Good morning all! We will get to the last of the drink recipes for awhile in a minute, but first...
I need some advice from a few of you...
This is my blogaversary month, which gets me thinking about the future. Well, that and too much rum... I love you, man (or woman).
Recently I read a thought provoking post, "If I Could Start All Over". One of those "if I knew then what I knew now" introspections. But it was about their blog. Mine is definitely NOT what I thought it would be when I started. I certainly am a different cook now than then, with different skills.
But I have so many endings coming up, it is a great time to consider starting over. One of those starts will be to begin self hosting without the .blogspot.com header. It's time to get my own site. So, my questions, to those of you that are already self hosting...
Do you have recommendations for starting???
Who does your hosting???
Who did your web design???
Is learning to design myself an option (with some easy tool I don't know about)???
What am I not considering???
And finally, for everyone, what would you do different???
And now, the drink...
The Healthy Rummy Painkiller
Actually, near as I can tell, it is an original drink (so I get to name it), built on the previous two drinks I posted...
A Pina Colada is a classic... Which the PainKiller from the Soggy Dollar Bar was based... But, me, I worry about being one of those emaciated, unhealthy drunks barely able to lift their hands begging on a street corner. But with this drink, you can battle scurvy and get healthy... Add some fruit...
I love watching bartenders slice and peal a banana in fractions of seconds, and drop into a blender with flair. But more, I love the extra taste...
2 parts Orange Juice
1/2 part Cruzan Coconut infused Rum
1/2 part Cream de Banana1 part Pineapple Juice
1 part Cream of Coconut
1 Banana
ground Nutmeg
I serve mine in a tall glass, holds 16 ounces. So, for one drink I use a 1/3rd cup measuring scoop per part. Leaves enough room for a few ice cubes. If making two of them, I double the ingredients (that's all that fit in the blender at one time). If using a rocks glass, use a 1/4er size measuring scoop.
Combine everything in a blender, including a bit of ground nutmeg... blend for about 30 seconds.
Pour in a glass
add the ice
garnish with an additional pinch of ground nutmeg...
And viola... Healthy Rummy
And now, the contest winner... But first a reminder, there is a second chance to win... June 17th is my Blogaversary. Since it is all about me, I would love to see someone try to replicate one of my recipes. So, So, if you find a recipe you like in my overview post, to see that overview post with all links in one spot, click HERE, and actually cook it... Do a blog post that day ... June 17th. Before midnight on June 17th, drop me an email and I will post an overview of recipes made. I will drop those posts in a data base, and do the random number thing. So if you are the only one who posts... YOU WIN! If only 3 people post, you have a one in three chance. Winner gets the same prize package listed above!
But the winner of the contest announced a few days ago is...
The wonderful blogging couple from HIGH/LOW FOOD/DRINK...
They cook out of a 30 square foot kitchen (smaller than a prison cell). They are NYC foodies and authors of a terrific blog.
And now, they can add a bit of island flair to their Manhattan island cooking. Congrats guys, looking forward to see what you can come up with. And to the rest, thanks for winning. I really wish I could buy you all a drink and we could frolic on the beach!
Congrats to the winners!! Boo to me. I soo wanted to drink my way through this! Also, I've been considering self hosting too. Will you let me know what you find out? Like how hard is it, and all that?
ReplyDeleteI've considered self hosting, but don't really the real benefits. Let me know what you think and if it's worth it.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the upcoming blogaversary! First you start with a couple of these rum killers! Then you get creative. You can purchase your own domain (.com) for $10 a year, leave it at blogspot and do your own design (small code changes) to begin with until you're more comfortable with it. Doing your own design is completely doable!
ReplyDeleteThere are definitely some cons to starting over. You will lose your google page rank and Alexa rank. Why not just switch to self-hosted on blogspot (you would have to buy yearonthegrill.com through blogger.) Then re-design your blog the way you want it.
