Foodie Fridays: Fabulous Cooking Apps

Cooking using an iPhone as a point of reference isn't ideal for many recipes, but for simple dishes (or ones that don't require tons of back-and-forth between the recipe and the dish), the iPhone is an acceptable substitute for a traditional cookbook. This is particularly true when I have to cook away from home and my depressingly large collection of cookbooks. Here are a few of the cooking-related apps that I've found particularly helpful:

Epicurious (free) - I'm very surprised that so many people have given this app one star in iTunes, because it is one of my go-to resources when I am looking for something new to cook. While it does have a lot of advertising, which seems to be the reviewers' main issue with it, it is a free app that is a wealth of information. It also has some great features that (in my mind) more than make up for the ads. One of my favorite features is the sections that correspond to the seasons (like Spring Breakfasts or Holiday Recipes), and the search feature gives you a lot of options to find a particular type of recipe. For instance, you can search by main ingredient, meal/course, cuisine, dietary consideration, and/or season. I've found a number of excellent recipes by virtue of random searches. My two favorite finds are strawberry citrus salad and lemon-glazed butter cake.

How to Cook Everything (full version $4.99, essentials version is free) - I am a Mark Bittman fangirl, so it isn't surprising that I find this app so useful. While I typically use the actual cookbook when I am cooking, this app is perfect to reference while in the grocery store (or on the subway) when I need to go shopping or when I need some inspiration for dinner. This app also was a lifesaver when I found myself in the role of the reluctant chef for a dinner party at my mom's last year. If I ever have to make hollandaise sauce ever again, I hope I have this app and Bittman's common-sense approach to guide me.

Evernote (free) - I know that this technically is not a food app, but I tend to use Evernote to clip recipes from my favorite cooking websites. Not only is it an easy way to collect these recipes, I can also categorize them using the tags and notebook feature. What more could I ask for?

What great cooking app did I miss? Please feel free to offer suggestions in the comments section!

My iPhone and Me: A Love-Hate, Co-Dependent Relationship

So I've had the iPhone for almost a year, and to my horror, I discovered I've become someone I told myself I wouldn't become: a complete iPhone addict. Despite my many attempts at using different types of technology to organize my life (my mom and a former boss both gave me early versions of the Palm Pilot at different points), I was never able to find the patience to use it to its fullest advantage. The iPhone has succeeded where many other devices have tried and failed.

Our relationship started off innocently enough. I used my iPhone mostly for email, texting, and calling people. However, I soon found that the iPhone is much more than an expensive phone with a ridiculously expensive monthly plan. Over time, I've found that the iPhone does a number of things that fit my life really well. This includes:

Recipe Storage: Between Evernote, which I use to clip recipes I see online, and my Epicurious and Mark Bittman apps, the iPhone has become a very handy device to use when cooking. While there are some minor annoyances, such as the screen going dark while I am trying to follow a recipe, I find that, for simple dishes, using the iPhone is a viable alternative to printing out a recipe, running back and forth from my laptop to my kitchen, or lugging around a huge cookbook.

Checking Email: I am a self-proclaimed email addict, and I check email numerous times each day. I find it particularly important to check it in the morning before I go to work, so it is very easy to check my email before leaving the house (or sometimes even getting out of bed).

Organizing My Life: This might seem like an overstatement, but as someone who used to carry around an actual calendar/planner (and, at one point, a New Yorker desk calendar), I can honestly say that figuring out how to import all of my Google calendars (and my boss's work schedule) into my iPhone calendar has made my life somewhat more organized. I love being able to have my calendars sync automatically, and I even found a way to import the Red Sox home schedule so that I know when to avoid the T and the Fenway area. As someone who dislikes crowds and sports, this is a big deal.

However, my relationship with the iPhone has not been all puppies and rainbows. There are several things that drive me crazy about my iPhone, to the point where I sometimes wish I hadn't decided to take the plunge and get one. These major cons include:

Sketchy Coverage: Despite what At&T would like us to think, their coverage (particularly of the 3G variety) can be spotty at best. What is particularly annoying is that my phone sometimes refuses to work when I'm in my apartment. Although it would be easy to lay all of this at At&T's feet, I also place some of the blame on the iPhone, which can be temperamental when it comes to reception. Consequently, I am stuck with a seldom-used but necessary land line.

Reading Un-Friendliness: Although part of me would love an iPad, if reading on it is like reading on an iPhone, I might have to pass. Reading on an iPhone is okay if I have nothing else to read, but if given the choice between reading on my iPhone and reading the text on paper, paper would win every time. Besides the sometimes inopportune readjustment of the text (it jumps from landscape to portrait), the backlighting can be tiring to look at.

24/7 Connection: I can appreciate being able to check my email, get the news, or make a call at almost anytime, but this comes with a price. I'm not quite sold on being connected all of the time. However, I don't usually turn my iPhone off. Even when I am teaching or at work, I will put it on silent, but I rarely power it down. I know that turning it off is an option, but part of me thinks, "If I'm paying for the unlimited data plan, then by God, I'm going to get my money's worth."

Self-Loathing, Apple Style: I've always been a PC person, so I find it more than a little upsetting that I use (and love) my iPhone. If the iPod is the gateway drug to all Apple products, I'm scared that someday I will trade in my affordable Toshiba for a sleek, expensive new computer from the Apple Store. However, I think that the price tag (and the memory of those damn Apple vs. PC commercials) will be enough to deter me from going down that slippery slope.

