Since I started blogging I have tried to post as regularly as I could and while I have read quite a fair number of books last year, the last time I did a summary was for my Best Books of 2011 post. And so I had a nice surprise to see my name nominated for the 7X7 Link Award, by writer Andrew Blackman (whose book, On the Holloway Road, is on my TBR list) and thought it was about time I got a shovel and started digging through the archives to get some answers for this fun meme.
Before I start, here are the rules:
1: Tell everyone something about yourself that nobody knows.
2: Link to a post I think fits the following categories: The Most Beautiful Piece, Most Helpful Piece, Most Popular Piece, Most Controversial Piece, Most Surprisingly Successful Piece, Most Underrated Piece, Most Pride-worthy Piece (interview).
3: Pass this on to 7 fellow bloggers.
After some research, picture selecting and some deliberating, here are my answers:
1. I love to bake, and while this isn’t exactly a big secret, the part I actually enjoy the most is the decorating. I have a special fondness for whole wheat muffins and cookies, which not even the very high temperature can dampen. After all, I’m living in a country with a perpetual summer and baking is not easy but oh, so rewarding! 
Cute, isn’t it? Here’s another one: the first time I saw a live, full grown monitor lizard I was looking out the window and the first thought that crossed my mind was: Oh my God, what’s that crocodile doing in the yard? Then I ran for the camera but by the time I got back, the lizard had disappeared. A while later the penny dropped and I realized crocodiles don’t have a snakelike tongue, but in my excitement that detail was completely forgotten.
2. The Most Beautiful Piece. There’s a mango tree in my front yard and every year it bears fruit but last year most of them just fell while still small and green. Weeks of waiting for that perfect sweet fruit left me with nothing. And then, this year, an amazing thing happened: in February, the tree was so full of fruit that I had to give some to the neighbors because once they fall, the soft skin breaks apart and the ants eat them or they start rotting. And not only I had enough mangoes to eat for a month or more, but they also had a pinkish tinge, something I haven’t seen before. This story is about that tree.
3. Most Helpful Piece. That might be Best Books of 2011 but I think it was mostly helpful for me, as I discovered interesting new blogs to read.
4. Most Popular Piece. If I were to judge by the comments, I would say the one at no. 3 but people seem to stop by and read Haunts – Reliquaries of the Dead quite often.
5. Most Controversial Piece. Nothing in this department, I’m afraid.
6. Most Surprisingly Successful Piece. For some reason people seemed to like One Day, by David Nicholls but it’s definitely not on my top 10. The movie didn’t do much to change my opinion, either.
7. Most Underrated Piece. That must be the whole Wandering Thoughts section which consists of verse.
8. Most Pride-Worthy Piece. That’s an easy one. Farundell, by L.R. Fredericks – I liked the book so much I wanted to know more about it so I contacted the author for a written interview. I was so happy when she agreed to answer my questions that I walked around the whole day with a big silly grin on my face. It was one of the best experiences that came from starting this blog.
The bloggers I am passing this on to are:
1. Carl@stainlesssteeldroppings A site that is updated quite often and includes movie & book reviews and also The Once Upon a Time Challenge which consists of reviewing books and movies based on the classic fairy tales.
2. Jenners@Life…With Books She has a great sense of humour and writes posts about her experiences and the books she reads. Her funny posts always cheer me up.
3. Hannah@Wayfaring Chocolate Here’s a girl who loves baking and posts some mouthwatering recipes on her blog. She takes great pictures, too.
4. Charlie Louie@Hotly Spiced A great blog about food (with recipes, yum!) and life in general.
5. M—–L@Outgoing Signals I like this blog not only for the posts, which cover book reviews, music and other random stuff, but also for the comments. That is also the place where I first found out about Babo, the cutest ugliest doll I’ve seen so far.
6. Jov@JoV’s Book Pyramid A book blog with quite a mix of classic and contemporary authors.
7. Olduvai@Olduvai Reads A new blog I’ve just discovered. Olduvai and I bonded over our love for mangosteens and I look forward to reading more of her posts which combine book reviews and snippets of her life.
Thanks for the nomination Delia. I will aim to do the meme once I am able to. I do love Mangosteens too and haven’t tasted one for years. Mangosteens and durians make a good companion fruit, one is heaty and one is cooling so they balanced it off. Mangoes are my favourite, especially those who are shaped like apple and has dark amber colour. Those pictures of cakes and biscuits are mouth watering!
Hi JoV, I’m glad you want to try the meme, I look forward to your answers, whenever you have time.
