This year, Evernote Food has three simple ideas for celebrating the dads in our lives by honoring the food they love.

1. Cook His Signature Recipe
Your recipe collection may include lots of 3×5 recipe cards from your mom, but if you’re like many of us, your dad has a few good recipes up sleeve, too. If he’s written them down, bring them into your digital cookbook in Evernote Food by snapping a photo or scanning them into your recipe notebook in Evernote.

Once they’re saved in Evernote, all recipes will automatically show up in your beautiful digital cookbook in Evernote Food, so you’ll be ready to start cooking his famous linguine with clams or Boeuf Bourguignon. The beauty of Evernote and Evernote Food is that whether you choose to save eight or 80 of your dad’s recipes in your cookbook, they’re all easily searchable and accessible from any device.

2.  Mix His Favorite Drink
If your dad is a thoroughly modern sort, he may be as apt to name a green smoothie as his drink of choice as he is a Manhattan. If you don’t already know, find out what he loves to drink, perfect it (check out Evernote Food’s Explore Recipes section for a plethora of drink recipe options to try), and serve it up as part of the Father’s Day festivities.

Alternatively, if he has a tried-and-true method for making a drink, spend some quality time in the kitchen with him learning the steps, and document it all with Evernote Food’s My Meals feature so you’ll never forget his tips and tricks — or your time together.

3. Take Him Out on the Town
If your dad is a food lover, think beyond the ballpark and take him to explore one of your town’s coolest food neighborhoods. In San Francisco, we might take him to the Dogpatch for brunch at Just for You Cafe, followed by ice cream sundaes at Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous, with a chocolate stop at Recchiuti Confections in between. Check out the Restaurants feature in Evernote Food to plan a culinary outing with dad in your city.

These are just a few points of inspiration for making your dad’s Father’s Day a special one. We’d love to hear about how your dad inspired your love of food and cooking; just leave a comment to share your food memories.

Don’t have Evernote Food?

Download Evernote Food for iOS
Download Evernote Food for Android

With Evernote, you don’t have to because you can plan your travels in bits and pieces, by yourself, with other people, and whenever you have a free moment. Here’s how.

1. Plan when you can. Be sure to download Evernote to all of your devices and computers so you can capture information and inspiration whenever you have the time.
2. Use your Evernote email address. Your inbox is hard to search. Find things faster in your Evernote account; forward travel recommendations, confirmations, and more from your email to Evernote. Once in Evernote, you can organize your trip using tags, Notebooks, and Notebook Stacks.
3. Share your notebook. If planning a vacation with a partner, friends or family, make planning and sharing information easier by inviting individuals to view your notebook. Premiums users can also allow others to modify notes and notebooks.
4. Clip away. Install the Evernote Web Clipper on your browser so you can clip articles, hotel information, restaurant menus, maps, bathing suits and more, to your Evernote account. Browse through your finds when you have the time, narrow your selections, or take action on them.
5. Create your packing list. Start making a packing list well in advance. Use Reminders to make sure you’re on track to pick up sunscreen, scuba gear, and your updated passport well in advance of your trip.

Tell us where you’re headed this summer, and how Evernote is helping you prepare.

Check out more tips for traveling better with Evernote:
Quick Tip: Plan a Road Trip with Evernote Food
Travel Series: Planning a Trip with Evernote
Plan a Family Vacation or a Solo Trip with Evernote
Tips from Apartment Therapy for using Evernote to plan a perfect trip

Photos by Kasey Fleisher Hickey

Aaron Walter, head of UX at MailChimp , the company that lets millions of people build and connect with their communities via email, knew that his team could be working smarter. He turned his team, many of whom were already Evernote users, onto using Evernote Business as their ‘virtual town square.’ Since implementing Evernote Business, Aaron and his colleagues haven’t looked back.

Evernote Business has allowed MailChimp’s nimble team to gather and share knowledge quickly and effectively, collect research and data points in any format in one place, and encourage data-driven decision-making.

