Fiesta Friday

Food + Friends = Fun

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Fiesta Friday #66

When I complained about my not-so-positive Pinterest experience last week, I may have given you the idea that Pinterest is not a good company or a worthy social platform. I actually think otherwise.

I think Pinterest is worth investing your time in. If I had extra time, I would devote it on Pinterest ahead of any other social media. You know why? Because of this:


top referrers for thenovicegardener

This is the summary of the top referrers of my other blog TheNoviceGardener. I’m using TheNoviceGardener as an example since it’s an older site than FiestaFriday.net and therefore gives a more accurate measure on its statistics.

Do you see who my top referrers are? The #1 top referrer for TheNoviceGardener is “Search Engines” (the bulk of which coming from Google) and that is to be expected.

But do you see who is in the #2 slot? Not WordPress Reader! That is shocking to me, too! The second top referrer for my blog is Pinterest!

I find that very interesting, especially since I only opened a Pinterest account in the second half of TheNoviceGardener’s 2-year life span. Yet already it has referred more views than WordPress Reader!

My direct contact with them has also been positive. Their customer support is very attentive and helpful. They will actually reply to your questions directly. Ever heard from a Facebook staff or for that matter, WordPress, directly?

Actually, I’ll take the latter back. I did hear from a couple of Happiness Engineers. But Facebook is apparently faceless. I have yet to get help in solving my problems. I don’t get newsfeed and I sometimes can’t share anybody else’s posts! But that’s another discussion for another day.

For now, though, if you haven’t tried Pinterest, I think you should. And please invite me to follow you, because I will.

*****

Now it’s time to fiesta! I’m excited to announce a brand-new co-host for us, Anna @Anna International! And what a trooper she is! I didn’t have time to find a second co-host and she has agreed to do it solo!

By the way, if any of you are interested in co-hosting Fiesta Friday, I’m accepting applications. No, really, we can use the help, so please let me know. It’d be nice to have a long list of future co-hosts so I don’t have to scramble every week.

Now let’s take a look at this week’s featured posts:

mochi tartWhite Nectarine Black Sesame Mochi Tart from ten.times.tea.

“I loved everything about this post – the recipe, the presentation, the beautiful pictures and the story. I can relate to reading with an ‘aggressive fury’, and I could so see this kind of a tart being described by Murakami himself in one of his wonderfully bizarre stories. The delicate sesame tart pastry filled with mochi, cream and nectarines is unique but comforting all at once. I really want one!” — Effie

“This is simply incredible!! I love ice cream-stuffed mochi (green tea is my fave), but I never even thought you can make mochi at home. And here is ten.times.tea making mochi tart! I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea. I need to spend a whole weekend to duplicate this since I’m beyond intrigued! — Angie

Lemon Macaroon Kataifi Tarts from Julianna @Foodie on Board.

“I think this is the first set of food I have seen at FF # 65 and I immediately ran into her – I just couldn’t let her pass without me taking some of these amazing sweets. They look like macaroon in a nest. The Kataifi still amazes me although I have tried them before. These literally made my mouth water.” — Jhuls

“Well, thank goodness, finally here’s a recipe worthy to use my kataifi for. I bought that thing so long ago I can’t remember when and it’s been sitting in my freezer since. I’ve been looking for a perfect recipe for it and I think this is IT! Thank you, Julianna!” — Angie

Pansy and Herb Ice Cooler from Juju @Cookingwithauntjuju. https://cookingwithauntjuju.com/2015/04/22/pansy-and-herb-ice-cooler/

“Aunt Juju got so creative with this awesome cooler. I mean, isn’t is so beautiful?? I don’t drink alcohol, but I don’t think I have to drink to appreciate it. Besides, you can use any bottled drink here, yes? Those pansies are just so gorgeous!” — Jhuls

“Gasp! Love it! The prettiest use for your Spring herbs and flowers, for sure! Just beyootiful, Juju!” — Angie

