BlogHerFood16 Wrap-Up

Better late than never, here’s my BlogHerFood16 Wrap-Up. All I can say is BlogHerFood16 in Austin Texas was amazing! Nah, I can say a lot more.
And I have lots of photos to share with you too.
BlogHerFood16 Wrap-up

Upon check-in I received a canvas tote bag filled with lots of foodie swag and treats from quite a few of the sponsors: Martin’s Famous Potato Rolls, Heluva Good Dip, Lentils.CA,  American Dairy Association, American Egg Board, Enjoy Life Foods, National Confectioners Association, and RX Bar*(s).

BlogHerFood16 Wrap-up

Breakfast was sponsored by Martin’s Famous Potato Rolls & Bread.

Now we’re talkin! #thetoastisgolden #BlogHerFood16

A photo posted by ? ???????? ???? Kitoula ? ? ???????????????? ???????? ? (@kitoula) on

During breakfast, Martin’s @potatorolls had a fun Instagram contest, with the hashtag #thetoastisgolden. It was a cute idea to have the instructions for the contest printed on the place mats.

BlogHerFood16 Wrap-up

Of course, I had to take a ridiculous selfie donning a Martin’s baker hat. In case anyone should accuse me of being a stuffy, serious, food blogger.   🙄

BlogHerFood16 Wrap-up

The conference was held at Austin’s downtown Hilton. The food was delicious and plentiful. There was almost TOO much food. Is that possible for a food bloggers conference?   😕

BlogHerFood16 Wrap-up

BTW the future of BlogHerFood is safe and illustrated here… because BABIES!!! 😉

*** 🙂 😉 🙂 ***

atasteofkoko

My favorite speaker and break-out session was with Jane Ko, travel & restaurant expert, and blogger @  A Taste of Koko.

In the workshop, Jane shared her secrets about photography composition, styling, and maximizing natural light. She covered 3 main topics:

  • How to take better photos using the features and apps on your mobile phone
  • How to creatively style your photos
  • How to use apps made just for mobile to edit your photos

How generous of Jane to share all her Instagram tricks and tips. I’ve been using her techniques on my Instagram account since the workshop. They work. I’ve been getting more Followers and more engagement.

BlogHerFood16 Wrap-up

Did you know that lentils grow in Canada?  Canadian Lentils, Lentils.CA, one of the conference sponsors, is a brand funded by Saskatchewan Pulse Growers. SPG is accountable to and funded by over 17,000 farmers in Saskatchewan. The organization’s mission is to nourish the world through profitable pulse production.

Pulses are a protein-packed, and earth-friendly food we know as beans, chickpeas, lentils and dry peas. So, eat lentils for your health and for social good. Lentils! Who knew?

BlogHerFood16 Wrap-up

A bag of bars were waiting in my hotel room Friday afternoon. RX Bar*s have no gluten, no soy, no dairy, and no added sugar. Their main ingredients are dates, egg whites, almonds and cashews. I like the chocolate ones the best.

BlogHerFood16 Wrap-up

Sometime you need a break from even the best of food blogger conferences. By the pool with Bloody Mary; need I say more?

BlogHerFood16 Wrap-up

Across the street from the Hilton is the Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill. Moonshine’s craft cocktail, “The Waterloo,” made with Waterloo gin, cucumbers, and grapefruit juice was very enjoyable, but their hot pretzel sticks, with whipped pimento dip… OMG! (Who had 2 orders? 😛 )

BlogHerFood16 Wrap-up

Did I mention Yianni came along on the trip? It was our first time in Austin.

Here he is at The Driskill, an historic hotel more than 100 years old. It was built in 1886 as the showplace of cattle baron Jesse Driskill. Fun fact: Former President Lyndon B. Johnson awaited news of his successful 1964 election as President of the United States from the mezzanine-level Jim Hogg room.

Heart Lanergan DriveGood times! Thank you BlogHerFood16! Heart Lanergan Drive

Newly redesigned Kitoula.com

Welcome to the newly redesigned Kitoula.com. This site is responsive to whatever device you are viewing it with; mobile phone, tablet or laptop. It is created from WordPress software using the Twenty Fifteen Theme. I could not have done it without the help of Erick Osia from Gryphon Digital and Christopher Ochs from Vision Production.

Thank you for your patience during the construction. I hope you like it as much as I do.

New site design for Kitoula’s Greek Food Journal

If you are trying to view my site via your smart phone or your tablet, I’m sorry if it’s not as responsive as it should be. I am currently working on a new site design for Kitoula’s Greek Food Journal so that my content looks great on every screen, no matter the size. Please bear with me and accept my apology.

If you are a “techie”, you may have heard about Google’s new algorithm. The algorithm, which starts tomorrow, will favor sites with mobile-friendly designs. Blogs that have large text, easy-to-click links, and that resize to fit whatever screen they’re viewed on will rank higher in search results.

Kitoula.com going mobile

This is what my site looks like now on a smart phone, not bad, not great either. But, I promise, the new mobile-friendly site design for Kitoula’s Greek Food Journal will be coming soon!

Kitoula.com Facebook page embed posts

I am testing the new embed code provided by Facebook. I still needed a WordPress plugin to make it work on this page. I cannot see the actual Facebook post in my blog’s content editor through WordPress. I can only see it on the site’s page once it is published. That made editing the blog post more frustrating. I found that setting it up was rather tedious and complicated.

This post was a PicMonkey photo collage I created about making the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond’s Homemade Applesauce recipe.

 

This post was also a PicMonkey photo collage I created about making Nigella Lawson’s Happiness Soup recipe.

 

Anyone reading this post that has used this new Facebook code? I’d luv to learn about your experience and any tips or tricks to make it easier to use.