My gift to you today: A first look at a new entry into the "Cutting Room Floor" files of my website. The 'false start' to When Danger Calls. Read it here.
Yesterday was busy with our family holiday celebration. I baked the rugelach, made potato latkes and ricotta pancakes.
Latke recipes are pretty much basic. Mine isn't much different from the standard: 4 potatoes, 1 onion, an egg, salt, and flour (or matzo meal). One variation I learned from my daughters' pre-school teacher was to take about 1/3 of the combined ingredients and give it some time in the food processor, making a kind of batter to bind the rest of the potatoes together.
We're traditionalists in that we serve the latkes with applesauce and/or sour cream. They're about the only thing I cook 'last minute' but this year, with our new open concept floor plan, I won't be alone in the kitchen (although sometimes I think that's a good thing.)More of my NOOKcolore reports:
(You should be able to click on the NOOKcolor images to enlarge them for a bit more clarity.)
My NOOKcolor discoveries. I tried 'side loading' (I think that's the term) content. I downloaded a Smashwords story in epub format. It gets saved to my PC. Then I connected the NOOKcolor to my PC, and moved the story into my library. I wasn't exactly sure where to put it, so I actually put it in 3 places: my Nook library, and in the Files section, in both downloads and in books.
When I opened it, it worked exactly the same as any book I bought from the B&N Nook store. I can adjust fonts, search, and do all those other things I talked about before. I haven't found a way to do that with Word docs or pdf files, and I'm not sure it's part of the package—yet. Even so, they're easy enough to load into the Files section.
Another feature I haven't mentioned is the bookshelf organization in the library. There's an icon that lets you create shelves, and you can 'store' your books on whatever shelf you create. This makes life easy—I have shelves for myself, my grandson, and the Hubster, in addition to ones for author friends.
It's very easy to move books around—you could have a shelf for mystery, romance, favorites, 'books in progress' – whatever you like. To add or remove books, there's an "edit" box, which brings up your entire library. You simply check the ones you want to add or delete from any given shelf.
Another feature is the "Extras" Section. Here, you've got access to Crossword Puzzles, Photos, Sudoku, Pandora, Chess, a Contacts list, the Nook Lending Library, and Music. I haven't tried them all, but if I understand the manual, you can listen to audio books as well as music.
One drawback, which might or might not be because I haven't figured everything out yet, is that it's not always possible to back up one screen. Sometimes I have to go back to the home screen and re-navigate. I'm still learning, however. Some applications have clearly marked "Back" buttons, but some don't seem to have a way out. Also, the instructions for the various extras are left more to trial and error than having specific pages in the manual explain them. So far, I haven't had too much trouble.
Tomorrow my guest is the author of more books than I can count—Rebecca York. And she's giving a gift, so be sure to stop by!
17 comments:
Hi, Terry,
Love your graphics! Nookcolor seems like a great gift. I went over to a B&N bookstore on Saturday where it was demonstrated for me.
Jacqueline Seewald
STACY'S SONG, new YA novel
Very cool! I need to head to B&N... :)
Jacqueline - it's not perfect--no reader really is--but I'm liking mine.
Rebecca -definitely give it a try. I don't usually buy 'sight unseen' but in this case, it was worth it.
From the science side of things, Scientific American is not yet formatted for Ebook readers but they claim to be working on it. Waiting to see what American Scientist does with its digital format.
I think journals and magazines will have to be moving forward into the digital age, and with it, into formats for the readers out there.
Those latkes are making me hungry! I think either sour cream or applesauce would be delicious.
I'm still trying to figure out how to easily navigate with the Kindle--I've messed up doing "one page back" navigation, too.
Love the look of your device, though.
Elizabeth - the phone camera didn't do them justice. I have a Kindle app for my phone, and there's no good way to tell where you are in a book on that device--at least while you're reading it (that I've found). When you first open the app, it has the little dots at the bottom to show you how far along you are, but no page numbers or anything like that. My NC has that feature beat hands down.
And it was fun reading Curious George and The Poky Little Puppy to our grandson.
I must confess that I use a latke mix. Too much trouble to peel, cook, and mash potatoes.
Nancy, why on earth would you cook and mash the potatoes. You grate them, add the rest of the ingredients, and fry them. No mashing -- that wouldn't be latkes, at least not where I come from.
Terry:
Glad you're having fun with your Nook. I discovered that I could download the zillion books that I have in Adobe Pdf onto Nook. Not so with the Kindle I have.
Ruby
Ruby - the ability to accept PDF files was one of the criteria the Hubster had. Since this one does that AND has the back light, we gave it a shot. The formatting for the PDFs isn't as clean, but at least it will accept them.
Hah. I make latkes and I didn't even know that's what they were. Grandma called them potato cakes. Very cool. I'm also scarfing up everything you say about the Nook Color...and keeping my fingers crossed for Santa to come through with something.
I love latkes, and like Carol I had always known them as potato pancakes. We always ate them with applesauce, and then some Jewish friends introduced us to the sour cream. Yum. My daughter really likes her Nook, but I have a Kindle. Some similarities between the two, and I think each has its pros and cons.
Hey Terry,
Man can I come eat at your place. Everything looks yummy. I so enjoyed the insigh you give on the Nook Color. I have the old nook and love it. Even put it in a ziplock and read it in the tub. It sound like the Nook Color had a little more add on. You can also save PDF files to your Nook.
Maryann - we call them potato pancakes too. (Or, for our grandson's benefit, we called them Hanukkah French Fries). And I agree, there's no 'perfect' e-reader; that's why I'm trying to share the pros and cons of mine.
Terra - sure, come on any time. We do have a number of PDF files on the reader, although they don't 'behave' the same way the epubs do.
Hi Terry the latkes .. look really good! & the tip for making them makes sense - bind them together. The little rugelach look delicious too.
The Nook seems like a good technical buy .. interesting - & good for us to see the pictures - thank you .. Hilary
Carol - Sorry, I forgot to tell you I hope Santa comes through for you.
Hilary - you'll have to try the recipes and see if you like them. I did miss my little (now all too grown and gone) helpers for assembling the rugelach. And I'm liking my NC more each time I use it.
Post a Comment