It has been a while since our last installment of The Finest Foodies Friday. But now that I am back from all the hub bub and settling in to what qualifies as a “normal” life here in the Leftover Queen household, it is time to get back to our regularly scheduled programs here on The Leftover Queen.

For those of you not familiar with the Finest Foodies Friday, we have it every Friday (Duh!), and it is where we showcase favorite blogs from
The Foodie Blogroll. It is a way to share and discover all the wealth of food information we have at our fingertips with The Foodie Blogroll, the fastest growing blogroll for food bloggers. The only requirement to be featured in an installment of FFF is to be a member of The Foodie Blogroll. If you are not yet a member, but you have a food blog and would like to join, please click here, to join in on the fun.If you have a favorite foodblog on The Foodie Blogroll, that you would like to be featured here, please join us over on The Forum, and post your favorite Foodie Blogroll foodblogs here.
Many weeks we pick from the list, and other weeks we just wing it!

This week I would like to showcase some new and some old favorites of mine.

First some of my old favorites:

Let’s start with Katie from Thyme For Cooking
I always love Katie’s blog because she has a great sense of humor. She lives in the South of France, but has also lived in Spain, and she has some great stories to tell about her various adopted homelands. I always learn something new when I visit Katie’s blog and I always leave with a smile on my face. She also has a tantalizing weekly menu plan, often featuring items from her vast garden, that is sure to give you some great ideas for your week!

Then there is Pixie from You Say Tomato…I Say Tomato
Pixie is a very spunky chica who is also a big fan of food of the Mediterranean. She loves exploring new dishes (lots of time other bloggers’ recipes) and trying them out in her kitchen in the UK. Her family is from Malta and she often shares some delicious Maltese dishes, like her family’s Maltese Pizza where she tells a lovely story about her aunt and a day at the beach, one of my favorite posts.

Next is Courtney from CoCo Cooks
Her blog is so interesting, because you never know what kind of food to expect on any given day - she gets inspired by different ingredients or a dish and then goes into her kitchen and makes something based on that inspiration. You can also see her cooking up new dishes based on what she gets from her weekly vegetable box, like those yummy looking Mashed Turnips with Feta! Did someone say Feta???

Looking for great Lebanese food? I always am. If you are too, then you’ve got to check out Mag’s Blog Hommus & Tabbouli.
All of her dishes are totally authentic and she takes the mystery out of all your favorites like falafel, hummus and stuffed grape leaves. I made the Stuffed Grape Leaves from her blog and they were amazing! I could eat everything on her blog, everyday. This is some of the best food in the world!

Now for the two newbies. Like I’ve said in the past, I get tons of new requests to join The Foodie Blogroll everyday, and I have the pleasure of checking them all out. I love this job because I get to see all the great new blogs and get inspired all over again!

A few weeks before my big break, Aaron from Xocoatl Express joined The Foodie Blogroll and I fell in love with his blog right away. Aaron is chocolate obsessed and enjoys making and eating chocolate, like these delicious truffles that he created for The Royal Foodie Joust. For me, I have always described myself as a “vanilla girl” because most of the chocolate that is readily available is honestly crap and not really chocolate at all. Aaron gets this, and his blog is all about real chocolate and how to pair it with the right wines…and cheese! What’s not to love in that equation? There are also non-chocolate related recipes as well.

Last but not least is the lovely Kari from Anticiplate.
Kari is a ballerina who has a love for cooking gourmet foods. She finds many similarities between dancing and cooking from artistry, to technical aspects to plating and performance. I really love how sophisticated, yet simply elegant her foods are. One of my recent favorites is her twist on Caprese salad. Her husband does not like tomatoes so she substituted the tomatoes for sweet, juicy mangoes! What do you say Roberto? You game? (Roberto on the other hand is a lover of tomatoes, and not a lover of mangoes…)!!!
Also, she has the cutest profile pic of her stuffed in a large stock pot - no joke, get over there and check it out!

I really want to also give a special shout out this week to Ivy, Valli
and Judy for awarding me with such honors as these. Things like this really do make my day and keep me going. I thank you all for all your support and keep blogging! Consider all of you tagged for these awards, because you all make my day and give this blog purpose

Summer is definitely closing in on the heels of spring here in the Sunshine State of Florida. We finally had to succumb to putting the AC on yesterday. The humidity here is getting out of control - so we use the AC to take the moisture out of the air. This always portends the coming of summer in this climate. Since by the time we get back from the wedding, summer will be in full swing here, I thought this week I would feature blogs that make me think of summer for various reasons. That way, if you are still in the beginning of spring where you are, you can use ideas from this blog to get your summer on!

First off, we must talk about Cynthia’s Blog Tastes Like Home
She lives in Barbados, but is originally from Guyana and talks about Guyanese food (as well as other Caribbean cuisine). Everyone in the food blogosphere knows Cynthia - her blog is very popular and she has many loyal readers. I think it is because the way she writes about food and her food photography makes it feel like you are sitting at her table, sharing her food with her, while she talks to you about it. I imagine visiting Cynthia, would be much the same as reading her blog. Cynthia was one of the first people to welcome me to the foodie blogosphere and her passion for the foods of the Caribbean is what keeps all the visitors coming back!

