Tomorrow is Wednesday, Ap 14 and Food@24fps.com is back.  After last week’s cheesy evening at William James Hall, when we showed The Cheese Nun, followed by a discussion of artisanal cheese and then an assortment of cheeses from Ihsan Gurdal and Formaggio, we will change the subject.
 
Garlic is the movie and garlic it will be all night.  No vampires for sure.  Steve Johnson of Central Square’s Rendezvous will introduce Les Blank’s famous film about garlic, and we will be serving garlicky snacks.

GARLIC IS AS GOOD AS TEN MOTHERS (Les Blank, 1980)
APRIL 14, WEDNESDAY; 7PM
10 Linden St, Adams House ArtSpace,
Harvard Sq. Garlicky noshes provided.
Free admission. Space limited.
B.Y.O.S. (Bring Your Own Seating)
Introduced by Steve Johnson (of Rendezvous restaurant in Central Sq., Cambridge). Garlic takes us to visit the Gilroy Garlic Festival, the early Chez Panisse with Alice Waters, some flower children of the early 1970s, and a fiery gypsy—all celebrants of garlic. It is a wild and savory paean of praise to the Stinking Rose that, in 2004, was elevated to the National Film Registry (a rare honor for a documentary). For more information, see the film's own description and IMDB.

Mimi and Kevin are always reworking Breakfast@TheBigTable. 
The Creamy Egg sandwich has returned and we bought a huge box of wonderful peas, which is an unusual purchase, even for an ice cream place like Toscanini’s that can make a few startling flavors.

AprilBreakfast@TheBigTable
Every Saturday and Sunday from 10AM to 2PM.

Out of consideration for others you cannot study or use computers ANYWHERE in this room during breakfast.

Popeye’s poached egg: sauted spinach and tomato,
 with toasted 7-grain bread  7.50
Bacon Banana Buttermilk Pancakes
with NH maple syrup 8.25
Scrambled Eggs with crispy breadcrumbs, soft leeks,
peas and parmesan  7.50
  Classic French Toast with NH maple syrup  5.75
Creamy Egg Sandwich on toasted ciabatta  5.95
add bacon  2.25
ADD apple smoked bacon  2.25
Fried Egg : roasted garlic, goat cheese,
and greens on toasted 7-grain bread  5.95
ADD bacon  2.25
 Grilled blueberry muffin with whipped butter  2.95
Side o’bacon  3.75
Sophia’s of Belmont Greek yogurt with honey
and granola  3.25
French Press Coffee from
Barismo.
George Howell,
or Batdorf & Bronson  3.75

