This blog has evolved and has taken on somewhat of a life of its own. It has been and is a real joy as I have met a lot of new people from all over the world who love food, cooking, good times and sharing as much as we do. I have also learned new tricks and techniques that have improved my culinary skills and approaches to food. In the process I have been ever so fortunate to have been honored with various awards and acknowledgments from my fellow bloggers and food loving community. To think that someone actually likes the blog, the recipes and photos enough to honor me with these awards and acknowledgments is a real treat and I am forever thankful and honored.

REMCooks was featured in the May/June 2015 edition of Richardson Living!! SWEET!!!!

WOW! REMCooks was just recently recognized by Foodista and is the featured Foodista blog for August 23, 2012 for the post Cooking on a Rock: Striped Marlin with Roasted Poblano Citrus Pesto and Garlicky Roasted Broccoli. I am unbelievably honored and thrilled. I still cannot believe people are reading and enjoying the blog. Thanks to all of you who read and follow REMCooks. It is and has been a real joy.

I am very honored to have been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by Denlyn3 of the What to Cook Blog; Jennifer at the Foodery blog; and Mimi Rippee at Chef Mimi Blog. You really need to check out their blogs.

Denlyn3 is a dedicated high school teacher in California cooking for fun and his family. He shows his weekly menu and some of the items he has prepared during the week. One of my favorite posts is Pot Roast by Linda. This is his wife’s family recipe (I love family recipes) and looks absolutely delish. Stop over at What to Cook and check him out.

Jennifer at the Foodery is a graduate of the University of Hawaii, Manoa with a BFA in Painting now living in upstate NY (talk about culture shock and a change of scenery). When you see her photos you realize she has a degree in art because she has a great eye for capturing her food. Her recipes are also very nice and innovative and her writing style is fun and easy to read. She also gets FRESH vanilla pods from her father’s vanilla plant which makes me soooo jealous. Check out her post Flavor of the Week: Orange You Glad I Didn’t Say Banana? It’s got a nice recipe for Orange Date Cake that is to die for.

Chef Mimi, although not “professionally” trained in the classical sense, is quite knowledgeable in and around the kitchen. She has been at varying times a personal chef, caterer, food writer, recipe developer, cooking show host, cookbook author. So, despite her protestations to the contrary Chef Mimi has been professionally trained. Definitely give her blog a look and check out her post on Sausage Making. It’s a classic.

Now as to the Versatile Blogger Award, blogsphere is silent as to the origination of the Versatile Blogger Award but the award is a means by which fellow bloggers can acknowledge those blogs and bloggers that they believe merit recognition. It’s always nice to know someone out there actually reads and likes what you do. Thanks so much Denlyn3, Jennifer and Mimi. I truly appreciate the nomination.

Now I get to bestow the honor back or onward to others! For those about to be nominated, here are the rules:

• Thank the person who nominates you and link back to them in your posts.
• Share seven things about yourself.
• Pass the award on to fifteen more bloggers that you enjoy.
• Contact the people you have nominated.

Seven Things About Myself

I am a 57 year old attorney practicing in the field of product liability, fires, insurance and general business disputes.

I live in DFW with my lovely wife, the Baby Lady, who married me on Valentine’s Day in Santa Fe New Mexico.

I am a lover of my wife, good wine and everything food.

I love to travel, which is good because I travel with my work extensively and accompany Baby Lady on her business trips when I can.

We purchased our current house in 2004, completely gutted the kitchen and built the kitchen of our dreams.

I have no favorite foods or dishes because I like almost everything except liver which I truly do not like.

My favorite vacation destination is Hawaii.

My Nominations are, in no particular order, the following:

Marinating Online

Things My Belly Likes

Picky Niki

Sumptuous Spoonfuls

SuperPlus Eats

from the Bartolini kitchens

The DelGrosso Food Blog

what about the pie?

Jacob’s Kitchen

Come Due Maiali / “Like Two Pigs”

waterfallsandcaribous

Po’ Boy Livin’ Rich

Assia’s Kaleidoscope

Living La Belle Vie.

