Potential Gold

The Technology of Today

Isn't it wild...imagining for a moment what life would be like without today's techy gadgets!?!

How has technology changed the way you live?  Just the other day I was corresponding with co-workers overseas in real time on my Blackberry.  My friends in Italy share text messages with me and my brother and I chat in real time through our laptops and the web.  Crazy!  Ten years ago we had pagers and knew how to spell out "Goodmorning" (600017704171176) and "I love you" (143).  These days I BBM without looking at the keys to my phone...

I'm still longing for that cell phone that can replace my office and I'm sure it’s on the way! 

How does technology affect your everyday life?  What about technology and the kitchen?

Light Dinner

Cheeses, Sardines and Dolmas...

Often you get home and just want to chill...  After a long day, you go into the fridge and open up an easy to drink Heineken Light and kick back and relax.

In the fridge I had some cheese, Smoked Sardines and Stuffed Greek Grape Leaves.  With a few crackers we had a meal!

My Boos Block

I finally got my Boos Block.  I was working on a custom design for a while and had a friend lined up with the right skills to do it but the idea never made it through to production.

I wanted a large end grain block that was three inches thick by about eighteen inches wide by thirty inches long.  From my research, I understood that end grain blocks help against bacteria and just from common sense seem much stronger to the typical layout of a cutting board.

One day we were traveling through a Sur la Table near or in Glendale and there was a nice size Boos Block up for grabs.  It was $110 and well within my budget so I decided to get it.  So far, I've been very happy with it.  It's not end grain but it does the job at well below half of what I was willing to spend.

I think that after a good knife, the next most important thing in the kitchen is where to use that knife.  After a good rub down with a natural bees wax sealer paired with mineral oil, my board was ready to use.

LA On Fire...

Go

HERE (Flickr Page)

to see pictures of the fires burning through the North-Western part of the San Fernando Valley.

The pics start off early AM on my drive to work with a view from the street as well as the fwy.

I get to work and then jump onto the roof to get a glimpse at all the airpower they brought in for this thing.

Early in the AM on the way to work there were the twin SuperScoopers flying around but the wind got too high for them the rest of the day.

I hope tomorrow is a better day.

Enjoy the pics.

Foodbuzz Publisher Community Launches

I've been a part of Foodbuzz for a while now and I'm glad they're finally public!  This company really cares about its bloggers.  Check out the official press release below...

LAUNCH OF GLOBAL FOODBUZZ BLOGGER COMMUNITY 
LEVERAGES REAL-PEOPLE, REAL-TIME POWER OF FOOD PUBLISHING   

San Francisco – October 13, 2008:   Foodbuzz, Inc., officially inaugurates its food blogger community with more than 1,000 blog partners, a global food blogging event and an online platform that captures the real-people, real-time power of food publishing in every corner of the world.  At launch, the Foodbuzz community ranks as one of the top-10 Internet destinations for food and dining (Quantcast), with bloggers based in 45 countries and 863 cities serving up daily food content.  

“Food bloggers are at the forefront of reality publishing and the dramatic growth of new media has redefined how food enthusiasts access tasty content,” said Doug Collister, Executive Vice President of Foodbuzz, Inc.  “Food bloggers are the new breed of local food experts and at any minute of the day, Foodbuzz is there to help capture the immediacy of their hands-on experiences, be it a memorable restaurant meal, a trip to the farmers market, or a special home-cooked meal.”    

Foodbuzz is the only online community with content created exclusively by food bloggers and rated by foodies. The site offers more than 20,000 pieces of new food and dining content weekly, including recipes, photos, blog posts, videos and restaurant reviews.   Members decide the “tastiness” of each piece of content by voting and “buzz” the most popular posts to the top of the daily menu of submissions.  Foodbuzz currently logs over 13 million monthly page views and over three million monthly unique visitors.      

“Our goal is to be the number-one online source of quality food and dining content by promoting the talent, enthusiasm and knowledge of food bloggers around the globe,” said Ben Dehan, founder and CEO of Foodbuzz, Inc.  

The Foodbuzz blogger community is growing at a rate of 40 percent per month driven by strong growth in existing partner blogs and the addition of over 100 new blogs per month.   “The Foodbuzz.com Web site is like the stock of a great soup.  The Web site provides the base or backbone for bloggers to interact as a community, contribute content, and have that content buzzed by their peers,” said Mr. Dehan.  

Global Blogging Event

Demonstrating the talent and scope of the Foodbuzz community, 24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blogs offered online food enthusiasts an international, virtual street festival of food and diversity.  The new feature showcased blog posts from 24 Foodbuzz partner bloggers chronicling events occurring around the globe during a 24 hour period and included:
•    Mid-Autumn Festival Banquest (New York, NY)
•    The "Found on Foodbuzz" 24-Item Tasting Menu (San Francisco, CA)
•    Aussie BBQ Bonanza – Celebrating Diversity (Sydney, Australia)
•    The Four Corners of Carolina BBQ Road Trip (Charleston, SC)
•    Criminal Tastes – An Illegal Supper (Crested Butte, CO)
•    From Matambre to Empanadas: An Argentine Dinner (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
•    A Sweet Trompe l’oeil (Seattle, WA)

    “24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blogs” captures the quality and unique local perspective of our food bloggers and shared it with the world,” said Ryan Stern, Director of the Foodbuzz Publisher Community.  “It illustrates exactly what the future of food publishing is all about – real food, experienced by real people, shared real-time.”

About Foodbuzz, Inc.

Based in San Francisco, Foodbuzz, Inc., launched its beta Web site, foodbuzz.com, in 2007.  In less than a year, Fooduzz.com and its community of over 1,000 exclusive partner food blogs have grown into an extended online property that reaches more than three million users.