Posted via email from Toscanini’s Ice Cream

New ideas brewing at Olin College's Innovation Expo

Posted via email from Toscanini’s Ice Cream

	THIS STORY HAS BEEN FORMATTED FOR EASY PRINTING

The art of espresso gets pretty heated By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent  |  March 31, 2010 SOMERVILLE — As they pull shots, pour steamed milk, and assemble signature drinks, simultaneously describing the features of the coffee they have chosen, little in the competitors’ demeanor suggests the intense pressure they’re under. A slight hand tremor, visible only to those in the first or second row, give some away. Thirty-six baristas are doing what they do every day, except that an audience and seven judges are watching them. And they have a time limit. “It’s like ‘Iron Chef’ on caffeine,’’ says Matthew Hodges of Peace River Coffee. At the 2010 Northeast Regional Barista Competition, held this month at the Somerville Center for the Arts at the Armory, baristas have 15 minutes to make and serve four espressos, four cappuccinos, and four espresso-based signature drinks. The latter range from the culinary-inspired (hollowed out pears lined with dark chocolate and filled with pureed cooked pear, hazelnut whipped cream, and espresso) to the shockingly simple (a shot of espresso that its creator promises will taste totally different from her previous one in the “espresso’’ round). The event, held in New England for the first time, drew competitors from the Bay State, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, and New York. Any lingering doubts about Boston’s legitimate coffee culture can be tossed out like the grounds from yesterday’s moka pot. This is the largest of the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s 10 regional competitions of 2009-10. Of the six finalists, three are locals and three are from New York. Nikolas Krankl, owner of Taste Coffee House in Newtonville, placed second, behind Danielle Glasky, from Stumptown Coffee Roasters in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood. Both will go on to the national competition in Anaheim, Calif., next month, Glasky with her expenses paid. Finalist Claire Cheney, a barista at Boston’s Flat Black Coffee Co., says she loves the intensity of the competition. “These are all awesome baristas.’’ Todd Mackey of New Harvest Coffee Roasters in Pawtucket, R.I., was the other local finalist. A steady crowd of coffee aficionados, competitors’ friends and relatives, and industry insiders kept the Armory buzzing for the three days of the event. “The New England region is turning a corner in a big way,’’ declares George Howell, president of George Howell Coffee Co., who brought specialty coffee to the Boston area in the mid-1970s through his former business, Coffee Connection. “We’re seeing a renaissance. Cafes are declaring independence from roasters. They’re all doing rotating espressos. It will lead to increased education.’’ That the competition took place locally was due in large part to Jaime van Schyndel, co-owner of Barismo in Arlington, which hosted the event and cosponsored it with New Harvest and Howell Coffee. Van Schyndel says his goal “was to get the community together. We invited people to cosponsor with us and invited roasters to serve their coffee.’’ A coffee bar was unique to the Boston competition. Being on stage, which is set up to imitate a coffee bar, is “beyond words nerve-racking,’’ says Nathaniel Hoyt, a barista at Simon’s Coffee Shop in Cambridge. He competes, he says, because “it’s the best way to become a better barista. It’s also the most painful way. It pushes you to be perfect.’’ “I’m going to let my coffee speak for itself,’’ says Jordan Barber of Cafe Grumpy in New York, as he prepares his signature drink during the finals round. Taking his lead from what he describes as his coffee’s hazelnut and blood orange features, Barber, who placed third, mixes espresso with a blood orange reduction, almond- and hazelnut-infused water, cream, and a pinch of fleur de sel. Krankl mixes panna cotta and a reduction of dried cherries and blueberries — both of which he had made — and sets them over a low flame while he prepares his cappuccinos and espressos. For his signature, he adds 70 percent Valrhona chocolate and espresso to the panna cotta, then whisks everything together. Glasky’s signature drink begins with a base of coffee infused with rosemary, and steamed milk with honey. She adds espresso shots, and tells judges to stir with rosemary stems that she had dipped in honey. The competition may be over, but Beantown’s coffee community is fired up.

