Monthly Archives: June 2010

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Sears Chef Challenge: Video Builds The Cooking Star

Sears Chef Challenge NYC

Hot off the heels of TECHmunch (very hot temps!), I worked with the Cake Group to do an event for the Sears Chef Challenge.  It was a video clinic/cocktail party/potluck held at Shooting Kitchen which is located in Tribeca.  I invited a small group of food bloggers and foodies to come with prepared dish.  Then the videography crew shot video of each person explaining their dish and talking about why they love to cook. After each video, the attendees swarmed over the delicious food which included deviled eggs, tuna steak on brioche, quesadilla, quiche, watermelon panna cotta, spicy shrimp salad and my thai cole slaw hot dogs.

searschefchallenge
It was fun to see Cathy Erway, Mary Connolly, Hagan Blount, Emily Cavalier, Catherine Oddenino, Siobhan Wallace, Mark Tofoya, Sarah McSimmons and Yvo Sin. It was nice to meet Pierre Lion who is a friend of Sabrina Bailly who I met at Internet Week. It was also a pleasure to meet Crystal Ingorvaia who is the new member of Nonsociety.
searschefchallenge-the spread of dishes
Thanks to everyone who came. It was a lovely evening!

food and drink

French Toast, Unfancy And Fancy Food and Video

strawberry french toast with a wee bit of bacon marmalade

I love french toast, waffles and pancakes, but I also crave a salty side like bacon or ham to compliment the sweet. Instead of frying up some bacon, I dabbed a little bacon marmalade on my french toast and it was delicious! Problem solved.

BTW, I will be attending UnFancy Food on Sunday at the Bell House and Fancy Food Show on Monday at Javits. Monday, I will also be hosting “Video Builds The Cooking Star” at Shooting Kitchen. This event is a video clinic for anyone-not just food bloggers- who always wanted to have a professional video of them doing a cooking demo. The event is sponsored by the Sears Chef Challenge.

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Lust Object: The Asus Pink Picnic Netbook

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In the past two weeks, I have attended two blogger conferences. Both had a panel discussion or talk about FTC disclosure.  This is a serious topic that all bloggers need to know about.  Unfortunately, I have no free gadget to disclose by going to the Microsoft Preview event on Tuesday. It was fun watching people play with Kinect which is like a Wii but more Minority Report-ish. Vinny from Naughty By Nature was there, as well as Peter Rojas.

What I fell in love with is this hot pink ASUS netbook designed by Karim Rashid that looks like a picnic backet. Isn’t it the most fun?!  It just screams picnic in the park with free wifi.

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U-Haul And The Underground Railroad

history lesson on a u-haul van

When I spotted this U-Haul van in Park Slope on Sunday, I just had to snap a photo. There was a young couple unloading their stuff from the van as it looked like they are moving in.  Later I googled and found this on U-Haul’s site. U-Haul is commemorating the Underground Railroad’s history in Canada.  It appears that the campaign started in August 2009.

The story of the Underground Railroad is one of individual sacrifice and heroism among the enslaved, and the people helping them gain freedom. Abolishing slavery decades earlier than the U.S., Canada became a haven for enslaved people seeking freedom. “Conductors” such as the Reverend Josiah Henson and Harriet Tubman assisted many aboard the Underground Railroad, and more than 40,000 fugitives made it to Canada, the Promised Land.

In fact, this Underground Railroad graphic series is a part of U-Haul’s “Super Graphics”.  U-Haul trucks and vans can have anything from birds to flowers on the side. It’s kinda like a moving postage stamp.

Why I am writing about this?  Since becoming editor of Pepsi We Inspire, I am looking for examples of how major brands are connecting to African American market. In this instance it is the African Canadian market. It’s good to remember our history.  BTW, I hope that the Canadians who just moved to Brooklyn enjoy their new home.

brooklyn, me

So I Sprained My Ankle…

sprain with pink pedicure

Don’t ever wear a long dress, wedge heels and walk down a steep hill unless you are a supermodel, drag queen or someone who is not as clumsy as me. What happens is that you fall, sprain your ankle, shatter the glass on your Zune HD and rip a hole in a brand new dress that you probably could not afford in the first place. That is what happened to me Thursday evening, and it has a big drain on my wallet and spirits. The good news is that the Duane Reade Walk-in Clinic is great. The doctor is nice and the fee for the visit ($135) for an uninsured person like myself is affordable.  I was afraid I would have to create a Kickstarter for my medical bills, so that was a relief. Today my ankle is less swollen, so that’s good. Also good is the interview of me in the Atlanta Post.

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TechMUNCH NYC Was A Big Success

TechMunchNYC

I have attended many conferences, organized many events but this is the first time I have co-produced a conference.  Babette and I have been overwhelmed with the positive feedback from TechMUNCH attendees.

It was nice to meet so many smart creative people.  I was starstruck to see Jacques Torres as an attendee. All of the panels were informative. The panelists were generous with their expertise.   Read  Josh Unseth’s SEO presentation and Sarah Evans’ FTC Guidelines.

TechMunchNYC

Thanks to sponsors which included KitchenAid, Robicellis, Tupperware and Valrhona.

Read blog posts from TechMUNCH attendees:

Eric of Garden Fork TV

Frani Lieberman of MBooth PR

The Ivory Hut

Hilary Allard from The Castle Group

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Internet Week Opening Day

2010 Internet Week Opening Cocktail Reception
Photo by Kelly Samardak, MediaPost’s Just An Online Minute.

I will not promise recaps of everyday of Internet Week, but yesterday was pretty good. I got to Metropolitan Pavilion yesterday to see Yahoo Provoke. It was cool to listen to Ze Frank’s presentation. He has a lot of projects,and it made me feel better about juggling so many things at once. All of his stuff seems to revolve around PLAY.

Afterwards, there was a panel that included Bre Pettis, Seth Goldstein, Matthew Szymczyk and Nick Parish. Their panel, “Pixels That Provote Emotion” talked about humans, QR codes and robots. Bre said something I really like-“Intellectual property is dead”. He also encourages us all to SHARE online.

Later, I hung out at the opening night reception. I talked to Michelle Shildkret, Dennis Crowley, Kelly Samardak, Jose Mejia and David Dundas.