No no no, don’t go anywhere! It’s still Dinner: A Love Story. Still the same blog that brought you Pork Ragu and Pretzel Chicken, the one that taught you phrases like “Deconstructed Dinners” and “Page-Turners;” still the same blog some of you have been checking in with for five years. YES! FIVE YEARS! As of this week, we have officially reached the sapphire anniversary of the day DALS went live with a backlog of posts, including “In Praise of Dansk,” “The Recipe Door,” “Rosa’s Mud Cake,” and “Weaning Them Off the Nugget.” And what better way to celebrate than by doing a little digital renovation? (Well, Mud Cake would probably do the job just fine, too.) The truth is, this mini re-design has been ready to go for a few months now, but I’ve been afraid to pull the trigger on it because…well…because I am clinically sentimental about everything, and it’s hard for me to say goodbye to something voluntarily. Which is, of course, ridiculous, because we’re not really saying goodbye to anything at all. Hopefully, you will find everything you’ve always found here — minus the tiny gray type (I heard from so many of you on this) and plus a few little tweaks (“What to Cook Tonight” moves to the home page, a new page called “Good Reads“) all in a lighter, brighter space. Think of it as the same old DALS house but with some furniture updating and a fresh coat of paint — like maybe I pruned the backyard Elm tree to allow for more light to shine through the windows. Please take a minute to explore the nooks and crannies a bit, if for no other reason than to tell me what you love and what you miss.
Two shout-outs here: First, all re-design credit goes to the gifted and talented Beth Mathews, who I cannot recommend highly enough to anyone out there looking for a designer. Next, to programmer Nick Franciosi, whose Olympic-level patience and efficiency was a godsend to this Olympic level hemmer-and-hawer. Both Nick and Beth hail from Nashville, and based on their talent and niceness alone, I’m thinking of relocating my headquarters down there. Anyway, big thanks to Nick & Beth.
And the rest of you: Let me know what you think!
Back to regularly scheduled dinner-programming this week!
I love the wooden table background with all the recipe cards. I’ve noticed a lot of blogs are switching to a set up where you have to click to read the full post (like you have now). What about this appealed to you?
Jenny- I love your blog and use it to make my grocery list each week. As a reader of books and cookbooks, like you, I have to agree with others that the pale gray text is very difficult to see and read. It blends to much into the background. Still navigating but looks great!
I went looking for the birds at the bottom of the page and find them in white on a white background (the lined paper from your handwritten recipes). Glad you didn’t get rid of them, and I hope they’re more visible again soon.
So many blogs these days are going to the short beginning blurb with the “read on” link to finish the post in another window. Is there a practical reason for this particular format? I find that I’m not as apt to read the whole post. If the first couple of sentences don’t intrigue me, I’ll move on. Is it a better format for the blogger?
I feel the same way. I’m often annoyed that I need to wait for another page to open so I can finish the story.
I miss the “Filed Under” being at the top of the post rather than the bottom for one reason only. I would rather see “Posts by Andy” straight away, than read through all the way to the bottom (imagining the whole thing in your voice), only to realize it was written by him. Or vice versa.