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	THIS STORY HAS BEEN FORMATTED FOR EASY PRINTING

INNOVATION ECONOMY Going with what they know Narrow market niches put two experienced entrepreneurs to test By Scott Kirsner, Globe Staff  |  April 11, 2010 You are probably not the ideal customer for Vince Fedele or Ian Agranat. Fedele’s latest product is a $30 iPhone app intended to help cafes and restaurants ensure the coffee they’re brewing tastes perfect. The newest release from Wildlife Acoustics Inc., Agranat’s Concord-based company, is an $850 weatherproof monitoring system that can let you know how much bat activity there is in a given area — for instance, a hilltop where you’re planning to erect a few wind turbines. Both entrepreneurs are a wee bit obsessed with their areas of specialization: Fedele fell in love with expertly-brewed java at the original Coffee Connection shop in Harvard Square in the mid-1970s, and Agranat, an Audubon camper as a kid, can identify the call of a tufted titmouse as the audio wave forms scroll by on his computer screen. Both companies target as their customers a relatively small and very discerning customer base, whether baristas or biologists. Both were founded by entrepreneurs with a track record of success: Fedele developed Mac peripherals that Apple chief executive Steve Job regularly lauded in public speeches, and Agranat sold a tech company for $33 million a decade ago. And both raise the question: is it easier for an entrepreneur to pick a narrow market segment with few competitors and try to own it, or create something for which the whole world is your potential customer base? Fedele’s latest project, Harvard-based VST Inc., took shape while he was an executive at the George Howell Coffee Co., a coffee roaster and distributor in Acton. (Howell was the founder of Coffee Connection, the late, lamented Boston chain acquired by Starbucks Corp.) One of his initiatives was to ensure that the company’s coffee was brewed consistently in the cafes and restaurants where it was served. “You might have our coffee at a cafe in the morning, and it would taste different in the afternoon because they were brewing a smaller batch and weren’t doing it right,’’ Fedele explains. “It takes a year to harvest, process, store, roast, and grind coffee beans, and then you can blow it all in the last five minutes when you brew it.’’ So Fedele, trained as an electrical engineer, gave himself a crash course in the chemistry of coffee. He learned about the ideal temperature for brewing (201 degrees Fahrenheit), and the dangers of over-extraction (the size of the coffee grounds or the speed at which water passes through them can make the resulting beverage bitter.) The results were a $199 software package Fedele dubbed ExtractMoJo and a specially adapted tool called a coffee refractometer. Using data like the amount and temperature of water being used for a batch, the grind setting for the coffee grinder, and brewing time, a barista can set up recipes for the way a particular kind of coffee should be brewed whether it’s espresso, drip coffee, or iced; light roast or dark; from Kenya or Guatemala. The $359 refractometer Fedele developed analyzes how the way light passes through a small sample of coffee, and tells you the “total dissolved solids’’ in the beverage — essentially, how much of the bean’s essence has ended up in the water. “The ideal range is between 1.2 percent and 1.5 percent,’’ Fedele explains, “but most American coffee is below 1 percent.’’ Coffee mavens seem to love the system. Nikolas Krankl, owner of Taste Coffee Shop in Newtonville, says it is useful for trouble shooting, in combination with his own palate. “If you’re getting a sour shot of espresso, you can use Mojo, pull a couple shots, and you have fewer variables that could be causing the effect,’’ Krankl says. Canton-based Dunkin’ Brands Inc. uses the software in its research-and-development labs but doesn’t have plans to roll out to franchisees, and Peets Coffee & Tea Inc. also is a user of ExtractMoJo, though it hasn’t yet rolled the system out to all of its stores. Within the past few weeks, Fedele bought the ExtractMojo product from George Howell Coffee Co. for an undisclosed amount, spinning it out as its own business, and launched an iPhone version of the software. Howell “wanted to concentrate on coffee, and I wanted to concentrate on technology,’’ he says. His hope is that the iPhone app, at $30, will enhance the product’s appeal, especially for big chains that might want to equip each of their stores with the system. (The PC software includes some extra features that the iPhone app does not, like large-format charts.) “For less than $400, you can get the app and a refractometer, and practically everyone has an iPhone now,’’ he says. For now, VST Inc. is still a one-man show. In contrast, Agranat at Wildlife Acoustics just hired his first employee, though the business still operates out of his Concord home, tucked away on a wooded hillside. When he first started the business in 2003, his goal was to design a $99 handheld device that would help outdoor enthusiasts automatically identify the birds around them from their song. “I thought of it as the perfect gift for my sister-in-law, when I haven’t thought of anything else to buy her for Christmas,’’ says Jean Hammond, an angel investor who put some money into Wildlife. Released in 2005, the Song Sleuth, about the size and weight of a pair of binoculars, was able to identify 60 different avian species but it cost $499. While there were positive reviews, Agranat didn’t have the resources to mount a big marketing campaign. “We spent a ton of cash developing a product for the broad consumer market that I knew nothing about,’’ he says. After a few inquiries from the US Forest Service, which needs to track endangered and threatened bird species on the land it manages, Agranat decided to narrow his focus. He revamped the device, turning it into a rugged digital field recorder for the biologists charged with tracking what species live where. With just four “D’’ cell batteries, it can record 230 hours of sound over a period of months; the audio files are then imported to a PC for analysis. Most of his customers so far have been using the system to monitor bird and frog activity, but the latest product records the ultrasonic calls of bats (which aren’t audible to human ears), and he hopes to also offer a version for underwater monitoring of marine mammals. “We talk to every customer and get feedback about what they need from the product,’’ Agranat says, which results in new features like the ability to turn the recorder on for an hour after sunrise or an hour before sunset, even as those times change through the year. Some entrepreneurs find that tight linkage with a small community of customers appealing (even if it may be hard to build a big business doing so.) Others aspire to the glory of creating something that all of us will be aware of, and may have a need for a product like Google, FedEx, or the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner. “There are plenty of successful entrepreneurs who favor this world,’’ Agranat writes via e-mail. But “I have learned that I am not one of them.’’ Wildlife has been operating in the black for two years, and Agranat expects 2010 will be the first year the company breaks $1 million in revenues. Focusing on small markets can naturally constrain a company’s growth potential, says Hammond, the investor. But with Wildlife, the strategy of going after adjacent customer bases like bat researchers and whale researchers has the potential to create “a serious, multimillion-dollar business,’’ she says. Hammond has also backed companies making products geared to all of us, including the Boston-based Dancing Deer Baking Co., which sells cookies and brownies. The central question with that kind of business is “will you be able to rise above the noise in the industry and get market traction?’’ she says. “And that can be risky and hard.’’ Scott Kirsner can be reached at kirsner@pobox.com. Follow him on Twitter @ScottKirsner.

