Safeway Bagels and the Liebster Award

Safeway Bagels and the Liebster Award

While travelling on the West Coast, there is no better bread to be found than in a Safeway bakery. It is entirely unlike any other “grocery store” bread–I have no idea what their secret is, perhaps I’ll have to make some calls and see if I can tour Safeway’s bakery sometime. Since high school, when every day I had a Safeway across the street, I have been addicted to their bagels. I was super disappointed by my own attempt, and delighted to find, yesterday, that Safeway bagels haven’t changed their recipes for at least a decade.
Off to England today, so while sitting in the airport I mean to finally perform my Liebster Award duties. Thanks to Searching for Sugar Plums , I was nominated for a Liebster award, which, according to my nominator is:

“Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome. Isn’t that sweet? Blogging is about building a community and it’s a great way to connect with other bloggers and help spread the word about newer bloggers/blogs.”

These are the rules for accepting a Liebster Award:

The award is given by bloggers to bloggers with fewer than 200 followers.
Each blogger should answer the questions the tagger has set you.
Choose eleven new bloggers to pass the award to, and link them in your post.
Create eleven new questions for the chosen bloggers.
Go back to their page and tell them about the award.
Each blogger should post eleven random facts about themselves.
Here are some blogs that I nominated because they are wonderful and definitely worthy of the name Liebster and all the niceness it represents… just be prepared to leave hungry and needing to try their recipes!

Cooking on the Farm , At 350 Degrees , Sugar and Love Bakery , Sweet Lab , Words and Cake , The Indolent Cook , My Favourite Pastime , Notes From a Tuscan Olive Grov e, Domestic Diva, MD , Vegetarian in Vegas

I know some of you writers of my favorite blogs, have more than 200 followers, but sometimes it is hard to tell from the blog! So, even if you cannot accept, consider this a complement!

Here are my answers from my questions:

1) What’s your favourite quote? Well, today, I love Marilynne Robinson’s line “Love is half a longing that possession does nothing to mitigate.” (From her novel Housekeeping)

2) What activity gives you the most meaning and satisfaction? Writing–anything.

3) What’s your favourite thing to bake (or have baked for you)? Gingerbread cookies at Christmas time.

4) What motivates you to get up in the morning? My French press and the man I married who knows how to use it.

5) Who do you admire the most and why? I really do admire my husband, and this isn’t newlywed drivle as we have been married for almost 6 years now. I admire Karl-Peter because he knows what goodness is and works hard every day to spread it around.

6) If you had a garden and could only grow three things, what would they be? Bell peppers, zucchini, and mandarin oranges. (my favorite fruit and veggie snacks–it would be so handy if I could get these things to grow!)

7) Is there anything that makes you smile just thinking about it? My brother Dave.

8) What is your idea of the perfect meal? Polyanna had it right– Steak and Ice Cream

9) What did you like to imagine as a kid? That I had an important job that required me to wear a powersuit and carry a briefcase.

10) What do you daydream about now? Publishing the book I wrote.

11) Is there a food or drink that always makes you feel better? What is your idea of comfort food? A Starbucks coffee always makes me feel better (or, paradoxically, sleepy) And comfort food will probably always be Cheerios.

Eleven questions to consider, we’ll start with the easy stuff–

1. What is the meaning of life?
2. Is there a God? And if so, what is he/she like?
3. Where would go if you could get on any plane?
4. What is the story of your name?
5. Coffee or tea?
6. What is the best book you’ve read in the last few months?
7. Do you have a tattoo, and if so, what of?
8. Where were you born?
9. In one sentence, or sentence fragment, describe your most embarrassing moment.
10. What do you think of my bulldog Izzy (as portrayed on Bake This Day Our Daily Bread)?
11. What is your favorite recipe as of this week? The Monday Baker , Vegetarian in Vegas

KP and I arrived safely today in London and spent the afternoon at the British museum. I have scoped out several lovely looking bakeries which I promise to patronize and report on in due course!