Hi everyone, hope you all had a great weekend. I thought I would post a public service message in this post. As most of you know by now, I do most of my commenting using my iPhone 4s just because it’s more convenient and I am able to read and comment on the go! What some of you don’t know is that WordPress so generously provides Mobile Device optimization (I’m sure the other webwares do as well, I just don’t know how to set it up) which means that when I go to your WordPress blog on my phone, WordPress recognizes that I’m checking it out on my mobile device and reformats it to the best viewing configuration. Cool huh?
But some of you don’t have this turned on, so this is the public service bit. On your computer, go to your Dashboard and click “Appearance”, then “Mobile” in the menu across the far left. Click “yes” to enable mobile theme and that way your images and text will be formatted to look the best on the mobile device. By clicking yes to “show excerpts on front pages instead of full posts” gives you a reader digest version of the post, which makes it much easier if you are looking for something specific.
And while I’m at it, I also noticed that some of you don’t have a “search” button on your site (mobile or not), which I personally find frustrating when I’m trying to source a recipe I remember reading about on your blog. In WordPress, it is in “Appearance” under “Widgets”; you will need to add the search widget so it’s on your blog.
And not that I am any expert in blogging or Google, I recently found out that Google reads content and the more robust your content is the more likely it will come up on the first page when someone Google’s something you’ve blogged about (ever wonder why Wiki is usually first on a search? It’s subject specific content!). Why did I bring this up? Well, it’s because I used name my photos IMG 12345_BLOG.jpg, which to Google means absolutely nothing. So to increase the ‘value’ of content on your blog, name your photos what it is so that Google can read it, for example Pesto.jpg. You can also add alternative text which also increases its search capability, for example, for my pesto photo, I might add basil pesto as the alternative text. Now if you will excuse me, I have a lot of work to rename my 1,712 images! Back to regular programming.
Remember the crab legs we bought for Christmas Eve when my brother cancelled Christmas because the kids were sick? We froze them in good thick plastic bags for another time and I’m so glad I did. Two of the four legs made this salad and it was absolutely delightful. I used Thai flavours to bring out the fresh, sweet flavour of the crab. I will make it again it’s a very tasty salad.
Crab and Avocado Salad
Serves 4 as an appetizer portion
Ingredients:
- 2 large King crab legs, cooked, shelled and cut into bite sized pieces.
- 1/4 cup sweet yellow corn
- 1/2 an avocado, cut into small cubes
- 1 tbsp cilantro, chopped and a few sprigs for garnish
- 1 green onion, chopped finely.
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 2 tsp sugar
- 4 handfuls of baby arugula
- 2 tbsp of the 19-ingredient slaw apricot dressing
Directions:
- Combine the king grab legs, sweet yellow corn, avocado, cilantro and green onion. Set aside.
- Combine the lime juice and sugar so that the sugar melts.
- Toss the crab salad with the lime dressing to coat well.
- Toss the arugula with the 19-ingredient slaw dressing to coat well.
- Plate a handful of the arugula on each plate and top with the crab salad. Garnish with a sprig of cilantro.
- Serve cold.
The technical info was really helpful Eva, I didn’t know that naming your images and/or using the ALT text made a difference. Thank you!
Also, I LOVE your salad! I really like salads with shellfish — it adds so much flavour!
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I love King Crab but I’ve never thought of pairing it with corn before (although I guess I have seen that in a Chinese soup now that I think about it)… I bet the two really complement the bitter notes in the Arugula…. looks terrific 🙂
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Thank you kindly John, the sweet corn really goes well with the crab, many southern US recipes use this combo so I thought it would work well.
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You must hate me Eva, as I don’t have the mobile enabled for my site. Did it once and wasn’t happy with how it looked. Going to have to look into reformatting that when I have the money. That is after I go to the fish monger and get some fat king crab legs to feed my hunger after looking at your salad there. 😉
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Hey Jed, no I don’t hate you, but it does make commenting rather difficult on the phone (that’s why I sometimes comment later when I have time to get on the desktop Mac). Saving money for king crab instead of the blog layout is the way to go for sure!
