‘food’ Archive
This entry was posted April 22nd, 2010 and has 5 comments.
There is no doubt that the changes announced yesterday at Facebook’s F8 conference will have a major impact on the web, how it looks, and how we use it in the coming months and years. The prospect of an open graph with the ability to transport your personal interests and preferences around the web with you is quite intriguing. This could also end up being the tool marketers have been clamoring for for years. They may now finally have the ability to hyper-target potential customers online at a scale large enough to demand huge advertising budgets.
But you can never gain one thing without losing something else. The web experience at large may benefit significantly from this, but it will be at the peril of the actual Facebook experience.
First, let’s look at who comprises the majority of a typical person’s Facebook friends. Most of our friends lists include not just family and good friends, but also former and current coworkers, some people we went to high school with, and a few random people who snuck through our approved friend requests. Whatever the reason, we are connected to these people because we, at least on some level, know them.
The point here is this - Most people care about the things shared on Facebook not because of the content itself as much as because of who is sharing that content. For example, I don’t necessarily love looking at pictures of babies, but will gladly spend time looking at pictures of my cousins baby because I love her. What I am not interested in, however, is seeing every site my cousin ‘likes’ across the web that features pictures of cute babies.
Continue reading Facebook Will Conquer the Web by Destroying Facebook
Posted in business, food, marketing, technology
This entry was posted July 16th, 2009 and has 4 comments.
There is an epidemic of poor nutrition in this country which disproportionately affects the less fortunate. This leads to diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and many other illnesses that are largely preventable. The questions that I have been thinking about recently are, ‘How do we address this issue in our communities and make a lasting difference?’ ‘Is this something that individuals can fix or do we need the government or large organizations to handle it?’
This spring I planted a garden at my parents’ house which is now starting to produce a good amount of vegetables. My entire family has been really excited about the progress and has enjoyed being able to pick fresh vegetables right out of their yard. My dad has been especially into it and called me yesterday to say that next year he wants the garden to be 2-3 times as big. I loved the idea, but then started trying to figure out what we would do with all of the extra vegetables.
First, I thought maybe we could get a spot at a local farmer’s market and sell the extra veggies. Or, maybe I could even start a little CSA and let people I know come pick them right out of the yard, for a small price. Neither of these really stuck with me, so I put the idea on hold and went out for a run. And as so often happens, the best idea came to me towards the end of a tough run.
Here is the idea for BackyardsFeed.com:
We will use as much of our backyard as possible to grow high-yielding, nutritionally-dense vegetables that will be given to local families that do not have access to fresh vegetables because they can either not afford them, do not have a grocery store within a reasonable distance, or just do not yet understand the importance of healthy eating.
Continue reading Backyards Feed
Posted in food
This entry was posted May 12th, 2009 and has 1 comment.
This past weekend I planted my soon-to-be vegetable garden in my parents’ backyard. They were gracious enough to sacrifice a sizable chunk of their lawn to an endeavor that hopefully will yield many delicious vegetables this summer.
I started the whole process 3-4 weeks ago when I spent a Sunday afternoon digging up and tilling a 6×11 foot piece of the yard. The soil was pretty terrible and mostly comprised of clay and rocks. I dug out all of the grass and a good bit of the clay and replaced it with some store-bought soil. I was also able to mix in some clay breaker that made a portion of the yard’s soil usable.
At the same time I started a compost pile. This was my first adventure with compost and it actually turned out much better than I was expecting. In just a few weeks, the compost was a dark, rich color and I was able to add it in when I planted the vegetables.
Continue reading My Soon-to-be Vegetable Garden
Posted in food
This entry was posted September 17th, 2008 and has no nomments.
I’ve been wanting to visit Woodberry Kitchen ever since it opened almost a year ago. The premise of the restaurant is to use local and organic ingredients in all of their dishes, many of which are seasonal. This past Saturday I finally had the chance to enjoy the food and atmosphere at Woodberry Kitchen for the first time.
My first impression when calling them to make a reservation was realizing how busy they are. Almost a full week in advance, the only openings for a dinner reservation for 2 were between 5-6 and after 8:30. When we pulled up at the front door I understood why they are so busy. I was struck by the beautiful building that houses Woodberry Kitchen. They have done an amazing job restoring this old building in Clipper Mill and reusing the original structure.
Upon entering, we were immediately escorted to our upstairs table which overlooked the main dining room. Our table was set a bit close to our neighbors and at times I found it a bit distracting. Regardless, the ambiance was really nice upstairs and much more private and quiet than the downstairs dining area. Our waitress was very knowledgeable and helpful, if a bit slow.
