Rice and Kimchi and Blogger Photos

Sometimes all I want is a simple bowl of steamed white rice piled with Mom's kimchi.

I really like when she comes to visit as:

• she and I eat out a lot, chowing on Korean as much as possible, even in local places I could easily, but don't normally, try because of being "too busy,"
• Mom gets to eat stuff she can't order in her neck of the woods and doesn't make at home,
• Mom gets to exercise her Korean, which makes me realize how much it sucks that I don't know much,
• Mom makes kimchi from scratch, yo!

And I see now, inserting thumb into mouth, that my Blogger/Blogspot photo capacity is nearly at it's free capacity. I was dumbfounded when a few photos from recent posts wouldn't blow up to monitor-sized ginormousness, instead popping up the size of a postage stamp. That's no good!

I use my blog as a reference when preparing my weekly food plan and when cooking, thus the many Takes and the labels (which I realize need a serious overhaul). I want to be able to see what's going on!

That leads me to a point where I am forced to reflect. I don't normally do that in the grand scheme of things. My tendency is to look at details with scrutiny, agonizing over them, and adjusting things so that I am happy with them before finally saying, "that'll do, Cook, that'll do." I like that every single revision of any recipe I've tried is available to me with a quick search. Now that my photos aren't being supported as I'd like, something has got to give.

I've looked at and fooled with other free photo sites, but didn't find them to be as easily utilized as the Picasa/Blogger relationship I'd been using since day one. I've also considered simply starting a brand new blog as so much has changed since I first started blogging: my agenda, output of new recipe execution, and really, even my photography, is different from what it was when I first started the blog nearly 4 years ago. Really! Look at what I was doing at the beginning of Smells Like Food in Here. I didn't even have semblance of a format, I thought I knew what I wanted to capture, but it took some time before I really got it to where it'd be something I'd utilize. I do like that all of that is documented, while it is a little embarrassing.

A new blog though would be like starting anew, which would be just as I've grown quite a lot since the beginning. And if I started a new Google blog, it'd be a fresh start, a new chapter, and would be a defined point to continue growing from. I'd eliminate the many photos of oil heating in a skillet, freeing up time in two areas (at the time of execution and editing), streamlining and making more accurate how long it takes to complete a recipe.

But then it seems that Smells would soon become a blog like many others, with the perfect photos and the seemingly perfect execution of any recipe. That's not real! That's a food blogger spending many hours of time repeating recipes until they get it to where it is finalized and then posted, making any reader believe it was performed to perfect execution day one.

You know what? I wasn't sure what to do when I began writing this post, but I realize now that my true agenda was to try recipes and find which worked, which did not, and why those that did not failed for me. I'm my own America's Smells Like Food in Here Test Kitchen.

Update, 110911:
I figured out what was going on with the postage stamp sized photos. First, to clarify, the photos weren't popping up in a huge size when clicking on them. They looked normal in the posts.

The problem? The postage sized photos were due to broken links to the photos uploaded via Blogger into Picasa. How did that suddenly happen? I started using Google Chrome instead of Internet Explorer (IE). Silly me, I thought using Chrome, Blogger, and Picasa, all of which are Google family would streamline things! El wrongo!

I went back to IE, deleted the photos with broken links in few posts, uploading and situating them. When re-posting them, I see that the links are not broken. Clicking on any photo uploaded on Blogger through IE yields big images, just like I like! I hope to finish this little project tonight.

Those of you following, if you get a bunch of alerts to "new" posts that are old ones, it's just that I'm taking care of this image-link problem. Thanks for the patience.

Computer Issues

It took me a week to post the Rosemary Chicken Lasagna. Blogger hasn't been cooperating. Apparently, there may be an issue with a video card. I'm working on it.

Following and Print Options

I recently discovered that Smells has a follower. How the heck Hot Mess Housewife was able to follow Smells Like Food in Here, I have no idea. I goofed around trying to figure it out and came up with nothing. To make it easier on anyone else interested, I've added the Follower do-hickey down there under the Labels. Seems I'd omitted it when I did the last face-lift.

As for printing, I've realized that I've always checked the link while signed into Blogger/Google, so it always worked for me. Tonight I tried the print links before signing in and was shocked to find they didn't work! That's been rectified, so give it a try and let me know what you think.

If you are into a one-pot meal with Moroccan flavor, give this dish a spin. Now you can even print the recipe, no foolin'.

Link Within

As a food blogger and bouncing reader of various food blogs (I don't have any I'm "dedicated" to, but am happy to ramble here, there, and everywhere keeping an eye out for anything that intrigues me) I'd always enjoyed that little "You Might Like This" blurb of photos at the end of posts.

I don't know that I have ever clicked on any of those little images at the end of posts, but do enjoy seeing what similar things are available on any particular blog at a glance for future mental reference.

Today, I implemented that little gadget right here on my blog.  Call me a follower, I don't care.  I like that little gadget and am thinking it looks neat on Smells Like Food in Here. Considering that I'm resistant to change, am happy to move forward.

Minutes after utilizing it, I checked out the blog in anticipation of wonder and was disappointed in the results.  They were all random!  None of the blurbs had anything to do with the specific post(s) I looked at. Apparently some time for equilibration is necessary as now it seems the blurbs are relevant.

Let me know if you think it's helpful or just a waste of space.  I'll probably ignore you unless you have a good, very good, rationale for deleting it.  I'm open to change, but remember, am resistant and this was a big step for me.

In other Smells Like Food in Here news, I haven't forgotten about the print option.  I just haven't figured it out yet.  Soon, I tell you, one day in the sometime possibly-near-but-probably-not future, I'll have it nailed and we'll rejoice in the splendor.  Let's just say that I'm still working on it.   

Print Option

I'm working on getting a print option on this blog.  I tried to print a recipe direct from it a couple weeks ago and it wanted to print the grey background.  Yikes!  What a waste of ink. 

If you have any good hints on how to write a script for the latest Blogger templates and printing select text with a white background, let me know.  I and my few repeat readers would appreciate!

Thus far I've tried a couple of "paste this script in XYZ location" and while they worked, they printed the entire page, photos and comment box and everything.  I'd like to avoid that. 

Beyond that, there is an option to open a Google Docs or equivalent that I can post text only recipes I can link to in the blog, but hokey Pete and good golly Miss Molly, that's a lot of work, nevermind the cyberspace to accomplish something that should be quite simple.  Of course, I say this without knowing how to write one iota of code or comput-inglish.