Next we have my good friend Ben, from What’s Cooking?
Ben grew up around food in his parents’ restaurant in Mexico. So his love and understanding of food goes way back to his childhood. Mexican food is so ubiquitous these days - with restaurants dedicated to that food in nearly every town in the US. Ben focuses on real, authentic Mexican food - which is actually very hard to find, despite all the restaurants that claim to serve it. I love reading his posts because I usually learn something - whether it be an ingredient, or a way of preparing a dish I have eaten, but never really knew how to make it. His blog is fresh and delicious!

Then we have Sylvia of La Vida en Buenos Aires y afines…
Sylvia’s blog impresses me each and every time I visit it. Her dishes are always innovative and beautiful. The composition of her dishes is clearly a work of art and she has a very fine touch - very aesthetic and I am sure delicious as well. I always knew there were a lot of Italians in Argentina, because I had a few Argentinian friends in high school. There is a fusion to Argentinian cooking - it is a mix of Latin and Italian flavors. A taste of Europe in South America. Fusion cultures always fascinate me. I love to see how the native foods of a country change after its people emigrate elsewhere. Although Sylvia is originally from Brazil (another wonderful food country), her husband is Italian, so she is often making Italian food - in ways that are slightly different than their Americanized counterparts. She also makes a lot of beautiful dishes native to South America and the grilling culture there. Always intersting.

Next is Nikki from Canary Girl
Nikki and her family live in the Canary Islands, Spain. Her food is so good! She has a good time in the kitchen, often experimenting and just enjoying time with her kids. Her blog gives off this fun-loving feel. Again, her food just always looks so fresh and delicious - like it is just jumping off the plate at you and you just want to bite right into it!

Another Caribbean blog I love is Sarina’s Trini Gourmet
The goal of her blog for her is to bring the cuisine of Trinidad to a larger global market. It really is an impressive blog, full of great pictures and step by step instructions for some fabulous recipes. I tell you, there is a whole world of food out there that I really don’t know much about, but it sure gets my taste buds working when I look at those beautiful dishes.

So here is my tribute to summer coming on!

If you would like to nominate your favorite blog from The Foodie Blogroll, please click here

If you would like to JOIN The Foodie Blogroll, for your chance to have your blog featured here, please click here

I can honestly say I am overwhelmed daily by the generosity of the Food Blogging Community. People are supportive of new ideas, helpful when you ask, and it doesn’t take long to feel like you have a whole world of friends out there. One day I have dreams of traveling around the world, and meeting up with all my friends from the community of foodies I have met online. So what does this have to do with this picture of ice cream? We will get to all of that, in due time…

It is almost a year since I began this journey into food blogging and it is one of the best things I ever did with my time. It has helped me re-affirm my passion for food and has made me realize that food and networking with other foodies is where my future lies.

I am getting married in less than a month, so I will continue to post regularly until the first week in April (- after which I am taking a 3 week hiatus), but I may not be able to make my normal rounds to all my favorite blogs. Just know that it is nothing personal and I can’t wait to see you all again in May! Thanks for your support! Also be sure to read the end of this post with an update about The Foodie Blogroll!

Anyway, back to the point of my post…making friends in the blogosphere…so a while back, if you are a regular reader of Valli’s blog, More Than Burnt Toast(and if by some crazy stretch of the imagination, you aren’t a regular reader of her blog – GET ON OVER THERE!) you will have read that she and I did a little foodie exchange. I was enamored of her birch syrup (my favorite tree) and she wanted to try tamarinds. So we decided to have a little exchange! Well I gave her the wrong address and so it took a while for the birch syrup to get here – but it did, along with some delicious maple sugar – I love that stuff!!! Recently my mom gave Roberto and I a Cuisinart Ice Cream maker as an early wedding present (THANKS, MOM!)– so I decided to christen the ice cream maker by making Birch Ice Cream (recipe to follow).

Then the next day, the postman comes a knocking AGAIN (– he must wonder what in the world we are up to at our house!). I am looking at this package and I see a familiar name: Nuria! A package all the way from Spain – and inside a wonderful apron with an octopus on it (I LOVE THEM - how did she know???) and a vacuum sealed package of her prized Iberian Acorn Ham. If you don’t know Nuria’s blog, Spanish Recipes (and again shame on you!!!) check it out and you will see how much she loves this stuff! But she sent this wonderful surprise to Roberto and I as a wedding present! I think we are going to enjoy it best this way.

So thank you Nuria and Valli from the depths of my heart! You two really made my week!

Read more…

I recieved this lovely little package from my friend Cris at From Our Home To Yours. Cris blogs from Brazil and she knows how much I love coffee, so one day she told me that she’d send me some coffee from Brazil someday. Well it arrived here the day before my birthday! Which was perfect! Not only did it include the delicious coffee, but also a beautiful kitchen towel that her mom made and a beautiful ornament made by the Native people of Brazil. This little gift was so thoughtful and really touched my heart!

Not only do Cris and I share the love of food, but we are also both former AFSers. We were both exchange students through the same program years ago. She went to Maryland, in the US (My home state) and I went to Norway. The internet sure can be a small world!

Feliz Natal to you Cris and all your family! Thank you for being so sweet.