The Move Continued!

Flight reservation home? Check.

Apartment available? Check.

Hotel reservation for arrival? Check.

Mailing address for new apartment? Check.

Household goods shipment scheduled? Check.

Things are progressing swimmingly.

A quick phone call to the motel confirmed a Coney place within walking distance. After three years of really awful, literally inedible hot dogs it seems serendipity is our fate yet again. Even better, it does American breakfasts. I sense a serving of crisp and golden hash browns in my future. God help me if they have biscuits and sausage gravy.

We have begun the sorting of our possessions into the “shipping” and “not shipping” categories. Jim has been working on the setup of the laptop for use as our exclusive computer for a couple of months after our arrival. I have been re-ripping our entire CD collection using the Apple lossless format because we aren’t shipping our CDs. Jim’s been helping with that, too, because it is tedious. Only a few more to go now.

I have confirmed the availability of AT&T U-verse for our TV and Internet and phone service at our new apartment. Yay, fiber!

I have ordered pots and pans and dishes for use upon arrival. Okay, for use the next day at our apartment. We won’t have to spend a fortune eating out the first couple of months while waiting for our household goods.

I believe this may be the smoothest relocation I have ever done. So far. Knock on wood.

MacGourmet

MacGourmet is the recipe software I use on my Mac. I chose it over the other apps available, after trying all of them. What sold me was the simple recipe import from web pages using the Safari Services menu, and the active developer with a clear vision of what features to add and a defined path to add them. It will import quite a few file formats from other recipe apps, most significantly Mastercook.

It has a section for notes on wine, which I don’t use. I know people who do, though, and it would really be nice to have a place for them to record the information about that lovely, inexpensive varietal that complemented the duck perfectly. Because you will want that information 4 months later for a dinner party, but you’ll have forgotten the vintage.

When I began using Macgourmet that was all it could do. Oh, it had smartlists, pictures, a shopping list and a sweet large view for referring to a recipe from across the room. It was still only recipes and wine notes, though. True to the developer’s announced upgrade path, both menu planning and nutritional value calculations have been added. They are add-ons you purchase separately, or buy the retail package MacGourmet Deluxe and get them both with the app.

Even this added functionality is not the best part. The best part is the MacGourmet iPhone/iPod Touch app. Now I have all my recipes on my iPhone. I simply use that in the kitchen for the things I use a recipe to make. Combine that with the timer on my iPhone and you have a perfect cook’s toolset.