Last night, there was a preview party to for the IACP conference which will be in New York this March 29-April 2nd.  This year’s theme is the Fashion Of Food. It was great to see fellow food bloggers as well as cookbook authors as food makers. Sponsors include Driscolls, Bulldog Gin, Brooklyn Brewery, Jarlsberg Cheese, Jimmy’s No. 43, Voss Water.

I have been talking with food loving friends as well as consulted my gut to come up with five food trends of 2012.

Carrots. Everyone eats them raw as a snack or just as a side dish. In 2012, carrots will be more of a star than an understudy. I had to most delicious carrots with onions dish in December, and I could eat them everyday. Besides the 2012 Pantone coloris orange so it just makes sense. Here’s a recipe for Carrot Cake Jam from the blog Apron Strings.

Artisan Marshmallows. Making marshmallows is becoming really popular. Emily of Nomnivorous has made hot pepper marshmallows, red velvet ones and also cardamom. In Brooklyn, Baked and Whimsy and Spice make yummy marshmallows. Eater spotted the trend of savory marshmallows.

Flavored Salt. Sea salt has gotten everyone acclimated to coarse salt. Now salt comes in different flavors will be big in 2012. You can make your own by checking out Jaden Hair’s recipes.

Just like I don’t believe that nothing is “the new cupcake”, I don’t feel that anything can replace bacon. However, duck fat is the new ingredient to add willy nilly. In the past month, I have eaten duck fat cookies and edamame cooked sauteed in duck fat. Duck fat in doses is nice, but could be a quack.

Cornmeal.  It is not just  for cornbread or frying fish. Cornmeal cookies, cornmeal pancakes and cakes are other ways to use cornmeal.  You can chalk it up to Southern influences, but I think cornmeal is a grain that people will substitute for flour in some recipes because of its texture and corn taste.

First, I want to say that subsequent year in reviews will be easier thanks to Facebook Timeline, Photojo’s Time Capsule and Timehop.

January, I froze my ass off. There was lots of snow. I spoke at Long Island Social Media Club, and was featured in a NewsDay article about social media and business.

In February, I organized a Blogging While Brown Meetup at Bier International in Harlem.

In March, I went to SXSW with a press pass. I also was quoted in an Entrepreneur article about cupcakes.

I went home to Atlanta for Easter, and my sister and I had tea at the Ritz Carlton in Buckhead.

I organized our fourth annual Cupcake Craft Night at Etsy Labs in May. We made polymer clay jewelry and we had a big crowd. Also Rachel and I went up to Gardiner, New York to judge the Gardiner Cupcake Festival.

In June, I co-produced TECHmunch NYC with Babette Pepaj. Also, Cupcakes Take The Cake hosted our annual picnic in Central Park.

In July, I traveled down to Philadelphia for the Philly Vendy Awards. I had a blast! I also went to Montreal in mid-July. It was my first trip to Canada and first time using AirBnB.

Rachel and I went on a tour of Celebrity Cruise ship, The Summit, as we doing a Cupcake Cruise in August 2012.

Just a photo of myself wearing blue eyeshadow in August. I also spoke at Berkeley College in downtown in late August about blogging and social media.

I love this trio of bracelets. I also try to take more photos in natural light.

I volunteered all year long doing social media for the Vendy Awards and the event was in September. Here’s a photo of me with Nicole Taylor. I also spoke at Rochester Institute of Technology at a social media conference.

In October, I met Jesse Jackson while in Detroit visiting a cupcake bakery business, Just Baked.

In November, I went to Orrville, Ohio for the Smucker’s Blogger Conference. I had so much fun, and learned a lot.
I was also in Upscale Magazine in an article about cupcakes.
I was also in the November of Upscale Magazine in an article about cupcakes.

Cupcakes Take The Cake celebrated our 7th anniversary of cupcakes blogging.

This year has been challenging with two moves and two deaths of loved ones. Also, money has been tighter as I keep hustling to make ends meet. I would like a full-time job doing what I love. I would love to lose about 50 lbs. I would love to connect with a man who can I share my life with. I’m ready for 2012! It may not be better, but it will be different and new.

