Welcome to the new Flavia’s Flavors!

Welcome to the new Flavia’s Flavors! I’m so excited to be blogging again and I’m thrilled with my newly re-designed blog. I want to extend a warm, Italian welcome to my long-time readers and new readers alike. If you were here in person, I would offer you a big bowl of homemade biscotti.

Over the past nine months, I have been working with my good friend Claudia of Fig. 2 Design to create a new look for Flavia’s Flavors. Since my goals were to re-brand my blog and create a new design, Claudia guided me through a series of detailed (and fun!) exercises to narrow my focus and capture my design aesthetic. I knew from the outset that I wanted a site that was clean, bright, sophisticated and welcoming. I knew I wanted color, but not too much color. I also told Claudia that I wanted Flavia’s Flavors to evoke two of my favorite things about Italy: the Amalfi coast and Italian hand-painted ceramics, and Claudia went above and beyond with her custom designs. She hand-designed all of the header images you see throughout the blog as well as my lemon logo. I especially love how she used watercolors to give my blog a relaxed and welcoming feel. Working with her was the highlight of this entire project.

I didn’t stop at re-branding and re-designing Flavia’s Flavors. I also decided to start my blog from scratch. I realize that starting a blog from zero after having had my blog for the past six years seems unusual, but I needed this fresh start for several reasons, the most significant of which was that I never maintained focus on writing about Italian food as I had originally intended.

Unlike my “old” blog, the new Flavia’s Flavors is going to be exclusively about Italian food and cooking. I will feature recipes I grew up eating as well as new recipes I’m teaching myself. I’m honing my recipe development skills to bring you some of my original creations. There will be new head notes and new photographs. I have added a page called The Italian Pantry, a list of my essential pantry staples that you can refer to for stocking your own kitchen.

You will notice that the recipe archives are currently empty, but not for long! I have several recipes in my queue ready to publish. Now that we are well into fall and heading towards winter, I will be posting my recipes seasonally—just the way Italians eat. In addition to recipe posts, I’ll be rounding out my blog with some new features. I am introducing Basics, which will be posts dedicated to fundamental Italian recipes everyone should have in their cooking repertoire. I’m bringing back The Side Dish, posts about a topic of my interest such as books, cookbooks, blogs, photography, Italian culture, and yes…food, too.

To make my site easier to use, I am using a Word Press theme that is completely responsive so my blog will look great on a desktop, tablet and smartphone. The pictures are larger and easy to pin. Recipes will be easy to search using the Categories or Date drop-down menus as well as the Recipes page.

Don’t forget to stay connected! You can follow me on social media by clicking on any of the buttons in the upper navigation bar or under “Subscribe & Follow”. Comments under every blog post have a “Reply” feature so I can answer your questions directly under your comment. For longer comments or inquiries, you can visit my Contact page to stay in touch.

My new blog would not have been possible without the talent of some wonderful people. My good friend Claudia of Fig. 2 Design captured the vision for my blog perfectly with her custom artwork, lettering and keen designer’s eye. I’m grateful for the dedication and hard work she poured into my re-design, and am especially thankful for her friendship. My friend Shelly of SPC Creative Photography made me forget all about my camera shyness and made my kitchen photo shoot incredibly fun. She captured the style of photographs I envisioned and delighted me with some amazing camera angles. I’ll be telling (and showing) you more about my photo shoot in an upcoming The Side Dish post. The amazing team at Agency Replacement implemented all the elements of my blog with friendly professionalism at every turn. Last but never least, my husband Peter encouraged me from the time that this blog was still an idea in my head. He’s been my biggest fan and supporter. He’s also the best taste-tester.

Once again, welcome to the new Flavia’s Flavors! I hope you enjoy my blog’s new home. I’m looking forward to bringing you a taste of Italy in your home kitchen!