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What a great little tutorial Eva! So I did have Mobile enabled and my theme comes with a search area already on the site, which I found out by duplicating it with the widget and confusing myself. I didn’t know about the Google reading content the way it does, so thanks! Your salad looks so fresh and really decadent in a totally good and healthy way. Crab and avocado are always winners. 🙂
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Thanks Betsy, I’m glad all your settings worked out. I’ve used your search field with great success. Thank you for the lovely compliment for the salad.
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Eva, this is a beautiful salad. Love crab!
Thank you for the WP mobile information. I need to check my settings 🙂
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Thanks Judy, I really enjoyed the fresh flavours of the salad.
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Great tips, Eva. I just recently began doing more work from my phone, it’s just so darn efficient/convenient. This salad looks so light and refreshing for Spring. Can’t wait to try it!
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I know what you mean SM, it is so convenient! Thank you for your compliment.
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Thank you so much for this announcement.. I have those same boxes checked which is entirely serendipitous because I’ve never looked there. Or maybe I did and I’ve forgotten which happens a lot these days. I do have the search button, I thought I had it and then it disappeared one day so I added it back. I’m not sure.. is it me.. or is it WordPress, lol? I love your recipe, this is a very decadent recipe.. I’d love it!
ps you could do another announcement asking bloggers to please add their blog links to their gravatar.. Sometimes I click on these to go to a blog and it’s not there..
xx Smidge
ps did you get all the same snow as us?? Crazy!!
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I’ve been there too Smidge, it’s rather annoying these days to go upstairs with purpose and then immediately forget what you had headed up for!
I’ve had wordpress change things a few times. I find the gravatar non-links frustrating too, particularly if they expect you to drop by their blog.
No, we’ve been spared the storm that the North East is getting dumped on today, but it does look grey and cloudy today. At least you get some warm snaps, we just have to grin and bear our cold, sleety winter.
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Oh, my. What a dreamy salad!!! Pure bliss. Off to check my blog’s settings~
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Thank you kindly Liz, your blog does not reformat for my phone!
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Eva, crab is so expensive here…. I am crazy for it of course! I love this salad, but I would probably have to make it with humble shrimps. I see that spring is in the air! I am still having warming, hearty meals because it’s still so cold here!
It’s funny because I have been thinking recently about the fact that everyone misses or likes something else on blogs… I miss some things too, but it doesn’t include mobile versions.
I never visit blogs on my phone, but I must check the way my looks. I once tested several mobile plugins and hated all of them, so I finally left it the way it looks now… I suppose I didn’t like them because I always fiddle with the code and change places where certain items/links appear, etc..
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Thank you kindly Sissi, King Crab is ridiculously expensive here too, that’s why we reserve it for extra special occasions. Because I made this as a starter, I really didn’t need much crab per person, so it worked out very well. I still have a couple of legs tucked away in the freezer. I may have to make a ravioli out of them!
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the thought of succulent sweet crab on top of that salad makes my mouth water and it is only 6 in the morning! Love it
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Thank you kindly Jessica. It certainly was a lovely, sweet salad and perfect for a starter.
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That’s a handy PSA! I think my phone does that automatically but it’s helpful for those that don’t have that setting. And your crab salad looks amazing Eva! Love the large chunks of crab 🙂
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Thank you Lorraine, it was such a lovely fresh taste but it allowed the sweetness of the crab to come through.
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Yum! Sounds like these ingredients go wonderfully together. I’ve only tried king crab once and it was just a tiny portion (that I shared with my friends). I’d love to give it a proper go one day but I don’t believe it’s easily available this side of the globe.
As for naming photos correctly, I’m super OCD about that. I guess years of working with other people’s images does that. A client might come back to me after 5 years and ask about a file I may have. Folders and correct file names is the only way. So it’s comforting to see that it’s useful for reasons other than my own filing.
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Thank you kindly Genie. You are very lucky that you’re OCD about stuff like that, it’s so important. I used to manage a designer who would name images the stupidest names because he thought it was funny, and it was a nightmare to find them again!
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This is one thing that has flummoxed me from the very beginning. No matter what I do, my mobile site is messed up. We tried a lot of stuff, including speaking with wordpress people, but nothing works. So as of now I am stuck with messed up ph site.
The salad looks gorgeous!
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Thanks Minnie. It must be the template you’re using. It’s too bad, a lot of people use their mobile to read blogs.
