January 7, 2005
Honored and Blushing in Food Blog Land
Kate has now unveiled the complete results of the 2004 Food Blog Awards and well, I am the lucky recipient of four awards: Best Writing, Best Recipes, Best Site Design and Best Overall Food Blog. Wow. I am thrilled to pieces, incredibly flattered, and just generally extatic. And grateful.
I remember very clearly the night when I decided to create my food blog, during a conversation with Maxence at a Japanese restaurant. I had been thinking about it for a while, wanting to follow in the footsteps of my favorite bloggers (they know who they are), but I was hesitant because I thought it may be too time-consuming and I was afraid I would quickly run out of things to write about. It turns out I got the first part right (oh the endless hours spent grooming and maintaining and caring for this blog!), but thankfully I don't see the second one happening anytime soon: food seems to be a bottomless source of renewable energy and inspiration, and I generally have way more things to write about that time to do so.
So I came up with a name (during a private brainstorming session on a bus -- and how I wish I had kept the paper on which I scribbled down the options!), I set up the blog on our home server, and started posting away. Little by little, to my great surprise and delight, the traffic grew, as the number of kind emails and media mentions.
I can honestly say, however lyrical this may sound, that Chocolate & Zucchini has changed my life. It has revealed myself to myself, it's given me an outlet for my passion and my creativity, it's allowed me to reach out to other people all over the globe who share this irrational, uncontainable, wacky love of all things food. It's created more opportunities that I would ever have thought remotely possible, and it's brought me a few really good friends. And here I am now, sixteen months, 427 posts and four food blog awards later: I've never been so happy, or so excited about what tomorrow will bring (well except maybe on Christmas Eve when I was little).
Acceptance speeches usually end with a list of thanks, so I'll gladly comply: first and foremost I would like to thank Maxence, for his love, his appetite, his infinite wisdom, and his server admin skills. Then come my family and friends, who have always been incredibly supportive and admirative, and who are so genuinely and touchingly happy when I am.
And of course, I would like to thank you -- for visiting Chocolate & Zucchini, for stepping into my little world, liking it here, telling me so, and making me feel like a million chocolate chips.
Oh, and do visit my co-nominees, tell them I said hi and congrats! There's Pim, Debra, Molly, Renee, Mik, Elise, Rachael and Johanna, Heidi, Martine, Josh, Raging Yogurt (whose real name I have failed to locate, but raging yogurt is cool enough), Graham and last but certainly not least, Adam.
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Comments (38)
Permalink | Posted by clotilde in Events
Congratulations!
Posted by Irene on January 7, 2005 8:27 PMi am so proud of you!! when can we show up with snacks and celebratory beverages?
Posted by monkey on January 7, 2005 8:34 PMCongratulations, Clothilde!
Yours was the first food blog I ever read, and I can tell you it was love at first sight (or site....mmmmmm... puns).
Also, "like a million chocolate chips" is now one of my new favorite sayings.
Posted by Jessica on January 7, 2005 9:02 PMAs mentioned elsewhere, congrats Clotilde. Your presence in the food blog community is well appreciated and very much enjoyed.
Many Thanks for your hard work and here's to the upcoming year.
Posted by Kate on January 7, 2005 9:11 PMCongratulations a thousand times over Clotilde! Well deserved indeed! Yours is one of my daily blog reads and I look forward to many more years of C&Z.
Posted by Viv on January 7, 2005 9:13 PMAdd my congratulations. I come to your blog as I would a fine art gallery. Well done.
Posted by Mary on January 7, 2005 9:15 PMYoung, pretty and so talented...are you sure I can't convince you to marry one of my sons!!
Congratulations Clotilde - you deserve the recognition. Thankyou for your terrific blog - you have been an inspiration in my life.
Posted by Barbara on January 7, 2005 9:19 PM:-) congrats! the awards are well deserved.... your blog is one of my very favourites and i am very happy you are here and posting. thank you!
Posted by susanne on January 7, 2005 11:06 PMCongratulations again, Clotilde!! You deserve it!
I'm honored by your comments, and you know the feeling is mutual. I'm so happy that you took the plunge and created C&Z way back when. Keep up the good work!
Posted by Josh on January 7, 2005 11:21 PMFantastic, Clotilde! Congratulations!
Posted by Matilda on January 7, 2005 11:55 PMHere's to c&z, a young and successful weblog and you, its creator, a rising star in the food-related media... I am so happy that you enjoy making this blog as much as I do in reading this. Once again, congratulations Clotilde, you deserve them well. Keep up the good work!
Posted by chika on January 8, 2005 12:46 AMLet me just add my voice to the chorus of congratulations...Mazel tov! I'm certain that I'm not the only one here who started a food blog after reading C&Z. Your influence is far-reaching, indeed, and you should be very proud.
Posted by debbie on January 8, 2005 2:02 AMFelicitations, chere Clotilde.
All your awards are well-deserved and I'm sure none of your readers are surprised in the least. I certainly am not.
Posted by Derrick Schneider on January 8, 2005 5:23 AMWell done and congratulations. I've very much enjoyed my readings here over the last 6 or 7 months, and I'm not surprised in the least by your success. Here's to the next 16 or so months !