Thanks to everyone who has dropped by and read the blog; liked or commented on a post; and to my friends and sister-in-law who encouraged me to do this. REMCooks gives me an avenue to share one of Baby Lady’s and my passions with those around the world while also learning new things and ideas from fellow bloggers.  Thanks again guys for the nomination. It was and is very much appreciated

Assia, an expat lawyer living in Singapore (lawyers sure do get around) and creator of Assia’s Kaleidoscope, graciously nominated me for this award. If you haven’t checked out Assia’s site, you need to. Her photos are beautiful both in composition and creativity. I wish my photos were half as nice as hers. Her recipes are really nice, too. Check out here post on Feeding Pigs Cherries (and Berries). The photo is beautiful and the recipe delish! It was very sweet of her to nominate me for this award and I am very honored that she selected me to pass on this award.

By accepting this award, I am to:

• Thank the nominating blogger, and link to their blog;
• List 7 random facts about me;
• List 7 of my posts in 7 different categories (categories listed below); and
• Nominate 7 more bloggers.

Here I go:

7 Random Facts About Me:

I spent part of the time composing this post in the stairwell closet because DFW was apparently tornado alley earlier today. It was cramped, uncomfortable and hot. Thankfully, it’s all clear now and there was no damage.

I absolutely love music and am a die-hard romantic. Ask the Baby Lady.

I like kitchen gadgets of all kinds.

I won’t let anyone burn candles in our house, including the Baby Lady, because of what I do for a living, namely investigating product liability fires and seeing numerous candle fires. I even installed the Aga Legacy 44 range in our kitchen in an enclave surrounded by tumblestone because it is not combustible and not a fire hazard. The whole family thinks I am weird.

I shoot all the food photos with a Sony A580 with a Minolta 50 mm 1:2.8 Macro lens with no touchups because I don’t have a clue how to use Photoshop.

Although I have lived 56 of my 57 years in Texas, I was born in Madison, Wisconsin and absolutely adore cheese.

Baby Lady calls me “Sweetie Man” cuz she loves me. Aw…aint she cute?

7 Posts in Different Categories:

Most Beautiful: Tuna Tartare with Coconut Yuzu Kosho and Coconut Leche de Tigre. This is actually one of my favorite recipes on the site. I love tuna and really, really love caviar. This appetizer is beautiful and a real treat.

Most Surprisingly Successful: Spicy Paprika Cauliflower Soup with Dumplings. One of our very favorite soups, packed with flavor and nourishment.

Most Controversial: Grilled Eggplant Zucchini Sandwich with Garlic Sun Dried Tomato Spread and Goat Cheese. This sandwich is unbelievably delicious but people won’t try it because it’s a veggie sandwich. If I were ever to start a diner or cafe, this would definitely be on the menu.

Most Pride Worthy: Aunt Ginny’s & Mom’s Modified Spinach Casserole. I include this one because it comes from two people in my life that were instrumental in my growing up and becoming who I am. I also miss them dearly. The recipe is really good, too.

Most Underrated: Mussels with Chorizo & Red Chiles (Mejillones con chorizo al vapor en 6 chiles). Baby Lady adores mussels. It may well be her favorite food. She simply cannot get enough and this recipe has chiles to boot!

Most Helpful: Peeling a lot of Garlic. This one is included because it is just plain cool and it works!

Most Popular: Roasted Cauliflower with Red Chile, Cilantro & Lime. This dish hands down is the most popular post I have made, both on REMCooks.com and Pinterest. It is absolutely amazing how popular this dish is as it comprises over 40% of the total hits on the blog. It’s also as good as it is popular but there are other recipes on REMCooks.com that we prefer. We also can’t eat cauliflower every day no matter how good it is. 😮

7 Blogger Nominations.

I  would like to nominate and pass this award on to the following bloggers:

domestic diva, M.D. she makes me laugh with her witty repartee

What to Cook? a wonderful site full of good ideas and very nice recipes.

While Chasing Kids a wonderful site with fabulous foods. I learn something every time I visit.

theHungryIrishman a fun and insightful blog by an Irish chef full of good commentary and tips.

Back Road Journal a fabulous blog you really should check out. The recipes are divine and the photos are really nice, so is Karen, the creator of the blog.

Rantings of an Amateur Chef a wonderful blog full of good recipes and neat tips. Check him out.

Thanks again to Assia for the nomination and for all those who continue to read, follow, comment and support REMCooks.com. This is and has been a wonderful experience. I look forward to reading more and more articles, learning new recipes, tricks and tips and meeting more foodies in the world.

Jennifer over at the Foodery nominated me not for just one award but two, both the Versatile Blogger Award and the Sunshine Award. She is exceptionally sweet and I am deeply honored to have been nominated by her twice.

In addition, Virginia at Our Growing Pains also nominated me for the Sunshine Award. I am greatly honored she would think of me for this award. Virginia has a fun blog and is into gardening, cooking from scratch and knitting. She likes Italian food and one of my favorite posts on her site is Pasta Carbonara where she makes the pasta from scratch. I love fresh made pasta. Thanks, Virginia. I am very honored to receive this award.

Veena Mitra at Veena’s Delicious Recipes blog also nominated me for the Sunshine Award. What a delightful honor. Thank you, Veena. Now let me tell you a little about Veena. Veena does Indian food, Bangali food is her favorite, and she does it right. Check out her blog and, in particular, check out her post on Sorsae Macch (Fish with mustard sauce). Thanks, Veena. I sincerely appreciate this honor.

The Rules of the Sunshine Award are 1) Accept the award; 2) post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link; 3) answer the questions below; 4) pass the award to 10 other blogs providing links to their blogs; and 5) contacting them to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Questions:

Blogger Nominations.

This is always the hardest part because there are so many good blogs out there with wonderful people, many of whom have already received these awards. Nonetheless, I would nominate the following blogs in no particular order

1.  Alison over at MixerUpper. I just recently found Allison’s blog as she has only been blogging as MixerUpper since March 2012. Allison is a food writer and recipe writer. When you read her blog you can see she is very talented and knows her way around food. I really liked her post Heirloom Tomatoes and am looking forward to trying it.

2.  Claudia at the Accidental Chef. I also only recently found Claudia’s blog. I don’t know why it took me so long but it did. Claudia lives in LA and posts some beautiful photos and recipes. I particularly like her post on GOAT CHEESE AND LAVENDER CHEESECAKE and it’s definitely on the list of recipes to try.

3.  John over at Sybaritica. John is another lawyer foodie in the northern territory of Nunavut, Canada. It’s a wonder how we all find each other. John’s blog contains recipes and experiments in his kitchen with honest critiques about the results, photos, restaurant reviews, etc. It’s kinda an all purpose foodie blog. Check out his Post Experiment: Beef with Cumin and Scallions.

4.  Anthony at Sexy Cuisine. Anthony is a French Chef transplanted in Ireland sharing his love and passion for food and life. He has fabulous photos of food with unbelievably beautiful presentation and mouth watering recipes. Check out his recipe for Grilled squid served on vegetable julienne with a sweet chilli dressing.

5.  Liv over at Scoff & Quaff downunder in Sydney. Liv’s blog is a really nice blog that celebrates the joy of good food and drink. She also is into sustainable food which I really like. She blogs about restaurants, recipes and ramblings. Check out her post on Lamb shanks braised with pomegranate, balsamic, tomato and bay.

6.  Nina Baydoun at Tabkhet el Yom ( what to cook for lunch today). Nina is a Lebanese mother of 4. Being a mother of 4 requires you to be a saint and her food is heavenly. She shares her simple and cook friendly recipes and provides beautiful photos. I’m always hungry after going to her blog.  Check out her recipe for Homage To My Father… Kibbe With Spinach.

7.  NOLA Chef is one of my favorite blogs to read. NOLA, like the abbreviation, is a woman from New Orleans, La. that has cooking and food in her genes. She’s professionally trained and is now residing in the beautiful city of Buenos Aires, Argentina learning Spanish and operating her own business. She takes beautiful photos and provides tales from her time in Argentina, solid cooking tips, as well as fabulous recipes. You should check out her post on WINTER TART and pate brisee.

8.  If you want to see a plethora of recipes and photos then go over and see Maggie at Maggie’s One Butt Kitchen. It’s absolutely unbelievable the amount of food an the quality of the food she turns out of her little kitchen. But that’s what you do when cooking and food is your passion. Check out her post on Coconut Cream Lime Chicken.

9.  Alice Lau is a Girl in  a Food Frenzy, a delightful blog by a young woman who took her artistic talents in theatre and design and is now applying them in culinary school. When I am looking for inspiration I always go to her site. In fact, Alice inspired me to get the sous vide machine and experiment with it. Check out her post on Tuna with Prickly Pear Salsa.