Thank you to author, Stevie Turner, for nominating me for this award. You can read her post here: https://steviet3.wordpress.com/2020/12/17/the-mystery-blogger-award/
The Rules:
- Display the award logo on your blog.
- Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
- Mention Okoto Enigma, the creator of the award.
- Tell your readers 3 things about yourself.
- Answer 5 questions from the blogger who nominated you.
- Nominate 10 – 20 bloggers.
- Notify your nominees by leaving a comment on their blog.
- Ask your nominees 5 questions of your choice, including 1 weird or funny question.
- Share the link to your best post.
Do you find it difficult to come up with interesting topics to blog about?
I am a bit of fly by the seat of my pants blogger. On this blog, Roberta Writes, I participate fairly regularly in a couple of writing prompts, a photograph challenge, and a blog hop, I share extracts and news about my writing and latest books, I share book promotion posts and book reviews, and anything else that grabs my fancy. I am not a planner and very rarely schedule posts ahead of time.
Where do you find inspiration for your blog posts?
As mentioned above, I am a pantster blogger. If I see a writing prompt and inspiration strikes, I write for it. If it doesn’t inspire me, I don’t write for it. I never try to force my creativity. I read a huge amount and I post one review a week on this blog and another on my children’s writing and baking blog. I also share photographs of my garden and my travels as and when I think of it or feel inspired. I am a very unplanned blogger which is why it is a total relaxation for me. My work and writing life is very structured so I deliberately keep my blogging hobby unstructured and fun.
What’s the best thing about Christmas?
In South Africa, Christmas falls during our hot summer. It is the time when we have our main holiday period for the year. The schools and universities close for approximately five weeks and businesses that are not involved in retail or entertainment, close for between three and four weeks. I love being on holiday at this time of year as my clients are also on holiday so it is peaceful and I can relax.
Christmas is a big family time for me. All three of my sisters and their families live close by and we all visit each other and host each other over this period. I usually host Christmas, Hayley hosts Christmas Eve and Catherine hosts New Year’s day. My sisters and their children drop by frequently over this period and the kids all swim and entertain each other.
I am a summer person so this time of year is my favourite and I love my beautiful and colourful garden.
Would you eat a worm if you knew you would be a millionaire after you’d eaten it?
Sure, mopane worms are a delicacy here in South Africa and a lot of people eat them. I have tried them once and they’re not that bad although I wouldn’t make them a regular feature on my menu.
A TV dinner or caviar and champagne?
Neither of these fits me. I have never eaten a TV dinner in my whole life. In my family, someone cooks every night unless we go out for a meal. We never go out for ‘take away’ meals, but always to a sit down restaurant which offers a wholesome menu. We cook a lot of stews, casseroles and pasta dishes as well as some roast meat meals which include roasted potatoes and vegetables. My dad is the king of roasting potatoes so that is his job. My mother is very good at stews and goulashes, my husband is great at curries, stir fry’s and risotto and I do all the baked dishes like pies, quiches, pizzas and such like. Michael is starting to cook now too, so everyone gets a break from cooking.
As for caviar and champagne, I don’t drink champagne, only the very odd glass of wine or a brandy and coke [plebey I know]. I don’t like fish very much either so caviar will never be on my menu. I don’t like fussy food, but prefer the wholesome home cooked meals I grew up with.
I am going to be lazy and not nominate any bloggers for this award. If you’d like to join in, please do so and link back to this post so that I can visit and comment.
roberta-writes.com 
Congratulations on the Mystery Blogger award, Robbie! I love what you said about meals and cooking. It’s so great that you all share in that and especially that Michael is now cooking too! I also avoid take-out meals. I prefer my own cooking to eating out anywhere. 🙂 Thank you for sharing!
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I’m glad you enjoyed this post, Jan, and that you prefer to eat home cooked meals. It’s so much healthier as well as tasting better.
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Your family very unusual in eating so well. You haven’t missed anything by never having eaten a TV dinner. As for fast food, it’s more a food-like substance than actual food.
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Hi Liz, I think South Africans are quite old fashioned when it comes to cooking. Most people I know cook most nights with fast food or a restaurant as an occasional treat. I think it is different in the USA, people seem to eat out a lot more.
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You’re right about how often people eat out in the US. My family didn’t have much money when I was growing up, so we ate out very seldom. Pre-pandemic, my husband and I didn’t eat out except when traveling and for the occasional celebration. I feel much safer with my own cooking because I am very careful about food safety. And eating out is very expensive compared with cooking from scratch!
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That is good to know, Liz. I thought maybe it was relatively cheap to eat out in the USA, given how many restaurants and take away food outlets you have. So many people must use them. I also prefer to cook from scratch as I prefer the taste, it is much cheaper and that is how I was brought up.
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Great answers! I too would never eat a TV Dinner and prefer home-cooked meals. Not fond of caviar and champagne but I do like tasty food with lots of flavour. So I would like your husband’s curries. I love how you have such a close family and often eat together.
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Hi Darlene, my husband and I were both brought up in families that ate together every night so it was what we expected to do. I’m glad we have this tradition and I hope my boys continue it. It would be a shame to watch TV while eating and miss out on everyone’s news of the day.
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Loved learning more about you, Robbie… HAPPY HOLIDAYS! 🎄💞
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Thank you, Bette. Happy Holidays to you too.
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Interesting Q&A. I’m with you on the worm!
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Haha, Jacqui, we would be the two worm eating millionaires.
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I’m not sure I could eat worm. Ewww. Your traditions sound fun, though!
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It’s not that bad, I’d rather eat a worm than a frog or a crocodile. People eat all sorts of weird dishes.
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My husband convinced me to eat a snail. I didn’t like it. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t good, either.
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Snails are a delicacy, Marilyn, but I can’t say I like them either. All I could taste when I tried them was garlic butter.
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Thanks Robbie. I enjoyed reading your answers. I didn’t realise worms were a delicacy in S A!
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Southern Africa has lots of interesting and unique traditions, Stevie. It makes it quite a fun place to live if you have a sense of adventure.
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Love your answers. So insightful.
Congratulations
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My pleasure, Jude. I am sure Uganda has some interesting dishes and traditions too.
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Yeah we do, we have so many tribes. Guess I’m used to almost all of them now
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Me too, Jude. We have 11 official languages.
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Congratulations on the award! Well deserved. I enjoyed getting to know more about you. I’m amazed that businesses close for 3-4 weeks for the holidays. That’s fantastic.
Home-cooked meals are much better than fast food take out or TV dinners. Good for you! Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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Hi Joan, thank you for visiting and for your wishes. South Africa is still quite slow paced compared to the USA. We are also quite old fashioned about cooking and many other things. Merry Christmas to you too. I hope its a good one.
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I think we should be more that way. If there’s one good thing about this pandemic, I’m learning to slow down and enjoy life more.
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How wonderful, Robbie! Congratulations on the Mystery Blogger award, you so deserve it. And reading your responses was a delight. I hope you and your loved ones have a truly blessed Christmas. 💗
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Hi Gwen, thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed this post. Wishing you a Merry Christmas and good health and peace in the New Year.
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Congratulations, Robbie. It was good to learn a bit more about you – especially the worm challenge. 🙂
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I wouldn’t make a regular habit of eating worms, Norah, but it is good to embrace other peoples cultures and practices.
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Congratulations Robbie and well deserved… I think I might balk at the worms but perhaps I have never been hungry enough… Merry Christmas and wishing you an amazing 2021..♥
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Thank you very much, Sally. The worms aren’t so bad, I can think of worse things to eat.
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“Plebey” made me chuckle a little bit.
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Glad to hear it.
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