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!
Looks beautiful! It is hard to find where to type name/email/website though for comments…at least from my perspective using Chrome since the box is the same color as the background till you find where to click/type. But otherwise LOVE LOVE LOVE.
Where is the list of other blogs you follow listed now? I can’t find it.
I will figure out a way to link to that breakdown, Julie. I miss it, too. For now, here is the link:
https://www.dinneralovestory.com/what-to-cook-tonight/
And wow, it is hard to see the comment fields!! Will add to the list.
Dee – The blogroll is now under “good reads” along with other things I’m reading — books, cookbooks, blogs, etc.
I do wish you would make the type black instead of gray. Gray on a white background is hard to read.
Looks refreshed but I’m finding it hard to navigate to all those great “what to cook tonight” categories like, what to make when there’s nothing in the house or when you’ve walked in late after soccer practice – where’s the full breakdown of those options? Thank you! Love what you do.
LOVE the new look!
Where are your birds? Remember, when you wrote about “How to Blog”? They were sweet, lovable, evocative of how one feels when feeding children. BTW, the gold writing on upper right is very hard to read. I do wish you all the best, and look forward to reading posts by both you and Andy.
thanks Margit – the birds are on the bottom of the page! don’t worry, i would never get rid of them! 🙂
I like it. Very sleek and easy to navigate.
I’m on an iPad and agree with Jennifer, the boxes for name, emai address etc are invisible until you click on them. The boxes for the comment itself and for the security question show u, palthough the white is not high contrast against the linen look(?) background.
Also, I can’t figure out how to navigate to a previous or subsequent post. There used to be links at the top of the post, IIRC.
Great blog!
Keep the feedback coming! Especially about the glitches. All of it is so helpful. Thanks guys!
I really like the design. I do agree though that it’s extremely difficult to tell where to type information for commenting, needs to be more of a contrast. I use Firefox. Congrats!
It’s darling – I love it! Congrats!
I LOVE it!!! It looks awesome!
Oh and I love the little What to Cook tonight ideas on the side!
It looks fantastic – congratulations on five years! You’ve been one of my favourites since you first began posting.
I was also wondering where the birds went…but then I found them! They are on the home page at the bottom. I think they are sweet and I prefer their new spot because now your blog name is easier to read. (BTW, the birds always make me think of the Portlandia sketch “Put a bird on it.” Which makes me smile.)
I love it! It is so beautiful and modern. What an amazing update. Back when you mentioned a few months ago that there was a website design upgrade coming, I was secretly afraid but this looks fabulous! My family had the orecchiette with sausage and crispy broccoli last night from DALS, the book. (I add roasted butternut squash too.) Delicious! It has become my go to easy recipe this winter. Thanks for all you do to keep your readers coming back for more. This is my favorite blog and I can’t wait to explore!
this looks amazing, jenny!!!!! congratulations!
Congratulations! Very pretty redesign and I like the way you’ve incorporated your book design. But my aging eyes find the smaller content area busy and more difficult to browse (i.e. borders are taken up by the butcher block background).
Gorgeous!!! Love the butcher block! And your new pic! Pretty!
I like it! A really fun upgrade! I also really like your “cover photo” – the whole fam working and hanging out in the kitchen. Would you consider doing a post about your kitchen and layout? Thanks for all the inspiration!
I love it, it is very user-friendly, compact and straightforward. “Good reads” is a fantastic idea. I think a lot of your readers (myself included) share your passion for cooking AND reading. Great work, DALS team!
P.S. second the suggestion to make the “comments” section fields stand out more
Looks amazing! But I “third” the suggestion for more contrast in the comments section. Hard to see the boxes where you are supposed to type.
Your site looks really nice. Congratulations!
The phrase “clinically sentimental” struck quite the chord with me. Rest assured, the site is looking good and you keep me living in hope my currently eating most things toddler will keep on keeping on. But if he doesn’t I have Resources (with that capital R.)
New site looks great, Jenny! On your page https://www.dinneralovestory.com/about-jenny/# not all of the links work on the “Press & Stuff” list.
It looks gorgeous! Congrats on 5 years!