Another award? For me?! Oh, you guys are too kind. I wasn’t really prepared for this but let me just get my super short, 3000-word thank you speech out of my pocket. No?! Fine. Let’s get down to answering some questions and listing some random facts about myself instead, then. 

This time I was actually nominated for a Liebster Award by two amazing bloggers: the lovely Tori from Gringalicious and the charismatic D.J. from Vegan Cooking For You. Make sure to check out their blogs if you haven’t already.

I thought long and hard about these two nominations. Should I do two separate posts? Should I combine both nominations into a single post? Should I have fries for breakfast? Oops, starting to get a little sidetracked here. Well, I opted for fusing both nominations into one. Let me tell you why. I was nominated for a Dragon’s Loyalty Award by Mrs. Choux from The Recipe Box as well. For that particular award, I had to list seven random facts about myself. For these two Liebster Awards, I would have to list 22 (11 for each award) random facts about myself if I were to post them separately. That adds up to 29 random facts total about myself! To be honest, I don’t think you are emotionally ready for such burden. Remember, once you read those random facts about me, you can never unread them no matter how hard you try. Plus, it would probably take me a month to come up with 22 random facts. Coming up with 7 took me a good 45 minutes. Yikes!

The Liebster Award is not a real award. Just like the Dragon’s Loyalty Award, a nomination is highly appreciated as it is a form of recognition from fellow bloggers. Pretty cool how the blogsphere works, huh? We are all like one big family!

The rules for the Liebster Award are:

Thank the blogger who nominated you and post a link to their blog. Once again, thank you to Tori and D.J. for the nomination. I’m going to send you guys a fruit basket or something. I’ll have my people call your people and we’ll figure something out ;) 

Display the award on your blog. Look at that. I’m so excited about this, I’m going the extra mile and posting not only one version of the Liebster Award logo, but three.

Answer 11 questions provided by the blogger who nominated you. For this question session, I am going to list all 22 questions (11 from Tori and 11 from D.J), but I won’t tell you who asked each particular question. You’ll just have to head over to their respective blogs to find out. 

Get comfortable. It’s Q&A time…

1. Why did you start blogging?
Because I adore food blogs. All those beautiful pictures, all those yummy recipes. I wanted to become part of the food blog scene. 

2. Before you started reading this post, what were you doing?
I was talking to my neighbour about how much I hate winter. I know it’s summer now but that usually doesn’t stop me from complaining about winter. I can complain about winter 24/7. I was also eating a chicken Shawarma. Yum.  

3. If you had to eat only one meal for the rest of your life what would it be?
Tacos! I didn’t even need to think about this one. Wow. The answer just popped into my head unconsciously. Haha! I love tacos. Tacos al pastor are by far my favourite kind.  

4. What is the tastiest food or drink in your kitchen right now?
Fresh cherries. Yum! 

5. What is your favorite recipe that you have ever made?
This is a tough one. There is so much yummy food I’ve had the pleasure of making. But, if I had to pick just one, I would have to say authentic Italian meatballs. I learnt how to make these when I was working at a small Italian restaurant back in the day. 

6. Name one word your friends use to describe you?
Quirky. Haha!

7. You can tell a lot about a person by the way they eat a cupcake. Are you:  A. The type that licks the frosting off and eats only the cupcake, B. The type that prefers only the cake without the frosting, C. The type that eats it in perfectly equal bites with perfect frosting to cake ratio, or D. The type that just likes to eat the cupcake any way you can have it?
Definitely, C. I am one of those people who open their mouth as wide as humanly possible just to get that perfect frosting to cake ratio in every bite. Needless to say, I am not a pretty cupcake eater.

8. What is your wish/prayer for humankind?
That we learn to respect, understand and appreciate diversity in society. We are all different. Let’s face it and embrace it.

9. What is your favorite holiday?
Dia de Muertos. I’m sure most of you haven’t heard of this holiday, but it’s by far my favourite holiday. Google it. You’ll be amazed.

10. Five years ago, what were you were doing on your birthday?
Celebrating I was turning legal drinking age. I think that’s already too much information. 

11. If you could be anywhere in the world right now where would it be?
Oaxaca. Good people, good food. It doesn’t get any better than that.

12. Six years from now, what would you like to be doing on your birthday?
I’d like to go see the Northern lights. It helps that I was a January baby. 

