The new Drinks Matcher, from Nat Decants, is a combination wine sommelier and bartender, all in the convenience of your smart phone.  You can quickly choose a wine whether you’re sitting at a restaurant, lounging poolside, or shopping at the supermarket or liquor store.  Since the app doesn’t require an internet connection, you can even use it when you’re dining on the patio and some remote tropical location.

Natalie says, “As a wine-loving geek, I love finding ways for new technology to help us savour all of life’s pleasures, wherever we are.”

To search for the perfect drink-food combination, start with either a dish or a drink.  From there, select bubbly, white, red, rose, or dessert, or opt for beer, spirits, cocktails, liquor, coffee or tea.  True connoisseurs can drill down their selection even further by focusing on a particular grape, more specific food information, or the primary flavor of spices used in a dish.

Choose to impress your friends, if you must, but what I like about the app is that it gets you out of a rut and forces you to try something new.  That’s worth the $2.99 charge in my book.

The Drinks Matcher app can be downloaded from your smart phone’s online store, or download it from Nat Decants.

Photo credit: Nat Decants

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It’s designed to keep you in the loop on how to eat locally – that is, what foods are in season and locally available – and will help you locate the nearest farmers market for a shopping trip.  You’ll even find a few cooking, recipes,  and menu tips courtesy of Epicurean.

While traveling, one of the healthiest and most budget conscious ways to eat is by shopping at a local market.  This little app can help make it a little easier while you’re on the go.  And with mapping ability, the app will detect where you are, choose a market that’s the closest, give you directions, and you won’t get lost either!

Using it at home will make you a healthier and more social conscious cook as well.

Available from iTunes for $2.99, or direct download for your iPhone app store.  You’ll more than recoup the cost of the app with your savings from one meal.

NOTE:  Currently only covers U.S. locations,

Photo credit:  Apple

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Check out Family Car Games, created by a family of four to help your family pass the time with instructions for 100 different games.  You can play the games in the car, on a long flight, or while waiting at the airport.  Or waiting anywhere for that matter.

I downloaded the app ($1.99) to check it out.  And hey – I like games, too!  There seemed to be a nice variety, hitting on a number of different themes, from words games to story telling to singing.  I recognized the names of some (so there are so classic car games here), but there were lots of titles that I didn’t recognize.  They claim that no additional equipment is needed, but I’d recommend a notepad and pen as many of them involve counting or keeping track.

You can select a game by various searches (name, degree of difficulty) or at random (a shaker/spinner much like is on Urban Spoon), and you have the ability to bookmark your favorites so you can play them again and again.  Each game is tagged with a degree of difficulty to help you choose age appropriate activity.

It looks like a lot of fun, and next time I’m spending time with a youngster, I’ll give it a more thorough testing out.  For $1.99, though, you can’t go wrong!

Download via iTunes or directly from your iPhone or iTouch.

Photo credit:  Family Car Games

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