A Few of My Favorite Things - #1

Blogging seems to be going the way of the dinosaur. Or at least the way of the spider monkey, with the influx of sites like Myspace and Facebook. So, in an effort to get me blogging more consistently, I am starting a new "publication" if you will: "A Few of My Favorite Things." Now, no one tell Oprah. Although, I really don't intend to start giving away cars and flat screen televisions. I only intend to share things with you that 1)make my life easier, 2)might not (but should be) well-known by the general public, or 3)just make me glad I'm not the one in charge of coming up with new ideas.

First in the series is a website. And as someone who spends time in the kitchen, I think this is a winner!

www.tastebook.com

There are a number of things about this website that are just wonderful. It is connected to epicurious, which is a great database for recipes, so they have a collection of over 25,000 recipes from Gourmet, Bon Appetit, and many world-renowned chefs. Tastbook allows you to create your own cookbook. But the best part is that you can choose recipes from your epicurious account or their huge collection OR you can add your own recipes into their format. So, even though I am sure I could find some great recipes in all of there nooks and crannies, I am working on a book of all of the random, loose recipes I have been collecting for years. Now I can have them all in one place! And you get to pick a cover design from a handful of pictures. For $35, you start out with a credit of 100 recipes, but you don't have to order them all right away. For instance, I currently have 74 recipes in my book. I am going to order it soon, and I will have a credit of 26 recipes to order whenever I want, and I can just add them to my book (5-ring-binder). So fabulous - I have condensed my plethora of recipes and cookbooks that I only use for a couple of things into one place.

On a side note, the Oscars are this weekend, so I am removing my Widget. Enjoy the awards - I'm sure I'll have something to report on Monday! :)

Check out my Widget!

I love the Oscars. And why not share the joy with all of you in the form of a "widget"? :) Yay! Only three more weeks until the best award show of the year! (Pending STUPID writer's strikes and stuff).