I've won a Versatile Blogger Award!

I was very pleased when I was recently nominated for a Versatile Blogger Award by music aficionado, blogger, and all round good egg Simon Hetherington. Simon is the brains and talent behind a blog called Simon Sometimes Says, which you can find here: http://simonsometimessays.wordpress.com/

 

Simon is also one of my most constant twitter correspondents, with whom I've traded all sorts of wonderful musical inspiration and knowledge (his username is @Hethersimon, so get following!).

Details of "The Versatile Blogger Award" can be found here, including a selection of posts from other nominees: http://versatilebloggeraward.wordpress.com/

The Versatile Blogger Awards have some special rules. The nice people set it up aren't too fussy about them, since when they set out the rules on their blog have prefaced them with "If you choose to obey them". But it seems a little ungrateful to play the game without playing by the rules. 

So, I have to do the following:

- Display the Award Certificate on your website

- Announce your win with a post and link to whoever presented your award

- Present 15 awards to deserving bloggers (this feels like a lot…)

- Drop them a comment to tip them off after you’ve linked them in the post

- Post 7 interesting things about yourself 

So here is the Award, in all of its emerald glory:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is my list of 15 highly deserving bloggers:

http://www.mykidsreallyeatthis.com/

http://www.foodifancy.com/ 

http://www.kaveyeats.com/

http://comfortbites.blogspot.co.uk/

http://ubersuperbakes.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.quickindiancooking.com/

http://lizzieeatslondon.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.hownottodoafoodblog.com/

http://mummyicancook.blogspot.co.uk/

http://thelambshankredemption.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.bongcookbook.com/

http://www.pukkapaki.com/

http://www.theravenouscouple.com/

http://www.leluu.com/

http://theknightoftheroundtable.blogspot.co.uk/

Now I have to post 7 Interesting things about me:

Seriously? I have to write as many as 7? This will be tough.....

1. I am 5 foot 1. That makes me a munchkin. It also means I am the same height as reggae and dub pioneer Lee "Scratch" Perry, apparently. I have also been told I am the same height as Kylie Minogue, but I am not as enamoured of her music, so I don't like to mention it. I cannot currently confirm Prince's height, but would be happy to be as vertically challenged as his Purpleness!

2. The most extreme thing I have ever eaten was a barbequed and marinaded red ants' nest in a village in Cambodia. During the food shortages of the Khmer Rouge era, people in rural areas experimented with eating insects to ensure some protein intake. I don't recommend it, the formic acid is rather unpalatable. Worry not, the recipe will not be making it to my blog!

3. The second most extreme thing I have ever eaten was a "Hundred Year Egg" as a dare in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The nice guy at our hotel had some in his packed lunch, and thought that as a lily livered foreigner (or 'farang' in Thai), I wouldn't dare try one. Well, I did! And the strangest thing about it was that it didn't actually taste as 'eggy' as a regular hard boiled egg!

4. I am obsessed with music, from the mid 1960s to the present day. I love the Beatles, whose music is always there as a source of comfort, inspiration and happiness. The musician I most admire is Jimi Hendrix for his innovative style, mastery of the instruments and skill at incorporating finger shredding solos into songs without sounding bombastic. That his influence still can be felt in the axe practitioners of today only reinforces his standing as the greatest guitarist that ever lived. Sorry, Johnny Marr! 

5. I own a horrible number of albums, mainly on CD, but also on vinyl. I have arranged my CD collection like a record shop; alphabetical order (by artist surname) with little tabs. It sounds like I'm a librarian style neat freak, when actually I am chronically disorganised - but alphabetisation is the only way when you have more than 600 albums!

6. Although I am now a Senior Lecturer at a London law school, I am by training and trade a Barrister, and I am a member of the Inner Temple. This means that when I was formally admitted into the profession (what we name "Called to the Bar"), it was in the Temple Church, as made famous by The Da Vinci Code. Following the success of the book and film (I confess I am not a fan), the place is now a very popular visitor attraction, whereas back in the day when I was training, it was almost deserted.

7. I love food from all over the world and consider myself to have truly international tastes. However, if push comes to shove, my all time favourite cuisine would be Thai food. I love the combination of the main four flavours combined in each dish. I think their salads are flavour bombs which make eating lots of veg and having a low fat meal a doddle. Although their use of chillis and heat can sometimes be incendiary, it is never gratuitous. So Thai is number one in the Snig's charts, followed by Indian, Italian, Chinese and French making my top five.

So thanks to Simon for his very kind nomination. I am chuffed and deeply flattered!