1. Cook’s Illustrated

I know some of you may balk at the idea of paying to access a web site full of recipes when there are so many free sites out there. Hear me out. I have had a subscription to the print version of Cook’s Illustrated for a few years now and I love it. I have gotten more great recipes from them than from any other resource. About a year and a half ago I bit the bullet, tried the 14 day free trial, then paid for a year’s membership to the website as well. Neither are particularly cheap, the magazine is $24.95 for one year (six issues) and the site membership is another $24.95 annually.

It’s worth it. Like Consumer Reports, Cook’s Illustrated does not accept any advertising, so the only thing they are interested in selling you is more of their own products. Because of this I highly respect their recommendations on what kitchen gear and ingredients are best. All of their recipes are tested many, many times over and tasted by a panel of “real people.” Though some of their ingredients and methods may border on the fussy side, I have yet to fix a dish of theirs that I haven’t loved. Enough with the gushing … check them out! (If you live nearby and want to borrow a couple of the print copies, let me know.)

2. All Recipes

Here’s a freebie for ya. Though there are lots of websites full of user-submitted recipes on the ‘net, I always find myself coming back to All Recipes. In addition to tons of user-rated and reviewed recipes the site features robust tools for meal planning, grocery shopping, and storing favorite recipes. I also like that they have a good selection of world and ethnic foods. One of the features I’ve tried to mixed success is finding recipes based on particular ingredients, which I suppose could come in handy if you have a pantry full of food and can’t figure out what to fix. The one time this did come in handy was dealing with last year’s abundance of yellow squash from our garden.

3. Cooking for Engineers

This one appeals to my geeky side. If you’ve got a geeky side too, you should definitely check it out. The article on kitchen scales was one of the main factors in my decision to choose the kitchen scale I did when I finally bought one. They have lots of good gear reviews and recipes, all with lots of great pictures and instructions. The folks who run the site have even created a new way of writing out recipes for quick reference which has to be seen to be believed. If you’ve got an analytical mind and a culinary passion, this site is for you.

4. Cooking.com

Yes, I’m including an online retailer amongst my favorite cooking websites. Cooking.com carries an amazing array of cooking-related gadgets, gizmos and gear. And I’m a sucker for all 3. They also have some gear reviews, though I tend to rely on their reviews less than Cook’s Illustrated. If you’re looking for hard-to-find tools for cooking, this site should be on your short list. In my experience their prices tend to be very reasonable. This is particularly true if you shop their extensive clearance & sale sections. It’s the first place I head when I’ve got some spare change to spend on kitchen toys. However, it’s not the only …

5. Cutlery and More

While it’s not as glitzy and full-featured as Cooking.com, Cutlery and More is definitely an A+ site for procuring cooking gear. My most recent order from them was mostly cutlery, appropriately enough, but I must admit that I’ve ordered more gear from them lately than I have from Cooking.com. They have a great selection of MAC knives and Forschner Fibrox, which are recommended by Cook’s Illustrated and just might be the best cutlery value out there. Do yourself a favor and check them out the next time you get ready to head to the store and buy a new kitchen knife. You’ll get way more for your money here.

Do you have any favorite cooking sites you’d like to share? Any experiences (good or bad) with the sites I’ve listed? If so let’s hear about it in the comments …

1. After 22 years I will finally be done with school. For a while at least.
2. From now on I will be able to buy books because I like them, not because they’re required for class.
3. Two words: Gainful Employment.
4. I will finally have a bit more regularity to my daily schedule. Hopefully.
5. Because it’s a great excuse to see family and friends I haven’t seen for a while.

It’s been a great three years here at Bethany, and there are definitely some things I will miss about being in school. However, I must admit that I’m pretty excited to be done and get out into the “real world.” See you there!

Any other graduates out there? Any thoughts on graduation in general? Feel free to share in the comments.

Friday5 is a weekly column that lists five items on a theme drawn from one of the various categories covered by From Bits to Bites & Windshields to Worship.

1. Roma Tomatoes

We absolutely love Roma tomatoes. Last year we had four Roma plants and at one point wound up harvesting about 140 tomatoes over the course of three days. This year we decided to scale back to two Romas instead of four. Both of us really like the convenient size of Romas and the fact that they very rarely taste mealy. We started with two small potted Romas from Lowes.

2. Early Girl Tomatoes

Like the Romas, last year we also planted four Early Girls as well. Yes, you’ve done the math right: last year we had eight tomato plants crammed into a roughly 2′x8′ section of our little garden. Crowded didn’t even begin to describe it. This year we’re doing two Early Girls to go with our Romas. Last year’s Early Girls didn’t end up being all that early, the Romas actually were ready for harvest first, however we really liked the taste and size of the Early Girls so we’re trying them again this year. Our two Early Girls also came in the form of small pots from Lowes.