We recently had the opportunity to stop by MailChimp’s Atlanta offices to chat with Aaron and a number of other team members about how Evernote Business has transformed their workflow.

Data collection
A key functionality of Evernote Business (and Evernote, of course) is that it allows you to capture information in any format. This is particularly useful to the MailChimp team, as individuals are able to add documents, attachments, emails, web clips, audio and text notes to their Evernote Business notebooks.

To keep things streamlined, the MailChimp team manages a highly curated Business Library and makes sure to evaluate things before they go into Business Notebooks. This approach empowers more team members to share valuable information, making everyone else at the company smarter and more informed. The company even has an email alias that anyone in the company can send ideas/suggestions to. These emails are parsed out and selectively sent to an Insights Notebook. The system ensures that great ideas are never lost in an email inbox.

Data discovery
One of the most valuable aspects of Evernote Business is that it allows more team members to discover information, whether they were looking for it or not. For MailChimp, a lot of useful information was being shared among individual team members, or simply sat in a silo — in someone’s email or desktop. Getting information from someone often involved pestering them at their desk, and more, knowing exactly what you were looking for. With Evernote Business, MailChimp was able to break down the silos and bring together disparate information in one place, making it more discoverable for team members.

Evernote Business makes it easy to get information in any format into the system (team members simply email information into their Business Notebook). From there, any team member can quickly search for what they are looking for, visually glance over notes, and connect the dots between different pieces of information. By visualizing data in this way, individuals are able to see noteworthy trends among data that they would have otherwise missed. With the Activity Stream feature, it’s also easy to track what pieces of content have been added, updated, and shared, so useful information is often surfaced.

Data-Driven Decision Making

“Nobody has an excuse to make an uninformed decision anymore” -Federico Helgado, MailChimp

Aaron pointed out that his team became ‘more strategic overnight’ after they implemented Evernote Business, largely because they were able to make more data-driven decisions based on the amount of data they were able to collect, organize, and share through Evernote Business. The team set up automated reports to get emailed into a Campaign Insights Notebook, implemented a tagging system for customer interactions and persona type to help them better understand customer needs, and were able to quickly start using this information to inform their product roadmap. Rather than making these types of decisions based on gut, Aaron’s team now has data that supports whatever direction they choose to go.

Evernote Business has transformed the way Aaron’s team works, and we hope it can do the same for yours. Learn more about Evernote Business, and sign up today.

This post is part of a series we’re calling ‘Working with Evernote.’

In Evernote for Mac and Windows: Click on an image or document inside a note. Hold down your mouse and drag.

This feature is handy for:

Bloggers: Drag and drop images from your Evernote account into a post in your blogging platform.
Graphic designers: Share mocks and sketches (including those created in Skitch and Penultimate) with your team or clients by dragging them into email.
Architects: Drag site inspection photos into an email to your team.
Freelancers: Drag and drop articles, mockups, receipt photos, and more into client emails.
Job hunters: Keep your resume ‘on file’ in Evernote, send it to recruiters and interviewers by dragging the doc into an email.
Photographers: Drag and drop photos from your Evernote account into your photo-sharing site.
Community/Social Media Managers: Drag and drop images from your Evernote account into Facebook, Twitter, and any number of services that help you manage your social media accounts and accept file attachments.
Anyone: Drag and drop documents from your Evernote account to your desktop, and vice versa so you never have to worry about leaving files at home, on another computer, or on a thumb drive.

Have you tried this feature recently? If so, we’d love to hear how you use it.

Notebook Stacks allow you to nest your notebooks under more general ones (for example: Trip to Japan under Travel, or Website Redesign under Work Projects). This feature is useful for breaking a large work project into into smaller buckets, organizing your work notes under different focus areas, and compartmentalizing your life and work-focused notes so you can easily jump between them. Think of Notebook Stacks as digital dividers for your cloud-based filing system.

This post is part of a series we’re calling ‘Working with Evernote.’

Additionally, recipes saved to Evernote as Word documents can now be viewed in Evernote Food, meaning that the app supports every popular format people tend to use for digital recipe collecting: Web Clipping, JPEGs, PDFs, and recipes you manually type and save to a notebook.

