I’ve been busy with getting everything ready for selling my apartment. My kitchen in which I spent 4 years making messes and cooking, won’t be there for me . It’s kind of sad. All those memories, decent food, crappy food, smoke detectors gone wild, fires, knife accidents, degreasing floors constantly, cleaning up… all the time…and tons and tons of stories. I don’t want to admit it, but it’s sort of a big deal. Oh well, need to move on, literally. I spent the whole day today taking photos of my apartment, and editing them in photoshop so they can be used in the listing of the property. I’m glad I got to take my own house photos. I saved myself a few bucks too! and now onto Huevos Con Tomate y Guacamole and liebster awards!

A few weeks ago I was nominated for the liebster award, first time ever getting nominated for an award of any kind. Super cool, and not only that, but during that same week I got a second nomination!  So thank you both, this is really sweet! My first nomination came from my fellow blogger friend Phuong who has a wonderful and delicate blog mykitchenoflove.wordpress.com and then, Effie, from the awesome and fearless cooking style featured in fooddaydreaming.wordpress.com. Two excellent blogs worth exploring and following!

This award not only is cool, but it has its perks. If you don’t know what it is, the liebster award is like a chain letter, if you get nominated and you choose to accept, you can (should) nominate other bloggers. Who gets nominated? Blogs with less than 200 wordpress.com followers. I guess this number has changed overtime, started at 2000 followers and then dropped? In any case, I am humbled and lucky to have 2 wonderful bloggers nominate me almost at the same time. This award helps blogs with little traffic get more exposure and it is a great way to tell people a little bit about yourself.

The Rules:

1.  Each nominee must link back to the person that nominated them.
2.  Answer the 10 questions which are given to you by the nominator.
3.  Nominate 10 other bloggers you like and who have less than 200 followers.
4.  Create 10 questions for your nominees to answer.
5.  Let them know that they have been nominated by going to their blog and notifying them.

• What is your favourite quote?

“Ernest Hemingway once wrote, “The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.” I agree with the second part.” Detective Sommerset, from the movie Seven. By the way, I have never read an Ernest Hemingway book.

• Who is your favourite author?

I’d have to go with Arthur Conan Doyle from when I was a kid.  I rarely read fiction now. I compensate by watching many movies to get my fiction fix I guess. I like reading about history, specially WWII history and stories of survival. In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex is probably my favorite book.

• What is a song that has a lot of sentimental value for you?

This is a difficult one. So many songs. Most of them extremely embarrassing to list here. There is one song though, and it is from my favorite movie. Tema Finale form the movie Cinema Paradiso.

• If you had to name one essential beauty product, what would it be?

Being a guy simplifies or complicates answering this, not sure which. I would have to go with Dr. Bronner’s peppermint liquid soap. Magic in a bottle, no, seriously.

• Do you prefer the country side or the city?

I like the country side better. I can enjoy and do enjoy the city. I actually live in the city, but I’ve experienced the country side and it was great. The city was 5 minutes away though. I’m sure true country side living can be tougher than I think.

• What is the saddest film you have ever watched?

hmmm… Snakes on a plane? jk… but it was a sad little film you have to agree with me. Ok, true saddest movie.. I keep thinking Happiness, but that wasn’t sad that was more depressing than sad. I’ll go with Schindler’s list.

• If your house was on fire, what would be the three items you would save?

wallet, EU passport and my chef knife… or maybe my kitchenaid, ok, my immersion circulator.

• What is your favourite season of the year and why?

Living in California, seasons aren’t that marked but I’d go with fall. As much as I like warm summers, I still enjoy  fall better. And I enjoy cooking during fall more too.

• If you could do any job in the world, what would you choose?

Between food catering company owner and homicides investigator. not sure which.

• Everyone has something that comforts them when they are ill, what is it that makes you feel better?

NyQuil.

And the nominees are:

These are blogs of fellow bloggers I follow that I find inspirational, entertaining, and educational. Please take the time stop by, say hello, do some browsing, get some recipe ideas, get inspired!

I want to post fresh questions, so if you choose to accept, these are my 10: 

1. what is your opinion of eggplant as an ingredient, please be honest.
2. when you cook something tasty… do you lick the plate when you’re done? in front of others?
3. grits… thumbs up? I say thumbs down, but you tell me.
4. what’s your favorite cuisine? thai, chinese, italian, french, mexican? and why.
5. what ingredient you haven’t used yet but would love to experiment with?
6. what’s the best thing you’ve ever eaten?
7. what’s the best thing you’ve ever cooked?  (yes, it can be the same answer)
8. what’s your favorite cooking blog and why? (of course you can list mine here .. jk)
9. any particular chef/restaurant that inspires you?
10. favorite ingredient and tool in the kitchen?

So, I didn’t want to post about the nomination without also posting about food. Something to go along with it to make it more meaningful, so I took a few photos of my breakfast and thought it would go well with the liebster award post. These aren’t recipes since they are such simple things to make, but I like the photos and wanted to share them with you.

Huevos con Tomate:

If you’ve never had them, but you love eggs and tomatoes as much as me, do yourself a favor, buy an onion (red if you’r picky), garlic and tomato sauce. Slice the onions in half rings, sweat the onion in olive oil, add the garlic, cook until fragrant and then add the tomato sauce and caramelize until beautiful, you can add some salchichon or chorizo rounds while this cooks, trust me, it’s pretty amazing. Salt, pepper, and that’s it. Tomato sauce in its simplest form but so good. Soft boil some eggs in that sauce, soft yolks and springy whites. You can do this in a pan and then transfer to a plate, or finish the eggs in the oven.

Guacamole:

Get a couple of ripe avocados, remove the skin and discard the seeds, about 2 or 3 tsp of lime juice, some cilantro, some finely chopped red onion, some roma tomatoes, seeded and dice small, add some salt, some chili hot sauce, mash the whole thing in a bowl with your own hands, let rest in the fridge for half hour and you’re done. Couldn’t be simpler and I’m pretty sure better than at most restaurants.

I prepared a quick dinner that same day and was able finish the left over guacamole. Rare fillet mignon and guacamole over assorted spring veggies and roma tomatoes dressed with an olive oil and cherry vinegar vinaigrette. Simple and delicious.  Thanks for reading. I will soon have to find a place to live and all I keep thinking is that it better has a window in the kitchen with a nice view and tons of sun light 🙂

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