3 Cats And A Mac?
Well, I do have 3 cats, and I do have a Mac, and I did need a name...
Why a cookbook program?
I like to cook. I have, probably, a hundred cookbooks. I can't remember which book a recipe is in! Plus, I actually have to read the recipe WHILE I'm cooking. Dirty hands, dirty pages... Then, I needed a training project to learn Apple's new development langauge. And, here is the result.
Have you heard of Epicurious?
I use that and other sites all the time. In fact, I use it so much I put access to the site right in A Cook's Books. But, it's not a substitute for good recipe management software. The original recipe rarely works exactly for me, and having a place to record how I mangled Christopher Kimball's recipe makes it much easier to duplicate the results the next time. Besides, Epicurious frequently returns hundreds of recipes. I can't be expected to remember, six months later, which recipe I chose!
Just 5 recipes? (I recently added a couple of contributions.)
I don't feel comfortable publishing recipes I can't reasonably defend as being mine or aren't so basic as to be considered in the public domain. Getting permission to include recipes would push the cost of the program up. Aside from that, I could spend a lot of time entering recipes, a small fraction of which any one user might find interesting. I prefer to spend the time improving the program's ability to manage your recipes.
Is A Cook's Books done?
Not even close. I'm currently working version 2 of the program.
How do I find out about updates?
A Cook's Books will will let you know when a new version is available.
What if I find a problem with the program?
I use the program all time, even when I'm not debugging it. The program is very stable, but no software is bug free. If you do find a little nasty, email me with a description of what you were doing and what happened. Bug Reports
Why a separate pane for printing? Isn't that what Preview is for?
The printing pane was originally a stop gap measure until I completely figured out getting the recipe or the shopping list correctly formatted and sent to the printer. One day I was demonstrating the application for a friend and she pointed out that being able to edit the shopping list was handy, since many of the items could be in the cupboard. I agreed and decided to leave it in.
Do you have any tips for using A Cook's Books?
- Always, always, always backup — preferably on a second disk-drive.
- Save often.
- Be consistent when naming ingredients — use stock or broth, but not both; Whole Tomatoes or Tomatoes, Whole. This point shows when you use the shopping list.
- Use ingredient auto-fill to ensure uniform naming of ingredients.
- Modify ingredient Common Names in the Foods database to make naming easier.
Is there an A Cook's Books user group?
There is a users group, here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/acooksbooks/
There is also a forum here: http://3caam.com/bbs/index.php
Who are the artists?
The 3CAAM logo is the work of the very talented artist and all around nice guy: MJ Koza. The logo was done especially for me. His work can be viewed at http://www.mjkoza.com/.
The program and document icons, as well as this web site, were created by Maui graphic designer Ellie Poché of E M designs. Her online portfolio can be viewed at http://www.EMdesigns.info.
All artwork is used by license or permission.
How do I register the program?
Register here: Register A Cook's Books. eSellerate handles all the money and will email the product key. They do great work.
What if I have a real question I want to ask?
Email Customer Support at support@3caam.com. I'm a very supportive guy.
Is there a support forum for A Cook's Books?
There sure is. Head over to our forum main page. Or, choose one of the items below:
