To be honest I've been overwhelmed and surprised to have made it this far in Project Food Blog, into the final 100, and I've been inspired by the challenges and completely exhausted by completing them! Thank you to each and every one of you who voted, I mean I really, really appreciated your support.
Anyway, one of the best things about the competition, other than overcoming a fear of deep-frying, has been discovering all sorts of wonderful food-related blogs. Some are still competing, some are out, but they're all worth reading!
Croque Camille (see below) nominated the three blogs she thought might make it through to win PFB, although sadly we've all three of us now been eliminated. Wanting to return the favour, I decided the best way to honour the blogs I've enjoyed reading is to award Life on Nanchang Lu Blog Awards of my own, in completely fictional made-up categories.
Now, they don't come with any prizes worth having, but if anyone is really desperate for concrete proof of their win, I have a pair of Hello Kitty Chinese kitchen arm protectors up for grabs. Now to the winners....
Camille is an American pastry chef living and working in the food capital of the world, Paris. Read about her adventures both in and out of the kitchen, and her only-a-pastry-chef-could know-this recipes. Check out her incredibly detailed Google food map of Paris for restaurants, food stores, and food-related sites, and you'll be buying a plane ticket before you can say croquembouche.
Best Asian Food Blog- Tiny Urban Kitchen
Jen lives in Boston and whips up amazing dihes from all the major Asian cuisines - Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese, Chinese.
She's made it through to Round 5 of PFB and it will be great to see what her take on pizza is for this challenge. I can be confident it won't be what you expect either.
Kentucky girl Whitney drinks, swears and cooks up a storm, all for our enjoyment. A self-confessed comfort food enthusiast, she is one of the few blogs whose writing makes it laugh out loud. They should have kept her in the comp because everyone else was getting way too serious.
Marija lives in Belgrade, Serbia, and takes the most glorious photos - they totally transport the viewer to another place. I've never been to Serbia, but when I look at her photos I can imagine exactly what it's like, and what they eat there. She has a perticular interest in traditional ethnic foods and their preparation.
For the Luxury Dinner Party of Round 3, Ruby took the bravest step of all by reminding all of us that while we thought of nothing but food, there were many in the world going hungry. She served her family plain rice, and clean water. It obviously pricked a few too many consciences because despite writing a fantastic blog about food from her own multicultural perspective, she didn't make it through to the next round. Instead, she established Foodies Sans Frontieres as a way of raising awareness of the issue of world hunger within the foodie community. Bravo.
So keep on enjoying your daily slice of Life onNanchang Lu. Shanghai and I aren't going anywhere and there are lots of exciting adventures coming up. Thanks again!