#161 - WTF?

hey BP! WTF? you've really caused one hell of a mess down in the gulf of mexico, huh? it's been fifty-six days and counting since your oil rig blew up down in the gulf, killing eleven people & releasing oil into the gulf and from what i can tell, there's still no end in site. at first, you tried placing the blame elsewhere & since then, you've deployed a handful of ridiculous methods in an attempt to try & stop the leak and contain the spill, methods with comical names like "top kill" & "junk shot." surprise surprise...none of them have worked & with thousands of gallons of oil pouring into the gulf each day, the spill is now almost as large as pennsylvania.

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only in ny #2: van leeuwen

snack: giandujia chocolate ice cream
drink: hot chocolate

as a child, i loved ice cream. i grew up in a household where we sat down to dinner almost every night & at the end, if we'd finished everything on our plate, we'd get dessert. 90% of the time, that dessert was ice cream. even nowadays, when i go back home to visit, there are two or three cartons of ice cream in the fridge & my parents still have a bowl of ice cream after almost every dinner. personally, i haven't kept the same enthusiasm for ice cream & lately, i've only had it a couple times a year tops. it's a great treat & all, but it's cold & at some point in adulthood, i chose to embrace my lifelong hatred of the cold & i guess ice cream sort of got pushed to the side.

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snackdown! - 2.12.10

after sunday's super bowl, you'd think that folks (other than the doritos samurai) wouldn't want to think about snacks for a little bit, but that's not the case. after all, this sunday is valentine's day, or as i like to refer to it..."V-D" & while much of the holiday is based on making money for the flower & greeting card companies, it's also an opportunity to surprise your sweetie with some sweets. many men will bore their significant other with the standard box of chocolates, but carnivores will opt for a more adventurous route with the beef jerky bouquet. either way, those planning on celebrating V-D this weekend should plan on doing some snacking...& on that note, let's get to the snackdown!

• do you live in l.a.? despite that, do you have a positive outlook on life? are you japanese? are you a snack ninja? if so, the JAO (japanese american optimist club) has the event for you. on feb 20th, as part of their bingo night, they're holding a "snack-off," where competitors will "compete for the title of JAO snack queen (or king) of the year." the snack-off, which will feature "sweet treats," will also lead to a snack cookbook filled with recipes from the event. in addition, the event will feature the "2nd annual pie the commissioner booth" & a snack bar with "chili rice, ramen, hot dogs & other items." to this i say...BINGO! (rafu shimpo)


• food trucks have been all the rage for a while, but until now, nyc has been lacking one particular type of food truck: an organic vegan one. starting this sunday, the "cinnamon snail" food truck will set up shop in hoboken & offer customers "a menu of unprocessed, organic, and local foods, with gluten-free, macrobiotic, and raw options." we're talking breakfast, lunch & snack options including vegan donuts & "hempseed-encrusted tofu with spicy french mustard dressing over white truffle mashed potatoes and greens." from a truck! adam sobel, owner of the cinnamon snail, hopes to soon bring the truck to brooklyn, a development that can't come soon enough because really, who the f wants to go to hoboken? (village voice)


• ...so this sunday is valentine's day. regardless of whether you're celebrating with someone or doing the single thing this V-D, you can't deny the awesomeness of candy hearts. they're perfect for that moment when you see a hottie across the bar & want to get them to make out with you. instead of dealing with all that "you should make out with me" awkwardness, you can just walk up to them & hand them a "kiss me" candy heart. it's a move that's so cute & sweet that you're 92% guaranteed to get some action. this year, candy hearts are celebrating their 145th anniversary by coming out with new sayings & new flavors (strawberry, green apple, lemon, grape, orange & blue raspberry), so not only will your move be sweet & cute, but it will also be totally updated for the twenty-ten. (the beacon)


• i've never been a military guy myself, but i do respect the fact that those in the military do a lot of things that i would never in my life be able to do. take the marines who attended the "cobra gold 2010 war games" in thailand. the event aimed to "promote regional peace and security," but the best part of it was when marines devoured such culinary delights as scorpions & cobra blood (which they also smeared themselves with). frogs & lizards are also on the menu. that's some hardcore semper fi shizz, folks. i mean, once you've drank the blood of a cobra, killing iraqis & afghanis should be no problem. (the daily mail)


