Cooking Venture Newsletter

Hello Blog Buddies!

Sorry -- no recipe today. Instead, I wanted to share some news with you and give you a heads up about a fun recipe naming contest that I will post on Thursday. The winner will win a US$25 gift card from Bed Bath and Beyond.

It's hard to believe that my blog has been up and running a month already. I've posted almost 30 recipes and, hopefully, this will be the first of many to come. My blog is now averaging about 175 hits per day and is viewed worldwide! People email me almost daily to get cooking advice, request recipes, recommend changes to the blog, and more. Feel free to email me anytime at cookingventures@gmail.com or add a comment to an individual recipe posting.

Here is some news I'd like to share:
1) For those of you who subscribe to my blog, you will notice that I have (temporarily) starting sending out a short teaser whenever I post a recipe. I was not happy with the way the blog software was sending out the automated emails and RSS feeds because the formatting was really strange. There was always a big gap under the picture and, unfortunately, I cannot modify those automated emails/feeds in any way. The blog software gives me a second option to send out a teaser instead. This teaser contains no formatting but has one disadvantage. To me, it is not intuitive what you click on in the teaser message in order to be sent to my blog. If you would prefer that I send out the automated postings the old way (which includes the image and full text) or the new way (with only a short teaser), please email me at cookingventures@gmail.com and let me know which you prefer. Many of you may not have a preference – and that's OK. I just want to get a feel for what the majority of my readers would prefer.
2) If you have not yet subscribed to my blog, you can do so by entering your email on the right side of the screen (or subscribing via RSS feed). I will never sell or give your contact information to a third party. I hate spam as much as you do!
3) If you want to make public comments about a particular recipe, click on the "comments" link at the bottom of the recipe.
4) Do you know others who might enjoy reading my blog? If so, please ask them to check out Cooking Ventures at http://cookingventures.blogspot.com. Several people have emailed me asking for permission to give a friend or a relative my website address. No need – my blog is public domain and can be viewed by anyone. The more, the merrier!
5) Tomorrow, I will be posting a special recipe – a recipe that I have not yet named because I can't think of what to call it! You'll understand why tomorrow when you read the post. I am asking all of my blog buddies to offer suggestions for a name. I will then look over all of your recommendations and decide on a winner. If I decide to use the recipe name that you submit, you will win a US$25 gift card from Bed Bath and Beyond. Be sure to read the blog tomorrow for full details. I'm toying with the idea of future giveaways on a regular basis so this may be the first of others to come.

Thank you all for allowing me to share my recipes with you! Enjoying – and happy cooking!

Vince
cookingventures@gmail.com