There’s no new big makeover for the blog (maybe next year), but there are a few quick updates that I wanted to share.
New RSS Feed Reader Options
I don’t know about you, but I was devastated by the announcement that Google Reader is closing. I know that some of Google’s ventures aren’t always successful, but almost everyone I know uses google reader. They’ve already started the phase out. I can’t even access my Reader link anymore from my gmail. I’m really sad that Google reader is closing and I hope that those of you who follow my RSS feed will continue to read the blog with a different feed reader.
I’ve done some research and my favorite is Feedly. The transition is pretty hassle free too since you can import all your feeds from google reader directly over. They even have a helpful tip post about transitioning over, which you can read here.
I’ve also heard a lot of people like using Bloglovin’
Save Recipes
Have you heard of ZipList? I always feel like I’m a step behind on new social media and new internet web features. I recently partnered with ZipList, which allows you to save a recipe that you are interested in, rather than being forced to print, or to bookmark the page, etc.
If you click save on one of the recipes on my site, a little window ZipList window will pop up and the recipe will be saved into your ZipList account. Signing up for ZipList is free and it stores all your saved recipes from any site that uses Ziplist into your Ziplist account. They work with most of the big recipe sites like epicurious, martha stewart, cooks recipes, and many big recipe bloggers (simply recipes, steamy kitchen, etc) so most of the recipes you are interested in will be stored in one place. I didn’t realize how many recipe sites I follow have the ZipList feature until I signed up and now it’s rare for me to find a big recipe site without that save button.
Another cool feature is that from the saved recipe, it will generate an ingredient list and you can easily create a grocery list on Ziplist. There is also a Ziplist app for smart phones, so you can have your grocery list for the recipes you are planning to make on hand when you are shopping.
At any time if you want to check your Ziplist while browsing on my site, you can easily access it by clicking on the Recipe Box tab on my header.
New Pages
Last but not least, these aren’t as new, but they are things I never got around to mentioning. I now have a page dedicated to my favorite places in San Diego by cuisine type. After often getting asked for recommendations, I thought this list might be a helpful compilation. I’m trying to update it as frequently as possible so that it’s mostly up to date.
I also added a Kitchen Tools section sharing some of my favorite kitchen baking tools.
That’s about it. Have a great weekend!
Hi Kirbie
Just thought I would mention that I am also a keen user of Ziplist, but use it less than Pepperplate. With Pepperplate you can add you own recipe manually, automatically import a recipe from a website, or if Pepperplate and the website are not linked, you can manually add it with prompts from Pepperplate. As you can probably tell – I am a huge Pepperplate fan, lol. Worth checking out. As I said. I use both… 😀
Thanks! I haven’t heard of Pepperplate but I will check it out.
i’m so technologically retarded that the loss of google reader didn’t really affect me. i don’t think i ever used it or even knew what it was. yes, i live under a rock when it comes to this kind of stuff. i recently checked my blog stats and noticed hits from ‘feedly’, wondering what it was. after reading this post, i know now.
Haha. it’s probably better to be minimalist when it comes to all this tech stuff anyway.
I’ve got you on feedly and Flipboard:) I freaked when I found out google was doing away with reader! But it led me to even better places to read my favorite blogs:)
yay, so glad you have me on other places already! Oh I haven’t even tried Flipboard. Must look into it. Thanks!
re: Google reader – yes – i agree – sad it’s closing. This is why i subscribe to you by email ; – )
will ck out some of the others you suggested…
Aw, so glad you subscribe via email. I’m def super sad about google reader. I like having everything in one place. I use so many google things: drive, gmail, calendar, etc.
I was equally devastated with Google’s announcement to kill Reader! EVen though it no longer appears from their handy links/’more’ dropdown, if you just type google.com/reader you can still access your feeds until they really pull the plug!
Yes, I saw that it is still available until July if you manually type in the address, but I was surprised they got rid of the shortcut link when there is still a few months left before they officially kill it. Sad.
I’ve heard great things about Feedly too! I need to move over to that. Great new features! I recently added Ziplist too (although I still have to go in and edit my old recipe posts), and its definitely a great way to save recipes and print them easily.
Found your blog last week and love it! 🙂
I’m slowly making the transition. I still use google on my desktop, but on my other devices I had it moved over to Feedly. I am enjoying Ziplist. I can’t believe I didn’t even know it existed until recently. Happy you found my blog =)