Irish Blog Awards 2011

Last Saturday I travelled to Belfast with fellow food blogger Babaduck Babbles to attend the Irish Blog Awards.  I may have mentioned in passing *cough* that I was a finalist in the Best Food/Drink Blog category.  The awards were held in the Europa Hotel and that is where we set up camp for the evening.  While we were a little tight for time we did manage a visit to Hotel Chocolat where we literally had to drag each other away before emptying the shelves, and also to Cayenne, the restaurant of Paul Rankin.  Both were fantastic spots to visit.  I have been happily filling my face with Hotel Chocolat florentines all day and the meal in Cayenne was absolutely delicious, I sent 3 spotlessly clean plates back to the kitchen.  To start I had a seafood chowder with an oriental twist and the balance of chilli and coconut milk was perfect.  For my main I enjoyed delicious plump gnocchi, with a delicate crisp shell served in a rich cream sauce.  With my belly already full I opted for a selection(caramel, ginger and vanilla) of ice creams for dessert. 

A quick dash back to the hotel to change into our gúna's and we were all set for the main event.  For the past 6 years the awards have been organised by Damien Mulley and a small team, and hosted by Rick O'Shea.  The room was a buzz with chatter and laughter as bloggers chatted happily in groups before being called to order.  With that they were off.  The food/drink category was 2nd up on the night and the award went to the very lovely Aoife of The Daily Spud, a second win for Aoife and her excellent blog.  (If you haven't checked it out yet be sure to do so, especially if like Aoife you are rather fond of the humble spud)  The ceremony continued in a haze of t-shirt throwing, fake trophy pillaging, foam guitar playing and cup cake stealing, and the sound bite of the evening was "ouch my fanny hurts", which raised a chuckle every time.  A pretty great way to spend a Saturday night if you ask me.

I thoroughly enjoyed the awards and was more than a little disappointed at the end of the ceremony when Damien Mulley announced it was to be the last Irish Blog Awards.  It would be a shame to see the end of such a positive celebration of people who are so passionate about their subject matter and for this reason I hope to see the awards reinvented in a new guise or possibly organised by someone else.  I would like to thank Damien Mulley and all who helped to organise the awards and also the judges who took the time to read my blog and award it a finalists place.  Once again I would like to thank those who nominated my blog and all who read and comment.  I am very proud of my little blog and it's achievement in it's short life and I hope to continue to make it a blog you enjoy to read and follow.

Also, huge congratulations to the lovely Nessa Robbins of Nessa's Family Kitchen, who scooped the gong for Best Newcomer.

You can find a full list of winners here.