Welcome to the Kati Keksi monthly newsletter, bringing together the latest content from the Kati Keksi website as well as highlights from social media including Facebook and Instagram.

Hey!

For the first time ever, I'm writing my newsletter on the night I intend to send it.

Most of the content after this ramble is already in place so all that's left to do is open my mind and start typing whatever I am thinking about.

Right now top of mind is the changing weather as the warmer seasons edge closer. I'm thinking about upcoming events like the GF Expo (win tickets for Melbourne), my birthday and of course the big one, Christmas.

I don't need to stress too much about social or festive occasions. Our family is pretty small but packs quite a few dietary needs including vegetarians, vegans and a raw foodie.

So it's not uncommon to have a lot of gluten free vegan food at the house and few items exclusively vegan and a few exclusively gluten free.

Either way, wine is gluten free and in most cases vegan. 😁

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I've had comments over the last few months from people saying how interesting it is to learn about the other side of blogging.

It's pretty rare to come across a professional blogger, and ever rarer still for them to tell you about how they earn money (or how little they may earn!).

Rather than go into my finances I thought I'd tell you about my website's back end. Or actually, how little I know about it.

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Why the my internet is breaking

My husband purchased my domain as a Christmas gift back in 2021. It was the final push I needed to get a website off the ground.

He's from a tech background and has supported me in building and maintaining my website right from the start.

I guess it's both a blessing and at times a curse. You see, he's one of those "do it yourself, even if I can buy it cheaper" sort of people. He'd happily spent four hours coding than pay $20 for something ready made. 😅

My website is on a self-managed server rather than with a big hosting company. Which means when it falls over (crashes) then well ... he's the only one around to fix it.

So if I'm donating plasma and he's at the park with our daughter and it crashes, what happens?

I'm on the phone to him getting grumpy and he's resetting it remotely. 😂

That is exactly what happened on Sunday 28 September. I was sitting in the chair at Lifeblood, right arm hooked up. I put up a post on Facebook about the gluten free items available at McDonalds.

It's school holidays, I figured a few people would be interested and have a read. 🤷‍♀️

Oh boy did they click it.

There were 11,000 people who visited the article in one day.

To put that in perspective, the largest I've had for one article previously is probably around 3,000.

The website, for whatever reason, was not ready.

Immediately I got comments saying it wasn't working. I checked myself and sure enough it was offline.

My husband fixed it. Within five minutes. One handed, while pushing the swing.

Meanwhile I was on Facebook sending out apologies. 🙏🏼

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Improvements and upgrades

My husband eventually came back from the park (I think he took extra long so I could cool off if needed 😅).

We're still not exactly sure why the website crashed when it did. It should be able withstand thousands clicking at the same time down to a nanosecond.

He spent the afternoon researching some upgrades to provide additional support to both speed up the website and (hopefully) ensure it doesn't drop out again.

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Is it brand damage?

I was really stressed at the time and my thought was around brand or reputation damage. But really, I don't think anyone minded too much or rather - no one blamed me for it.

I guess as a personality on the internet I've got a bit more slack than a company. You'd expect the Cadbury website to work at all times, they've got a full team dedicated to it.

Over on my website it's just me writing the articles, doing the graphics, taking the photos.

I don't use AI, I don't use stock photos. I don't like how it looks or feels and you can tell the difference.

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So, here's to my glitchy, authentic website and content. Hopefully without too many typos. 🥂

Kati x

Latest posts on katikeksi.com​

Not up to date with the website? Here's what I've been talking about this month.

The quickest GF finger bun hack

In just ten minutes you can be eating a finger bun made at home that will absolutely satisfying your sweet bun craving.

How to host a coeliac at a children's party

Some families stress out when they find out a coeliac is coming over. This guide is to help them navigate the day and make things easier.

SpiceCraft butter chicken

Butter chicken is one of the most popular curries in Australia and it's easy to see why. This SpiceCraft kit allows you to create a restaurant quality version of the dish at home.

September's latest gluten free products

It's protein season! Seriously, so many protein releases but there's also lollies, snacks and crackers.

Most popular content on Facebook

What's been big on Facebook this month?

• A bit of an alert, not all tamari sauce is gluten free. Don't get caught out by this one, it's a regular at the supermarket.
• Did you know you can buy a mega 1.6L bottle of gluten free soy sauce?
• Another thing to be alert to, Woolies has changed the packaging of their 1kg lollies.
• Confirmed, Coles are not discontinuing their much loved fish fingers.
• ​Aldi's hoki crumbed fillets are back, much to everyone's happiness.
• A little reminder about the well priced protein bars Coles sells.

Instagram @kati_keksi

Do you follow me on Instagram? I tend to post different content there compared to Facebook so it's worth checking out both.

Here's what I've been sharing this month since last time. I really leave it to the end of the month to do more posts, I'll try to do better!

• ​KitKat Santas will be gluten free this year! I've even got written confirmation from KitKat Australia.
• Win one of three double passes to the gluten free expo in Melbourne. Enter on the giveaway post.
• Explore, save and share the latest gluten free products that were released in September.

New product alerts

Here's just a few of the new gluten free products I've seen in the last month.

• There's a new Kapti flavour at Aldi, affogato now in stick format!
• Quite a lot of the Zeus Greek Street range is GF.
• There are a few products from the Coles meat dept are GF at the moment, including these bulgogi beef strips.
• Actually I did a big post covering the many meat products Coles has for summer.
• Aldi has a range of gluten free wraps by Rebel Bakehouse.
• Speaking of Aldi they've got a massive meat pack out right now.
• There's also some limited edition truffles at Aldi in milk, white and dark chocolate.

Be sure to follow me on Facebook where I post everything I find, and if you prefer, follow me on Instagram for a monthly reel summary.

Article from the archive future

Did you know I started my website back in January 2022? There's so many articles, including reviews that you can read.

This month I'm giving one from the future, so you can read it while it's still relevant.

Gluten free Halloween lollies

Discover which store has the best Halloween themed range and how many spooky treats are available.

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Thanks for reading! If you want to support my work you can Buy Me a Coffee ☕.