Michelle's Guacamole

There are some things that I have perfected making over time. Guacamole is one of them...

Ingredients

• 2 avocados - halved, seeded and peeled 
• 1 roma tomato (or any other tomato you fancy) - diced
• 1/2 small red onion - diced
• 1/2 a jalapeno pepper - seeded and finely diced
• 2 cloves of garlic - finely diced
• 1 bunch of cilantro - chopped
• 1/2 lime - juiced 
• 1 tsp salt (or taste)
• 1 tsp pepper (or to taste)
• 2 tsp hot sauce

Directions
In a bowl place the scooped avocado and lime juice. Fold in the onions, jalapeno, tomatoes, cilantro, and garlic. Add hot sauce and salt and pepper to taste.

Blueberry Flax Muffins (Bethany Mavis)

Ingredients

• 1½ cups whole-wheat flour
• ¾ cup ground flaxseed
• ¾ cup oat bran
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 apple, peeled, cored and grated
• 2 cups frozen blueberries
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 bananas
• ¾ cup almond milk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour muffin pans or use cupcake liners. Place raisins in a small bowl. Bring 1 cup of water to a boil and pour over the raisins. Let sit for 5 minutes, then drain. Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine flour, flax, oat bran, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices. Stir in grated apple, blueberries, drained raisins and walnuts. In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Add almond milk, eggs and vanilla; stir to combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir just until all ingredients are moistened. Fill muffin cups ¾ full and bake 15–20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Yields 18 muffins.

The Setai Fifth Avenue Chocolate Chip Cookie

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar
• 1 1/2 Cups Brown Sugar
• 1 lb Butter
• 4 Eggs
• 3 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 3 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
• 2 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Baking Soda
• 2 Cups Chocolate Chips

Directions

1. Combine both sugars and butter in bowl.  Cream together until light and fluffy.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, scrapping down the bowl after each addition.  Add the vanilla extract.
3. Combine flour, salt, and baking soda into a separate bowl and then add to sugar mixture, just to combine.  Mix in chocolate chips.
4. Place rounded tablespoons of dough onto a cookie sheet and back cookies at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 to 7 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Remove tray from oven, allow cookies to cool for 2 minutes before removing them.
6. Eat and enjoy!

Grade Pending

I recently have switched from a Blackberry to an iPhone for my personal phone.  I do, however, still prefer Blackberry for corporate use.  Since my introduction to iPhone, I have been paying a lot more attention to mobile apps and how they can help us get through our every day life.

Several years ago NYC decided to grade restaurants based on sanitation.  My ex-coworker has come up with an iPhone app that allows you to figure out the grade of a restaurant even if the sign says "grade pending".  This is yet another example of a useful piece of technology.

Download Dan's app here.

The database that this app runs off of from the NYC Department of Sanitation might be a good database for FoodNOW to start with?

Livehoods

I came across this article about a Carnegie Mellon Mobile Research Project called Livehoods.  Livehoods is a new way to understand what "local" means using social media.  This is a fascinating way to understand the world in which we live.  Read about livehoods at livehoods.org.

Foodspotting

In early 2011, Dave M informed me about this food website, foodspotting.com in doing some research for my foodNOW idea.  What makes this foodie website unique is that it focuses on dishes and not reviews of specific restaurants.  "Foodspotting is the easiest way to find and share the foods you love: Instead of reviewing restaurants, you can recommend your favorite dishes and see what others have recommended wherever you go."  I recently came across them again when reading Inc. magazine's 30 under 30 piece where the company was profiled.  What has caught my eye is that this year they want "[to] become as smart-as-Pandora recommendation engine for nearby food."  Another thumbs up for the original idea owner, me!

Art meets Tech at the bar...

I came across an article in the WSJ that talked about smart innovative companies that are using every inch of their product label to promote their brands!  I would expect to see more vanity-barcodes to crop up as companies try to differentiate themselves in a highly competitive market place.  This is of course, is dependent on figuring out how to ensure their scanning reliability.

Design Barcodes Inc. (man, skyline); Vanity Barcodes LLC (3)

Vanity Barcodes designs one label for $375 a pop.  There is some concern that vanity-barcodes may not work with all scanners.  However, by the looks of the Garden Barcode pictured below, I would believe that it is possible to design some artistic barcodes that should always scan.

 

With the advent of smart phones, the QR code (otherwise known as a matrix barcode) has gained popularity.  Will we also see these matrix barcodes morph into artistic expression?  Apparently this has already been done by Duncan Roberston who embedded the letters BBC into a QR code.

 

Let's call this the "bARTcode" phenomenon!