Meme and Award Time!

I've had a long week for a variety of reasons. One unexpectedly bright spot from the week was receiving this from Susan of
Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy. If you haven't been to Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy go there NOW. I mean it. Susan's wonderful recipes and insights and sweetness will leave you feeling happier for going there. So here was her generous gift to me:



The Blogging With a Purpose Award was originated by Eric at Blogging With a Purpose. The rules are, that recipients must nominate five people who have not yet received the award, and that the blogs that receive the award must serve some purpose.

This time around, I'm going to nominate some food blogging friends who are trying to get us to think in new ways about food:

Kim of The Farmer's Marketer. Kim is one Ann Arbor's local champions for the local food movement. Her entries are informative and give great advice for living a simpler, healthier life.
Heather of Gild the Voodoo Lily. Heather shows us daily how local ingredients and a bit of kitchen know-how can bring us literal feasts. She's a master of pulling together the extraordinary from the mundane.
Shan of Tales from the Fairy Blogmother. Shan started up What's Cooking Wednesday, which is a lovely circle of U.S., Canadian, Italian and... other(?) bloggers who share simple recipes from the previous week. This is more of a help circle, than some of the flashier food experiments, and it's been a great resource for many of us!
Ben of What's Cooking?. Ben is not only on a quest to teach us the healthy aspects of Mexican food, but he also is one of the most generous and supportive bloggers out there in the food community. He posts important articles on health issues, cooking techniques, has a cooking around the world series, etc. I always know I'm going to learn something when I visit Ben!
Marye of Baking Delights. Marye is an honest-to-God homesteader and baker extraordinaire. She grows much of what her family eats, and she has seemingly limitless creativity. If you want to learn how to bake on any level, hang around with Marye.

Secondly, I was tagged by Liz at Los Angelista's Guide to the Pursuit of Happiness with the following meme:

This meme is book related and the rules are:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

"As she slowly backed out of the crowd, towards the corner, Thierry caught her eye. He motioned to her. Carry this."

This is from Murder in the Marais by Cara Black. I'm not that far into the book yet, but I'm really, really enjoying it. She brings together an emotionally-damaged Parisian PI with a dark story of secrets of both collaborationists and the Underground from WW II, brought to this time, when a Survivor is found murdered with a swastika carved into her forehead. It's not emotionally easy reading, but it's smart, thought-provoking and beautifully written.

And yes, I'm going to specifically tag a few readers, although anyone can decline and anyone can play. So here are five readers whom I know are always surrounded by books:

1. Dru of Notes from Me
2. NYC/Caribbean Ragazza
3. Anno of Anno's Place
4. Wendy of La Delirante
5. Sisters Sassy and Honeybunch of Sisters of a Different Order