Get the latest Evernote Food for iOS »

Tips for Maximizing My Cookbook

Here are some tips for both iOS and Android users to maximize the sync between Evernote and Evernote Food to curate your recipe collection:

• Have a treasured collection of grandma’s 3×5 recipe cards? Snap a photo and save the ones you want to your recipe notebook in Evernote, where they’ll automatically push to Evernote Food.
• Scan or photograph printed recipes into Evernote, then view and cook from them on your phone or tablet using Evernote Food.
• In addition to clipping recipes within the Evernote Food app, you can also use Evernote’s Web Clipper to save recipes in Evernote. Like magic, the recipes you clip will show up immediately in your Evernote Food cookbook.

Other New Features

A few more great updates in Evernote Food 2.2.2 for iOS (both already available to Android users) are the addition of restaurant directions (once you’ve researched a restaurant and booked a table within the app, you can now easily navigate there from the app), as well as an update to My Meals that lets users pinch-to-zoom when viewing photos in gallery view. More new features to come soon; let us know what you think!

Don’t have Evernote Food? Download the current version for iOS and Android here.

Above: goals list captured in the Evernote Smart Notebook, added to Evernote using the Page Camera feature on iOS. Learn more here.

Additionally, digital cookbook organization of My Cookbook is now enhanced with PDF support for recipes imported into the app from Evernote, and new international recipe content is now available to users in Korea and Taiwan. These updates make My Cookbook an even better cooking companion. Android users, be sure to check out the new version of Evernote Food for Android, which includes many of these features.

Other updates to Evernote Food for iOS give a boost to the Restaurants section. Foursquare venue ratings are now available in list view, meaning that anytime you want to eat out, you can quickly scan ratings and other essential info for each restaurant on your list, rather than having to tap each spot individually to see the details. Improved search for restaurants also yields greater accuracy for nearby places and search results.

Lastly, if you’re not already an Evernote Premium user, you can now upgrade within the app, giving you faster support, all the storage you need for your recipes, restaurants, and meals, and many more benefits across the whole collection of Evernote apps.

Want to learn more about Evernote Food? Check out the following blog posts:

Sync Your Recipes to Evernote Food
Build a Restaurant Wish List
Build Your Own Cookbook
Chronicle Your Culinary Adventures

Don’t have Evernote Food?

Download Evernote Food for iOS
Download Evernote Food for Android

With Mother’s Day around the corner, you might be thinking of ways to pay tribute to that fabulous lady in your life. Today, we’d like to give you a few tips for planning a Mother’s Day Brunch with Evernote.

1. Start capturing recipes. As you come across recipes you might want to make, clip them to your Evernote account using the Evernote Web Clipper. Download Evernote Food and use the Explore Recipes search feature to browse recipes from your favorite blogs and websites, then clip them to your Evernote Food cookbook. BONUS: if you use Evernote Food, the recipes you save within the app and in Evernote will show up in your Evernote Food cookbook.
2. Plan your menu. Scroll through your clipped recipes in Evernote or Evernote Food, then select the top 3-4 that you’ll want to prepare. Create a New Note in your Evernote account with your Mother’s Day Brunch menu. BONUS: Add Note Links to recipes in your menu to quickly jump to them inside your Evernote account.
3. Create a shopping/ grocery list. Create a checklist of items needed to make your brunch a success. As you purchase items, check them off on your mobile phone (remember: Evernote syncs your notes across all of your devices, so any checked items will be reflected in Evernote, everywhere).
4. Don’t forget the flowers. Clip a few bouquets/floral arrangements you see online using the Evernote Web Clipper. View arrangements side by side in Evernote on your desktop, then click on the source URL of the note displaying the arrangement you’d like to order. Place your order and clip your order summary right back into your Evernote account using the Web Clipper or Evernote Clearly, our app for enjoying a better reading experience online.
5. Skip the brunch, take her out! Don’t know how to cook, or have a great space for hosting your Mother’s Day Brunch? Treat her to a fabulous meal out. Use Evernote Food to peruse restaurants, and book your table using the OpenTable integration.

