Please excuse the messy desktop. The photo of my work area was taken in November, but my March desktop isn’t in much better shape, tidy-wise. For me, a cluttered desk means that I’m busy with work (definitely true in this case). However, I still had some spare time to design a new template for this blog — and add a much needed recipe index so that I could easily keep track of things. As for the design, I tested it on my main browser, Firefox, as well as Safari and it seems to look great in both browsers. I even had Cornelius check it on his PC using Firefox and though there was a slight bug in IE with the top margin it seems to cache alright. What did I learn from this new redesign? Blogger is a bitch to work with. Too many IE hacks in it’s code and the code just seems too messy. Blech, I’m not looking forward to a new redesign, so I hope this look stays for awhile. Let me know what you think or if you encounter any bugs. As you can probably tell from this new design, I yearn to be an illustrator! Hello, dream job! Everything was drawn by me…except for the craft/music/design group of illustrations (which are just some really cute looking dingbats). I guess I’ll settle for being a designer and an amateur food blogger!
And now on to the recipe portion of our show….
simple fish n’ chips
Tonight’s dinner was nothing special, just some veggie chili baked natchos and some homemade guacamole. Hmmmm, when I made it, it didn’t seem like anything to write about, but just seeing it in print makes it sound pretty damn tasty (it was!). Instead, I’ll write about last Friday’s dinner since I actually took the time out to take a photograph of it. I had been craving french fries and I decided to take make some from scratch. I just scrubbed some potatoes (skin on), sliced them into fry-like shapes and coated them with a bit of olive oil, rock salt and rosemary. Into the oven they went. When the fries (or faux frites) were almost done, I started to prepare the fish. I took 3 fillets of sole and covered them in dried dill (both sides) and a bit of salt and pepper. I put a tablespoon of butter into a large cast iron pan and added the juice of 1 lemon and then the fish. I turned the fish over once and it cooked in no time (when the fish is opaque and starts to flake, then it’s done). I heaped some fries onto the plate, added the fish and then poured over a bit of the pan juices for some ready-made sauce. It only seemed like a super fancy bistro dinner. We ended our meal with a board game and beers so there was no fancy pantsy-ness anywhere in sight!
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gosh, i love the design! i wish I could have you redesign mine!!
I don’t even really like fish and yours has me craving it. Your new template is awesome! Always love your posts. 🙂
Beautiful – I love it!!!!
Looks wonderful and I like the new photo too! Wish I was creative and could make my own!
Thanks Rachel & Rorie & Michelle!
That fish photo turned out amazing…it makes me hungry too! Thanks so much for your nice words, Michele!
What a beautiful redesign kickpleat – you did an awesome job!
Ditto on the redesign–love the colors! I’m desperately trying to find someone to do a masthead for us. Wish I had your talent and could do it myself. Arrgh.
Oh, I love it! Your illustrations are too cute. Great job!
I love the new look — it’s very clean, neat, and cute, not to mention unique. The pictogram sandwich assembly on your header is perfect!
It’s a great look. Be proud of what you have accomplished!
Great new design, Kickpleat!
I love the half eaten cupcake!
BTW, the fish looks awesome!
thanks everyone for your nice words!!
Just let me know if you would like to use your “ametuer” skills to help redesign my site!!
It looks great!
Wow, kickpleat, as someone who has struggled to redesign her blogger blog at least somewhat, let’s just say that I am very, very impressed! Love it.
oh, i really like your little icons. did you draw them yourself?
Heather, I’m definitely confident in my design skillz, it’s the illustrating skillz that need a brush-up! thanks for the nice words!
Thanks Molly, Blogger isn’t as easy to work with as I first thought!
Genevieve, yes I drew the icons myself … except for the music/craft/design ones! Those cakes are all mine 🙂