Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2005 10:38 pm Post subject: Recipe keeper/organizer software
I was wondering if clotilde being an expert in both worlds (cookery and software, besides using a mac) could reccomend a piece of software.
And encourage the discussion of the whole community about it.
It even has a nice feature in which you select the text from a webpage (a feature which does not work with firefox) and intuitively arrange it on the database for you, so you just have to review it in case something went in the wrong cell. and is a full featured database.
I have tried some others which I can not remember now, but very basic and ugly to use.
Joined: 06 Nov 2004 Posts: 268 Location: Melbourne Australia
Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 1:38 am Post subject: Microsoft compatable?
Most of us are in the Microsoft world, so it would be great if we could talk about Windows compatable software instead of isolating the majority of the readers by being MAC specific.
Joined: 29 Sep 2004 Posts: 2498 Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 4:20 am Post subject:
Prob is, jenjen, that there's a world of stuff available for PC users and a relative scarcity of choices for Mac users. So, we Mac users need more help finding stuff that works for us until the right cross-platform thingie gets invented.
I've recently begun using MacGourmet myself and like it quite well.
Having found MacGourmet, are you still looking for something else, edgarg? There is another Mac ap called Connoisseur. Can't remember anymore why I chose MacGourmet over Connoisseur possibly just the visual interface. MacGourmet needs a few additions and improvements but I think it's pretty easy to use and has promise. On the Advenio site they promise upgrades are in the works. _________________ God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor
Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Posts: 57 Location: boston, the home of the bean and the cod
Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 1:37 pm Post subject:
I scan recipes and ideas I have found into the computer. I have my own filing system set up and just drop documents, pix, photos, scraps of stuff into those files. Back up on a cd every so often and voila! This even means handwritten recipes too! My best discovery is to scan warrenties and throw those big manuals into recycling! Very liberating! _________________ "Nobody can teach you how to make the perfect cup of tea. It just happens over time. Wearing cashmere helps of course."
Joined: 29 Sep 2004 Posts: 2498 Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 8:39 pm Post subject:
minkey wrote:
I will play Solomon and ask "anything for Mac and PC?" I come from a "mixed family": Mac/PC (not to mention Liberal/Conservative -- AARGH)
I've never gotten a PC program to run on my Mac. That's why I had to go searching for Mac-specific DB. So far as I know, the only way that might work for you to share your recipes on both computers would be to put them on the internets on a blog or webpage that you could open with your PC or the Mac.
tea leaves - I LOVE your idea of scanning in warrantee paperwork! _________________ God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor
Joined: 29 Sep 2004 Posts: 2498 Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 12:43 am Post subject:
As I understand it, the question was about managing recipes on a computer database (DB). The original inquiry was from someone who uses a Macintosh (Apple) computer. Macs run on a different operating system (OS) than PCs (personal computers or generic non-Apple computers) usually something Windows-based.
As a result, those of us with Macs, can't use most of the conventional software like MasterCook and other widely available shareware. We need to locate the much less available Mac-specific programs. And, since there are so few, there is less competition to provide more features which results in the need to share references and tips about the available programs.
OTOH, jenjen is using a PC and wishes to find out more options for computers with Windows OSs and minkey uses both a Macintosh and a PC so she's particularly interested in software that can be accessed by both OSs. So far as I know, the only thing that is truly available to both OSs (cross-platform) is the internet. It's possible to make use of that facility if one publishes recipes on the internet on a blog or a webpage that can be read and edited by both Mac and PC computers.
Is that helpful? You speak so many languages I was sure cyberspeak would be one of them. _________________ God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor
Minkey, you could try pdfs. They're easily exchangeable between both worlds. The most advanced program to create them from scratch is Adobe Acrobat, but there are export-options in several other programs as well (can mostly be found under "export" or "save as"), or some other quite substantial more or less expensive programs. pdfs are readable with the help of the Acrobat Reader, which is free and available for Mac and PC (downloadable at Adobe or on CDs attached to computer magazines). And there is a special Reader for handhelds as well. pdfs are no databases, but if you put every recipe on a separate page you can e.g. easily change the page order. In the full version you can set documentwide links and indexes as well as working links to web pages. Maybe this is to some extend possible with the Reader as well. I find this program quite useful because it's possible to combine recipes with pictures, links, screenshots, etc. and your pages look alike on both systems.
Joined: 30 Oct 2005 Posts: 80 Location: Tempe, Arizona; US
Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 7:36 pm Post subject:
Thanks Birgit -- I guess I have never actuall created a pdf, and I didn't realize they were indexable.
Ideally, I still fantasize about a database, especially so i can search by ingredient, but properly indexed pdfs might be just as useful?
