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Thursday, November 29, 2007

Where I've Eaten AKA I Didn't Know I was Such a Glutton and How You Can Be One Too!

Dear readers, Is it a little crazy to think I've reviewed 108 food places in the past year? And posted 141 recipes? Not to mention all my other random postings about my gardening or crafting in between? Even crazier is my backlog of restaurants and recipes. Yup, I could not cook or eat out for the next three months and still have something to write about every single day. Except I haven't been. Because I needed a bit of a break. Because writing takes a lot of work, ya know? Or at least my posts do. And I'm going on the assumption that you like my posts because they're chock full of info and pictures. But it takes time to organize the photos, keep track of all that info, and present it all to you in a mildly entertaining way. But don't worry, there's lots of good stuff I've got on the back burner like how to make your own banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) from pickled carrots to meatball recipes. Or four courses of beef (because seven courses is a bit overkill). Or a homemade Korean barbecue. Or well, lots of stuff really! As my sidebar gets longer and longer, I need to think of a better way to present it. I'm thinking of going into a 3-column format. Anyone know how to do this? With specific directions please? I've found some Blogger hack sites but the directions evidently aren't simple enough for this non-techie. Unless you like my long sidebar? It's only gonna get even longer you know! I thought it'd be better to place my ads on one side and the recipe and restaurant info on the other. I have yet to earn any money from this blogging thing, but it sure couldn't hurt to have something to pay for all this food! Anyway, so could I get some feedback from you? Keep the sidebar as is? Move the eating out and recipe index to separate pages? If so, I'm thinking of sorting the recipes by cuisine, alphabet, and category. Restaurants would be sorted by just cuisine and alphabet. Would you like me to at least keep my best recipes and restaurant recommendations on the sidebar though? What about my virtual tours? Anyone want to see more travel pictures and stories from my archives? Get rid of or do you enjoy my food/travel musings? Gardening and crafting? More? Less? Move the non-food stuff to a different blog? You just love everything about my blog and think I'm perfect? :P Hehe. Speak up! Let me know what works for you and what doesn't! On one hand, it is my blog and I'm gonna do whatever I want. But, on the other hand, I'd also like my blog to be easy to navigate and useful to you as well. So please let me know what does or doesn't work for you! And lastly, because I hate posts without pictures, check out this map of where I've eaten. Cool eh? Courtesy of Howie at foodieview.com. The website is a compilation of all the food bloggers as well the mainstream food sites into eating out maps and recipe archives. Each dot is linked back to my posting so you can search for what's closest to you. I've suggested he add a small icon like my clustrmap so you can then click on the icon and it'll lead you to the larger map, thus making it even easier for you to find places to eat. So yes, you too can become as much of a pig as me. Oink! Oink! ***** 1 year ago today, I made turkey tetrazzini with my Thanksgiving leftovers.

10 comments:

  1. Thanks for trying out the map, WC!

    The sidebar question is tricky, and I'm sure everyone has a different opinion. I like those links with the triangle, and when you click them, more links will drop down. I think I've seen lots of blogspot sites that use this for their monthly archives.

    Maybe there's a way to do this and organize things by recipes, reviews, cuisine, etc.

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  2. Ooo, banh mi recipe, yes please!

    I think categories for the recipes and restaurants would be nice, and I wouldn't mind if they were on a separate page as long as the categories were present on the front page. I also really like your travel/food musings, because they're usually very thoughtful and gives us a sense of what your cooking inspirations are. I don't mind have some non-food stuff mixed in with the food stuff, and, in fact, a separate non-food blog might mean you post less here (which would be tragic). I like the new "one year ago" feature too, and it might be nice to have a category where you place your favorite recipes and/or restaurants.

    And more of your family, please! Hee!

    Thanks for all your hard work! E.

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  3. Howie,
    Thanks for making the map! :)

    Hmm. I do have the triangle thing for my monthly archives already, but I don't know how to do that for recipes! I'm so tech illiterate!

    E (The one in Chicago?),
    Thanks for all your enthusiasm and suggestions! I'm sure lil' sis will be happy to hear that you want to see more of her! Heh! :P

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  4. i think sorting out the recipes by category would really be a great idea..i love the map too!im thinking of changing the lay out of my blog site too..

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  5. Dhanggit,
    Thanks for your input. Now it's just a matter of finding time to catalog everything! :(

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  6. Hi Dub C. Funny you should mention all this because I actually just consolidated all my sidebar crap into separate pages over at my blog (Look under the "Lumpia Filling" section). I know that input does you no good since we use different blogging software.

    I chuckle now because you have so much more stuff to organize than I did. A lot more! Makes me realize how much of a little fish I am compared to you;)

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  7. Hi WC,

    I've been lurking for about 6 months and I love your blog. I like the sidebar but understand it can get unwieldy after time. Maybe categorize it? Please do continue to blog about your family, travel, gardening, etc. here. Your insights always provide a great read.

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  8. Marvin,
    I know I should have done it way back when but I was too lazy. And now it's even more work and I'm even lazier. Little fish? Eh, I'm a little fish too!

    Hi Alumfoil,
    Welcome! Thanks for delurking. And thanks for the compliments. :) Although, I'm not sure how "insightful" I really am. ;)

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  9. Hi!

    Just a catch up comment, really. I'm sure you've worked out what to do with your sidebar. I've seen some people do separate pages kinda like 'About Me' pages - i.e you'd have a page for recipes and for reviews. It's a lot of work though. As you know, I'm not all that techie, either. I like the list cloud a lot though ;-)

    Also, I wanted to say two things

    1. I LOVE the one year ago links - gives me an opportunity to catch up on all the things I missed because of not finding you earlier without doing my backwards and forwards reading which gets me really confused ...

    2. Your scrap blanket is fabulous. Keep it as it is!

    Happy hols!
    Oanh

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  10. Hi Oanh,
    Thanks for all the feedback. Happy holidays to you too. Did you enjoy your time in Oz with family?

    ReplyDelete

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