Continue reading Restaurant Review - Woodberry Kitchen
Posted in food
This entry was posted July 7th, 2008 and has 3 comments.
Baltimore Restaurant Week is quickly approaching and will occur July 26 - August 3. I have yet to attend Baltimore Restaurant Week, but am really looking forward to going this year. There are a lot of new restaurants that I am anxious to try as well as some that I just haven’t gotten around to visiting yet.
For those that don’t know, Baltimore Restaurant Week is a celebration of our city’s fine dining establishments. During this week, you can eat at a number of area eateries for a very reasonable price. Each one offers a variety of three-course dinners for $30.08. Some also have three-course lunches for $20.08.
Continue reading Baltimore Restaurant Week
Posted in food
This entry was posted May 20th, 2008 and has 1 comment.
I know that my last post was a restaurant review. I also know that I am not a professional food critic, so don’t worry, this is not turning into a restaurant-review blog. However, after eating at Clemetine, the new restaurant in Hamilton last Friday, I really wanted to get the word out about this great spot and encourage all of you to check it out.
Contrary to a certain review in the Baltimore Sun, Clementine, which is located in the 5400 block of Harford Road, is in downtown Hamilton and not Lauraville. The restaurant is housed in an unassuming storefront in the vicinity of a Blockbuster, a pawn shop, and a Dunkin Donuts. But please do not allow this to lower your expectations of Clementine.
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Continue reading Clementine
Posted in food
This entry was posted May 14th, 2008 and has 3 comments.
On Friday evening I had dinner with my friend Jess at a new restaurant in Hollins Market, Baltimore Pho. I actually don’t think I’ve ever been to the Hollins Market before, and my only experience in that neighborhood has been at the Lithuanian Hall (Wow, a geocities website).
We made a reservation for our 7:45 dinner, but the place was surprisingly uncrowded for a Friday evening in the spring. The dining room has a nice cozy feel without being too small. The tables are a bit close to each other, but that wasn’t an issue at all. The only possible problem is the proximity of the bar to the dining room, which could make it quite noisy once it gets more crowded.
Now, on to the food. We got 2 orders of rice paper rolls, both the Vietnamese and vegetarian varieties. I preferred the Vietnamese rolls with shrimp. For our entrees we each got the beef pho. I’m not exactly sure why, but they are adamant about making sure you know it is pronounced “fuh”. It’s literally written everywhere the name is.
Continue reading Restaurant Review - Baltimore Pho
Posted in Baltimore, food
This entry was posted October 23rd, 2007 and has 3 comments.
If you’re looking for a way to spend a little bit of time today, be sure to check out the new site FreeRice.com. Not only will you be killing some time at work, but you’ll also be building your vocabulary while helping feed people around the world.
The basic premise of the game is this: The game gives you a word and asks you what it means. You have 4 possible options. For every word you get right, 10 grains of rice are donated to the United Nations to help end world hunger. Also, when you get a word correct, the game gets more difficult. If you get a word wrong, it eases up on you a bit.
The site is rather addictive, especially if you’re on the nerdy side of things. I’m up to level 37, but now it’s time to get back to work.
Posted in food, life
This entry was posted September 26th, 2007 and has 3 comments.
Let me run an idea by you. This is one of the things that I really enjoy about blogging. Sometimes you just need to get an idea down, and see if it’s worth pursuing.
As anyone who knows me in real life knows, each winter for the past 5 years, whatever house I’ve lived in has hosted a large, semi-formal Christmas Party. Each year seems to get bigger and even more fun. Last year was an absolute blast. Throughout the night we probably had 150 people in our Hampden duplex, each of whom was well-dressed, somewhat well-behaved, and definitely enjoying themselves.
An idea came to me this morning, as we have already begun planning this year’s party.
Continue reading Christmas Party Sponsorship
Posted in Baltimore, Chris Walbert, advertising, business, food, life, marketing, music, technology
This entry was posted August 29th, 2007 and has 10 comments.
I hate to speak poorly about a Baltimore restaurant, as I think too much of that happens already. However, when the food is as bad as it was last night at Zen West Cafe in Belvedere Square, that is really the only option.
So, on to the story. Last night, I met up with the good people from Tilt Studio and the local design collective they organize, for a happy hour at Ryan’s Daughter. For those of you not from Baltimore, Ryan’s Daughter is a nice, cozy Irish pub with good beer and good food, an excellent choice for a networking happy hour. Continue reading Stay Away from Zen West Cafe
Posted in Baltimore, Chris Walbert, food
