Hog Island Clam Chowder

posted on: Monday, November 4, 2013

Seeing leaves turn amber shades of red and yellow as I stroll through my neighborhood reminds me yet once again that a new season is upon us and it's time to pull out my cozy sweaters and concoct sweet & savory dishes in my kitchen. After all, it was only last week that I found myself with a serious urge to brown butter, roast brussel sprouts, and subsequently whip up two dozen homemade chocolate chip cookies all in one night. But last night, I just wanted to curl up with a hot cup of something warm and rich like this hearty bowl of comforting clam chowder that I whipped up a few months ago for an amazing photo shoot that was featured on Style Me Pretty Living. It's taken me a while to share it, but I thought it best that I wait for the weather to get a bit chillier before I bring it to the blog. So, here it is.  For the complete recipe, head on over to SMP Living.

About the Recipe:
Hog Island Oyster Farm, located in beautiful Marshall, CA, is known for its sinfully decadent, perfectly briny and fresh sweet water oysters.  And if you ever visit its famous oyster bar in the San Francisco Ferry Building, you wouldn't ever leave without also ordering their signature bowl of clam chowder! As an homage to the West Coast-style chowder where we throw in the entire clam (shell & all), this Hog Island-inspired chowder was made with succulent morsels of Manila clams that will comfort you even on the chilliest of days.
Hog Island Clam Chowder | via Chandara Creative recipes
Hog Island Clam Chowder | via Chandara Creative | Amber Gress Photography



Blog Tutorial: Adding a Custom "Pin It" Button + Social Media Icons

posted on: Friday, November 1, 2013

Nothing makes me smile more than learning a new skill for my blog. Ahh..progress, I do love you. Like many of you, I don't have time or funds to invest in sitting in a class or workshop to learn everything there is to know about graphic design, so I rely on the good 'ole internet when push comes the shove and I need to learn a new skill...fast! And everything on this blog is truly a labor of love and a work in progress as I delve into the realm of CSS and graphic design (which is world's away from my undegrad degree in Political Science).

A) ADDING a CUSTOM "PIN-IN" BUTTON




Recently, as you may have noticed, I installed a custom "Pin It" button to my images, and it's got me beaming from ear to ear. I wanted to share my knowledge with you just in case you're also wondering how to make it happen for your own blog. So here it is:

For Blogger templates, you can follow the tutorials on the following sites just like I did via:
Spearmint Baby
Code it Pretty

For Wordpress templates, follow the simple steps to creating your own custom "Pin It" button via:
Hello Monday Creative

B) ADDING FREE SOCIAL MEDIA ICON BUTTONS to BLOGGER



Do you like my new social media icons? Well, you can have them, too! And all for free thanks to From Her New Leaf. I love blogs that share and in keeping with this sharing spirit, here's my tips on how to install social media icon buttons on your own blog!
NOTE:  I only researched how to do this on Blogger because that's the platform from which I blog. 

These are a set of social media icons in the Glacier color family.

Facebook Pinterest Twitter Instagram Email

1. First you need to find a site that provides free social media icons OR you can purchase them. You can go to the link above, or simply search Pinterest or Google for "[free] social media icon." You will get a bunch of lists that populate really cool icons, and this is by far the most difficult portion of this tutorial.

2. Save the files to your computer and follow this YouTube Tutorial by Blogaholic Designs. This is by far the quickest and easiest way I found without having to host your icons on a 3rd party image hosting site (i.e. Photobucket) or tweaking any HTML code. So unless you feel like doing extra work, give it a try, and have yourselves a Fab Friday!

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