butterfly_award1fortheloveofguava has bestowed upon my blog, a Butterfly Award!! Finally, all this danged fussing and worrying about typos and waking up in the middle of the night wondering if that t. should have been a T. has paid off! Somebody likes my blog!

You may ask, why the hell should a snarky vegan care about awards? Well, we’re all human and we’re all trying to contribute to this bigass vegan universe that’s growing daily. And it means that maybe my recipes, tips and ephemera have helped someone. Or at least they’ve been entertained.

So what is a Butterfly Award? While there’s no monetary value or free chocolate associated with the award, it’s another way that bloggers can recognize each other for jobs well done. And you, as reader, get the added benefit of having pointed out to you, 10 additional blogs you may not know about.

Here are the official Butterfly Award rules:

  1. post about the award
  2. link back to the person that nominated you
  3. place the award on your sidebar and then choose 10 blogs that you think are really cool, link to them, contact each person and talk about why you think their blogs are cool

It is insanely difficult to choose only 10 blogs. There must be at least 50 that I check regularly.

Now in the interest of spreading the love, here are my picks for the Butterfly Award (in no particular order):

  1. Vegan Yum Yum: When you’re looking for the best photography, incredibly unique recipes and consistently well-done blog, this one’s tops.
  2. Vegan Dad: Because not all guys are meat-eating sweathogs! Yep, this dad has one of the most faithful/regularly posted vegan blogs out there. And he has awesome recipes!
  3. The Urban Vegan: Ok, I’ll admit it, I love looking at the photos that include her loft and kitchen. Tres Chic Vegan!
  4. Fatfree Vegan: This blog is one of those that got me through the initial “becoming a vegan” conversion. If it weren’t for Susan and her wonderful recipes and how-tos, there’s no way I could have made it this far.
  5. Have Cake, Will Travel: Celine is a master baker and her blog shows her amazing skill.
  6. The Conscious Kitchen: Her plating and garnishes are beautiful and creative. Not to mention the many unique ideas such as, the Turkish chili pepper cupcake she created for the Iron Cupcake Challenge. Oh, and her Faux Clotted Cream is yummy.
  7. A Vegan Ice Cream Paradise: I dream of a day when I have a kitchen large enough to house all the small appliances I want, including an ice cream maker. And this website is where I’d get all my recipes. Yep.
  8. Melomeals: Melody is a professional chef and blogs about her vegan food creations, all of which are very creative and present well.
  9. To Live and Eat in LA: If you live in LA, this is one of the best vegan restaurant review blogs and includes photos of the various vegan options at local eateries.
  10. Swell Vegan: For healthy examples of all types of meals — breakfast, dinner, desserts, etc. — check out Swell Vegan’s blog. Great photos too!