I'm a messy cook. There, I said it. The proof is in the pages of my cookbooks (ever spill cooking oil between pages?) and in the many pieces of paper I've wasted after trashing printout after printout. There's nothing worse than returning to the kitchen after slaving over a meal to clean up what looks like the leftovers of a New Year's Eve party. But I'm working on it.

My poor cookbooks though, deserve a break, and it's really passé to waste paper, so I'm trying a new approach for tester recipes (the ones I'm not sure will make it to the Official Recipe Folder): phone apps and the Internet, right on my counter, next to the cutting board. There's no wrinkling and ripping, no messy handwriting to interpret, and the placement of expensive gear on the counter inspires one to clean up one's act.

And the smartphone apps are pretty clever, if you'd rather not plug in your laptop next to a pile of pizza dough. Verizon's Droid 2 offers an app called Cooking Capsules (PS. the base app is free; the fancy one is $0.99), which allows users to search for a recipe, watch a video on how to make it, and produce a grocery list to execute the dish. I'd use that again just for the grocery list function (read: the paper versions I make ALWAYS get lost in my purse. Always.) The Apple people have launched an Epicurious app (featuring recipes from Gourmet and Bon Appetit) and a recipe database called BigOven. I'm sure there's a zillion more.

I researched several brownie recipes with Cooking Capsules, and found several to save; the best bit is (and I'm sure other apps do this, too), you can start a "box" of recipes to store in your phone for future reference.

I still insist on a paper-based calendar and love the romance of curling up with a book, but as the world's biggest recipe stickler — I'm only beginning to improv — I shall head forth into the Land of Progress and save a curry-stained tree or two.