Category Archives: Web/Tech
sausage and mushroom pasta gratin
In my effort to utilize the iPad in the kitchen I decided to make dinner earlier this week from a recipe from the Gourmet Live app. While Gourmet the magazine is gone, I kind of have to admit being quite smitten by their iPad app. You earn additional issues of the digital version of the magazine by exploring and reading articles in the app. Even better, the app is absolutely free. The frequent updates keep me coming back again and again.
The Sausage and Mushroom Pasta Gratin, is the first recipe that I’ve made from the app. It was terrific. How can you go wrong with browned sausage and mushrooms, pasta, melted cheese and a cream sauce? To borrow a phrase from Ina Garten, “How bad could that be?” An added bonus, no need to preheat the oven. Everything’s done on the stove top or under the broiler.
Usually there would be many more photos of the process of creating this delectable dish. Unfortunately the time change and the earlier darker hours don’t create a perfect photography setting like during the day when our kitchen is flooded with natural light. I guess it’s time to broach the subject of an in-house photo studio to Greg. Wish me luck.
What comfort food are you eating this fall?
sugar cookie, i think i love you
A couple of weeks ago I purchased the Martha Stewart Cookies iPad app. It’s a great app with over fifty different cookie recipes. Many from Martha’s Cookies cookbook with several newcomers, as well. I knew as soon as I saw the virtual cookie runway which would be my first to bake. Can I tell you a sweet little secret? I love sugar cookies, love them. There’s something comfortably simple about them. What I loved most about these Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies was the addition of lemon zest and juice. They give a great brightness to the cookies. Also to get a the crisp-sugary outside you make two passes of sanding sugar prior to baking. These sugar cookies are crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. They are simply amazing and you should make a batch today. Just make sure you leave plenty of room between them on the cookie sheet. They spread out quite a bit.
Speaking of Martha and iPad apps, she just released her first digital issue of Martha Stewart Living. It’s amazing and stunningly beautiful with high-definition photography, videos and more digital wizardry. Her team has set the digital magazine bar very high. If this is the future of magazines, we are in for a true creative renaissance.
Like this:
One last techy thing
I bookmarked my blog to my iPhone home screen this afternoon and the icon it saved made me very happy. I’m finally on a blogging platform that allows me to integrate my logo into the web address bar as well as the iPhone icon. Huzzah!
do you twitter?
I twitter, I facebook, I blog. To be honest, I’m probably too connected. Of the three, I probably twitter, or is it tweet?, the least. I have had a twitter account for about a year, but after falling head or heels for facebook, I’ve kind of ignored it. Well, my blogging platform allows me to add my twitter updates to the page. So there it is, at the top of the left-hand column. I’ll try my very best to keep it current.
i met michael derr today
Oh yes, you read that right, my friends.
I recently got on the Facebook band wagon. While on it, I figured that I would plug my name into it and do a search. Low and behold it came back with another Michael Derr…in Akron, Ohio. Could that be right? My last name is not that common. But there it was on the interwebs, proof of another person with my name in my area.
So how would I handle this situation? Why by "friending" him, of course. We had a funny email exchange about it. Evidently he had heard of that "Michael Derr from the Akron Library." It's funny, and I asked him, "So I'm just checking…does your pronunciation of Derr rhyme with fur or bear or beer? " He answered correctly, fur.
He also wrote, "It's reassuring to know that the other Michael Derr in Akron is not an insufferable ass!" Obviously, he doesn't know me that well yet. But I am trying to be a little less assy everyday.
Here's to new friends. If you haven't "friended" me on Facebook yet, you should. Click on over here and say hi. Well, I'm off to find more Michael Derr's in the world. Maybe we'll have a convention, like Twins Days in Twinsburg. We could host it in Derry, New Hampshire.
I'm back
Our beautiful Mac died last weekend. And, of course, our extended warranty was expired. We did a little research and found that the culprit may be the power supply. Greg found a source for one on-line, we ordered it and Greg installed it yesterday. That’s right folks, Greg, my hero, took our computer apart and replaced the faulty part. Our Mac is now humming and happy again. So that’s why there haven’t been any new posts this week. On a side note, I’m on vacation next week. We’re going to Columbus this weekend, then hanging around the house next week. It’s rest and relaxation time.
