| The brand has left the building: maintaining consistency in an ...
We all know about the savings outsourcing can make. Mention it to your FD and watch him salivate. Marketing and CRM have always taken a cooler view: after all, its hard to see the brand youve carefully nurtured abandoned into the arms of strangers. Nevertheless, the time will come when you have to let go. What steps are companies taking to make sure that out-of-house doesnt mean the dog house for their brand? Its true that unscrupulous outsourcing can do strange and awful things to just about every aspect of your brand. Look at what Asia-based investigators humorously refer to as the 'third shift': deliberate production overruns in outsourced garment manufacturing that are then offloaded as cheap counterfeits. Its an extreme example, but then outsourcing is a perilous brand environment.
Classic Chinese
I'm so glad that Tenley Moy, owner of China Gourmet in Hyde Park, decided to do some remodeling. Not only because the restaurant looks nicer, but because it got me to go down a few steps from Erie Avenue to eat at the Gourmet for the first time in years. Recently, I've been more excited about the adventure of finding grassroots Chinese restaurants in strip malls where no one speaks English than I have in the 30-year-old Hyde Park standard. But I'd forgotten how well China Gourmet delivers its own kind of pleasures. The Chinese-American food is carefully done along traditional lines, and the service creates a very special experience. There's a sense of ceremony and attention to detail that you don't find very often in any kind of restaurant. Plus it all comes at moderate prices, too: all but one of the entres is under $20.
Barbecue Cajun-Style Prawns: An appetizer and a scoop
This week's recipe comes to you via a request from one of our customers through a letter written to Gourmet magazine. The request was made for the recipe of one of our longest running appetizer dishes - Barbecue Cajun-Style Prawns.
So I thought it would be nice if I shared it with my local customers well before it hits the national media. I guess that's called "scooping." Yep, we're going to "scoop" the national media for this recipe.
One of the questions I get asked regarding not only this recipe but any recipe that comes from the South, is what is the difference between Cajun and Creole?
I personally asked that age-old question when I met Paul Prudhomme. He gave me a detailed description of the two, but the short description was basically that Creole food was more bourgeois or French influenced because there were so many French living in the South, especially Louisiana.
Chocolate factory to get new owner
The former Fannie May chocolate factory building in Bensalem has been sold to a Northampton holding company representing Irene's Bakery & Gourmet Kitchen Inc. of Philadelphia. The president of Irene's said he expects his operation to be up and running by July in the Bridgewater Industrial Park. We've been looking for some time to move into Bucks County and Bensalem, said Irene's president, Daniel Zelikovich, who said he likes the location's proximity to I-95 and Route 1. The 28-year-old building covers 19,060 square feet of space and requires very little renovation, Zelikovich said. It's a perfect location because it was a factory before, said Zelikovich. He declined to say how much Irene's spent on the facility, but said the cost exceeded $1 million.
Mitavite Horse Trials, New Zealand
Clarke Johnstone aboard Oakley Vision has had the biggest win of his equestrian career when he took out the New Zealand Qualifier for the FEI Eventing World Cup at Kihikihi near Te Awamutu today. Johnstone who is a 19 year old finance student from Otago was the overnight leader after the cross-country and could have afforded to knock six rails in the show-jumping to still finish clear of Auckland's Jenna Mahoney. In the end Johnston dropped just two to claim one of the country's premier equestrian titles held in conjunction with the Mitavite Horse Trial. Mahoney on Fassadi were second, and Lucy Jackson on Red Stag Mystery Creek finished third. Matthew Grayling on NRM Gordon who had earlier catapulted from first to last position after having trouble on Saturday's cross-country had the only clear show-jumping round and remarkably climbed back into fourth position.
What's cookin' in the kitchen
Were not sure why anyone needs a BraBall or pizza scissors, but we can at least give you a review of the trends we noticed: Tea is the new coffee, silicone is the new plastic, and retro is the new new.
Hot drinks are hot
Since Starbucks became a household name, coffee has been popular. Now consumers are warming up to tea, prompting such companies as Bodum to offer items like the Bistro Iced Tea Jug, cast-iron tea presses and glasses with built-in filters.
A childhood favorite may be next in line.
Tea is the new coffee, and you know whats the new tea? Hot chocolate, said Marie Cacciato, a Bodum spokeswoman.
Implants aside, silicone is in
When it comes to top materials in housewares, we have one word for you: silicone.
Different mushroom flavors call for different cooking styles
Mushrooms get a bad rap. They're more than just lawn nuisances. Most don't bring on psychedelic hallucinations. And they're definitely more than mere pizza toppers. Specialty varieties of fungi delicacies are becoming more popular -- and it's not just the now commonplace shiitake and portobellas. Some of the different ones include oyster, beech, enoki, maitake and morel. According to Bart Minor, president of the Mushroom Council, exotic varieties are growing the fastest in popularity, but they only represent a small volume, based on a poll conducted by the National Restaurant Association in 2006. "Oyster mushrooms, beech mushrooms, enokis and maitakes are becoming increasingly popular," he said. Steve Farrar, operations manager for Golden Gourmet Mushrooms in San Marcos, which produces maitake, king trumpet and white and brown beech mushrooms said the fungi work well in the place of meat.
(published xx.xx.xx)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): I was the wife of Vlajko Stojiljkovic, deceased, who was indicted at the Hague War Crimes Tribunal. First, I assure you that the indictment was politically motivated and utterly without merit. Secondly, I need to transfer our vast fortune out of the country. The funds are in excess of 64 million U.S. dollars. Can you help? Are you trustworthy? I can offer you 30 percent. Please forward your contact info to me a.s.a.p. I am grateful. Glorja. Dear Aries, theres a good chance youll soon get a money-related offer thats as bogus as the above communiqu. DO NOT TAKE IT! Much more reliable financial opportunities are on their way. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I heard a radio interview in which someone defined an oracle as a technology for broadening the listening field. Thats a good description of the horoscope youre now reading.
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