Eight years ago [!] I started blogging and my blog was named Nichelle Newsletter. First it was on Blogger, then later Typepad. I covered events, music, books and shared links. Some people even thought my last name was Newsletter. Anyway, I am bringing the newsletter back just in time for New Year’s Eve parties and such. The new Nichelle Newsletter will be a weekly aggregation of cool stuff that I find. It’s free and all you have to do is put your email address in the box below.

Martha Stewart and Oprah Winfrey are women whose media prowess cannot be denied.  Both left  network TV and syndication deals for cable (Hallmark and OWN respectively) and their audience is declining.  Why? I think it is because they failed at appealing to the cable TV audience.  Network television is akin to general market advertising.  Cable television is segmented. It is niche market.  For example, NBC Universal has both a network channel (NBC) and many other cable channels, (Bravo, USA).  The cable channels have a segmented market and the branding and advertising for the channels are clearly defined.

OWN most popular show is Sweetie Pie’s  which is not your typical Oprah fare. It is a reality show, but it is not about famous people or self-help gurus.  It is  about a former Ikette, Robbie Montgomerey, who runs a soul food restaurant with her son in St Louis. My friend Nicole said, “Positive, funny, tons of food porn and showing black folks in a positive light.” The show premiered October 15 and in less than two months and no big promotion, it is the highest rated show on OWN.  Now, OWN has to do something that they have been dragged into doing–market the show and network to African American audiences.  Oprah has always sought to transcend color in the programming of her shows and this is a big opportunity. This is a chance for OWN to be a Lifetime Channel for African American women. This is a way to bring family entertainment to a diverse audience. Update: Read Danielle Belton’s article on Clutch Magazine about OWN.

Martha Stewart has a niche that has not been fully leveraged, the convergence of lifestyle content with technology. Martha is a twitter whiz, loves gadgets,  blogging and has launched a few iPad Apps. She is the OG of lifestyle content.  The people who love technology are not watching the Hallmark channel.  Martha should consider either syndication again (either with Hulu or Netflix) or have her full shows available for streaming. People who love Martha would pay.  Also, there’s should be more integration of Martha Stewart radio.

What’s the takeaway from this? Marketing strategies have to change when you go from general market to niche market. Cable television is niche.  Just ask anyone at SyFy channel.

I am so happy to be in a print magazine, Upscale Magazine talking about cupcakes. Cupcakes Take The Cake is seven years old, and I am so proud of what Rachel and I have curated. There is a flourishing international cupcake community that we have engaged with on a daily basis. We’re going to party hard on Monday at our seventh anniversary party at Soho Gallery For Digital Art. There will be cupcake from over 15 bakeries, cocktails from Bulldog Gin, and sparkling wine from Yellowtail Bubbles

Two weeks ago, I spoke at Rochester Institute of Technology’s Social Media And Communication Symposium (SMACS). In my talk, I used the analogy of a cupcake to social media strategy.

Cake: Start with the cake of a cupcake. With Social Media, the cake is you, your brand, your product or service, as well as your message and mission.

Filling: Whether it is gooey caramel, cream or jelly, cupcakes often have a filling. For a social media strategy, the filling is the content. With every social media Strategy there needs to be a content strategy. The content strategy is what you say, when you say it, and how often. Content strategy is also who you listen to and who you are talking to.

Frosting: Some people believe that a cupcake is just a delivery channel for frosting. Similarly for social media, many focus too much on the delivery channels of their content. Twitter and Facebook and pretty essential, but don’t forget blogs, as well. Blogs are where you can write longer than 140 or 420 characters. If you are doing social media for yourself, not a business or brand, then Google + can be effective. However, if it is for a business, you may want to hold off using Google+ as a delivery channel until the business profile for Google+ become available.

