Even a backyard cookout takes a lot of work. It’s really nice when it is someone else doing the heavy lifting.
But when you’re talking a whole cow- 900 pounds plus- and adding goat, lamb, chicken, turkey, pork and even llama cooked over two days…well, the heavy lifting takes on a whole new level.
“Bovinova” has five principals, and a cast of many more, but the event is really the brainchild of Jeff Bannister. He got the idea from a Travel Channel feature with Tony Bourdain and a chef cooking a whole cow in Uruguay.
This is the second year for the event- “2.0”, subtitled “The Barn Yard Burn”. Next year is already planned with a mysterious “Ark” theme. Our company got involved as a sponsor of this year’s event when we learned some of the proceeds went to the Wounded Warrior project.
Bovinova has media drawing power, which could allow it to scale and benefit the charities even more. Last year, it was on the cover of the NY Times. This year, Toronto celeb chef Roger Mooking was there both days filming segments for the Cooking Channel. Mooking is the current host of “Everyday Exotic”, but The Barn Yard Burn is scheduled to appear in September on a new show called “Man. Fire. Food.”
Bannister and company targeted 400 ticket sales and ended up cutting off tickets at 700 plus. That should return a handsome payout for the charities. But, what is the real payoff on an event like this? The memories.
Bannister provided a great memory for my Mom as she happened to be the most senior attendee. She was given the role of “official” starter, handling the “traditional” opening of the bottle of champagne. With a sword.
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Let’s hope there are many more years of success for Bovinova and growth for the charities they support. We’re proud to help out, and especially benefit the Wounded Warrior Project!
See more on Roger Mooking at http://www.rogermooking.com/
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Special instruction on champagne swording, #Bovinova style. Kimberly Kelly from Your Carolina and Jeff Bannister outside the Michelin On Main studios.
We stumbled across Encore in the middle of downtown Simpsonville (http://www.encoresimpsonville.com/) last weekend while attending a fundraiser for Generations Group Home. They’re not normally open Sundays, but noted they were doing a Mother’s Day brunch, so we tried them for the first time.
To be generous, I think we caught them a little early in their learning curve.
Saw only three staffers, who were gracious and welcoming, and they were serving only 5 parties in the intimate space. The company at my table was great (OK, I’m biased), and we didn’t have to cook or clean. That’s the good news. All of it.
A party of five that arrived at the same time we did, and with similar 11AM reservations, were told a group had “jumped in front of them”, and they would need to wait. They were finally seated a full hour later. We fared better, I guess, in that we were seated promptly, but the manager thought it was humorous to tell me that my table was “being cut down” and delivered. After a few minutes, I found myself sitting at a metal table brought up from the porch outside the front door.
By then, we decided to just sit back and let the dining adventure play out. We DID have good company.
After a wait of 35 minutes, Jeanette had the French Toast, which was good, and Mom and I both had the roast beef. At $12, the sandwich would satisfy your needs if you favor more minimalist portions- a slice and a half of roast beef, a few shreds of carmelized onion, one tomato and 2 cheese slices per half. While I ordered chips, they apparently preferred I have broccoli salad as my side instead. The chips then came later, served on a flat white dinner plate.
Jeanette and I had two mimosas (hey, it’s Mother’s Day!), and the tab was a hearty $62. Looked good placed on my special table.
For us, there won’t be an Encore. If you’re planning one, I might wait a little longer until they’re deeper into the learning curve.
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Encore, 104 S Main St., Simpsonville, SC 29681, (864) 228-0707
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Then this is for you.
Who hasn’t gazed at the screen at some point and said, “This is crap!”?
Now, you can do something about it. Thanks to startup Shitter, you can literally turn your Tweets, or anyone else’s, into toilet paper. (No Facebook version, sorry, you’re on your own with that one.)
Now, keeping in mind that April Fool’s is Sunday…
It is all very easy. Simply visit the Website, connect your Twitter account, then you can order toilet paper displaying your tweets, timeline, favorites, any list you’ve created, or public tweets of anyone you choose. It is a little pricey for TP, you have to order four rolls for $35.
I am sure you already have an idea or two for a timeline that DESERVES this kind of treatment. There’s all sorts of puns yet to be made about what this says about our society and where Social Media stands in 2012.
Write them down. Read them. Then flush.
This isn’t really about basketball, even though this time of year, it could be.
If you follow NCAA Basketball, you know that they are in the middle of the annual tournament that has come to be known as “March Madness”.
You might even know that my alma mater, Indiana, a traditional power in men’s college basketball, made it back to the round of 16 for the first time in a decade. A combination of recruiting scandal and poor coaching choices had put the program in the gutter. Enter energetic coach Tom Crean, and after winning a total of 28 games his first three years, won 27 this year alone. But, “Hoosier Nation” will have to watch someone else win the tourney now, as they lost to another traditional power, Kentucky, last night.
