Technology in the Kitchen: AT&T Sponsored Post

I'm not the kind of person who likes a lot of gadgets in my kitchen, especially things that clutter up the counter tops. Yet, because I so often use recipes and cookbooks, this little stand almost permanently sits on my kitchen counter. In the past I would often print out recipes that I wanted to try, but after a while the clutter and confusion of trying to find the right one when I needed it became overwhelming. Sometimes I found myself printing out the same recipe three times. Honestly, that was one of the main reasons I started this site, to keep track of all those recipes I didn't want to lose. Then Pinterest came along and it became much easier to keep track of all those recipes I wanted to make. The need to print them out became less necessary. Over time I found my laptop was spending more time in the kitchen than it was on a desk. I always worried that I would dump something on the keyboard, luckily I never did. When I switched to an I-Phone last summer it became much easier to bring the internet and my recipes into the kitchen, although I must admit that it was a bit hard to read and all that scrolling, shrinking, and expanding font sizes was really gunking up my screen. So when AT&T contacted me to see if I would like to try out the  Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 8.9, I was thrilled.
The thing I found most helpful is that I could size the recipe to fit my screen and then adjust the settings so the screen would stay lit for 30 minutes. It made it so nice to not have to touch the screen with my gooey kitchen fingers.
I must admit that as eager as I am to bring technology into the kitchen, I'm still a little apprehensive about giving up my cookbooks in hard copy form. Although, now that I am contemplating another move, I'm thinking how nice it would be to have them all in a digital version. So, just for fun I downloaded a sample of Deborah Madison's new book, "Vegetable Literacy". I had recently held this beautiful, but weighty book in my hand and just couldn't bring myself to purchase another cookbook. The book is full of great information and beautiful pictures, would it translate to a tablet? I think I surprised myself when the answer was a definite yes. It might not be the answer for everyone, but as I look to my future. I only see more cookbooks. The question is, move or no move, where will I put them all? They have already taken over the kitchen and the living room. Twice in the last three months I have taken boxes full of cookbooks to our local literacy council in an effort to whittle down my collection. Still, I have almost 150 cookbooks. It would be one thing if they stayed on the shelves, but no they make their way to counter tops and tables, they are in almost every room of the house (not the bathroom, that's gross).
Cookbooks are just the start. I recently decided that I just wasn't going to purchase so many magazines anymore. I would limit myself to three a month. Those stacks and piles were getting out of control too. The great thing about the tablet is that as you are reading a magazine, instead of marking things you want to look up later, there is most often a clickable link to go right there. So all those fun gadgets you see in cooking magazines can be right at your finger tips. You need something to fill in those spaces where the cookbooks once sat! So, I can only say that I am embracing this technology in my kitchen. How about you? Do you swear you'll never give up your cookbooks? Are you still printing off recipes? How do you feel about technology in the kitchen? I'd love to hear your opinion, for better or worse.

Also, if you are considering a tablet purchase, the Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 8.9 is on sale right now for $459.99. They are having a sale and they are $100 off.

Full Disclosure: AT&T sent me a Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 for this review. No monetary compensation was provided. All wording and views expressed in this post are my own.