Maybe I got lucky, or have weird kids - mine wouldn't even touch most meats
until I started going nuts with garlic....

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!

.. . . . . . . . . . .
"Ted Byers" wrote in message
.. .

"Geir Harris Hedemark" wrote in message
...
"Ted Byers" writes:
computer located in or adjacent to the kitchen. I will grant that the
keyboard can be done away with (as can the mouse) by resorting to a
touch
screen, but that makes entering a new recipe tedious at best. With
software

You would also need a power washer to clean the gunk off the touch
screen if you are anything like me when cooking.

;-)

When I cook, I tend to wash my hands repeatedly, every time I handle a
different food; especially meats. And I clean my work area thoroughly
when
I have finished with a major step in a given recipe. I guess that is a
habit learned from Mom.

Alas, I don't do much cooking any more because I like things a little
diverse and interesting but my sister and neice and nephew prefer things I
find bland and won't eat the kinds of things I'd prepare (if I made a meat
sauce for pasta, they won't eat it if I put in garlic or chili or cumin or
mushrooms or beans or onion ...). :-( And I can't be bothered just
for
me.

We have thought along the same lines, by the way. My employer makes a
customizable XML publishing system. I had thought of using that,
interlinking ingredients and categories to make something you can tell
what you have, and get a list of possible recipes along with skill
level needed and preparation time. This would also make it possible to
get derivatives of sauce hollandaise by navigating the "genealogy" of
recipes.

The single biggest benefit of my product is that it does a thorough
analysis
of the ingredients of a recipe (including especially quantities) in order
to
estimate the nutritional properties of the recipe (e.g. calories, fats,
protein, carbohydrates, sodium, &c.) and supports the entry of limits on
nutrient intake (e.g. at least so many grams/day but not more than this
number of grams/day) and food allergies.

I had thought of using XML, but I post-poned that since I didn't want to
take the time to develop fully fledged XML parsing code. XML is easy,
almost as easy as basic HTML, but the code to manage it isn't.

It hadn't occured to me to add the ability to search the recipes on the
basis of an ingredient list, or to add skill level and preparation time as
fields describing a recipe. I think I'll add that, as well as categories,
to the "premium" version of the product. :-) I am intrigued by the
notion
of interlinking ingredients and categories, but I haven't yet done an
analysis of that kind of feature so I don't yet have a good idea as to how
to implement it.

I already have an old laptop I had figured on using as an LCD screen
donor. I don't want a touch screen. I want a touchpad which is easily
detached from the LCD and which can be cleaned by washing under
running water (epoxy is your friend, at least at a steady 22C), chassi
would be a homegrown fibreglass/carbon fibre molding with Daddys
Heatsink on the back, eliminating the need for a fan and the fan
opening, which is a good way for water to get inside. The recipes
would be located on the stationary box, which has a keyboard. IP
interconnection by 802.11b, which just leaves the power cord for the
laptop/webpad thingy. Power outlets are readily available in fully
sealed variants. I don't work designing military electronics any more,
which is a hassle. A handful of weatherproof connectors and a few
metres of sealing gaskets would come in handy. There seems to be no
limit to the amount of money stuff like that can cost when you buy a
few at a time.

I don't normally want a touch screen. Using it is usually a royal PITA
when
it comes to designing a user friendly interface that doesn't care if there
is a keyboard attached or not.

I like your design, but I don't know enough about hardware to hazard
making
one of my own (plus, as a result of a diabetes related neuropathy, I am
slowly losing my manual dexterity). When it comes to hardware, I rely on
my
brother-in-law to handle the details.

The problem is time. The problem is always time.

Ah yes. You ARE prone to understatement, aren't you?!?!?! ;-)

Cheers,

Ted