There are very few culinary gadgets in the kitchen chez Fractured Amy. I love my pots and pans, of course, as has been well-documented. I have a reasonable collection of knives. My electric appliances are few and basic: a good food processor, a toaster, a standmixer, an electric handmixer, and a coffee grinder. My kitchen has traditionally been an analog sort of place: I have digital kitchen scales (metric and standard units!) and a digital timer, but a quick survey of the countertop reveals very few blinking red lights.
Until last week, that is, when for work I received a brand new Smartyphone.
My new phone has become something of an obsession in recent days. There's nothing like a convert: last week I was the sort of person who never, ever carried a mobile (I did have one, but it was never turned on and only the immediate family knew the number) and now my Smartyphone never leaves my side. I have given the number to everybody I know. I have been texting anyone I can think of and configured all my e-mail accounts for instant access. I have downloaded about a zillion apps: Kanji practice! a pedometer! the New York Times' daily sudoku! an old episode of Pushing Daises and a few of the Kid Squid's South African travelogues (just to demonstrate my Smartyphone's video capabilities to interested bystanders, you understand).
It is very exciting.
But never in my wildest imaginings did I dream that my new toy could have an impact on my kitchen in general, or my gluten-freedom in particular, until a couple days ago. Whilst getting my hair did at my estimable local salon, I was chatting with the Random Lady in the Chair Next to Me (as one does) about the wonders of mobile technology. A Smartyphone aficionado from way back, the RLCNM had lots of suggestions for possible uses, most of which I found pretty pointless, frankly - a calorie counter? I don't think so. eBooks? I am still devoted to my Kindle, thank you very much. Twitter? It's as much as I can do to keep up with Facebook. But one app about which she waxed lyrical made me sit up and take notice, at the risk of losing an ear to my hairdresser's snip-snipping.
A grocery shopping app.
'It's fabulous!' she enthused. 'The whole family can put things on the list and then whoever goes to the market can cross it off! It's really convenient!'
Hmmm. Sir and I have great trouble with the shopping: there is generally quite a bit of duplication of effort (at last count, we had three unopened bottles of ketchup in the pantry and four gallons of milk in the fridge) and we often go without paper towels and Bounce for weeks. I can never remember the exact variety of corn flakes Sir requires for his breakfast and he can never remember the flavors of yogurt I eat in the morning (cherry, apricot, or blueberry, if you'd be so kind - but never banana or strawberry, which taste like airplane glue). Now that gluten-free selections have been thrown into the mix, shopping has fallen firmly into my purview, since the choice of chia seeds, Hunza raisins, and reasonable g/f baking flour requires the sort of expertise only bitter experience can provide.
My incredible new app deals with all these challenges. Don't know what kind of corn flour is certified gluten-free? Take a picture of it and add it the appropriate list! Need to tell Sir to add dried apricots to the evening grocery run? Add it to the list on my phone and - Bob's your uncle - it's automatically uploaded to his! And because Wegmans thoughtfully provide WiFi for their coffee shop customers, we don't need to use up precious GBs while we are doing the rounds.
Of course, I have now become one of those people glued to a phone in public places. But this is a small price to pay if it means Sir can help out with the gluten-free shopping. There is, after all, an app for that.
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