Six Months with the iPhone: Some Apps Reviewed (Part I)

I've had my iPhone for six months, and while it hasn't been nearly as revolutionary as the commercials promise, it has changed my life in some very minor ways. Rather than writing the typical iPhone review and listing the usual pros (it's like having the internet with you all the time!) and cons (the battery life is iffy, why does AT&T's coverage go in and out so much?), I've decided to do a review of some of the most helpful apps I've found so far. This review will focus on general apps, while a following review will be about specific apps for people who love to read.

However, before we continue, I must offer this disclaimer: since the iPhone and its plan are very expensive, I don't like paying for apps. As a rule, if an app is over $2.00, I won't get it, and even then I usually waffle about purchasing an app that costs anything. Consequently, most of the apps I'm reviewing are free.

Evernote: Before getting the iPhone, I did several reviews on Evernote, and while both of them acknowledged the program's usefulness, I couldn't fully appreciate the program because I didn't have a way to use it when I was away from my computer. However, the iPhone has opened my eyes to the wonder that is Evernote. Besides being able to consult the various notes I need while on-the-go (such as copies codes), I have found the Evernote app to be invaluable in terms of shopping and cooking. Whenever I find an intriguing recipe online, I can easily clip it into Evernote, and I can consult the note when I am shopping for ingredients. The cooking part is considerably trickier; a recent article on Slate.com discusses the joys and trials of cooking with the iPhone. However, when I am trying to save ink and paper, I consult my Evernote iPhone app when preparing a fairly straightforward recipe.

ReadItLater: I am constantly finding things online that I want to remember to read. However, I hate adding things to my bookmarks, so ReadItLater is the perfect compromise. It is very easy to add and delete pages using this, and my account syncs across my iPhone, my home laptop, and my work computer.

CauseWorld: This is probably my favorite app of all. The premise of the app is simple: you check into stores, donate karmas (you get 5 karmas per check-in, 10 check-ins per day), and Kraft Foods and Citi will give money to the charities you select. While this app doesn't replace volunteer work or other forms of civic duty, it does alleviate a little of my guilt for being another jerk with an iPhone.

Pandora: To paraphrase the hilarious video "Web Side Story," "Pandora, I've just met an app named Pandora." Although I do like my iPod and iPhone, one causality of getting an iPod (and not driving) is that I don't really listen to the radio. As a result, a lot of my new music came from television shows. However, Pandora allows me to create radio stations and find new music without having to resort to watching another questionable episode of Grey's Anatomy or One Tree Hill.

Yelp: I'm very bad at remembering restaurants, stores, and other places I want to check out. I'm even worse at trying to figure out where these places are. Almost four years into my Boston experience, I still get really lost here. However, the Yelp app makes things a little easier. Besides being able to bookmark places of interest and refer to them on my phone, the app also has the option that connects to my iPhone maps, which can make finding these places much easier.

My Thoughts on Evernote, Part II

So I've been using Evernote.com for almost a month now, and I still have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, it does offer a lot of convenience and it keeps my notes in one place (at least in theory). If I think of something that I need to do at work, I can type it into Evernote and then easily access it on the web from my work computer. I've started using Evernote more to save web clippings and pages when I'm browsing online or when I find a recipe that I think I might like to try down the road. Not only does this keep me from cluttering up my bookmarks with these little pieces of information, it also ensures that I don't file a link away in a folder where I might forget about it.

Despite these uses, I'm still not completely sold on Evernote, and I don't see it replacing my trusty supply of Post-Its or Moleskine notebooks any time soon. If I'm sitting on the subway or am away from a computer, a paper note is the only way for me jot down something important. Furthermore, even if I use it to compile a shopping list or a list of books to pick up at the library, I still have to make a paper list so that I can use it when I am in the store or the library. Another issue I have with Evernote is the fact that it doesn't allow me to decrypt information through the web program. For instance, if I decided to save a password for something at work in Evernote, I cannot use the encrypt/ decrypt function because my operating system on my work computer does not work with the Evernote download for Macs.

Until I get an iPhone, I don't see Evernote replacing the more traditional means of taking notes and jotting down reminders. In the first month I have had it, I have created a grand total of 14 notes and used 6% of my allotted space. However, even if I never become a full-fledged Evernote addict or enthusiast, I do appreciate the options that it gives me, and I definitely plan to continue using it in the future.

My Thoughts on Evernote, Part I

So I've been using Evernote for almost two weeks, and I wanted to give an update on it. So far, it seems like a good tool, but I haven't found it particularly useful. I have a grand total of 7 notes on it (mostly web clippings), and I did download the desktop icon so I can use it without being online. One helpful feature that it has is that it enables you to encrypt your information. For instance, if you have something that you want to keep private (such as a credit card number or password), you can encrypt the text that you want to keep private using Evernote through the desktop (you may also be able to do this through your iPhone). When you want to see the information, you click on the hidden info and type in the password you assigned it.

Beyond that neat little trick, I haven't found Evernote all that helpful. I would probably get more out of it if I took my computer everywhere with me (not going to happen) or had an iPhone or other smart phone that allowed me to use Evernote on the go (not happening anytime soon). Nevertheless, I think I will continue to persevere in using the program. Stay tuned for more updates and thoughts in later blogs.

ETA: I posted a few more thoughts on Evernote. Click here to read them!

Evernote.com: Testing 1, 2, 3...

In an attempt to become more organized, I am trying out Evernote.com, a website that has recently received some press in Real Simple magazine (a publication I am always excited to open but which always seems to disappoint me in some way) and on this list of 21 Excellent Web Apps for college students. In some ways, Evernote seems like a great idea. However, since I'm pretty much a pen-and-paper kind of person (I have tried to use numerous Palm Pilots but always went back to my trusty paper calendar), I don't know how useful Evernote will be for me. Only time will tell...