Hot and Sweet Chilly Prawns from Sadia @Savory and Sweet Food

“I couldn’t help but have a little giggle when I saw Sadia’s stripy bowl – I have the same one! But just look at all those beautiful photos, the prawns haven’t just taken on the colour of the marinade, you can actually see the marinade sticking to the prawns. It’s lovely, colourful and inviting, and paired with the noodles a yummy bowl of comfort.” — Effie

“Mouth-watering sweet and spicy prawns! Perfect bite-sized morsels for nibbling or popping in your mouth! Would make an excellent appetizer, too, I think.” — Angie

*****

It’s time to party! Join Fiesta Friday #66 by adding your link. To add your link, click on the blue “Add your link” button below.
If you’re new to Fiesta Friday, please read the guidelines

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Comments

  1. Hi everyone! I am so excited to be co-hosting with Angie, and I can’t wait to read all your lovely posts.
    On the Pinterest thing, I read a GREAT blog post this morning with advice on how to optimise it for blogging from an event at Pinterest HQ (straight from the horse’s mouth!) which you might be interested to read here: https://handluggageonly.co.uk/2015/05/01/27-tips-and-tricks-you-need-to-know-to-grow-your-blog-with-pinterest/
    And er, yeah, let’s all pin each other’s recipes as well as enjoying and commenting on them! 🙂

    Reply

  3. Hi, Angie. So happy about Pinterest being on #2 slot. I have to check mine. 😀 Thanks for having me co-host last week with Effie. You know I’d love to do it again. Just let me know. Happy FF and enjoy your weekend. xoxo

    Reply

  5. Woohoo I made it on time this week – and I still don’t have internet, so yay me haha!
    I love pinterest, it can be frustrating at times but there’s no denying it’s an amazing tool! It’s my #2 referrer after search engines too. I also just love using it, I get stuck in pinterest holes a lot haha! I use a scheduler to pin now as well, so I can be active throughout the day and not spam my followers all at once!

    Happy FF!

    Reply

  7. Angie, these are some awesome features yet again! And, I love that Pinterest works so well for you, I’ll have to get better about using mine. Also, I’d be glad to help co-host in the end of May. I finally end my travels May 19th! 🙂

    Reply

    • Pinterest is the best! But beware – like Michelle says, ‘Pinterest holes’ are easy to fall into once you get into it! Lol! These days I pretty much always check there first if I’m looking for a specific recipe or ideas with a particular ingredient. I just bought a house too, so I may or may not have spent hours looking at gorgeous homes for inspiration! 🙂

      Reply

  8. Hi Angie, Great feedback on Pinterest. I need to spend a day (If I can find one) to learn to optimize Pinterest. I am getting some awesome advice from other comments. Thanks Quinn

    Reply

      • I currently have one board for the thousands of food and recipe related pins that I have!! I really need to split that up into courses, cuisines and whatnot, to make it easier, but it does take time! Worth if it if can help spread the word about your own recipes though!

        Reply

  9. Great selections Angie! How interesting to see Pinterest as the second biggest referrer. I have posted on P from the start but just in a jumbled way, one picture from each post. Wish I had organized it better in categories. It is a fascinating site. Do you use Instagram?

    Reply

    • I just started Instagram a few weeks ago. I like how quickly your posts reach viewers, but haven’t really seen any impact on blog views, but I just started. I need to re-organize my Pinterest boards, too. Better sooner than later! 🙂

      Reply

    • Hi Johanne – I’m far from a Pinterest expert, but I find it helps to use the boards to organise my pinning in general, and also to pin from my blog onto those, but I also have a dedicated board for my blog that I pin all my blog posts to. It makes it easy to find them, and also is another place I can pin them without looking too spammy (which I worry about sometimes!). I also LOVE Instagram. What can I say, I’m a sucker for a pretty photo! I do tend to post one image from each post with the good old #ontheblog, but I don’t know that it drives much (or any) traffic. I guess I should pay more attention to that!