Sprinkles: For cupcakes, the sprinkles are often optional. When it comes to social media, sprinkles work as long as they fit the flavor of your strategy. If the social media strategy is for a storefront business, then using geo-location services like Foursquare, Yelp, Foodspotting, Google Places may be great for you. If you want to offer deals, then you can check out Living Social or Google Offers. If you or your product is photo-friendly, then sites like Instagram and Flickr is great.  The point is to figure out which sprinkles are effective for executive your strategy. When the sprinkles work, they add an extra oomph to the social media strategy.  If the sprinkles don’t work, then brush them off and enjoy the cupcake.

Since spring of 2004, I have been producing events.  First it was producing Chicks and Giggles, a comedy show. Now it is monthly cupcake meetups as well as the occasional clothing swap. My next event is The Red Velvet Cake Debate on Friday, October 14.  I have a curated a panel of bakers and food writers to talk about the red velvet cake phenomenon.

Here are some of the basic steps that I have about producing events:

1. Have an idea of what the event will look like:  envision the venue, the attendees, the speakers or performers, the vibe. Is it for networking? professional? entertainment? educational?

2. Have a date in mind. Make sure it doesn’t conflict with an event that you potential audience would attend.  For example, having fundraisers benefiting the same charity on the same night is not a good idea.

3. Secure the dream venue.  Location, location, location. Having a clothing swap in a place that has lots of mirrors and is well-lit is better than having it in a dark bar.

4. If the dream venue can’t accommodate your date, be flexible.  However, don’t hesitate to seek out other places if  the date can’t be move.

5. Once date and venue are set, tell people. Even if you don’t have all the details confirmed, let people know about it by sending out a “save the date” message.  This builds anticipation.

6. Get anchors!  Vendors, sponsors, speakers, performers and the like want to be a part of something cool. However, they want to know if you already have an “anchor tenant”.  Like how Macy’s is the anchor tenant in a mall, you have to go for that marquee person or brand that will compel people to do the event.  People want to be around people they aspire to be.  Facilitating this is a great way to get people on board.

7. Promote. All the time. Offline. Online. In your sleep. The best thing is about having an upcoming event is that I always have something to say when I am a party or meeting someone new. Hopefully, they can attend or know someone who can possibly speak, sponsor, etc.

8.   Get volunteers. They can provide a hand or just make sure you don’t forget anything.

9. Sweat the details.  Day before event you have to run through anything you might have missed, and go grab anything you may need.

10. Relax. An hour before the event,  you should be chilling.  Anything that is missing or last minute cancellations are often things you can’t fix easily.  You are often at the venue so only thing is get a friend or volunteer to help you run an errand, if needed.

Update: The Red Velvet Cake Debate sold out and was featured in the New York Times Diner’s Journal.

Growing up, I loved watching TV. I would make sure my homework was done, and I tried to have the evening dishes done before Jeopardy! ended on week nights so I can sit in front of the TV for three solid hours. I was supposed to go to bed at 10PM, but I had a TV in my room, so I can watch hour dramas like ‘ER’ on low volume so my parents would not know.

Today, I don’t have a TV. If I did, I probably would not have cable. Thanks to Hulu, Netflix and other URLs, I can watch many of the shows I want and also watch junk just by keeping a tab open on my laptop.

The socialness of TV makes me want to watch. Twitter, Facebook as well as GetGlue and Miso are the new watercoolers for discussion about TV shows.

I have watched the pilots of three new shows so far and here’s my quick and dirty review:

Playboy Club: This show was heavily anticipated by the folks at NBC, but I have a feeling it won’t last much longer than last season’s ‘Lone Star’ which was a better show. The main problem with the show is that they basically stole a story line from ONE episode of ‘Mad Men’ which features the same actress, Naturi Naughton, as a Playboy Bunny. They moved the show to Chicago, added Hugh Hefner voiceover and bad impression of Don Draper by Eddie Cibrian. I bet Eddie watched the last four seasons of Mad Men on Netflix this past summer like I did. a better premise would be to steal the Mrs. Blankenship story line back when she was a young lady. I would have enjoyed that immensely.