3. Sweet Green Bell Peppers

Between the 8 tomato plants and a hill of yellow squash that grew to over 4′ tall last year, our green peppers never really had a chance. This year we’ve got two sweet green bell pepper plants with a corner all to themselves, so hopefully we’ll get more than the 5 or 6 peppers we got all last year.  Once again these were started from small plants from Lowes.

4. Poblano Peppers

This is the biggest experiment we’ve got going in our garden this year. I absolutely love Poblano peppers for using in chili, so the last time I cooked chili I made sure to save some Poblano seeds. I inadvertently touched my face after handling the seeds, resulting in a mild chemical burn, so hopefully this experiment will turn out to be worth all the trouble! I dried the seeds for a couple weeks and we’ve planted quite a few in the corner opposite the bell peppers, so we’ll be waiting anxiously to see if they sprout in the next couple weeks.

5. Mesclun Greens

As we went to begin preparing the soil for this year’s gardening we realized we had a handful of mesclun greens sprouts that must have been left over from last year. We carefully removed them before turning over the soil and I transplanted 9 or 10 of them back into the garden when we were done. We’ll see how they do. Hopefully this will mean our first garden salad of the year will come early this year!

Has anyone else started their garden yet this year? If so, what are have you planted? I’ll have to post again in the next few days once we get everything else in the ground.

1. Gmail

Gmail is Google’s web-based email service. I’ve been using Gmail for the past two and a half years. It quickly replaced all other forms of email for me, and now all of my many email accounts (currently about 7) end up in Gmail. I originally thought that I would not like reading all of my mail through the web interface of Gmail and that I would instead download all my mail using a local program (such as Thunderbird, Outlook, etc.) since that is what I was used to. However, Gmail’s ability to make all of my email quickly and easily accessible from any computer with an internet connection won me over. I love being able to do a full-text search on all 12,000 (yes twelve thousand) emails I have stored in Gmail to quickly find what I want. And even with that many emails stored I am only using 7% of the 6.6 gigabytes I’ve been alloted. Wow.

2. Google Reader

If you’ve read my post on RSS then you’ll know I’m a big fan of Google Reader. Google reader serves as an aggregator for the news feeds published by many web sites. As those sites update their content Google Reader receives the content and makes it available to you without having to surf to the original web site. You can put your feeds into folders so if you only want to read tech news, blogs, or any other particular category you can easily sort through all of the posts. You can also view your reading trends and share items with other friends who use Google Reader. In addition, there’s an offline mode so you can read your news even when you don’t have an internet connection.

3.Remember the Milk

I’ll admit it, I’ve never been good at keeping to-do lists. I don’t remember to write things down or check them off. Thankfully Remember the Milk (aka RTM) has come to my rescue. RTM makes to-do lists fun for the geek in me. Their website is extremely easy to use and they have plug-ins and services for many different platforms and applications including Gmail, Google Calendar and iGoogle. By having RTM show up right beside my Gmail inbox I can remind myself to keep it up to date and do what’s on it. My wife and I both use RTM and we can share tasks like chores so that we’re both kept up to date on what needs to be done around the house. I could go on and on about how great RTM is but I’ll save that for another post. Of course you could always just sign up for a free account and try it yourself!

4. Jott

If it weren’t for Remember the Milk I probably never would have given Jott a try. Jott is a free online “speech to text” application that you use with your cell phone. There’s a toll free number you call in on and from there you can use voice prompts and natural speech to do things like send emails and text messages, or even update your RTM to-do list or Google Calendar. Recently Jott has started to add links with sites like Amazon, Twitter, and even WordPress to enable users to do all sorts of things by just using their voice. I particularly like using Jott with my cell phone’s hands-free headset or speakerphone to send messages and set up to-do items at times I otherwise couldn’t, like when I’m driving down the road. Safety first!

5. Google Calendar

At the risk of this post turning into a Google love-fest my fifth indispensable web-app is Google Calendar. Google Calendar (or Gcal for short) helps me to keep track of the many different things I’ve got going on as a student leader, husband, employee, and human being with a social life. It puts many different calendars within easy reach and allows me to only see the ones I need at any given moment. It also has some rudimentary collaboration and free/busy features that help others figure out what is going on in my life as well. I admit I don’t use Gcal to its full ability but it is still one of the apps I couldn’t live without.

What web-apps do you find indispensable, if any? Are there some you wish you could love but just can’t seem to get into? Let’s hear about it in the comments.

1. Read it

Ok, this one might seem a bit obvious. But sometimes it’s good to start with the obvious things. Wander around the site a bit, get a feel for not only what’s here already, but what might be yet to come. Check out the about page for a little more insight into what I’m trying to do here. I know the topics might seem a bit disjointed but hey, if we’re honest isn’t life a little disjointed?

