Sunshine Blogger Award #2

Dear Beautiful People, I have been nominated by lovely Tasha from Root and Leaf for the Sunshine Blogger Award. I am sincerely honored and grateful, especially because it is the second time I’ve been nominated for the same award. I humbly accept, and I thank you, dear Tasha, for this unexpected distinction.

I also owe an apology to Sasha of Sasha from Russia who had nominated me for the same award right after the first nomination, and  – silly me! – I declined the honor on the grounds that I got this award already. Dear Sasha, please forgive me and allow me to retract! I humbly accept your nomination as well, and I thank you.

The rules of this award are:

1. Thank the person who nominated you in a blog post and link back to their blog.
2. Answer the eleven questions sent by the person who nominated you.
3. Nominate eleven blogs to receive the award and write them eleven new questions
4. List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or your blog.

Since Sasha had nominated me first, I will start with her questions:

1. What are your biggest time eaters?

Getting stuck in traffic. Ugggh!

2.  What annoys you most in people?

Negativity, ignorance, arrogance, envy.

3. A book or a TV screen adaptation?

A book, of course. We do not have TV. What we want to watch, when we have time, we download or pull up on my laptop and connect it with a cable to the screen. No commercials or any other nonsense.

4. What do you do with your old clothes?

Donate, if it’s in good shape. Throw away, if it isn’t.  On her last visit, my granddaughter (she is turning 16 next month) discovered that she has grown into my size, and I discovered that we share the same taste in clothes, so she was happy to raid my closet.

5. Is it easy for you to get rid of old junk?

Depends on how junky the junk is.

6. How do you deal with your regrets about the past?

I try not to repeat the same mistakes.

7. How do you deal with worries?

Worry is not my natural state. I look for solutions. I believe that worrying is counterproductive and a huge waste of energy. As the old saying goes, there is a lid for every pot, and there is a solution for every problem. That being said, I get totally panicky when children or grandchildren travel; knowing that, they call me the moment they arrive.

8. How long have you known your best friend?

Since 4th grade. Our Middle school prom dresses were cut from the same bolt of fabric and embroidered with the same kind of faux pearls. Unbeknownst to each other, both our grandsons were named Ariel.

9. Have you ever cooked for 20 people or more?

All the time, and love it!

10. Have you ever been in a funny/ridiculous situation?

Who hasn’t?  I just can’t seem to recall any at the moment, but I know that it happened, and more than once.

11. What brings you joy?

Music, singing, dancing, art, the ocean, sailing, cooking, friends, books, poetry, cats, my students, and most importantly, my grandchildren.

Those were excellent questions, and now for the second set, just as excellent, Tasha’s questions:

1. What is your favourite book?

I don’t have one favorite book; I have quite a few favorite authors: Clive Barker,  Max Frei, Boris Akunin, Mikhail Bulgakov (of course!), Sulman Rushdie, Faulkner, and the list goes on. I am in the process of selecting some of my books to donate, and I am really having a hard time parting with any of them.

2. Do you have any pets?

Two cats, brother and sister, Barmalei and Beba.

Beba is the fluffy black and white girl with her tail always up as a question mark, and Barmalei is completely black, elegant, and majestic.

3. Have you had any other blogs before the one you have now?

No, never.

4. What’s your favourite ice cream flavour?

I don’t like ice-cream, sorry! I would only have my own double chocolate banana ice cream before I put it in the freezer, i.e. as a mousse, sort of. For the recipe, click here.

5. What’s the most complicated thing you’ve ever cooked?

Without a doubt, gefilte fish. Just look at it! I’ll post this recipe, G-d willing, before the High Holidays, but it takes 8 to 10 hours to cook, not counting the prep time!

6. Where was the last place you traveled to?

Unfortunately, Philadelphia, to bring my father OBM to his final resting place.

7. Who is your favourite band/singer?

I am quite old-fashioned: Jim Morrison and The Doors. But I am altogether into opera and classical music and got interested in The Doors when my older son, then a teenager, introduced me to The American Prayer that starts with Adagio by Albinoni. However, when I was a teenager, I learned to play guitar in order to play The Beetles’ songs.

8. What is your star sign?

I am a Leo, with all the personality traits that go with it.

9. What is your Hogwarts house? (Search for and do the every question Pottermore quiz if you don’t know!)

But of course I know! I’ve been harrypottering first with my younger son, and now with two older granddaughters, and I love it! Gryffindor – I am a Leo!

10. Do you have any surprising talents?

I dance Flamenco – is that surprising enough? Neh, not in South Florida.

11. If you could meet any person who would it be and why?

Devorah the Prophetess, from the Biblical Times. She was a poet, a judge, a war time leader of her people, yet she found the time to take care of her household.

Whew! That was quite a task, Beautiful People! And now, I would like to nominate the following great bloggers:

1. Renedith of Branching Out
2. Odedi’s Wine Review Blog of https://winesipping.wordpress.com
3. Rhythm of https://ritzflavours.wordpress.com
4. The Turtle of https://theturtleway.wordpress.com who is not accepting any awards but I still want to make a point!
5. Shadee Young of https://izzieskitchen.com
6. Tammy Twinkle of https://mrs-twinkle.com
7. Tzippy Respler of https://simpletowow.com
8. Aho of https://ahohomemadefood.com
9. Jessica Williams of https://veganrescue.com 
10. Kellie Anderson of https://kelliesfoodtoglow.com
11. Carol of https://cookingforthetimechallenged.wordpress.com

Forgive me for not writing a brief introduction to each one of them, but I believe that once you stop by their blogs, you’ll see what makes each one of them outstanding and inspires others.

Here are my questions (lazy cat that I am, they are repeated from my first Sunshine award):

1. If you were an animal, who would you be and why?
2. What is your first thought when you wake up in the morning?
3. What do you do to calm down when stressed out?
4. Do you prefer indoors or outdoors time?
5. How do you vacation?
6. How often do you smile and why?
7. What kind of art makes you breathless?
8. What do you think of social media?
9. Wine, beer, or strong liquor?
10. How much green is in your food?
11. Rain or shine?

I sincerely hope that you accept the award, even if it’s not the first time around, but if you don’t have time or inclination to engage in this type of a lengthy response, I totally understand. I am cool with it! I just feel wrong doing yet another post without a recipe, so to make up for it, the next one will be a two-in-one. To give you a quick preview, it will be…

…Sushi!