      Reply

            • That must have been a killer recipe! I’m not surprised; you have many great recipes. And I’m glad you told me. I’ve been looking for a good stuffed cabbage recipe. My husband, to this day, brags about the stuffed cabbage served at his college fraternity house. I’m not kidding! He does it every time I make mine! It’s time to change that, don’t you think? 🙂

  11. Hello Angie, thank you for all your wonderful advice and anna, I don’t spend nearly enough time marketing or looking at stats, they scare me lol. Sorry I couldn’t help out this weekend but having switch off offline time with my son. I hope you have a lovely party, i brought some healthy chocolate along..coughs xx

    Reply

  13. Whoa! That’s some tech talk going on! 😛 I’m surprised I made it here on time this week! Love the features! Good luck team AA <3 Happy Fiesta Friday!

    Reply

    • Did you finally roll out of bed at 9:30? When most people have been awake for 3 hours? Lol, just kidding!! On weekends I don’t get off my bed before 10 am. I refuse!! Great seeing you bright and early at the fiesta. Well, it’s night time now but that’s my fault. 😀

      Reply

      • I’ve just come back to the party, and it’s 8am here in the UK! On a Saturday! Don’t know what’s come over me, just couldn’t wait to get back and see some more amazing recipes! 🙂

        Reply

  14. Happy Fiesta Friday, all! Looks like we have some gorgeous posts to pour through today! Thanks so much for featuring my Kataifi creation, Angie! I truly appreciate it. Well, listening to you all talk about Pinterest is making me think that I should go back and do some work on that site…I think I lost my password and haven’t had too much time to get busy there… But I will say that I have some amazing ideas and photos on Pinterest. Have a great weekend, everyone! 😀

    Reply

    • I almost gave up on my kataifi. I made some appetizers with it before, but couldn’t decide what dessert to make with it. I think your macaroons idea is pretty awesome. I hope I can make them as nicely. And definitely give Pinterest a second look! 🙂

      Reply

  16. I like Pinterest, but Yummly is also a great option for finding and sharing recipes. It’s often right behind Pinterest in driving traffic to my blog, and I just started using it last month. If you add the “yum” button to your sharing options, with your top-notch recipes and photography, I predict you will get tons of “yums!”

    Reply

    • Oh, haven’t tried Yumly. Although I downloaded their recipe plugin when I started FiestaFriday.net. Then I decided to go with a simpler plugin. But I’ve used their website to find some really nice recipe. Will have to give them a second look. Thanks so much for the tip and the kind words! 🙂

      Reply

    • That is a great tip! I’ve never come across it before – dangerous though, am sure I don’t need more yummy food to drool over- it’s terrible for my diet! 🙂
      Thanks for joining us at FF!

      Reply

  17. Hi Angie! I love Pinterest, but don’t have as much time to pin as I would like. Mostly my post from here go there. I think it is a good source of referrals. Happy FF! Thanks so much for all your hard work to make FF so much fun!! 🙂 <3

    Reply

    • I’m hoping to have more free time come Summer when schools are closed. Then I can devote more blogging time 🙂 So glad you continue to enjoy Fiesta Friday, Arlene. Very comforting to hear! XOXO

      Reply

  18. Thanks so much for the feature! It’s quite an honour for me, and I’m so happy the mochi had a nice reception! For better or for worse it’s encouraged me to act on more of my ideas 🙂 Pinterest is sounding very appealing now, and from the other comments, quite fun! Haha, but as long as there’s Fiesta Friday, I’ll be happy.
    Oh, and I’d love to cohost on a week you need help if you’d have me 🙂

    Reply

    • That mochi tart is just incredible! One of a kind! So different, so intriguing, so pretty…I can go on and on. It deserves the spotlight! 🙂
      Yes, I really think you should take a look at Pinterest. Really is quite fun but be warned, it can be addicting. So many pretty pictures of so many things out there! And it’ll be a pleasure to have you as my co-host. I’m definitely putting you down on my list! 🙂

      Reply

    • So glad you agree with my assessment, Sarah! Now I don’t feel so clueless! 🙂 Enjoy the fiesta and have a wondeful weekend!

      Reply

  22. And I was your first (worst) follower! Still have those t-towels folded as they were sent. Along with several others, from the 70’s, that I never use. Love to have them. Hey, do you have any tips on using Pinterest? I know I should use it more often, but can’t figure how to get the most out of it.

