Yay me – I’ve been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award!
Ah, one less thing before I die.

I’ve been busy with work this past week so you haven’t seen any new food from me; this post is a nice break.

I just started this blog last month, and I’m really happy to say I have connected with some talented and entertaining fellow bloggers… some of whom already seem like friends.

According to the VBA rules, I have some duties, so here goes:

The nomination and/or award is from Annie; thank you, Annie!
It made me feel warm and fuzzy.  Since the VBA is a kind of a pyramid scheme/chain mail, you can check out Annie’s blog: The Little GSP (and her acceptance speech.) I enjoy it and hopefully you will too. :-)

Next, I am to select 15 bloggers and bestow upon them a VBA nomination.
Wow, 15?  I haven’t been keeping up with 15 blogs lately, so I’ll start with my top choices and add more later.

My nominations are as follows; check out these great blogs!

1. Tahmina for Kolpana Cuisine.  I use her recipes; what more can I say?
2. Deb for Terrified Tastebud.  Follow someone who is in school for culinary arts!
3. Katja for Katja’s Kitchen.  Lots of variety, clear and concise recipes that sound great.
4. Kate for Summer of Pie.  Great savory dishes mixed amongst the sweets, and a creative baker who takes great photos.
5. Pam and Jecca for Omnomalicious.  Comfort and other foods… bonus points for energy.
6. Ribana for Cooking with …. Great photos, beautiful food.  I love it and I don’t even know Italian. :)
7. TBD

Lastly, 7 things about me, in photos even:

• I’m happily divorced.
  Some people are married, not that there’s anything wrong with that; I might do it again.
  Perhaps my style of cooking is “bachelor exotic.”  For instance, here’s my breakfast (and lunch) today: a burrito stuffed with scrambled egg and an enchilada, in turn, stuffed with rainbow swiss chard, chick peas and green olives… I think I’ll call it a “walking enchilada,” because you can pick it up. :)
  

  The Walking Enchilada

• I was involved in a roller derby league and was a team mascot.
  (Hence my name “advoskater,” for instance, on Pinterest and YouTube.)
  

  AdvoSkater, i.e., me.

• I’m a PhD candidate.  That means I’m almost done… ahem.
  Graduate school can be a pretty good place to have a mid-life crisis. :)
  

  In mathematics you don’t understand things.
  You just get used to them.

• I’m an amateur visual artist.
  I especially enjoy figure drawing and etching.
  

  A life-drawing sketch (charcoal)

• I’m a traveler.
  I’ve been lucky to have traveled quite a bit for my work and studies.
  When people ask which places I’d like to revisit, I say Romania (and Transylvania) is at the top of my list.
  

  A kick-ass Romanian 4×4 (an ARO M-461, I think)

• I’m an inline skater.
  I take my skates with me when I travel and have skated in many great cities around the world.
  

  Tokyo City Run.
  I’m big in Japan…
  relative to the Japanese.

• I love great beer and beer festivals.
  “Once in a while you need a beer strong enough to make up for a bad day.”
  

  Happily at U Fleků brewery, Prague, Czech Republic.

That’s it; I hope you were entertained and that you follow the links to discover some great blogs and bloggers!