Country Living Blue Ribbon Blogger Awards

Country Living recently held the first annual blogger Blue Ribbon Blogger Awards, and I had the great pleasure of attending the awards ceremony.  I didn’t get a photo of the awards, but they were adorable – blue ribbons hung inside a jar (I’m not crafty at all so I have no idea what the name of that thing was called but it was COOL). 

I had the great fortune to sit with Beth Styles of Secondhand with Style (love the name!), who was the winner of the Collecting Blog award.  She and her husband were charming, lovely people to sit and chat with, and especially exciting (to me) was that they hailed from St. Louis – who’d recently won the World Series.  I am definitely looking them up when I head out that way to hit the stadium, for food recs! 

Of course we were fed while we enjoyed the festivities: first course of late harvest zucchini, baby arugula, pine nuts and sweet lemon dressing, which was bright and refreshing, lovely. 

Alongside the salad was a giant Good Housekeeping popover… airy, light, and really something else. 

I arrived late so I missed the main course but that left more room for dessert – apple cinnamon strudel, caramel sauce and sweet cream.  OH MY LORD.  I thought this was a crepe but made exactly how I always want my crepes to taste (and they never do) – perfectly thin, crisp, crackly, with just the slightest soft touch yielding to reveal perfectly spiced apples.  I wanted to lick my plate clean, and I don’t normally eat desserts – especially fruit-based ones.  I wonder if I ask nicely, they’ll give me the recipe…

The full list of honorees:

Lifestyle – Aimee Carpenter, Crafty Farm Girl
Pets – Melissa Caughey, Tilly’s Nest
Crafts – Rachel Garza, Always a Project
Decorating – Wendy Hyde, The Shabby Nest
Food – Sydney Kramer, Crepes of Wrath
Gardening – Linda Ly, Garden Betty
Collecting – Beth Styles, Secondhand with Style

Thanks again to Country Living for inviting me to enjoy the ceremony, and congratulations to all the winners!!!