I agree that Tea Leaves' scanning idea is really cool. Also it solves the problem of wanting to save the pretty pictures from recipes in magazines, etc.
So many ideas... now I just need some ambition and self-discipline!
Joined: 27 Dec 2005 Posts: 2 Location: Madrid, Spain
Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2005 6:39 am Post subject:
Hello, I am edgarg the starter of this tread, a little problem with my identity lead the tread be signed in guest.
Anyhow, the least thing I want to unleash is a Mac-PC discussion here... too 90's I just wanted to have a tread where people shared they found treasures in ways of keeping recipes, since all of us are using computers already why not use them to manage our recipe books. It just happen that I use a mac so I am personally interested a bit more in mac but pc people are free to share their progs and experiences.
I love the PDF out of paper scans, seems to be a great idea, a bit of a hybrid Will be extraordinarie, since you can add a text field which can be browsed by a search, will be useful.
I just found Connosieur, and I will tryit,
cheers to all
Joined: 18 Dec 2004 Posts: 136 Location: New York City
Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2005 9:13 am Post subject:
I agree with Simona.
Can you maybe share a little bit about what some of these recipe databases do? Right now I have some recipes saved in files on my computer, or I print them out, scribble on them and stuff them into cookbooks or just try not to lose them in general. I am interested in the idea of a database to organize all of that for me, though, I suppose... _________________ Don't forget the cannolis!
Joined: 29 Sep 2004 Posts: 2498 Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2005 3:58 pm Post subject:
Well, for me a recipe DB is like a big memory or file into which I put all the recipes I really use or really want to try. They may be culled from cookbooks (I actually use about 2 recipes from each of the hundred or so cookbooks I own), newspaper food sections, online, my own experiments, family & friends, etc. It's a compendium of a lifetime of cooking with all my clippings in one, always orderly, never food-stained place.
My DB has each recipe complete. Many have photos. I could also just type in a cookbook title and page if I didn't want to type out or capture the whole recipe. But, whatever, it contains every recipe that's important to me
in alphabetical order,
under categories (like "soups & stews", "breads" and my own "non-foods" for craft, gardening and household things I've collected and don't want to lose),
with keywords (like "holiday", "vegetarian", or "low carb")
and by preference (a rating system of how highly I feel about each)
There may well be other ways to order recipes that I haven't discovered.
Recipe DBs do other things as well. You can look up a key ingredient and see various choices you might make about using it. They can scale recipes up and down. They can generate shopping lists based on the ingredients required. They can be (this is my favorite feature) endlessly printed out as a shopping list or for sharing. I can't tell you how many recipes I've left behind in the grocery store when clerks express interest in what I'm cooking and think the idea appeals to them too. And they can be copied and pasted online for easy sharing too. This is important to me because I like to share and I don't have to worry that I mistyped an important quantity and didn't catch it in review. Finally, it's a record, for subsequent generations who wouldn't have a clue where all those favorite things came from if they had to go through a whole library of sources.
The whole thing can be printed out and a paper hardcopy kept for backup (most highly recommended). But it's always available at the click of a key or two. The previous DB I used could be printed out in customizable sizes. I used it to print up a tiny 4"x5" spiral-bound cookbook of a couple dozen of my family's absolute favs. I kept this thing in my purse. If I was out and about and didn't want to go home without all the stuff required for dinner, I could consult it and go home assured that I wouldn't have to send someone out for an emergency something-or-other at the last minute. I'm notorious in my family for the last minute panic... For me, it's a fantastic tool.
If you use a PC and want to give it a try, there are all kinds of shareware things available online to give it a whirl and MasterCook is, I think, the lingua franca of PC users.
PS No Mac/PC conflict for or from me. I just think they operate differently and have different resources so which one is using is important (but not prejudicial) info. _________________ God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor
Joined: 27 Dec 2005 Posts: 2 Location: Madrid, Spain
Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 6:14 pm Post subject:
I have posted a reply to add a feature to display scanned recipes in the advenio website, perhaps if someone interested could back the suggestion they will implement it.
P.S. another nice feature I just found on the MacGourmet is the ability to publish recipes via web pages, and actually you can download them straight away to the macgourmet format.
minkey, searching by keyword is possible in pdfs (simply click at the binocular icon -- it's funny, meanwhile I tend towards missing this function in paper-cookbooks ... ... ): listed are some words before and some after the keyword, which give you some of its context.
I would sort the recipe categories in different pdfs and search in more than one pdf at a time (which is at least possible in the advanced version), and I simply love carrying around my favorite-recipes-pdf on the handheld (searchable for keywords), which is convenient for shopping as well,
but if you 'd like to change the recipe order for special occasions or scale the ingredients up and down Rainey's database system will perform much better
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