OK…this is largely cut and paste from a recent press release.  But I couldn’t let it go without mention on the blog.  CookEatShare now provides seamless integration with Facebook through the Facebook Connect Platform.  Members of both sites can now receive updates on their Facebook pages when their CookEatShare Friends or a Professional Chef they subscribe to posts recipes or reviews on the cooking site.

“I spend time on Facebook communicating with my friends and family, and this new functionality gives me instant updates when new recipes or reviews are posted on CookEatShare.  As a busy mother of two young boys, it’s really helpful not having to check multiple sites for the information that’s most important to me,” said Aspen Lee-Moulden, a Member of CookEatShare.com and Facebook.

Existing members of CookEatshare.com can simply click the Facebook Connect icon when they sign into the cooking site.  New members can select the icon when they sign up for CookEatShare.com, which is free.  Essentially, this means you can share your recipes and reviews with all of your facebook friends whether or not they are members of CookEatShare.  If you haven’t yet…please connect your account.  It’s fun!

Translating a recipe from Spanish or Russian into English on CookEatShare is now as easy as a click of a button.  English speakers who know a little Spanish can now add Spanish as a language preference and browse Spanish recipes.  If they understand some of the recipe, but not all, they can see it translated into English with a click of a button.  If there are some errors with the machine translation, which there usually are, a user can then edit the translation and save it.  This will benefit future users who want to see a translated version of that recipe.

CookEatShare is just beginning to take off in Spanish speaking countries.  As it does, the “Translate” functionality will ensure that English speakers get access to the phenomenal recipes that are added in Spanish speaking countries, and vice-versa!

Ever wanted to see the full size picture of a dinner, dessert or another member featured on CookEatShare?  Well now you can with the newly released Lightbox functionality.  Just click on any picture (except small thumbnails) and the full size photo will show up in a Lightbox. You can then page through any other photos in the lightbox.  For very large images it can take some time for your browser to load the full image.  But be patient because the results are worth it!  To see an example follow this link and click on the image.

http://cookeatshare.com/recipes/dungeness-chili-crab-420

Thanks to the members who requested this and to our awesome developer who put this together in his spare time!

Want to be alerted when your friends and chefs you’ve subscribed to have added new recipes, or when recipes have been added to groups that you belong to?  CookEatShare will now send you email updates on your activities you are interested in.   These updates can be received real time, as a daily digest, or as a weekly digest.  Of course, if you don’t want to receive email updates at all, that is also an option.  You can manage and control your email updates here:  http://www.cookeatshare.com/my/preferences  (this page is accessible only to members).

We hope you enjoy keeping closer tabs on what you friends are cooking and raving about!

It’s been a while since we last posted…been busy working on the site! Last week we launched our Spanish version. If you know any Spanish speakers who are looking for a great place to find and share recipes, and interact with other passionate foodies, please send them to www.cocinarcomercompartir.com! That’s CookEatShare in Spanish. We’ve already got quite a few recipes posted, and more coming every day.

If you’ve already got a cookie from CookEatShare, you can still see the Spanish version by clicking on the Globe icon on the top navigation bar right next to the members login/logout button. You’ll see that we already have English, Spanish, and Russian verisons, with more coming soon.

Thanks for you involvement with CookEatShare and please spread the word! Adios!

Hope many of you have had a chance to check out our new Dinner Party Themes. The idea for Themes came from Lisa, a good friend and frequent entertainer. Lisa likes to throw dinner parties for her friends, and is always looking for new ideas. She hasn’t found a good place on the web for this yet, so we decided to create one!

Creating a dinner party Theme is almost as easy as creating a Recipe. Just provide a summary, categorize your theme so others can find it, and start linking to recipes. You can break recipes down into courses (appetizers, entree, dessert), and add comments along the way. There is room for Tips and Tricks at the end, as well as an easy way to add links to other places on the web.

Some of the themes added so far include:

Bastille Day Recipes and Ideas!
Cinco de Mayo Party!
Cupcake Party

Take a look, add your own Theme, and let us know what you think!