If a Cookbook and a Computer Had a Baby...

... You'd have the most awesome new kitchen tool in the world. A laptop.

Ok Ok, I know a laptop is a computer DUH. But have you ever thought to use it in the KITCHEN? Maybe you're technologically extreme advanced like me and started using one years ago, but for those of you who haven't, it's about time you gave it a shot!

Let me take you back to over a year ago...

My awesome computer genius brother-in-law, Eric, likes to collect old computers. He saves them up for parts or fixes them and then he gives them to lucky people like me who happen to come over for dinner. It's like a parting gift at the door.

One day after receiving the blessed laptop gift I was rushing around trying to get dinner ready when I saw the laptop sitting on the couch. At the time we didn't have a router and had been bumming wi-fi from the neighbors (bless their hearts). I set up the laptop on the counter and clicked on the Internet Explorer logo and TA DA! The Internets were alive in my kitchen. My life has not been the same since.

I've got almost all my personal recipes on Recipezaar so I can just open it up and search for the one I want. And if I'm using several recipes, I open another browser window and with one click I can switch between the two... no flipping pages back and forth. Or, if you like to plan your meals each week (like I do), make a list of recipes hyperlinked to their respective webpages (or bookmark one of my fabulous "Today's Special" posts... hint hint) and then there's even less searching around on meal night. The laptop takes up a lot less room than a giant cookbook and makes recipe organization much easier. Plus, no wasted paper or printer ink!

Your laptop doesn't need to be fancy. It's best to have an Internet connection (I bought my router for $40), but if you don't want to post all your recipes online, all you need is a text editor (i.e. Word). Just think of all the possibilities! With all your recipes either online or saved on your computer, it's possible to take them anywhere. Keep them all on a thumb drive on your keychain so you can use them on vacation. Or send a friend the link to the cake recipe she asked for. It really is so convenient. Give it shot if you haven't already... I guarantee you'll never go back to your regular cookbooks.

p.s. I keep the laptop up high on a counter so I don't spill on it but I've seen people actually build retractable shelves just for this purpose. One day I shall have a laptop shelf of my very own.