Up All Night: This show should “pull a Netflix” and split into two shows. I would like a comedy starring Christina Applegate and Will Arnett about raising a baby. However, I would also like to see ‘Ava’ a sitcom that parodies an Oprah-like talk show host starring Maya Rudolph. She should have a coterie of quirky assistants and Queen Latifah could be her co-star.

The New Girl: This show has introduced television critics and entertainment journalists to the word, “Adorkable”. For that reason alone, I kinda hate this show. The truth is that Zooey Deschanel’s character Jess is neither adorable (Leslie Knope on ‘Parks and Recreation’) nor dorky (Any male character on ‘Big Bang Theory’). Jess is AWKWARD. She is awkward like Awkward Black Girl. Jess is kinda like J. in “White Face”. The writing on The New Girl is “meh” so far. The best joke is the douchebag jar. Every group of friends should have one. I would even download a “virtual douchebag jar” if they made that into a smartphone app. Product placement opportunities are endless!

Back in 2006, I was quoted in a Pittsburgh Post Gazette about cupcakes, and I said, “It’s very happy food”.

Today I am quoted in the Miami Herald and I said, “Cupcakes are not a fad or trend because people relate cupcakes to happiness — happiness is not a fad.”

I didn’t realize until I read the latest quote that I basically said the same thing twice, but in a different way.  In the almost seven years of blogging about cupcakes, I have been defending their existence as if my life depended on it.  In a way, it does. I’m like a cupcake lobbyist.  More and more, I realize that bakery owners across the country have to defend cupcakes to bank loan officers, journalists, publicists, foodies, friends and family.  There’s so much evidence that cupcakes are here to stay, but if you don’t get it that’s fine.  That just means more cupcakes for the ones who do. BTW, if you do love cupcakes, come on the Cupcake Cruise next August. It’s gonna be a blast.

Karma is defined  as the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences.  Sometime I do things for good karma. Sometimes I do things because being kind feels natural.  I got a free phone at an event two years ago, but I never used it. Last month, I was perusing the FreeCycle and saw that someone needed a phone.  I met up with the girl at a coffee shop to give her the phone.  I didn’t do it for karma points, but to alleviate some of the clutter.  A few days later I was offered a Droid Charge, a new Samsung Android smartphone.  I already have an Android but this is one is new so I took it for a spin.  What a difference!  The latest Android operating system and the 4G network is great for using apps. I have been able to easily check-in on Foursquare and use Evernote more effectively. I have shown the phone to a few friends who have the iPhone 4 and they are impressed with the screen resolution and how light it is.   Honestly I really like this phone. This reception is good. The apps are useful and the battery life is super.  Disclosure.

Recently someone who is just starting out in social media asked me how long have I been doing it. I said nearly eight years since I have been blogging for that long. On second thought, that’s not correct. It is actually only a little over seven years. I have been doing social media since I began promoting the comedy show, Chicks and Giggles that I created in spring of 2004. Twitter wasn’t around. Facebook wasn’t open. I used blogs and online media to promote Chicks and Giggles. I created a newsletter to send out to fans of the show. I posted pictures on Flickr. I post show listings on Upcoming.

When Cupcakes Take The Cake took off, there were more outlets to spread the cupcake gospel. Cupcakes Take The Cake is on Flickr, MySpace, BakeSpace, Foodbuzz, Foodcandy, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and Meetup and maybe some other social networks. The goal is for Cupcakes Take The Cake is be whenever cupcake lovers are. A couple of months I got an email from a travel agent who found me through the Cupcakes Take The Cake Meetup Group. She proposed the idea of a cupcake cruise. We had two meetings and I realized that this is serious. Rachel and I had a tour of the ship a few weeks ago and met with executives from Celebrity Cruises. This is serious and exciting. Now it is confirmed that Cupcakes Take The Cruise is having the first ever Cupcake Cruise next year. The date is set for August 19 through August 26, 2012. I am so happy that the brand Cupcakes Take The Cake is extending to more events and to more people!