Hi all!
Just wanted to give you a few updates from me (aka this is NOT a recipe post).
I’m working to improve my knowledge of blogging, branding, design, food photography, and writing in a hardcore manner right now. I’m so excited for you to see some of my new pictures coming very soon. I have to finish posting all the so-so pictures I took before with all the NOT so-so recipes, but soon you will hopefully notice a big difference in my food pictures. I finally broke out that DSLR I impulsively purchased years ago when I was totally going to start photography, sorted through all the dog pictures I had on it from the two weeks I used it, and actually started learning about it. And I figured out how to put pictures in Lightroom! And edit them! What the what…these are things so many people have no trouble figuring out, but this literally took me months to do. I suppose if you’re going to call yourself a food blogger you should expand your horizons and use all these amazing tools at your fingertips. And oh boy, did this make a difference.
I’m also working with a local Des Moines company to upgrade my website! I can’t wait to unveil it in the next few months. A couple things you’ll see…better functionality/usability, more features, a working recipe index (with pictures!) and, a working subscription link so you never have to miss a recipe again, a new logo and colors, links to hiring me for catering or as a private chef in the local area, an overall more professional appearance and a few more things that I can’t even remember right now because I’m so excited. Most importantly, A NAME CHANGE! I have never loved the name of my brand/site-too hard to pronounce or spell to direct people to the site and the connotation of ‘amateur’ is misleading in the English language-but I could never think of anything I liked better that wasn’t already taken. I suppose that’s the peril of joining the blogging game so late when there’s literally millions of other food blogs with all the fun, cute, or catchy names already spoken for! One day I was sitting on the couch, mindlessly watching some show that I can’t even remember now, thinking about everything and nothing, and a new name popped into my head. I checked to see if the domain was available, and it was…fate, as my mom said. She also confirmed that the name was a million times better than my current name and it was a done deal. Domain purchased, a few social media accounts quickly migrated so they wouldn’t be taken later, and we’re off to Eat Like Amanda. Mostly because, I want you to eat and most importantly, cook the recipes I post. You can still use the amateursaveur.com link to get to the site for now, but soon eatlikeamanda.com will be where you can find all the exciting new things I hope to bring to you in the future. Thanks for your support and keep on cookin’!