2. Bookmark it

Http://www.mattmckimmy.com/blog . Right click and “bookmark this link …” (if you’re using Firefox at least.) Of course you could use any number of methods to set up a bookmark to this, your new favorite site. Or you could do one better and …

3. Subscribe

I realize that some folks don’t have a clue what it means to “subscribe” to a website. Fear not. I’ve written a post just for you. If you’re already on board with RSS and looking for new food for your feed reader, check out the links on the right in the subscribe section. You’ll find what you need there.

4. Leave a Comment

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. What makes blogs great is that they’re not just a static medium. They’re interactive and communal. They allow for conversation between me the writer, you the reader, and anyone else who happens to stumble across this corner of cyberspace. So speak your mind, question my sanity, grace us with your wisdom, and make your mark in the comments section at the end of each post. You don’t even have to register. Unless, of course, you want to …

5. Register

Why register? Well, it makes leaving comments a lot easier for one. Plus it helps to create consistency. Once you enter in your information once it will appear exactly the same on each comment you post. And if you use an email address you’ve associated with a gravatar that will show up too. How cool is that?

Well I hope these suggestions give you some ideas of how you can get the most out of this site. I figure that if I’m going to take the time to write this stuff I mind as well try and make it useful for people, right? Here’s to hoping you’ll get something out of your time here …

Friday5 is a weekly column that lists five items on a theme drawn from one of the various categories covered by From Bits to Bites & Windshields to Worship.

(To help envision the potential savings of each of these tips I’ll do a little math using some baseline figures. In order to see how much you could save, lets pretend your car gets 20 MPG, you drive about 12,000 miles a year, and a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline costs $3.29, which happens to be the national average as I’m writing this.)

1. Get Pumped Up

Most cars driving on the road today do so on under-inflated tires. You can find out what the proper pressure for your vehicle’s tires is by checking the driver’s side door jamb for a sticker with the information or looking in your owner’s manual. Tire pressure gauges are very inexpensive and easy to use. Most gas stations have air pumps or you can buy your own that will run off your car’s power socket. Checking your tire pressure every two weeks and keeping your tires properly inflated could help you get up to 3% better gas mileage. While that may not seem like much of a difference (from 20 to 20.6 MPG), over the course of a year it adds up to over $50.

2. De-Junk Your Trunk (And Lose the Rack!)

The heavier your vehicle is the more fuel it will need to get from point A to point B. This is one of the reasons big SUVs and trucks use so much of it. One easy way to lighten your load and increase your fuel efficiency is to keep the inside of your car cleaned out. An extra 100 pounds can decrease your mileage by up to 2%. The smaller and lighter your car is the more you will benefit from this. However, not all cargo is necessarily carried inside your vehicle. Large, bulky roof racks can also greatly impact fuel mileage. This is due to both their weight and their poor aerodynamics. Removing a large accessory rack from your car or SUV can provide a 5% or greater increase in MPGs. Taken together, these result in a savings of $130 annually using our figures.

3. Slow It Down

When driving down the interstate peer pressure is a powerful thing. When everyone else is doing 75 MPH it feels foolish to not do the same. However, slowing down just a little bit on the highway can provide a huge savings in fuel economy. Under about 45 MPH the primary resistance a car encounters is rolling resistance between the tires and the road. Above 45, air resistance becomes the biggest factor. Air resistance increases exponentially with speed, so the faster you go, the more your gas mileage drops. The math on this one is difficult to estimate, as it is hard to tell what percentage of your driving is done on the highway, at what speeds, and how aerodynamic your vehicle is. According to the U.S. Department of Energy it’s safe to say that each 5 MPH you drive over 60 MPH is like paying an additional $0.20 per gallon. Let’s say that you switch from driving about 3,000 miles annually at 75 MPH to doing the same at 70 MPH. That’s at least a $30 savings. Plus it’s safer too …

4. Breathe Deeply

Ok, this one may require getting your hands a little bit dirty. But just a little bit, I promise! In order for your engine to operate as efficiently as possible it needs lots of fresh air. Your car’s air filter makes sure that air is as clean as possible when it enters your engine. After a while the filter begins to get clogged, which is not necessarily a bad thing because that means it’s doing its job! Once the air filter starts to get dirty your engine can’t get as much air as it needs, and it begins to run less efficiently. Most manufacturers recommend replacing your car’s air filter every 12,000 to 15,000 miles for peak efficiency. This may seem like a lot of air filters, but replacing a dirty air filter can increase your car’s mileage up to 10%! That’s a jump from 20 to 22 MPG and a savings of $180 in a year, which is definitely worth the cost and trouble of replacing a $15-$20 air filter.