Cheers,
Alder
Posted by Alder on January 8, 2005 7:58 AMThis is exquisite! And in keeping with the best writing, this was the most lovely of "acceptance speeches" Academy Awards winners have a thing or two to learn. C&Z was my first ever blog. Hadn't even heard the term before my friend Hailyn urgently emailed me to go "here". C&Z has changed my life as well. I am so fortunate to count you as one of my new friends and am never without gratitude. I could gush some more.
Congratulations, Hugs, Bisous and a spanking brand new box of Cinnamon Puffins will be delivered to you asap.
Posted by Alisa on January 8, 2005 10:14 AMcongratulations! Your blog is fantastic and the way you describe your experiences is a true delight for me:
Posted by estelle2 on January 8, 2005 11:35 AM"feeling like a million chocolate chips"... how cute!
Congratulations on the well earned awards. Your blog is wonderful.
Posted by Auntie M on January 8, 2005 12:26 PMHourrah !
Posted by Maman on January 8, 2005 12:31 PMBravo, ma chérie, voilà des récompenses bien méritées ! J'en suis vraiment heureuse pour toi.
Congrats! A quand un blog en Français ;-)
Posted by Laurent Bazet on January 8, 2005 2:43 PMbravo
Posted by jp on January 8, 2005 2:51 PMcontinue
THANK YOU! I love your blog and I'm going to try and become more adventurous (sp?) with my cooking in the new year inspired by you.
Your passion is an inspiration.
Happy New Year!
Posted by m on January 8, 2005 4:00 PMCongratulations on your awards! Keep up the good work.
Posted by Madhu on January 8, 2005 4:18 PMCongratulations!
Posted by Katherine on January 8, 2005 6:58 PMClotilde, congratulations! Your blog always reminds me to appreciate the details that make for a richer experience, in the culinary sense and beyond. All the awards are well-deserved.
Posted by Candy on January 8, 2005 11:16 PMClotilde,
Congratulations. The praises you've received are well deserved. Have been reading your blog for a year or so, and it is always a pleasure. In the midst of whatever travails in teaching, etc. you are constant source of joy.
Posted by Hugh Nicoll on January 9, 2005 5:54 AMSorry to post a comment irrelevant to the discussion thread, but I would like to exchange links with your site. My site, bake4me.com, does NOT sell any products. It focuses exclusively on baking-- cakes, cupcakes, cookies, cookie bars and muffins through photos and recipes, and FEATURES A BLOG, of course. Please reply via email. Thank you.
Posted by S. Friedman on January 9, 2005 8:57 PMHi Clotilde,
Posted by Requia on January 9, 2005 10:31 PMCongrats for your 4 awards and "longue vie" to your blog !
Congratulations!
Posted by Tina on January 10, 2005 12:17 AMAnd thank you for entertaining and enlightening us with your wonderful blog. :-)
Congratulations for the awards you've just reaped and for your blog (that I've discovered recently). I'm also trying to start up a food blog (though less ambitious than yours) and I'm pretty impressed by what you've achieved.
Keep on being a great ambassador for good food !
Posted by Laurent Martinez on January 10, 2005 1:00 AMhi!
it's my first time here...
what a nice food blog you got here!
oh, and congratulations!
^_^
Posted by mavic on January 10, 2005 10:45 AMFelicitations Clotilde, c'est largement merite. Et merci pour ces moments de plaisir passes a lire, a regarder, a imaginer avec delectation dans ton univers gourmand.
Posted by Gracianne on January 10, 2005 10:45 AMFelicitations, Clotilde! It couldn't happen to a lovelier blog... and blogger! :) Thanks for sharing your creations with all of us... you're an inspiration. And... confidentially... yours is still my favorite food blog. :)
Posted by the baklava queen on January 10, 2005 12:29 PMHi.. congratulations. Your blog was one of the first foodblogs I read and somehow itbecame a standard for all other blogs. Your blog convinced me to actually begin blogging. All the best and looking forward to reading more posts on your blog.
Posted by j on January 10, 2005 1:46 PMCheers
Congratulations again, dear Clotilde! I consider your blog the "gold standard" by which I judge all other food blogs. Your awards are well-deserved! Enjoyed the IMBB interview.
And about those potato mashers. I have an entire collection of them, starting with one that's over 100 yrs old and still going strong. They are indeed fun toys!
Posted by Ann/brighidsdaughter on January 10, 2005 10:01 PMCongratulations Clotilde!! This is wonderful news and you are very deserving of it. You have an incredible site and I'm glad you have been honored for it. Cheers!
Posted by Deb on January 11, 2005 4:51 PM(wanted to drop this earlier but i got distracted!) so happeee for you!!!
Posted by may on January 12, 2005 1:06 AMI'm late sending my congratulations, but they're no less sincere. You deserve every prize for an effort that gives so much pleasure to others and evidently to yourself as well. Chapeau!
Posted by Shelli on January 12, 2005 9:39 PMMany, many congratulations, Clotilde!
And as we are currently in Hanoi, I am sending you a virtual bunch of lotus flowers to celebrate, along with a platter of Vietnamese Cold Spring Rolls.
my best wishes, Judy
Posted by Judy on January 18, 2005 12:20 PMPrivacy. The email addresses you enter will not be used for any other purpose than the sending of this message.