Spicy "Firecracker" Chicken Marinade

So this is Adam's recipe!   He makes his a bit differently since he uses red pepper chili flakes and grills the chicken in the oven.  I like the grill pan better since I find the chicken comes out more tender this way.  It might be a bit faster as well =).

 Ingredients

***instructions are in relative proportions except where noted***

• 1 soy sauce
• 1 lemon juice
• 2 oil
• 1/2 chili (flakes, powder or sauce)
• 1/2 garlic
• 1/2 mustard
• dash of salt and pepper 
• 1/3 cup flour (for coating the chicken) 
• 2 chicken breasts

Directions

1. Mix all the ingredients (except flour) together in a medium sized bowl to make the marinade.
2. Cut chicken breast into chunks or strips.
3. Coat the chicken pieces with flour.
4. Mix the flour dusted chicken pieces into the marinade bowl and make sure all pieces are nicely coated.
5. Cook chicken pieces on grill pan.

Thinking Visually!

About six months ago I stumbled upon a creative agency called Cognitive Media in London.  They believe in communication through "scribing" and "visual synthesis".  This concept tries to combat information overload and in my opinion does a good job of capturing audience attention.  Watch the video below to get an idea of how ideas get disseminated through video scribing.



I had thought this idea was worthy of some attention since I hadn't seen it before.   Low and behold, Ogilvy has started offering a similar service which made an appearance at this year's SXSW with Ogilvy Notes!  I'd expect to see more visual thinking as information overload worsens.  See what Ogilvy has to say about the art of distilling information into visual notes below.



Why is this concept successful?
They take us back to the basics!  It is simple, straight forward and entertaining.  The artistic style is reminiscent of reading cartoons which for me are funny and instantly gratifying!

Tidbits & Quotes...

Sometimes I come across tidbits and quotes that are worth remembering:

• "Don't make decisions out of fear." -- Bethenny Frankel 
• "Life is too short not to eat well." -- EATALY
• "The human capacity to transform something into emotions, that is luxury."  -- Alex Atala

Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Pancakes

I had some leftover buttermilk so I decided to make pancakes.  They turned out buttery, fluffy and delicious!

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (for pancake mix)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (for pancake mix)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (for pancake mix)
• A pinch of salt (for pancake mix)
• 2 teaspoons sugar (for pancake mix)
• Handful of chocolate chips (for pancake mix)
• 2 eggs, yolks and whites separated
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 4 tablespoons melted butter

Directions

1. Whisk together egg whites and the buttermilk.
2. In another bowl, whisk together egg yolks with the melted butter.
3. Combine buttermilk mixture with egg yolk mixture in a large mixing bowl and whisk until combined.
4. Add all the ingredients for the pancake mix into the large mixing bowl.
5. Using a whisk, mix the batter just enough to bring it together (it's okay if it is a bit lumpy).
6. Spoon the pancake batter onto a buttered frying pan and sprinkle on chocolate chips =).  When bubbles begin to set around the edges of the pancake and the pan side of the cake is golden, flip the pancakes and cook 2 to 3 minutes.

One Deal a Day...

I have been following woot.com for years and have gotten a few good deals off their site.  I've watched the site slowly develop from its cult following to being bought buy Amazon!  Now there are quite a few copy cats out there (ie. Gilt) with great deals that follow the same model.  So are these sites here to stay?  The one deal a day site is the virtual version of an outlet mall.  The success of Woot demonstrates the important of creating a brand or a unique identity that users identify with.  So what is the next "virtualization" of a physical activity?