ReplyDeleteHere's some information about it:
http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=55373
My blog is self-hosted and runs on WordPress. Other than my domain and hosting fees, the only thing I have paid for in the way of plug-ins is the theme I use as it makes it easier to customize things. I did my own design and site build; it wasn't that difficult to learn how to do but there is a learning curve. WordPress is free and has great tutorials online as well as a lot of folks in the community that can help you if you get stuck.
ReplyDeleteAs a Mac user, I have a great ISP (MacHighway) that has given me excellent service and has a lot of "free" tools available. They have graduated plans that meet the needs of most folks, and will assist you in getting a domain name. Oh, and they support PC users as well... ;)
As others have pointed out, you'll need to address the issue of page ranks and redirection of traffic to a new location. There are RSS feeds to deal with (I use Feedburner) and you will need to consider how you want to transfer any (or all) of your existing content to a new site. That piece in and of itself won't be trivial for you as you have a LOT of content...
As for what I would do different? Not sure about that. I had to go through the learning process and other than a few minor things that happened along the way that I would have preferred to avoid, I don't know that I would do anything different.
Regardless of what you decide, good luck.
I guess my advice on blogs is- don't have more than two. I have one, and it's all I can handle!
ReplyDeleteOh, I want a Healthy Rummy Painkiller! Now!
ReplyDeleteIt's Friday, right? And it's 5 o'clock somewhere...;-)
No idea about self-hosting. I can barely keep up as it is. Do let us know what you find out, Dave!
Yay! Thanks Dave - we're so excited to have a part of your Island adventure brought to NYC!! We'll make you proud!
ReplyDeleteAs to advice, we did buy our domain for $10 (easy!), used blogger draft templates to change our look (easy!), and make our own html changes (a bit harder, but searching online for different codes/ideas makes it easier). If we were to start all over, we might have started on wordpress (more template flexibility and ease of use, better SEO).
I have considered self-hosting mainly because I am afraid of running out of space on blogspot. I would probably just switch over to their self-hosting thing. I don't want to lose my Google Page Rank and all that jazz.
ReplyDeleteIf I could start over...I would take way better pictures from the beginning. So that I wouldn't be so embarassed of my earlier posts!
I want a Rummy Painkiller! I love that you mentioned scurvy!
I have no idea what self hosting is, but I went to godaddy.com, bought my domain for like 7 bucks a year, and re-directed the domain back to my blogspot address, so when people type in cookindunkinstyle.com, it automatically directs them to my blogspot address (invisible to them). Works pretty well for me. I cant remember who designed my site, but there are millions of them out there. I paid 75 bucks I think and they installed it for me.
ReplyDeleteI could use one of those pain killers, way better than Tylenol :) I don't know a thing about self hosting. I'm happy to be a blogspot :P
ReplyDeleteHey! First off, congrats on coming up on a year.
ReplyDeleteGive me an email to discuss hosting. You have a number of options. If you want to stay on blogger, if you want to switch... so many options. I have some ideas, as well as something that will be able to help ya if you are interested.
Cheers!
Van
good luck on making over your blog. i haven't done anything like that, but if you have any advice when you're done it would be very appreciated!
ReplyDeletethis looks so good, that's my kind of health food!
I use Wordpress, but have my own domain name, so I don't have to use the .wordpress.com
ReplyDeleteI just picked a free theme, and do the same thing anyone else does with a blog, easy to upload and stuff, but I have a real web site address instead of a blogspot.com or wordpress.com
It's been so easy! And I am NOT a computer wiz!
I'd like to self host too. I have paid for a domaine on Go Daddy, very inexpensive, but not sure I'll use it. I really like having my blog on wordpress. (not self hosted) I'm not a blogspot fan but it seems that almost everyone uses it. Wordpress does so much more. BUT, back to the question, I'd like to self host soon and with a full time job will need to hire someone to help.
ReplyDeleteI'm still on blogger but have a direct web address that makes it look like I'm self hosting ($10 a year via google). Same platform though.
ReplyDeleteThe downside is that a ton of self hosted sites were hit by a hacker through sites hosted with Go Daddy and Network Solutions (two of the three biggest).
I've been considering switching to self hosted via Word Press with Network Solutions but the cost and difficulty have me holding off for now.