13. What is the first recipe you remember ever making, or have you been cooking longer than you remember?
The first recipe I ever made was no-bake lime squares. Good memories!

14. What do you hope to gain by being a blogger?
I’ve always liked cooking, but I’d never really had to really “sell” my recipes through photographs or cool web design. I hope to gain some insight into the world of food styling and design. It doesn’t hurt that I get to share my passion for cooking with the world in the process. Wow. That was a deep question.

15. What is your ultimate food/dessert weakness?
Cookies. Nom nom nom.

16. Who would play you in a movie about your life?
Emma Stone. Haha!

17. Stupidest movie you have ever sat through?
Mr. Bean. Argh.

18. If you could move anywhere, money not a worry, where would it be?
Montreal! I very much dislike snow, but all the awesome summer festivals make up for those horrible winters Montreal is famous for.

19. Is there a person in your life that inspires you to cook? If so who are they?
Oh, yes. Both my grandmas. They are amazing cooks, they just don’t know yet. They see cooking as more of a chore rather than as a creative outlet or an art. However, me graduating from cooking school has helped change their whole perspective on cooking. They are starting to realize that cooking can be enjoyable rather than tortuous. 

20. Who, from today throughout history, would make a great dinner guest in your flat?
Guy Fieri. He just seems to love all food with a passion. I’ve never seen a single episode of Diner, Drive-Ins and Dives where he is not beyond pleased with the food in front of him. 

21. What is the biggest tip that you wish you had known before starting your blog?
That nobody should ever pushed her/himself to post every day. Blogging should be enjoyable – not stressful. If the blogger enjoys blogging, the reader will enjoy reading.

22. What, or who, inspires you?
Aside from my grandmas, I think kitchen supply stores inspire me. Haha. I love going to kitchen supply stores. All those shiny plates and pots not to mention all those amazing kitchen gadgets I dream of owning one day.

Provide 11 random facts about yourself. Hope the answer to those questions give you a better idea of the super awesome person (a.k.a. me) behind One Prickly Pear. What’s that? You still want to know more about me?! Ok. Who am I to deny you of such joy? Here are a few random facts about myself to satisfy your curiosity.     

1. My sister and I want to go around the city at night planting all sorts of fruit trees to provide people with healthy, free snacks. 
2. To this day, I’ve attended a total of 21 different schools counting from kindergarden to University.
3. I have a slight addiction to Candy Crush and Pinterest. 
4. I’m obsessed with hedgehogs at the moment.
5. I cannot handle spicy food.
6. I had a crush on Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys growing up.
7. I have an unhealthy dependency on 7up.
8. My last boyfriend and I shared the exact same date of birth.
9. I once wan an online contest and when they mailed me the prize (a camera), my next door neighbour tried to steal it from my mailbox.
10. I thoroughly enjoy watching infomercials.
11. I have travelled from Montreal to Mexico City by bus. It took 4 days and 3 nights. 

Nominate 11 blogs. That was fun. Thanks, Tori and D.J. for the much appreciated nomination and it is now my turn to pass on the torch to other bloggers. Drumroll, please. And the nominees are…

Nicole | The Spice Train
Christin | Spicy Southern Kitchen
Thalia | Butter and Brioche
Regina | LeelaLicious
Ronit | Tasty Eats
Annie | Maebells
Tash | Tealightsky
Polly | Tasty Food Project
Joanne | Eats Well With Others
Prudy | Butter, Basil and Breadcrumbs
Jess | Cooking is My Sport

Ask the nominees 11 questions. Congratulations to all the nominees! Here are my questions to you.

1. What’s your best childhood memory?
2. What’s something you regret, and how would you change it if you could?
3. What makes you smile?
4. What is the first thing that you do in the morning?
5. Who is a hero in your life?
6. Do you prefer a home-cooked meal, or to go out to a restaurant?
7. What would be the first thing you would do if you won the lottery?
8. What do you admire most about yourself?
9. What is the most-watched movie/DVD in your collection?
10. What’s a nickname you’ve had or one that you would give yourself?
11. What’s your favourite ice cream flavour?

Accepting this Liebster Award was an honour and a great experience. I think I even learnt a few things about myself. Thanks to the bloggers who took the time to nominate me, to check out my blog and to come up with ingenious questions for their nominees. Not as easy as it sounds. Thank you!