Blog Award AND How to Pick A Watermelon

First off, I would love to think Jacque over at her Soda Parlor. She recently awarded me with the Versatile Blogger Award. What bigger compliment can there be? Her blog is pretty awesome, and she's been really busy building it up these days. Lots of new followers, a new template, it's looking great. SO, she picked me, along with nine other new and exciting finds, to receive this award:

Here's how it works:

After accepting the Versatile Blogger Award, the blogger must:

1. Thank the person who gave the award and link back to them in your post (I guess I'm a bit of a dope. I spent days looking for the code to do this, and you just have to save or copy the actual image of the award. Just saying.)
2. Share seven things about yourself
3. Pass this award along to 10 recently discovered blogs

Here are seven things all about moi, in no specific order at all:
1. I speak English, French, and understand lots of Greek
2. I am a teacher by day.
3. I wish I could incorporate food into my work, but can't imagine working in a restaurant (hence, the blog...)
4. I love Christmas, and am already starting to get warm fuzzy feelings thinking of new traditions to start.
5. My husband and I have been together for over 13 years (since we were 15) and he is my rock.
6. Seeing pictures of beautiful beaches makes me sick to my stomach out of desire....
7. I strongly believe in the Law of Attraction. You should check it out!
8. I have recently discovered that the secret to life can be found in a soft boiled egg.
9. My small group of friends are the best bunch of peeps I could ever ask to have.
10. I have a really great trick to pick watermelons!!! See below.

Here are ten different blogs I have recently discovered, and I really hope you'll check them out!
1. Beer. Butter. Bacon
2. Elsa's Cooking Diary
3. Hun, What's for dinner?
4. Little Quilt Stars
5. Mushki Loves
6. My Little Expat Kitchen
7. Red Door Kitchen
8. The Sweet Swiper
9. Lovely Little Snippets
10. I Design

And now..... drum roll please.... My Big Secret For Picking Great Watermelon..... Seriously though folks, I've been picking some great ones now that I know this. You always here about knocking on watermelons to see if they are ready or not. Some people say the high sound is right, some say the low sound. Some say it should sound empty, or like a basketball... Well I had some success with this in the past, and then at the beginning of the year, I guess I mixed up my strategy, and started going for the high sounding watermelons instead of the low sounding ones. I was picking the most useless watermelons out there! Not to mention the fact that I would stand there for like a whole five minutes, knocking on each and every watermelon in the grocery store... Forget it! 

The trick, ladies and gentlemen, is this: Most watermelons have a discolored flat spot on them. I used to avoid these, because I thought they were ugly and therefore no good. It turns out, these flat spots are where the watermelons sort of landed on the ground the ground while still growing. If the discolored flat spot is a buttery yellow, that means the watermelons had a chance to hang out on the ground in the sunshine, and get nice and ripe before they were picked. If they are a more greenish yellow, not so much. Rodale.com did an article about this, and had this great picture that really showcased these butter-yellow spots.

So, that's the news of the day. Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!