Durian, now that’s a fruit I’m still not sure if I like or not. The taste is rich and not too bad, but the smell, oh my God, it’s awful! Durian chips, however, are absolutely delicious and smell free. 🙂
Apple shaped mangoes, I remember seeing those back home, they were imported from…I can’t remember but it wasn’t Asia.
Most likely from Pakistan. I love the durian smell. It’s an acquired smell, as in acquired taste! 🙂
Great choices. Post and blogwise and I liked to read something we didn’t now about you. The cookies look lovely.
Thanks, Caroline. I love baking those cookies, it’s the easiest recipe ever.
Beautiful post, Delia! Loved the pictures of the cookies and the mangoes. I too love mangoes – the season is on here and I can’t wait to try my first ones for the year. One of my favourite posts of yours was the Christmas post you wrote last year. I liked what you said about Jenners – she writes beautiful, humorous posts which are a pleasure to read. I am hoping to read all the posts that you have linked to, sometime in the future. Nice to see you blogging, after a long time 🙂
Is there anybody who doesn’t love mangoes? 🙂 It’s good there are so many types it’s basically one big season all year round.
This Christmas post ? I had a lot of fun writing that.
It’s nice to be back, Vishy.
I did it…sort of.
I’m so glad you did! Great answers, too! 🙂
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Aw, thank you! I actually did this meme a little while ago, and found it really fun. It’s lovely seeing what other people cherish about their own words, too! And oh yes, weather must never get in the way of baking 😛
Thanks Hannah, for dropping by and for letting me know. I appreciate it. I’ll go back to your delicious blog and read your answers.
Thanks so much! That is very exciting. I look forward to playing along. I haven’t heard of this meme before. But I do always like these things because it is great to hear the blogger answer questions about themselves xx
Hi Charlie,
I’m glad you decided to take up the meme and I look forward to your answers. All those yummy recipes, it’s going to be a pleasure to read. 🙂
Hi Delia
Thanks for answering! I loved looking through your old posts, particularly the story about the mango tree, which contained some really beautiful use of language. I liked your Wandering Thoughts section, but maybe one reason it’s underrated is because you haven’t done much wandering lately 😉 I also think the name is a little self-deprecating and might put people off. Wandering Thoughts suggests the sort of pointless rambling that some bloggers go into, talking randomly about the minutiae that’s on their mind that second, and what you do is much better than that. Maybe you could treat your own poetry with more kindness? Just a thought, and hope you take it in the supportive spirit in which it’s intended, not as a criticism 🙂
By the way, I read an article recently which recommended sending cookies to your readers: http://www.copyblogger.com/social-media-relationships/ If you need my address, just ask 🙂 They look fantastic!!
Hello Andrew,
I love that mango tree and I’m glad it showed in the story. It was sort of a thank you letter for giving me the chance to eat all that fruit. Is that weird? 🙂
Constructive criticism is very much appreciated and I will take your suggestions into consideration. It’s not that I haven’t written anything for that section of my blog, but poetry is much more personal and I feel somehow…reluctant to post it all there. Maybe I should be more daring, eh? And I thought that name was so clever but I will change it to something less abstract and more kind. 😉
Thanks for the link, that’s an interesting post, I’ve bookmarked the site.
I have nothing against sending you cookies, after all you live just a stone’s throw away….over Africa! 🙂
Not weird at all! It’s a beautiful motivation for writing a story.
Sorry to pour cold water on a name you liked! Don’t necessarily change it – that’s just my own personal reaction, and other people might view it differently. I just know that I often tend to talk down my own writing, and it seemed to me that you were doing the same. But if you like it, keep it.
Hey, that’s a long stone’s throw 🙂 You should be in the Olympic team! But it’s true that we’re not as far away as it sometimes seems. We both swim in the same sea. Maybe you could put some cookies in a bottle and see if the currents take it to Barbados 🙂
By the way, thanks for checking out my guest post! I’ve replied over on http://readlearnwrite.com/guest-post-why-reading-and-writing-are-inseparable/#comment-488
Great, sorry I haven’t replied sooner, just got back from the beach. I did see a bottle in the sea and I remembered what you said about the cookies. 🙂
Oh wow … I’m salivating over your baking!! I must say, I’ve never been able to decorate baked goods in any skillful way so I envy your talent. This is a neat little meme … I’ve never seen one quite like it where you link to different types of posts. I shall definitely have to give it a go!!! Thanks for the shout-out and the very lovely comments. I truly appreciate it!!!
Thanks, Jen. I am very curious to see your answers, and the comments are very well deserved. So glad you decided to take it up.