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I love a gal who can techno talk :). I take it if I am not on WordPress there is nothing to turn on for you though 😦 (I know, I know, blogger… not nearly as sleek…). Eva, your salad is beautiful! (and such a crisp, lovely photo I might add). It’s coming up to dinner time and I feel so hungry looking at that chunky crab meat… yum! Love the arugula here; perfect!
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Thanks Kelly, your blog looks fine on my phone, thanks. I believe some of the themes do it automatically. I loved this salad, so fresh and sweet against the peppery arugula (my favourite green).
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After our little break we’re making Thai food. I’m definitely going to refer to this for inspiration. I love, love, love crab! 🙂 I love all the fresh colors too. They make winter seem a little less bleak. Cheers Eva!
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Thanks Kristy, I know what you mean about bleak, I’ve been in a bad rut for over a month…spring couldn’t come soon enough.
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Thank you for the great mobile blogging tips my friend, bookmarked this on phone 🙂
Your salad looks fit for a king with its ingredients 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Thanks CCU.
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Hi Eva, I tried it but I don’t have the ‘mobile’ option. Very strange. Will speak to my web-hosting person about it. Let me know if my posts are difficult to read on your i-phone. Love the beautiful salad you made with the crab legs xx
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Hi Charlie, thank you kindly. Your blog is ok but the photos that are horizontal font resize to fit, they just disappear somewhere around halfway across. But if I turn the phone on the side, I see more of the photo but still not all of it.
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As unfortunate as it was that your holiday plans were cancelled, you certainly did make a fine batch of lemonade when you created this salad, Eva. It has a a little of everything, even the “pop” from fresh corn kernels. This truly sounds wonderful.
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Thank you kindly John. I’m going to have to make this salad again, it was so tasty.
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Love this crab salad. Saved on my to make list. What is “19-ingredient slaw apricot dressing”?
Thanks for the technical info. I need to reread and reread to comprehend.
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Thanks Norma, the dressing is an Asian style apricot dressing that I usually make for Chef Susur Lee’s Singapore Slaw. I went back and updated the link in the recipe. You could also link to the original recipe, as I haven’t been able to find the salted apricot in my area http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipes/singaporean-slaw-salad-with-salted-apricot-dressing/recipe.html?dishId=8710
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Is my post showing up on your i-phone OK?
Where do I go to rename the photos? Or I should ask what do I do?
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Yes Norma, your blog is fine too. I’ll send you an email with the instructions. Can you send me your email address taylorhome at sympatico dot ca
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I’m all in favour in treating myself to the best whenver possible so I love the crab salad even if I rarely have anything like that personally. 🙂
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Hi Maria, you don’t really have to have a lot of crab because it’s so flavourful.
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I would devour all the crab and avocado and pay for it happily … it’s the cold aspects of the rest of the dish that I have issues with. And, of course, the cilantro.
All part of those annoying texture, temperature, smell phobias I have about certain dishes. 😦
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Oh yes, I had forgotten about the cilantro, it is a very heady herb.
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I always thought cilantro was part of cajun/creole cuisine but don’t remember having a problem with any of the dishes in New Orleans when I was there in ’88. My nephew, who was there more recently said it was everywhere.
In fact, the first time I ran into cilantro issues was at a sports bar, Jose’s Noodle Factory, where they apparently put it in the marinara sauce that I was dipping my fried mozzarella sticks into. I kept tasting soap/shampoo until I finally figured out where it was coming from. A trip to the grocery store herb section and I figured out what the smell I didn’t care for was. 😦
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I know a lot of people who hate the stuff too, I love it!
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Thanks for passing on the knowledge that you have gained. I will go and check out my dashboard. I love the combination of crab and avocado
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Yes crab and avocado do pair quite wonderfully, particularly with the corn.
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I was not aware about what naming the photos could do, thanks for sharing that tip! Your crab salad looks delicious!
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Thanks Ali, every little bit helps.
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King crab legs, avocado…Eva, you definitely know how to pamper yourself with a healthy yet luscious salad.
Thank you for the tips on mobile blogging, Eva.
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Thanks Angie, it’s a lovely salad and because the King crab is so flavourful, you needn’t have a lot of it to be satisfied.
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