Last week, I received an award from Shatarupa@My Kitchen Adventures. The Quintet of Radiance Award…isn’t it lovely? It’s actually five awards in one including: The Versatile Blogger Award, The Sunshine Award, The Inner Peace Award, The Influential Blogger Award and The Awesome Blog Content [ABC] Award.

Have you visited My Kitchen Adventures before? If not, you really need to meet Shatarupa! She grew up in a Bengali family of foodies and amazing cooks. Shatarupa is a lawyer by day and moonlights as a cook. She has been cooking since moving to Delhi from Calcutta, away from her family. When you pop on over to her blog, you’ll find recipes ranging from Paneer Narkel Shorshe to Red Velvet Cupcakes to her most recent post, Whole Wheat Rosemary and Garlic Bread. Yum, yum and more yum! There always seems to be a delicious offering from her kitchen. Thank you so much, Shatarupa, for this Quintet of Radiance Award…I am humbled by your generosity. As with all of the blogging awards, there are rules to follow:

• Display the logo in a post…. √
• Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back…. √
• Using the alphabet, describe yourself in a word or a phrase…. see below.
• Nominate at least few bloggers…. see below.

I will get to fulfilling the rules a little further down this post. First, I’d love to get to the business of my “Sunday Shout-Outs”! The first of my shout-outs is to a blog that did some wonderful posts on the city of Detroit. Please note, the photos I’ve included are a collection of mine, not from her trip.

Are you familiar with the blog, Table of Colors? The author, Laila, was raised here in the states, but has lived in Finland for more than a decade. I first discovered her blog for the delicious food she offers. Her day job is doing product development for coffee shops and bakeries. The blog is extension of that in a way, sharing, as she puts it, “the little pleasant things in life”. Laila recently returned to the states for a short time to visit family. One of her sisters lives in Detroit. [My hometown!] It is through this trip to Detroit, that Laila has offered a series of posts on this recovering city. Her posts have allowed, even me, see this great city through a set of fresh eyes. Her posts have been honest [showing both good and bad], inspiring and educational. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed them. So grab yourself a cup of coffee and learn about Detroit through her eyes. She has 3 posts relating to Detroit, you can read them here, here and here. Thank you Laila, for your wonderful stories on Detroit!

My next shout-out goes to Jess, of Cooking is My Sport. Her blog is all about cooking. And cook she does! She currently has a Sunday series of recipes coinciding with Game of Thrones. Whether your a fan of the show or not, her choice of recipes, so far, are definitely Game of Thrones worthy. But it was her post for Strawberry Shortcake Cookies that recently inspired me. And Glenn, too…his words follow: “I think this is the best cookie you’ve ever made!” Honest…those were the human “Cookie Monsters” words. Enough said…try them. 🙂

And now, back to the award “fulfillment rules”. 🙂

A – Z About Me!

A – Adventurous
B – Blossoms…my favorite part of spring.
C – Cook…duh!
D – Dangerous…when baking. 😉
E – Entertainment…I love having parties!
F – Friend
G – Gardener
H – Happy
I – Interested…in many things
J – Joan…my middle name.
K – Kitchen…so many hours spent.
L – Loyal
M – Mother
N – Nostalgic
O – Observant
P – Procrastinator…as in getting this task accomplished!
Q – Quiet
R – Reflective
S – Sunny disposition
T – Tenderhearted
U – Up-beat…my current state of mind.
V – Variety…the spice of life!
W – Willingness…to try, to learn, to explore….
X – X-ray vision…the “super power” I would like.
Y – Yearning…to return to Italy.
Z – Zealous

So, here we go… “Applause, applause, applause”…  my nominees for the Quintet of Radiance Award are:

Lisa of Simple Pairings – The tagline of Lisa’s blog is “seasonally inspired cooking with a healthy twist”. I feel she really sticks to that motto! Lisa has numerous delicious offerings. Recent offerings have included Salmon cakes, fresh green juice and an exploration of yogi teas. Her posts include beautiful photography to inspire you to follow along.

Laura of The Seasoned Traveler – Laura’s posts are influenced by the places she has lived and traveled around the world. I consider her style of cooking eclectic. She offers everything from perfectly rolled sushi to Norwegian Rubharb Cake. You’re bound to be inspired when you click on over.

Jess of Cooking is My Sport – Jess currently lives in Michigan, and though we have that in common, she is, ahem, a “few” years younger than me. 😉 Her abilities and creativity in kitchen are fantastic…you gotta check out her Vanilla Bean Challah Bread!

Melissa of The Glen House – Melissa writes her posts from The Glen House, an “old secluded farm-house next to woodland in the Irish countryside on the bank of a glistening river”. Here, you’ll find great recipes and peek around the farm-house. In fact, in her most recent post, you get to visit her “neighbors”.

Congratulations to all of my nominees, and one more, huge THANK YOU to Shatarupa!