Friday Things #420
1. We celebrated Dominic’s last day of school with our first ice cream cones of the season and they tasted extra delicious!
2. Love this reminder on three ways to help kids learn every day. It’s always the simple things!
3. Have you ever ordered from Goldbelly? My husband discovered it last year during quarantine and ordered us some Chicago deep-dish pizzas and a few other things. For Mother’s Day, he ordered this cake, which was DELICIOUS!! We got our mom’s bourbon balls and turtles, and I treated myself to the legendary Jacques Torres chocolate chip cookies. They are SO. GOOD.
4. For some reason, when the weather gets warmer, I start craving brownies. If you haven’t tried my peanut butter brownies yet, put them on your list to bake ASAP!
5. So many wonderful things on this list: Finding Joy in the Simple Acts of the Everyday
6. I am working on getting this website a much-needed facelift and refresh. If you have any requests or feedback, I’d love for you to share them in the comments below!
7. TGIF! Our queen wishes you a wonderful weekend!
Thank you so much for the tip about Goldbelly and that amazing looking cake! I had not heard of Goldbelly or that cake, and I just ordered one for a special birthday weekend I have coming up at the end of this month with my mom and sister! My birthday is May 31st, my mom’s was last month, and my sister’s is in June. I can’t wait to surprise them with it and taste it myself! Thanks for making an already special weekend even more special! I love your blog and recipes too! :)
How is your new nail kit going from several Fridays back? :)
I loooooove it! My pedicures look fantastic and while I haven’t painted my fingernails yet I’ve been using the cuticle serum, which has worked miracles on mine! Their nail clippers are also the best I have EVER used. Highly recommend!
I know others have mentioned it, but the search function is not great. I always have to scroll down to find your recipes vs. the top ones that are from other websites. Not to compare, but I love Smitten Kitchen’s search feature. I just type in a word, i.e. “potatoes” and the recipes and pictures pop up.
I would love for your email posts to include the recipes or at least the ingredients. I like to see what is involved before I decide to print and make it. I find that since you stopped doing this I delete your recipes and only read Friday Things and Weekend Dish (which I do really enjoy) – THANKS!!
I enjoy the website and read it often. I know the content is free for the readers, and ads and sponsorships are necessary to make that so, but of all the food blogs I follow, this one has the most intrusive ads. Both the amount of real estate on the screen taken up by the ads and the way they pop up and precede each video in a constant stream is on the far end of the range. I often click on the other recipes you have bookmarked each week ( a feature I love, thank you!) and the contrast in the number of ads is pretty dramatic. I read on an 11-inch laptop so maybe it is not as intrusive on a larger screen, but I have to peek through the ads to follow the post sometimes.
This!
I usually read on an iPhone or iPad and the videos not only auto play but follow me when I scroll so they take up a good portion of the screen.  I usually listen to music or something when I browse and it is so annoying that this site pauses my music and plays an ad. Â
I have been following your site since close to the beginning and I visit much less because of this feature.  I don’t mind ads as I know they are necessary but auto play videos with sound are a huge turnoff.
Hi Michelle! I love that you don’t use a light grey, tiny font like some recipe bloggers do. The contrast between the background and the font color is not enough for me when it is grey and I much prefer your font size to the teeny, tiny fonts elsewhere. Thank you for all your work on your website! I love it!
I used gold belly to order bouchon bakery’s macarons for my mother! They are so good and the box they come in is gorgeous!
https://www.goldbelly.com/bouchon-bakery/mini-macaron-gift-box?ref=collection
Oh my goodness you’re pictures of the children & the doggies are precious! I look forward to your Friday posts ! I’m definitely going to try the coleslaw recipe & the brownies ! We make the pulled pork sandwiches often so going to do the coolest for a side !!! Yummy 😋Â
I enjoy Friday Things and have followed you for quite a few years now.  Your recipes are easy to follow and I like the measurements in metric and don’t find it hard to swap to that view.  I agree with another comment that when using the search function, I’m only interested in your recipes.  I’d also like to have a notification if a comment or reply is made on my comment.  Happy weekend!
If refreshing the website, please leave the recipe index easy to search and continue Friday’s Thins and The Weekend Dish. Those are highlights in my week! Thanks for sharing cute pics of your kids and pups!
Cones w sprinkles look sooo good. My sister tried Graeters icecream thanks to you🙂 and loved it (being sold at our local market). I will get one soon.
Judith looks so regal. Beautiful queen indeed.
I truly enjoy your work and website. I share it all the time with all of the people!  My only request is that you don’t hide the most recent posts.  I find it to be so annoying to have to scroll down and through stuff to find this.  No worries, I still look at all your content. Please, please, please don’t hide and make me scroll.  Â
Oh!  We make your white bread every week!  Thank you for sharing. 😊
I have been using your site regularly for YEARS now! To the point where my husband made waffles and I commented on how good they were and he says “Well, they are brown eyed baker so I’m not surprised!” Lol!