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Scott Ambrose Reilly contains multitudes.  He owns the Toscanini's record for most days in a row eating a banana split.  Towards the end of that Dimaggio-like streak he would come to the store with his own banana, brandishing it over his head as he pushed through the doorway, shouting, "I'm here and I have my banana."  He once attempted to drive cross-country with a box of melting ice cream.  Near the Arizona-California border he fell asleep and survived a terrible crash.  He shared the ice cream with medical  personnel.  Scott was the lead singer in a band with a group of rock critics, and I think they covered Elvis songs.  The band may have been called Aces High, and I'm sure they promised to play five gigs and then disband.  I saw the band play at The Middle East, with a visiting philosopher from Italy.  At one point Scott was being pelted with ladys' underwear when he slid down the microphone stand, a la James Brown, and disappered from view while the crowd went completely crazy.  The philosopher asked, "Are all American concerts like this?" 

Scott represented Mojo Nixon and God Street Wine and embraced all new media formats as outlets for the music he loved so much.  I ran into him at digital conferences at MIT's Media Lab and I ran into him backstage at a Black Crowes-Allman Bros. concert.  We both ate a lot from incoherent picnic provided for the bands. 

Most recently he has been working for Amazon.  And today he announced his retirement from the music industry.

Dear friends and music business colleagues,

On Monday I start a new position running business development for Periodicals for the Amazon Kindle team.  It is an exciting opportunity to be on the groundfloor of another exciting opportunity.  The many years of experience in digital music provides a great insight into some of the challenges and opportunities ahead for the digital periodical space.

Monday will be the first day in nearly 20 years I won't spend the entire day thinking, working and plotting how to get more music in front of more people.  Monday will be the first day in a long time where growing the digital music space will not occupy 100% of my awake time.  Monday also means I get to listen to music just for pleasure.  Just because I want to and just because it moves me.  It will be lots of Tom Jones, Tom Waits, Dolly Parton, The Yayhoos and Ryan Bingham on Monday.

