I am particularly excited about this week’s video from Shawn Powers. When kicking ideas around in the office, we stumbled upon the flip video. We started to notice how many good quality web videos have been produced with one of these little gadgets, and were intrigued.
What particularly appeals to me in this case is that we have a popular consumer device that was not made with Linux in mind, but yet works smashingly well perhaps in spite of itself. I think we are all becoming less dependent on our operating systems to get the job done. Give me a web browser and I am most of the way there with almost any task.
Watch how easy it was to plug this little guy in an pull video straight into Kino.
Over this past July 4th holiday weekend, I got the urge to buy an ice cream maker. Part of this urge was no doubt the result of a little OpMom.com inspiration. See, the lovely ladies at OpMom posted a few recipes for “Italian Wedding” goodies over in the recipes section of OpMom.com. If you dig around you’ll find Italian Wedding Cake, Italian Wedding Cake Martini, and even Italian Wedding Tea. Yum.
Enter me, the tenacious foodie. I decided what this list REALLY needed was some Italian Wedding Ice Cream. Is there such a thing? Who cares. The recipe that follows is my first attempt. The recipe needs a few adjustments however, and among the reasons is that the volume was too much for my 2 qt. ice cream maker. I think it could probably use a little more coconut, and after I eat the whole tub have a few more bites, I will think about what might make this ice cream perfect. Please feel free to suggest any modifications as well. When the recipe is final, I will add it to OpMom.com!
2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
pinch salt
1/2 cup sweetened coconut
1/2 cup lightly toasted chopped pecans (about 1-2 min on 400F)
1/2 cup drained crushed pineapple
Combine the first six ingredients in a bowl. Whisk until the sugar dissolves. Pour into the ice cream maker, and churn for about 20 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients when the ice cream has thickened, but still soft enough to mix.
Finish churning (about 10 more minutes) and enjoy!
So last night Geri and I trekked up to The Woodlands, Texas to get our new favorite wine book signed by the coolest guy in wine, Gary Vaynerchuk.
After loitering a while at Borders for the book signing, we were lucky enough to accompany Gary to a wine bar down the street, Cru (which I have discovered is a chain interestingly enough). We made ourselves comfortable in the back room with a group of Vayniacs, and Gary picked some bottles. There were 9 of us in total, and it was fantastic. By the end of the meal, I figured out why Gary Vaynerchuk is making such a name for himself… everywhere. He makes the people around him feel like rock stars. That’s what it boils down to. This man knows his shit. He knows wine like few others, but shares his knowledge without pretension. His enthusiasm for life is infectious, and you come away feeling fantastic and in love with life somehow (ok, part of that was the wine ). Honestly, it is a damned good thing Gary is not a cult leader because I would TOTALLY drink THAT kool-aid!
He gets technology and web media in a way few non-geeks do. If you are involved in any way with online media, you should be reading his blog and paying attention. Just do it. Trust me on this, and you’ll be glad you did.
The following video made my day yesterday. Watch it and go from there. I couldn’t embed, so you have to click through.
I was reading something about beta sites that are invitation only, and how some seem worthy of such exclusivity whereas some don’t. Justified or not, there are a bunch of cool new-ish things out there that require an invitation. Joost comes to mind, as does Natuba. I already have a Natuba page (thanks Richard), but I thought I might like to try some other nifty “Web 2.0″ thingamajigs out there, so enter inviteshare.com. It is a site simply devoted to passing out invitations. Cool. Got my Joost; trying 8apps. You never know what useful new tool you may find, so give it a shot. Then again, maybe I should have kept it to myself… less competition for the oh-so-coveted invites. Or not.
I like to talk about Google genius, but this bit from Microsoft Live blows me away more than just about anything I have seen lately.
Thanks go to my husband for sending me the coolness, and I know a few of you out there who are much cooler than me have already seen this. For the rest of you…
those people amaze me. If you haven’t seen this already… check out a new feature on google maps that you’ll find in a few cities like NY, San Francisco, Vegas… You’ll see a new button called “street view.”
Actually… these little cuties came this way thanks to Eryn Green of Green Gardens in New Ulm. I picked these up at our place during the last antique show. I usually have a brown thumb, but these have been ok for about a month now. Something seems to be eating the basil though. I am not entirely sure what to do about that. Also, the strawberry plant hasn’t made any new strawberries, and I’m not sure how to encourage it to do so.
). Honestly, it is a damned good thing Gary is not a cult leader because I would TOTALLY drink THAT kool-aid!
