Categories
Awards and Recognition Culinary Journey in Photos Excluded Trivia / For Your Information

A New Year, New Blog Design and a Series of GIVEAWAYS!

2nd anniversaryThis month of May, our food blog, Certified Foodies, is celebrating its SECOND anniversary. And we can’t be more excited about the future. 🙂

Back in 2010, after months of conceptualizing on how we can make our food blog unique, we threw in the towel and decided that our passion and love for food will get our message across – that food should be enjoyed and shouldn’t just be for nourishment.

The past two years have been CRAZY… in a VERY good way. Here are some of our achievements so far:

We are so thankful for all the blessings and recognition we’ve received through this food blog. Who would’ve thought that the food (mis)adventures of 2 siblings would take us this far? 😀

Thank you to all our fellow foodies and friends who have visited, left a comment or even lurked on our food blog to look at our food photos and articles. It means so much to us that you all find the time to drop by here, “like” our posts on Facebook or tweet with us. 🙂

 

 

New Design

Because of everything that has happened in the past 2 years, we believe this blog deserved a major makeover. After almost 2 years of slow loading time and unorganized, less personalized theme…

Old layout of CertifiedFoodies.com

…this food blog is now sporting a brand spanking new theme, designed to our own personal tastes.

New layout of CertifiedFoodies.com

The theme was mainly designed by me (Mhel), but all the design elements and additional contents were from a collaboration of both  our ideas (me and Ken). We wanted a less cluttered look, almost minimalistic design, to bring more focus on the photos.

Now, the blog loads much faster after we moved to a new server. Even with the slideshow above and gallery below, feedback has been positive about our blog’s loading time (If you have violent reactions to this, let us know at the comments section!).

Categories
Awards and Recognition Cook Books Excluded Magazines, Books, Literature Recipes

An Exciting New Beginning with Breakfast Magazine

Aside from our love for food, Ken and I also share a passion for writing. As far as I can remember, I’ve always kept a journal or a notebook where I write my deepest thoughts and a few random things. Ken also has a knack for writing and, in fact, he was the one who wanted to put up his own blog first, but I beat him to it. With all that said, it’s been a dream of ours to be published in a broadsheet or a magazine. And this year, we fulfilled it. We’re glad to be part of Breakfast Magazine.

Breakfast Magazine is now available at news stands and bookstores - CertifiedFoodies.com

Breakfast Magazine is the newest foodie publication in the Philippines today. You might be thinking that all we talk about in the mag is breakfast, what people generally consider the most important meal of the day. The magazine is all about food – may it be breakfast, lunch, dinner or the enjoyment of food  in between.

The maiden issue of Breakfast Magazine was launched this month. It’s a bi-monthly publication and every issue, we follow a theme. For February and March, it was just expected that it’s all about love and food. 🙂

Food Bloggers have their own section in Breakfast Magazine - CertifiedFoodies.com

When we were approached to be part of Breakfast Magazine, we were excited about it, but wondered if we are ready. This food blog will only turn 2 this year (we have a giveaway coming up!), but we are indeed touched by the overwhelming support we’re getting from fellow certified foodies. We love blogging and writing, but we thought coming up with articles for a magazine is a completely different ballgame. But, we brushed those doubts aside and we agreed.

Categories
Awards and Recognition Excluded

Thank You So Much, Fellow Foodies!

I know this post has been delayed for weeks, but this is just in time because we’ve got a lot to be thankful for today, including our home in Dampalit, Malabon being spared from complete destruction from Pedring.

When we joined the run for the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs for 2011, Ken and I did not expect the amount of support we got from our fellow bloggers, foodies and friends. So, when we found out we got a record-breaking 100+ votes, we were in shock. We landed in #1 after the votes were tallied.

Thank you to the Pinay Mommies Community for the love and support, especially from Mommy Rubz who welcomed me to the group even in my single-blessedness.

Thank you to everyone who voted for us. I haven’t collated your names and links yet, but as soon as I do, we’ll give you a link back on this post. 🙂

As Cielo of Brown Pinay, a dear blogger friend, commented, “Taon nyo talaga ang 2011.”, and we couldn’t agree more. I mean, we are overwhelmed by the fact that right after emerging as #1 in the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs for 2011, we also got in the Top 10 of FriendsEat.com’s 2011 Best Food Blogger. Ken and I can think of a hundred and million reasons why people voted for us, most of them are pretty funny, but we still appreciate the love and support so much. 🙂

There were hundreds of food blogs that were nominated, but our fellow Pinoys and friends rallied to keep us in the Top 10! We’re the only Pinoy food blog on the list so we are so grateful for the love and support. *BIG HUGS*