I am very proud of my 20 years in music.  I still remember selling tickets online via the Sonicnet bulletin board for a God Street Wine show at Irving Plaza in 1993.  I distinctly remember a conversation with Jim Griffin in the Geffen offices about how to use the Internet to promote the next God Street Wine album and he said "have you heard of the World Wide Web?".  Had band websites up in 1994, MP3 downloads in 1996.  Got a small piece of the late 90s new media bubble in the way of advances for Mojo Nixon for digital rights to his catalog.  Between the years at Digital Club Network, eMusic and Amazon I have been responsible for more than 10,000 digital licensing deals.

I am particularly proud of the last 3½ years at Amazon.  11.5 million tracks available in six countries.  All DRM-free which they said couldn't be done just three years ago.  How can I not be proud of the Daily Deal that has been so successful it riled the Cupertino beast?  Having the opportunity to lead the content acquisition, vendor management and operations teams for this brand new digital music category at Amazon has been a privilege and responsibility I have not taken lightly.  Being the co-chair of the NARM Digital Think Tank Operations Work group has been a good way to give back to an industry that has given so much to me.

I appreciate all that Pete Baltaxe and Bill Carr have taught me and have allowed me to accomplish in 3 1/2 years.  I have had an amazing team of people working with me and working hard everyday to make this the best customer experience possible for digital downloads.  Most of you have made this journey memorable, introduced me to some great music, allowed me to try some cockamamie schemes, made a few bold bets and I will miss the characters that make up the music business.  A few of you have been a total pain in the ass and really should think about trying to make this business a better place once in awhile.  Maybe listen to Elvis' "If I Can Dream" on your way into the office.  The music business and the world could use more positive energy.

Jill Chapman will continue to run the operations team and will report directly to Pete Baltaxe.  jchapman@amazon.com  Jill knows more about digital operations than I ever could but she is much shyer about it.

The indefatigable Griff Morris will take over all the content acquisition and vendor management responsibilities also reporting to Pete Baltaxe.  griffmor@amazon.com.  I am honored to have had Griff handling all content acquisition for the last 3 years and have utmost confidence he will bring a grace and compassion to the role where I have many times faltered.  Remember, always bet on bald if you want to get the job done.

I have a few things to still wrap up over the coming weeks so some of you will continue to hear from me.  Some of you will continue to hear from me just cause I like you or want to talk about music.  But if you want to argue Sinatra vs Dino or talk about the new Band Of Horses it will just be as a fan so don't bring up units or demographics.

Thanks to all my team over the last 3½ years and my extended family in the MP3 and CD teams here at Amazon.  Thanks to every nutjob in the business that can't stop trying to spread the music and still find themselves in the midnight hours in loud clubs, feet tapping, hips swaying trying to keep the madness locked behind their glowing eyes (at least until the boss and the bloggers leave).  I'll probably shed a few tears over the weekend.

But then on Monday it is time to start the adventure of Kindle Periodicals.  I am thrilled Amazon is giving me another great opportunity like this to help develop and grow a burgeoning digital media space.  And now I get to listen to music just for PLEASURE!!!

Posted via email from Toscanini’s Ice Cream

Posted via email from Toscanini’s Ice Cream

AprilBreakfast@TheBigTable
Every Saturday and Sunday from 10AM to 2PM.

Out of consideration for others you cannot study or use computers ANYWHERE in this room during breakfast.

Popeye’s poached egg: sauted spinach and tomato,
 with toasted 7-grain bread  7.50
Bacon Banana Buttermilk Pancakes
with NH maple syrup 8.25
Scrambled Eggs with crispy breadcrumbs, soft leeks,
peas and parmesan  7.50
  Classic French Toast with NH maple syrup  5.75
Creamy Egg Sandwich on toasted ciabatta  5.95
add bacon  2.25
ADD apple smoked bacon  2.25
Fried Egg : roasted garlic, goat cheese,
and greens on toasted 7-grain bread  5.95
ADD bacon  2.25
 Grilled blueberry muffin with whipped butter  2.95
Side o’bacon  3.75
Sophia’s of Belmont Greek yogurt with honey
and granola  3.25
French Press Coffee from
Barismo.
George Howell,
or Batdorf & Bronson  3.75
 

Posted via email from Toscanini’s Ice Cream

Providence doesn't have many things to reccomend, but it does have a few.  Along with Al Forno and the intimate RISD art museum it has Farmstead cheese, which is much more.  So much more that for the second year in a row they won the Big Boston Snortdown, against very tough competition.  Let's see what they can do with rabbits.