Evernote and Evernote Food can not only help you get organized around planning your brunch, but also capture invaluable memories so don’t forget to snap photos of your mom, the food you prepare and eat, and any other special touches and items you’d like to remember from the day.

Want more ideas for using Evernote to plan an event? Check out some of our other tips.

Find the recipe featured in the Web Clip above on the West Elm blog.

Getting ready for baby with Evernote

Planning for the arrival of a new baby is exhilarating, stressful, and overwhelming…all at the same time. There are registries to create, nurseries to decorate, pediatricians to select, books to read, and hospital bags to pack. If you’re getting ready for the arrival of a little one here are some ways Evernote can help.

1. Create a ‘Baby’ notebook and share it with your spouse, partner, or supportive family member/friend. Save everything baby-related to this notebook so you have a comprehensive place of reference that you can access from any device or computer and that both of you can update.

2. Keep track of advice and recommendations. You’re going to get a lot of advice from all sorts of people about everything from how best to raise your baby to what laundry detergent you should use. When you receive advice you think might come in handy, drop it into a note. Remember: you can capture notes when you’re at your desktop, as well as with your mobile phone or tablet.

3. Start creating your registry. Download the Evernote Web Clipper and start clipping baby products you like, reviews for strollers and car seats, etc. There are lots of great resources out there; clip blog posts such as this and this that can help you figure out what items you should register for. Once you’re ready to register, remember that all of your Web Clips will include the source URL so can immediately add products to your registry (I used MyRegistry.com, which allowed me to add products from multiple websites into one location).

4. Record memorable milestones. When was the first time you felt the baby kick or had a contraction? Use Evernote to record milestones throughout your pregnancy and keep this habit going after the baby is born.

5. Document your doctor’s appointments. Come prepared for every doctor’s appointment. Create a list of questions you’d like to ask your doctor in Evernote so you don’t forget them when you’re on the spot. Jot down your doctor’s tips and advice, as well as any important updates related to your progress.

6. Capture inspiration for your nursery. Snap photos of decorations and products in-store and use the Web Clipper to capture ideas for furniture, DIY projects and storage solutions. You can visually scan through all of your nursery decorating ideas if you create a tag for your nursery inspiration and search for all notes containing that tag.

7. Save important documents. You’ll be inundated with documents throughout your pregnancy — from doctor’s bills to sonograms, you’ll want to scan everything to your Evernote account so you don’t have to find yourself searching for your insurance information or important phone numbers in scattered corners around your house, your bag, and in your nightstand.

8. Don’t forget to thank your support system. Create a checklist of people to thank for baby shower gifts, cards, and support. You’ll be busy, but Evernote can help you make sure you don’t forget about the people who matter.

9. Pack your hospital bag. Create a checklist for everything you’ll need for your hospital bag. Reference it when you’re out shopping and check off items as you purchase them (your updates will sync to Evernote everywhere you have it installed). Need to double check you have everything before you rush out the door? Pull up your list on your phone.

10. Keep frequently-referenced information handy. Want to know what fish you can and shouldn’t eat while you’re pregnant? Save frequently-referenced information in Evernote and find it by doing a quick keyword search. I used American Pregnancy Association’s breakdown of mercury levels in fish to remind myself what I should avoid at restaurants.

11. Track your eating habits. Download Evernote Food to your iPhone, Android, and/or iPad and use it to keep track of what you’re eating throughout your pregnancy. Adjust your habits accordingly if you feel that you’re not eating enough nutritious foods.

12. Prepare yourself for the big day. Forward your hospital registration information from your inbox to your Evernote account using your Evernote email, create a note with important contact phone numbers, insurance information and your pediatrician, and save your birth plan in Evernote.

Are you expecting? How are you using Evernote to help you get ready? We’d love to hear in the comments! Also, be sure to follow Parenting Ambassador Carley Knobloch for more tips about ways to use Evernote for Parenting.