One Lovely Blog Award

I owe a huge apology to charming Priya of Masala Vegan, an extremely knowledgeable and just as extremely helpful in all things food-related blogger-friend, who has nominated me for One Lovely Blogger Award  almost two weeks ago. I have humbly accepted, and then, in a whirlwind of preparing for a new semester and a new school year, and a totally new (and totally asinine) IT system the administration, in its wisdom, had implemented, I simply forgot!

Dear Priya, in your kindness, will you forgive me? When I read your recipes, I am reminded of an old Odessa joke: “By Mama you are a violinist, by Papa you are a violinist, but by violinists you are not even a drummer!”  By you, as well as some other experts, I am “not even a drummer” and as a rank amateur, I feel I don’t even deserve this, or any other award, but I am grateful and not a little overwhelmed!

Here are the rules:

• Post to accept the nomination.
• Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog.
• List 7 things about yourself.
• Link to the blogs you nominate.
• Notify the recipients of their award.
• Post the rules!

Seven things about me, in no particular order:

1. It sounds ridiculous for someone who loves cooking as much as I do, but I don’t have a sense of smell. I did have it, but lost it years ago as a result of a concussion.  So I do remember how most things smell, but as it comes to new smells, such as those delectable Indian spices, I use my husband’s nose and his very acute sense of smell.  I draw the line at experimenting with perfumes, though, so I still wear the same one I had used before the accident, which is so old-fashioned that nobody remembers it and everybody thinks it’s some kind of an exotic new scent.  As it often happens, my sense of taste compensated for the loss, and my cooking became a lot more sophisticated, thus turning the loss into a win (so says my husband).
2. I play piano because every girl in Odessa had to, but I learned to play guitar as a teenager in order to play The Beetles’ songs, specifically “Yesterday.”
3. I love to dance everything, but I especially love dancing Flamenco and Gypsy dances. Altogether, I love Gypsy music and I love singing Gypsy songs.
4. I can’t live without art on the walls. When we moved, until we hanged the paintings, I would get depressed looking at empty walls.
5. Books in my house multiply as if by magic. I think when we turn the lights off, they start having fun on their own, and in the morning, we have a new crop of baby books.
6. I am not done yet? I am a gym monkey and a yoga freak.  When we travel, we look for a hotel with fitness facilities, and no matter how early in the morning we have to get on the road, I’d get up a couple of hours earlier to go through my workout routine.
7. The most important fact about me is that I have two wonderful sons and five adorable grandchildren!

And the hardest part of all these awards is nominating others. There are so many great blogs that I am truly hard put to select only seven. In no particular order:

1. Sasha from  https://sashafromrussiablog.wordpress.com/
2. Swetha from https://swethasculinarytrials.wordpress.com/
3. Jo from https://josfoodbites.com/
4. Carol from https://cookingforthetimechallenged.wordpress.com/
5. Mona from https://healthyindiankitchen.wordpress.com/
6. Alex from https://lilyandardbeg.wordpress.com/
7. Kellie from https://kelliesfoodtoglow.com/

Although the rules specify seven nominees, there is a belief that seven is a number commonly found in nature (eg. The Seven Wonders of the World), but eight is above nature, so I claim the right to name one more person, the one above most of the best and the excellent, the chef and food artist Sumith from https://keralas.live/

And now, if you’ll excuse me, my husband and I are going for a walk by the ocean…