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You should read newgeograpahy.com.  Articles on politics, demography, urbanism.

http://www.newgeography.com/content/001498-pondering-urban-authenticity-a-look-new-book-%E2%80%9Cnaked-city“If you seek authenticity for authenticity’s sake you are no longer authentic.”

– Jean-Paul Sartre

As the United States shifted from a manufacturing to a knowledge-based economy during the latter half of the 20th Century, former industrial cities suffered population losses to the suburbs and post-WWII boomtowns. Some of these cities were able to stay afloat while others went into permanent decline never to fully recover. Most experienced an increase in crime and a decrease in quality-of-life.

Following flight from the city core, an entire generation of Americans, Generation X (born roughly between the early 1960s and early 1980s), was raised in suburban environments which they came to resent as bland and homogenous. Alienated by the conformity of the ‘burbs,, this generation suffered a kind of postmodern malaise which in turn spurred a quest for meaning. Rather than uniting around a single cause like their parents and grandparents, Xers searched for meaning by seeking out a variety of ‘authentic experiences’.

One of the places that more adventurous GenXers sought authentic experience was in gritty but dangerously alluring urban environments. Rejecting the values of post-war America, many looked to the city as a place to reconnect with the hustle and bustle of diverse and ethnic neighborhoods.

This was a significant break from what might be seen as aspirational urbanism. Instead of returning to the city for economic opportunity, as had been the case since the inception of the Industrial Revolution, to the move to the city had transformed into essentially a lifestyle choice.

In her new book Naked Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places, Sharon Zukin assess the effects of this phenomenon by taking stock of her home city New York. Zukin, a Professor of Sociology at Brooklyn College, asserts that a true sense of authenticity has been lost. In the introduction she clarifies this assertion by stating

    “Authenticity is not a stage set of historic buildings as in SoHo or a performance of bright lights as at Times Square; it’s a continuous process of living and working, a gradual buildup of everyday experience, the expectations that neighbors and buildings that are here today will be here tomorrow.”

Naked City highlights areas where gentrification has had the most impact on neighborhood character, including Manhattan’s Harlem and East Village as well as several Brooklyn neighborhoods. Despite their differences, each of these neighborhoods experienced a similar increase in real estate prices during the recent boom years. As is typically the case with gentrification, condo developers – often constructing projects far larger than commonly found in the area’s traditional landscape – descended upon these places once they had proved to be up-and-coming hip spots.

In a sense, a neighborhood like Williamsburg has become a victim of its own success. Located conveniently across the East River from Manhattan and full of convertible industrial spaces, Williamsburg is the quintessential model for post-industrial gentrification. With a keen sociologists’ eye, Zukin observes how the influx of hipsters from out of town looking for ‘authentic experience’ has ironically made the neighborhood too costly for long time working-class residents that gave it its appealing identity in the first place.

One of the most thought-provoking chapters of Naked City, titled A Tale of Two Globals, examines the small Brooklyn neighborhood of Red Hook – not long ago a crime-infested poor community. Red Hook’s sinister reputation subsided in large part due to the arrival of New York City’s first IKEA store in 2008. Zukin describes how the big-box store was fought tooth and nail by gentrifiers yet positively concedes that IKEA ultimately transformed a dead zone and lived up to its promise of hiring local workers.

Not far from IKEA, a group of Central American immigrants have been serving up snacks in traditional fare at a local soccer field since the early 90s when crack was still a major problem. The pupusa street vendors originally catered to immigrant families attending soccer matches on the weekends. Zukin details how the Salvadoran vendors gained popularity with the hip crowd when the word of the delicious authentic food spread over local food blogs. With their newfound popularity, the street food vendors attracted the attention of city regulators who then proceeded to make their life difficult, coming close to shutting down their entire operations.