But I would love to see a tag or category in the recipe archive for “time to make” There are days I need to whip up something quick and others where spending a whole day baking is on the cards!
I’m not a fan of other food blogs that bury the recent recipes or only show a few. I would like to see a note when a recipe is ‘recycled’ that it is an update
I’ve never heard of Goldbelly, Â so am looking forward to checking in to it and doing a bit of research.
Are you changing the focus of your business? Â If not, I would love to see NEW recipes on your site rather than your “old” recipes just refreshed.Â
Hi Michelle, Not changing the focus at all, just giving the site a facelift to make it more user friendly!
Love the site and use it regularly. The one thing I would like to see change is when I search for one of your recipes, a bunch of others come up that are not yours. I would like the Search to take me directly to your posts. Â Thank you.Â
Love the expression on Dominic’s face!
Oh my gosh…I did not realize Montilio’s Bakery was still in business .It was THEE Italian bakery in the Boston area for so many years. Any big , public occasion or celebration always had a cake from Montilio’s. Nice to know you enjoyed the cake. Guess they still have the magic ,sweet touch.
Your three little ones, lined up with cones and sprinkles are just so sweetly adorable. Little moments like a sprinkle cone are the most precious.
Have a great weekend.
Hi, happy graduation and cone day! Personally, I enjoy Friday Things as is, but my only particular request would be “don’t change the font”. It is so legible to my aging eyes! The mix of stuff brings interesting info and the great family pix that I’m sure we all love.
I’ve wondered about Goldbelly! How were the non-sweets you ordered? Do you think it lives up to the hype? I’m soooooo curious!
Website feedback: I would love to see an option to be notified of follow-up comments by email :-)
Hi Kelly! We really liked the Chicago deep-dish pizzas (we tried from I think three different restaurants over the last year). We got some pizza bagels that were meh (but the kids liked them!); we have cheesesteaks on our list to try, too!
Hi! I love your blog and recipes but I do wish that the search function worked better. There are times I can only remember a main word of the title… like peanut butter or something like that and it does not come up. Would also love to be able to save favorites too! Thanks and look forward to following!Â
We found Goldbelly to be hit or miss. Sometimes things don’t come when they are supposed to & your not sure if what you ordered is safe to eat. Maybe it depends on where you live but it’s been hot or miss for us.
In your site revamp, I would like to see comments on recipes separated by those who have actually made the recipe vs the general “oh that looks so good” comments. The remarks made by those who have tried the recipe are so helpful, but they get lost in a sea of fan mail.
Hi Michelle,
for some reason I can’t get my Instagram to log in/connect through the link you posted (three ways to help kids learn every day).. can you share what the account is? I’d love to read it!
Hi Shauna! The account is @busytoddler
I used GOLDBELLY for a fun gift to family on the west coast. I think it’s a great service. Especially when there’s free shipping involved. Going totally across the country makes it worth while.
Yes, Michelle, I have ordered from Goldbelly! Â Last Christmas I had them send gifts to my two brothers in Florida and Texas, and both LOVED what they received. One was sent a box of individual quiches from Mrs. Londons’s, right here in Saratoga Springs (and except for Goldbelly, I would have had no idea they did mail orders), The other was sent a cheesecake from a bakery somewhere in the South. I will most definitely order again. Your readers should know that the array of gourmet foods — from every state in the Union — offered by Goldbelly is astounding, and making a decision is not easy!Â
The one thing I think Goldbelly needs to do, however, is find a way to inform buyers of the status of their orders. I ordered, and then heard not one word about my order. As it turned out, both brothers received their gifts just before Christmas, as I had requested, but I was never informed by the company.Â
I love your tried and true recipes, so your site is one of the first I search when looking for a specific recipe. Â That being said, I don’t find the search feature very helpful. Â I always have to go to the category section and dig around to find recipes. Â
At one time the comments section was broken down between, I believe it was, questions, reviews, and general comments, or something along those lines. That was a great feature  because I find actual reviews from people who have made the recipe extremely helpful. Â
I’m looking forward to the revamp! Â :)
Have a great weekend.Â
I agree with you! A revamped search function is in the plan :)
I discovered Goldbelly during the pandemic as well. I’ve sent Lithuanian torte to my sister for her birthday. It was a lovely surprise – and Oh So Good! I highly recommend the service (although a bit pricey). The torte needs to be refrigerated and it arrived in Chicago in August in excellent condition!
Love the updates on your children. Keep that aspect of the website.
Happy Friday to you and your beautiful family! I don’t know whether to thank you or be mad at you for introducing me to Goldbelly – ha ha. I’m so excited to try some yummy things!!
Hi! Suggestion for the site would be a conversion to metric listed with the US custom rather than being two separate. Thank you :-)
Hi Carolyn, This is definitely on the list!! Thanks for the feedback :)