The MBD Endorsement: Pepperplate

"When we eat together, when we set out to do so deliberately, life is better, no matter what your circumstances."

—Thomas Keller*

So, I've taken up cooking. Nothing fancy, nothing special. But I make an alright roux and aside from the occasional bag of Jiffy Pop, the microwave sits neglected, so that's something. I can't bake for shit but fuck it; baking is for old ladies.

Anyway, like I said, I'm no Chef, just a dude who collects recipes that sound tasty and prepares them. As such, I need certain tools beyond the usual pots, pans, and knives. One such tool is a trusted recipe repository. Giada's site is a good one. The Pioneer Woman is fantastic. Google works, too. Food Network. Travel Channel. Whatever.

My other secret weapon is Pepperplate. It's incredible. I can add, edit, sync, and share recipes in LITERALLY SECONDS from any device--the web app on my browser, the iPad in the kitchen, and the iPhone at the grocery store. Scaling a recipe up or down is a cinch. The meal planning calendar and shopping list functions are dead simple and work flawlessly, and there's even a cooking timer baked in (harf harf harf) to the app. Pepperplate does everything my previous kitchen tool (Mac Gourmet) did, except, you know, better, faster, and totally free. Now that's a recipe for success.**

* God, starting a blog post with a ham-fisted quote like that is just such a twee thing to do I feel like I'm writing this in 2002.

** That was awful. Sorry.

New Work: Summer Reading Outdoor Banners

I keep an email folder of what I call "Wins"—mostly praise, success stories, your various niceties from clients and bosses, that sort of thing. It's not an ego thing. It's not like I ever actually go back through this folder and reread any glowing correspondence but seeing it there helps to remind me during the times of plodding work, difficult clients, thankless jobs, and twatnosed bosses that I'm good at what I do and whatever is sucking now will eventually be replaced with something so fun and rewarding and cool. Case in point: I've been at my new nine-to-five for about six weeks now and my Wins folder is by far outpacing what I collected in the entire two years previous. I'm not saying my last employer NEVER provided designers with positive feedback or a well-earned pat on the back but... but I don't know how to finish this sentence.

Last week I was tasked with the large outdoor banners below. I'm happy with them, my boss loved them, and the client flipped when she saw them. Into the Wins folder they go.