Eggs, Found - and a Prize

Several weeks ago, I threw down a kitchen gauntlet when I posted that recipe for Eggs In Hiding. I expected that it might make people run screaming from the room, and most did, but two stepped up and made it.

De both made the original, and invented a modern variation, and decided the original was better.

Kristin too made a modern variation, which her husband declared was good enough to eat again.

I promised them each a kitchen implement - De's package is in the mail, Kristin's will be if she send me her address (hint).

And Holly? I'm still waiting. I know you bought the corn flakes. She made it, and her kids ate it all up.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Some time ago, Kelly gave me a prize. Since prizes like to be passed along, and seeing as both De and Kristin created new versions of the Eggs in Hiding recipe, I hereby bestow the Kreativ Blogger award on them.

Honestly

Within a few days of one another last month, two people (Candy & Ilina) gave me the same award, one of those awards that requires disclosure of things about oneself, not to mention the tagging of others:

When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to said person so everyone knows he or she is real. Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Show the 7 victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with “Honest Weblog.” Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon. List at least ten honest things about yourself. Then, pass it on!

I'm plum out of things to reveal - but here's my one thoroughly idiosyncratic fast-food confession:

When on a road trip, one sometimes must stop for fast food. On those occasions, I invariably order two hamburgers. I never ever get anything fancy or complicated, no Big Macs or Whoppers or cheeseburgers. I carefully remove the bottom half of each bun, the bottom because the pickles and ketchup are always between the burger and the top of the bun, and reassemble the two hamburgers into one double. Top bun, pickle, burger, burger, pickle, top bun. I get a double hamburger for less money, with more pickles. Fast food heaven. Then, because I'm looking out for the seagulls and bunny rabbits, I fling the greasy bottom buns out the window of the moving car. I never consider it to be littering, because I know that some small creature is going to delight in my rejected bottom buns. It does, however, infuriate my husband. (And I stopped doing it when the child became aware, lest she start flinging inanimate objects out the car windows.)

As to tagging? I can't. It's too cold and I have to go to bed now.

And Six Things That Make Me Happy

Last month, Kate gave me a Kreativ Blogger Award. (Thanks, Kate!) Acceptance requires me to list six things that make me happy, and the past month has been full of angst and cranky and I've just not been feeling the happy. But today? For some reason, today is good - here's some of the why:

1. We took the kiddies to the Rockettes yesterday - awesome kitsch, enjoyed by all.  I came home with many yards of mylar streamers stuffed into my bag.
2. Across the street from Radio City, I got the perfect Christmas card picture of the girlie - and got the cards ordered last night.
3. When I got home yesterday - not only had W. hung the lights up on the outside of the house, he was making steak and spätzle for dinner.
   
4. There were soft, fragrant, clean sheets on my bed last night.
   
5. The hot cider from the greenmarket this morning had a mess of sliced apples in it.
   
6. The sky is blue and the sun is out even though it is bitter cold outside. 

I am supposed to pass the award along to six other blogs, but that seems to be beyond me today. Revel in the general creativity of the blogosphere!

Arte y pico

All week long, there have been six or seven workers on the penthouse roof of the building across the street from my office. I can't quite tell what they're doing, but it has something to do with the facade, or the iron railing, or both; they're all lined up along the railing, evenly spaced and reaching and bending pretty much simultaneously. The best part of the whole spectacle is that each one of them is in a red hooded sweatshirt. It's kind of like the seven dwarves, though I can't hear if they're whistling as they work.

An embarrassingly long time ago, Ms. Scribbletown gave me an prize, the Arte y Pico Award. It's pretty, isn't it? Here's what she said about it:

I did a little digging and discovered some rules for awarding this prize. I won’t bore you with any but the crucial piece of information: you have to pick five blogs that you consider deserve this award in terms of creativity, design, interesting material, and general contributions to the blogger community, no matter what language.

Herewith, five blogs that make me want to whistle and therefore deserve a prize.

• For creativity, Bookmaking With Kids. If you have kids or work with kids, you'll want to go see what she's got to suggest for book arts projects with said kids.
• For design, A Very Mary Design. She's all about the rubber cement - gluing bits of this and scraps of that together to make all sorts of charming things.
• For interesting material, Kyla. Honestly, I don't know how she does it. But she does it with grace and strength.
• And for general contributions to the blogger community, Mothers With Cancer and Glow In The Woods. Both are group blogs, the first focused on what you might expect, the second on "babylost mamas" - and both form community around tragic, difficult, awful circumstances.

Now what have the seven dwarves across the street have to do with the Arte y Pico? Style points for the matching sweatshirts (creativity & design) and teamwork (community).

Fragile threads we hang by. Oh well, I tried.

Kicking Ass All Over Town

Recently, or not that long ago anyway, two different people told me that I kick ass: Maggie of Okay Fine Dammit, and Angeline of All About Your Child. Thank you both!

I'm passing it on to the following:

ONE
Awesome food blogger/pron star Kelley of Magneto Bold, because she left this comment one day:

I carry around Boo's teeth. Only because he hasn't decided when the tooth fairy is allowed to come. SO I need them on hand at all times...

Is that not a kick ass mother?

TWO
The Momocrats, jointly and severally, because they just plain rock. And kick ass. My watching of the Presidential debate on Friday night was greatly enhanced by the live chat accompaniment clicking by on their site.

Excellent. Women. Friends.

	Thank you, Sarah, for your friendship. I know that, were there less geographic distance between here and there, we'd be close friends, and I cherish that.
	Thank you, Andi, for your gushing. I find you excellent as well, and I hope that it is spring in the Northern lands soon.
	And thank you, Lightening, for your bloggy support from the other side of the world.

Excellent Hearts

The very funny Kelley not only invented a prize, she gave it to me! But it seems to bear a word of explanation. If you look at the "less than three" symbol sideways, it looks like a heart (and if it doesn't look like a heart, try the other sideways). Anyway, Kelley hearts me, and I heart Becky and Becky. Because, you know, they're both named Becky. Well, really because they're great. Go, see for yourself.

Her Grace passed along another E for Excellent. As I went as poking through my feed reader, I realized that I have twenty-nine posts from one blogger marked "save as new". In other words, I'm using Bloglines to bookmark recipes from Smitten Kitchen because I want to try nearly everything Deb writes about. She's a terrific food writer, with great taste and a wonderful eye. So, E for Excellent to Deb and Smitten Kitchen. Check her out if you haven't already. And come to think of it, I think that this afternoon is a perfect day to make some lemon squares.

Incidentally, are you on my blogroll? Should you be? Do you want to be? Let me know.