PHOTO: Joe Robbins/ Getty Images
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But, this story isn’t about the wins as much as it is about the resurgence of “the feeling”. Not about the team that had its fans in the Georgia dome last night in Cream and Crimson “We’re Back!” t-shirts…but about the attitude of the tradition of winning. Fair and square. Perhaps even a little hokey, at times. It’s an acquired taste. Unique to college athletics. Perhaps unique to the Midwest.
One of the things Crean has tried to do is connect old fans and new ones. Bring back the connection to the glory days. That’s where Martha Webster comes in. Beginning in 1971, Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance created an opening for TV coverage of IU games aired on the local Indianapolis independent station. Farm Bureau pulled the ads when Bob Knight was fired, but now, she’s back:
YouTube/IndianaFarmBureau
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Martha has even become a bit of an icon, and at 80 years old, even has her own IU Cleaning Lady Facebook Page.
She writes: “To all the loyal and loving fans who take the time to send their thoughts, I want to say: You make me so very happy and proud that the efforts to make a “nice, little commercial” have blossomed over the years. Looking back over more than 75 years of performing (I am now 80-a big surprise to me) I have to say that being the IU Cleaning Lady, or Mop Lady, is among my most treasured memories. I am writing a book about some of my many musical “adventures” and you all are to be highlighted among my blessings. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
So, as Martha puts away The Mop, it’s been a feel good year. For IU fans, it’s good to feel good again. A taste acquired that tastes good again.
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YouTube Video from IUAthletics
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Mercedes has a new feature called “Park Assist” on some of their cars that alerts you when you drive past an empty parking space. Don’t want you to miss one, don’t want you taking your eyes off the road ahead. Safety First, and all.
But, to publicize the feature recently, they really wanted you to be on Twitter while driving.
Over the Christmas holiday in Stuttgart, Mercedes launched the MB “Tweet Fleet”-cars driving around the city and automatically live-tweeting empty parking space locations, complete with geo-tagging. Now, if you had a Mercedes with Park Assist, you could receive this important info through the feature via an Arduino board.
PHOTO CREDIT: http://daimlerchrylser.com
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However, if you DIDN’T happen to have a Mercedes, you could get the same information by following the Twitter account, and the tweets of the open spaces.
Mercedes got a lot of mileage from this promo, releasing the info to the German Press the day before. According to Mercedes, it was “in the top three of things discussed on the German Social Web” the first day.
The video even shows the Twitter stream on an iPhone screen, and shows the link from the geo-tagging to the open parking space.
Mercedes, do we really need another reason for people to be looking at their phones instead of the road? This is a promotion we could have done without. You know, in the interest of safety.
Unless we can all afford designated co-pilots to look at the phone for us, this was simply a really bad choice to use Social Media to generate interest in this feature, which, at best, is a “nice-to-have”.
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You may have seen some of the media coverage for the American Heart Association’s “Go Red for Women” campaign. Things kicked off the 3rd of February with “Wear Red Day Challenge” with women from all over posting pictures to Facebook. Winners are announced Monday (2/27).
More than 600 photos and 20 videos were entered, with the most popular being group and office/cube photos:
PHOTO CREDIT: Healthy Directions by Coco Klein
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Behind all of this is a basic fact you may NOT know:
The symptoms of a heart attack in women may be DIFFERENT than those for men.
Sure, we share tightness in the chest, pain in the arms….but women are more likely to experience shortness of breath, nausea and back pain.
Check out the whole list here.
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While the “Red Month” is coming to an end, there’s still time to support the awareness. Some of the ways are incredibly easy. Jeanette and I hit Mimi’s Cafe yesterday, and turned a donation of just a dollar into $35 worth of coupons. Lots of sponsors, lots of other ways to give.
Hope you’ll give it some thought.
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Today’s post is a simple THANK YOU and follow-up to the cool project for Valentine’s Day at Children’s National Medical Center. The marketing folks came up with both a brilliant outreach plan and neat way to get “homemade” cards to kids stranded at the hospital over Valentine’s Day.
It took just minutes to create the card online, was free, and the process asked if the Medical Center could contact the card creator in the future. You could opt out of course- right then, and there, if you chose. Great way to reach out to potential new donors while at the same time creating magic for these kids.
Thank you so much for your enthusiastic support for our Valentine’s Day campaign. Because of people like you who helped us spread the word, we were able to surpass our goal of 5,000…by a lot. In fact, we collected and delivered more than 8,400 valentines to the children at the hospital.
The kids and their parents appreciated the cards so much, and it was a nice distraction from the emotions that come with being in the hospital when you’d rather be out celebrating the holiday in a different way. We are so grateful to everyone who sent a card and told others about the campaign.
- Mark Miller, Director, Philanthropic Communication, Children’s National Medical Center
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What else is there to say? Thank you, just, THANK YOU. From the kids.
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PHOTOS used with permission of the Children’s National Medical Center.