• wisconsin is totally cheesy. the badger state is ranked "number one in cheese production," with "1200 cheesemakers" that produce "25% of all the cheese made in the united states." with that in mind, wisconsin state senator jim sullivan is sponsoring a bill (which has been in the works for four years now) that will make cheese wisconsin's official state snack. official state snacks are nothing new to u.s. politics, as illinois has popcorn, south carolina has boiled peanuts, texas has tortilla chips & salsa and utah has jell-o. jell-o!...but this is the first time that journalists writing about the official state snack have been able to use phrases like "'nacho' average legislation," "a 'gouda' idea" & "if the legislation passes 'munster'" whilst doing so. (wisconsin radio network)

nosh nook #115 - friday, august 21, 2009

three best ways to start a food truck business (link)
08.20.09 - wall street journal - by raymund flandez

as i mentioned a few months back, food trucks have recently become all the rage in nyc. from the cupcake truck to the schnitzel truck to the fancy burger truck, the number of gourmet food trucks peppering our streets just keeps growing. the phenomena's not unique to nyc though. food trucks have also sprung up in l.a., austin, d.c. and a handful of cities throughout the country. maybe you're thinking "i want to get me a truck & peddle stuff on a stick to the good citizens of my city, but have no idea how to go about it. i wish there was some sort of helpful guide to steer me in the right direction." keep looking. you aren't going to find it in the wall street journal.

the wall street journal's raymund flandez has put together a smashingly low-level & ultimately useless summary of the craze & how other hopeful entrepreneurs can get on board. he's even named it "the three best ways to start a food truck business" even though it's clearly a rundown of the top three things that you should do when starting a food truck business & not the three best ways to start one. his handy tips are supposedly handy for both "restaurateurs seeking an extra boost in sales" and "entrepreneurs looking to sell food without paying rent." i beg to differ.

...so if you're looking to start a food truck business, the first thing you need to do is "buy a used truck for cheap." yep. it's true...can't start a food truck business without a food truck. once you've done that, you need to "find a good location to sell your food." also true. if you're trying to sell your food outside of an abandoned building, you might have trouble attracting customers. if you set up shop out front of a mcdonalds, they'll probably call the cops. with your truck & location set up, you should "use social-networking technology" to keep customers up-to-date with what's going on with your truck, including your location. flandez suggests using "twitter, facebook and blogs." he doesn't mention myspace though, even though both it & the journal are part of the newscorp family. it makes sense though, since myspace is so five years ago...sorry bout that $580 million you paid for it, rupert.

nosh nook #75 - friday, june 26, 2009

social media will not get me to eat your gross pizza (link)
06.25.09 - cnet - by caroline mccarthy

social media rules! actual scientific fact: if you have a band/organization/corporation & want it to succeed, you've got to promote it. luckily, thanks to social media, it doesn't matter what you're promoting or what the quality of it is as long as you have a twitter account or a facebook page or whatever social media platform is all the rage at that particular moment in time. if you have a social media strategy as well, the popularity of your band/organization/corporation will instantly skyrocket & as a result, the big bucks will just start pouring in pretty much instantly.

the world's largest & hippest pizza chains are no stranger to the power of social media & have decided it's time for them to get their hands on some of that social media fat cash. yesterday, both dominos & pizza hut revealed their social media strategies. as cnet's caroline mccarthy reports, those strategies are geared towards getting the social networking generation psyched about their crappy pizza. on july 4th, pizza hut (or "the hut" if you're hip) will be giving away free orders of "stuffed pizza rolls" to its facebook fans & twitter followers. dominos announced that their online ordering system has become even better, as you'll now be able to track your order on facebook & twitter. thank god. it's about time that someone came up with another reason for me to go on facebook.

caroline mccarthy's not fooled though. she's a fellow new yorker & as such, has 24/7 access to quality pizza. if she wants gross pizza, a concept perfected by chains such as pizza hut & dominos, she'll head over to crocodile lounge, where any day of the year, she can get a free, crappy single-serving pizza with every drink she buys. she doesn't "give a hoot if the ordering process is spiced up with twitter coupons, facebook connect tracking updates, a ustream feed in the kitchen where it's made, or GPS chips to track it on google latitude."  crappy pizza is crappy pizza & no social media strategy can change that...although i bet she'd change her mind if she got a facebook friend request from the noid.  i would.