5. Don’t Sit Idly

Excessive idling can wreak havoc on fuel mileage. Remember, when you are sitting still idling you are getting exactly zero miles per gallon. You may have heard that starting and stopping your engine repeatedly will produce excess wear. While this can be true, if you have a relatively modern car and take care of normal maintenance like oil changes and tune-ups then you have nothing to worry about. Here again the size of your car can make a big difference. The larger your vehicle’s engine the more fuel it will use while idling. Sometimes idling is unavoidable, but times like sitting in line at the drive-thru or waiting to pick up a friend are perfect opportunities to shut down your engine and get more for your gas money.

Assuming all of these tips apply to your situation, these 5 tips combined could result in a whopping 20% increase in miles per gallon. In our hypothetical scenario that’s a potential yearly savings of around $350! I know there are plenty of other ways to increase your fuel mileage and decrease the amount of money you spend on driving around, so feel free to share some of your favorite tips and tricks in the comments.

And as always, your mileage may vary …

Friday5 is a weekly column that lists five items on a theme drawn from one of the various categories covered by From Bits to Bites & Windshields to Worship.

I admit it, I’m a gadget-phile. Whether it’s tools for my garage, cell phones, cameras, mp3 players or a great little widget for my kitchen I’m a sucker for a good gadget. In this inaugural edition of Friday5 I’m covering five of my favorite kitchen gadgets. In order to come up with this list I’ve had to narrow down what to consider as a “gadget.” In this case a gadget is not a utensil, not an appliance, and not a pot or pan, but a small tool that helps make culinary endeavors a more enjoyable experience. So what are my Friday5 favorite kitchen gadgets? Find out after the jump.

Here they are, in no particular order. I’ve also included some links to places you can find these items on the web.

1. Remote Probe Thermometer & Timer

Even though I don’t use the thermometer portion of this gadget very often, when the opportunity to use it arises it is priceless. Mine is just a cheap model from Target, and they can be found all over the place. Here’s how it works: the base unit looks remarkably similar to most other kitchen timers, but it also has an option to set a target temperature. There’s a wired thermometer probe that plugs into the side of the unit. You insert the probe into the item you want to monitor the temperature of and place the item into the oven. The probe stays in the item (usually a large hunk of some kind of meat) while the wire runs out the oven door and to the base unit. Now, instead of depending on a recommended cooking time you can simply set your desired temperature and wait for the alarm! Cool.

2. Magnetic Knife Bar

This is a fairly new one for me, but I’ve really come to enjoy it. My knife bar is about 12″ long and mounted just to the left of the main workspace in my kitchen. It’s not big enough for a large collection of cutlery, but I’ve found I really only use about three different knives about 90% of the time. Of course, that’s another article. In addition to those three knives I also keep a pair of kitchen shears and a pair of multi-purpose scissors on my bar. I originally had some concern about whether the magnet would be strong enough to hold the knives securely, but I’ve not had any problems in the past year. I have found that it is important to remove the knives from the bar by rotating them on their vertical axis towards their spine. This keeps the cutting edge from being forced against the magnets which can cause it to become dull.

3. MyWeigh Digital Scale

For a long time I had been wanting a digital kitchen scale, and about a year and a half ago I finally got one. Being the discriminating gadget-phile that I am, I did quite a bit of research before settling on a MyWeigh iBalance 5000H made from eco-friendly hemp plastic. It has a 5kg/11lb capacity and has a resolution of 1g/ 0.05oz. I have found it invaluable for baking, especially when I can find recipes written with weight measurements instead of or in addition to volumetric measures. I’ve even gone so far as to work on translating some of my favorite recipes into grams instead of cups and tablespoons.

4. Infrared Thermometer

Yes, two of the my five favorite gadgets are thermometers. I guess I’m just a temperature geek. My infrared thermometer has quite a story behind it. I received it from my brother who used to work for an auto-parts warehouse where they liquidated old store furnishings. To make a long story short I once got this as a gift from him and I’ve found all sorts of fun uses for it in the kitchen. Though mine wasn’t originally intended for culinary use, it is perfectly suited to it. You can find models similar to mine relatively easily. It’s great for testing oil temperature or even the temperature of a pan I’m getting ready to cook with. So far the hottest I’ve recorded was about 700 degrees Fahrenheit on a cast iron pan I was getting ready to use for some searing.

5. Adjustable Measuring Cup

Though it’s not good for every measuring situation, an adjustable measuring cup is invaluable when you need to measure sticky, goopy, or gooey ingredients like honey, peanut butter, or yogurt. It also comes in handy when measuring dry ingredients in odd amounts such as 1 3/4 cup. The one I’ve got is made by KitchenArt, although I think the ones available from Pampered Chef and Alton Brown are better designed.