Time to change...

... and to catch up on homework - to say the least! Whilst I'm busy pondering about how to give this blog a different look before (hopefully) resuming my usual blogging routine, it's high time that I display all the wonderful badges I've been given over the last few months! This post is going to get a permanent home in the sidebar under "Fame and (no) Fortune".

Just around the time when my blog turned one year old, I got this wonderful birthday present: My dear friend and fellow blogger Nora of Life's Smorgasbord awarded me this yummy badge for being a 'droolworthy blogger'. Thank you, Nora!

Only a little later, I was thrilled to win in several categories of Jugalbandi's Click event: My photo of floating noodles won in 'originality', made the overall second place, and got the much appreciated readers' choice award. I couldn't have been happier about the outcome!


Earlier this year, Margot of Coffee&Vanilla nominated me for the 'inspiring food photography' award, and lucky me - I won the public online poll! Now I can proudly display this lovely badge, makes me want to start baking right now..;-)


Around the same time, I was lucky enough to win one of the host awards at the DoesMyBlogLookGoodInThis competition. Jennifer of Bake or Break liked my soft pretzels, and I'm so glad she did! I just hope to bake more, photograph more, and blog more, so I can enter this amazing competition again.




And last but not least, it's time to proudly display my Daring Baker's badge - check out the amazing number of daring bakers worldwide!

Yes, my blog looks good in this!

Folks, I'm feeling a tiny little bit ashamed to put up another post full of self-praise instead of showing wonderful creations coming out of my kitchen. However, let's face it, there isn't much coming out of my kitchen at the moment apart from sandwiches and the odd soup for a bit more sustenance. Considering these culinary deprived times, I'm all the more happy to announce that I've won one of the host's awards at this February's DoesMyBlogLookGoodInThis!

My thanks go to host Jennifer of Bake or Break - I feel very honoured to get this much sought-after badge! Check out her round-up to see more droolworthy pics. Click here to see all the pictures submitted this month. If you'd like to participate next time, Sabra of CookbookCatchall not only is the overall winner but also the host of the March edition.

And in case you're getting a sudden craving for soft pretzels, here's how to make them!

I am inspiring!

Sounds weird, I know - but I can't help it, I'm so happy about winning the February edition of Margot's food photography contest over at Coffee&Vanilla! Especially with two other very worthy contestants, I wasn't at all sure that I would make it.

Thanks to everyone who voted for me! It's really appreciated! Sometimes, not everything in life works out as planned so getting such a wonderful and totally unexpected surprise is just great!

Thanks to Margot for nominating me and, of course, organizing the event in the first place! Have a look who the nominees for the March edition are and start voting!

PS: Sorry for putting this up so late - instead of myself, I'm blaming a laptop that drives me crazy and life in general...

I've been nominated!

Folks, I feel very honoured to tell you that I'm amongst the three nominees for the February edition of the "Inspiring Food Photography" award created by Margot of Coffee & Vanilla! Each month, she nominates three bloggers whose food photos she likes (people can also suggest nominees to her); and then everyone can vote using an online poll. That's how it works.

Being in a photography competition with Andrew of SpittonExtra and Joycelyn of Kuidaore probably doesn't make me the most likely winner. However, it would be an outright lie, if I said that you shouldn't vote for me..;-)

This photo is a Winner!

The "Droolworthy Blogger" Award must have been a good omen. When entering the CLICK photo competition with this "floating noodles" picture, I was really excited about it but simply hoped for the best. After all, over 70 people had submitted their photos to this month's installment. Little did I know that this photo would be such a winner!

It not only scored second place in the "best photo" categorie but got also elected as most original capture and even won the reader's choice award!

First of all, I would like to thank Bee and Jai of Jugalbandi for hosting the competition, all the judges, and last but not least all the readers who voted for my floating noodles.

Knowing that there are so many talented photographers out there, I can't help but to still perceive myself as a learner. However, this kind of recognition is a wonderful reward and it gives me the feeling that I've learned a thing or two in the meantime!

Please check out all the other winners and have a look for next month's CLICK competition at jugalbandi!


PS: Thank you, T, for helping me decide which photo to submit! I couldn't make up my mind between the one above and this one...

Food Photography - an award and a competition

There's something I've been wanting to tell you, dear readers, for a long time. It's a little bit embarrassing that I didn't do so straight away. No, it's no embarrassing secret, rather an unexpected honour: Dear Nora from Life's Smorgasbord has kindly given me an award! The "Droolworthy Blogger" Award, to be precise. And to be even more precise, she did it, well, ages ago... Since then, I've been pondering about the ultimate picture to use for a post that would praise my photography skills. If you get caught bragging about yourself, you might want to rise to the occasion, right? Well, to tell you the truth, none of the pictures of the following weeks quite lived up to my own expectations (wrong focus, bad lighting, too simple setting and other things to complain about) and I kept delaying this post until today. Luckily, Nora is still friends with me...

So, in an attempt to come up with something that's at least very fitting (even if not mind-boggling), I decided to blog some photos picturing homemade lemon curd because the respective lemons were given to me by Nora! They were so juicy and fragrant that even T who's not into sweet spreads at all, happily devoured everything. And finally, I'm proudly displaying this wonderful badge on my blog (and on my sidebar once I've figured out how to do this):

This award is to be passed on to five other food bloggers with outstanding food photography. With so many talented photographers out there, this is not an easy task. Although I have a few all time favourites, I thought it might be more appropriate to give it to some food bloggers who are probably not quite as loaded with awards and public recognition but have lovely photos nonetheless. In no particular order:

Kate of Aapplemint

Deinin of Cloudberry Quark

Anh of Food Lover's Journey

Maci of Macikonyha

Rose of 64 Ft Sq Kitchen

Congratulations to all of you!

Last but not least, a couple of days ago, Zorra of 1x1 umruehren bitte who is the host of this month's DoesMyBlogLookGoodInThis (DMBLGIT) Event, asked me if I liked to act as a judge alongside her, Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice, Hedonistin of Low Budget Cooking, and Sandra from Un tocco di zenzero. I happily accepted and really look forward to being a judge! Please check out all the wonderful entries in the DMBLGIT gallery and, if possible, enter the competition yourself. You still have time to do so until 30 November!

PS: The bread is Dan Lepard's Wheat Germ Bread - very hearty and very healthy!