl could have. She's like a sister to me. She is also a fabulous cook, and makes the most delicious food. I've tried tons of her recipes over the years, and I haven't had one fail--not to mention that they're all easy and packed with flavor! She's been blogging for over a year now, and has been posting her recipes online since we met.

View her blog here.

Anyway, she has a cookbook out, and I want to recommend it. Not only does it have her original recipes, but also her amazing photos. That girl is creative!

And I know, we all have a lot of cookbooks, but if you're looking for something different, please give this a look--it's a gorgeous book, full of good food and lots of color.

You can see the book here.

Thanks for checking it out!