The subtitle of the book alludes to urban deity Jane Jacobs, with whom Zukin shares the skill of making a compelling narrative out of describing urban development battles. Zukin is obviously influenced by Jacobs, but she also dares to be critical of her ideas. She posits that Jacobs focused too much on the built character of the street and did not give enough attention to the sociological factors effecting cities. Zukin might have a valid point: the popularity of Jacobs’ romantic notions of the city helped attract people back to the city in the first place, but in the process transformed them into idealized urban playgrounds. Jacobs’ message has even been twisted by developers and their pundit allies to the point where her ideas are used as marketing tools.

Zukin deserves much credit for taking on the complex issue of the authenticity of cities. Yet, by the end of Naked Cities, we are left with more questions than answers. Is it really so bad that New York has been gentrified? Has gentrification and increases in living costs been one of the determining factors in helping crime rates drop to historic lows? Certainly, a lower crime rate is better for quality of life but an increased cost of living is no good for the middle and working classes. At one point in her book, Zukin discusses Union Square Park and its affiliation with the local ‘Business Improvement District’ (BID). Union Square Park is in reality a privately run zone masquerading as public space. Is this where are cities are headed? Is this good or bad? A libertarian would say fine but a socialist would probably cry foul.

Although Naked Cities deals specifically with New York, the issues brought forth by the book are familiar to other American cities. For one, the ‘hipster’ culture, largely defined by Williamsburg in Brooklyn, has replicated itself in neighborhoods in other cities such as the Mission District in San Francisco and Silver Lake in Los Angeles. Though very different in character, the types of people attracted to these places generally share the same tastes in art, fashion and music, bringing their own form of cultural homogenization and conformity to once unique and authentic neighborhoods.

One thing is for sure – ‘authenticity’ in the true sense of the word has probably departed large parts of New York City for good. Once a representation of new beginnings, the city is well on its way to museum status. This does not mean New York will go away – it may become to the 20th Century what Paris is to the 19th Century.

When it comes to hope and aspiration, a true sense of ‘authenticity’ is probably best experienced in cities in the developing world such as China where opportunity abounds in urban centers. It can also be found, curiously, in suburban ethnic malls and strip-centers around Los Angeles, San Jose or Houston, or at farmer’s markets and neighborhood activities in less fashionable cities. But, increasingly, not in the once ‘authentic’ place now subsumed in what New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has dubbed ‘the luxury city’.

Adam Nathaniel Mayer is a native of California. Raised in Silicon Valley, he developed a keen interest in the importance of place within the framework of a highly globalized economy. Adam attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles where he earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree. He currently lives in China where he works in the architecture profession. His blog can be read at http://adamnathanielmayer.blogspot.com/

Adam Nathaniel Mayer is a native of California. Raised in Silicon Valley, he developed a keen interest in the importance of place within the framework of a highly globalized economy. Adam attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles where he earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree. He currently lives in China where he works in the architecture profession. His blog can be read at http://adamnathanielmayer.blogspot.com/

Posted via email from Toscanini’s Ice Cream

On Tuesday April 6 The Harvard Crimson has an above the fold front page photo of strange-looking people eating wonderful cheese after watching Food24fps.com's presentation of The Cheese Nun.  Below the fold there is a photo of four women eating pizza at a Kickoff event for Sexual assault Awareness Month. 

Food24fps.com presented the documentary at William James Hall,  about a lactose-intolerant Benedictine nun from Connecticut who is a world-renowned expert on the microbiology of cheese.  A panel discussion of the movie and cheese followed, then  Ihsan Gurdal of Formaggio served examples of fine cheeses from his Huron Avenue store. 

Posted via email from Toscanini’s Ice Cream