    Reply

    • OMG! Yes, how can I forget?! You were my very first follower, lol! 😀 😀 But definitely not the worst! I have followers who only follow so I can follow back, which is fine. That’s how things are anyway. I think I can give you a few tips but I’m still learning myself. I’ll share everything I learn, promise! For now, I think the best thing to do is to join those group boards. Things move pretty fast there. I’ve joined a couple and most of my repins come from there. You and I can start a group board if you like. Have to find a niche.

      Reply

      • Ha, I actually make the pancakes too – boyfriend is getting fed up of a different recipe each week! He always says his favourite are the very first banana pancakes I ever shared on the first FF!
        Angie your tale about pinning without checking the source was a bit of a cautionary one – I have tried to at least check the source of everything I pin, also because I hate the thought that scammers are stealing other people’s hard work and images to promote their own sites, but sometimes when on my phone I am lazy and I just go ahead and click Pin 🙁

        Reply

  24. Morning all! At least, it is here in the UK! How are all your party hangovers?! I might have had one too many of Michelle’s Frisky Summer Punch! I cannot resist bison grass vodka, it’s the only kind I like!
    Anyway, whilst I was out walking the dogs yesterday in the beautiful Yorkshire countryside (I just moved here and still every day the scenery takes my breath away!), I had an idea. All this Pinterest chat made me realise we’re all using it, and it would be fantastic to have a board we can all pin our FF recipes to.
    Angie, what do you reckon to a group Fiesta Friday board? It could be a great way to let others know they can join the party too! 🙂 Thoughts anyone? (And Angie, I know you are already super-busy running the party each week so I could figure out how to set up the board for you if that helps!).
    For those of you still partying – respect! I’m early to bed these days! 🙂

    Reply

    • I’m up early, too! It’s only 7 am! But I’m not getting off the bed! 🙂 I actually started an FF board already, mostly to “advertise” FF features but haven’t been pinning lately. I can turn it into a group board, starting with having you as another pinner. If you start following me, I can add you. That’s a recent Pinterest rule.

      Reply

  25. The recipes and photos that everyone brings every week never fails to amaze me! So much talent, week after week!!
    And thank you for the kick up the backside, I need to put some more effort into pinterest xx

    Reply

  26. Actually Angie I did a post on pins back in November, 2014. At that time this post had received almost 24,000 pins. In 6 months that post on Stuffed Cabbage Rolls has received another 10,000 views. I have no idea how this happened 🙂

    Reply

    • Congratulations, Juju! You have a post that’s gone viral! People must really like the recipe! I did search for it and bookmark it, but haven’t read it carefully. Now I know I MUST try it! 🙂

      Reply

  27. I just managed to make page for my baking & blog on facebook, never mind Pinterest. I used Pinterest to look for idea and ‘pin’ them, but havn’t given much thought about it yet. Lot to learn, thank you. And I discover a few more great blogs this week, thanks to FF again!!

    Reply

    • Oh, I know exactly how it is. Even though I now have a Facebook page and Pinterest account, even started Instagram and Google+, I hardly have time to do anything on any of them! And then there are Twitter and Tumblr, too. My head is spinning! I should let my daughter take care of these things. She knows more than I do! Good to see you, weebirdie! 🙂

      Reply

      • It is crazy isn’t it? I think my ‘strategy’ (as far as I have one!) is to focus on the ones I kind of understand – Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. I still have no idea what Google+ is all about, and I am useless at Twitter! I feel like I should try harder at it though, but finding the time!! The good thing about Pinterest is that if you’re already on it, you can just pin your own posts as well, without too much effort, and even if you don’t go viral, you might have a few re-pins. I think as with everything, it takes time (and maybe a bit of luck?) to really grow your presence. Thanks for joining us at the party! 🙂

        Reply

  28. Hey Angie and Anna! Thanks for hosting Fiesta Fridays. I just stumbled upon this virtual blog party a few days ago and just submitted my first link too. This group is so talented and I can’t wait to get started 🙂

    Reply

    • It’s not for everyone. There’s a lot of pretty pins, though, which I like. Thanks for stopping by and checking out the recipes! 🙂

      Reply

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