Learning from the Pros - Red Bull Extends the Brand to the Web

Smart branding extends a consistent personality to everything the brand touches. Benefits to emphasize are carefully chosen and extended to everything from the colors, fonts, and logos used, to the events sponsored, to what the CEO says in an interview. It is absolutely essential that every brand have an Internet presence that fits its brand.

Red Bull, for example, markets to young, risk-taking audiences seeking tons of energy. They emphasize a dangerous image for their highly caffeinated, nuclear-neon drink by well-chosen sponsorships: late-night parties, b-boy competitions, extreme sports events, athletes, and music artists (like a client of mine- Bassnectar), all in cohesion with their daring and energetic brand. Red Bull’s website opens with a video of extreme mountain bikers crashing.

"I don't know how many bones I've broken," one biker reports. "I think it's about 25."

Continued...

Vinegar and Ice Cream, Cialdini, and Woot.com

Two weeks ago, I ordered thoroughly indulgent gourmet vinegar: Cavedoni Botte Piccola Italian Balsamic. The normally $56 bottle was selling for $39.99 on Woot.com. At first I resisted temptation, but after reading the enthusiastic discussion on the forums, I gave in. I am one of many who daily submit to the site's brilliant business model.

Woot purchases a single item in bulk and offers that item at a large discount until it runs out. Cialdini discussed this "weapon of influence": scarcity. We do not like when any choice, including the choice to buy, is taken away. Thus, we are more likely to buy something we know will disappear, just because we still have the opportunity to do so.

Continued...

The Web 2.0 Job Hunt: 5 Tips to Keep You Sane

Advice I'm taking, and passing on to you:

1. NARROW YOUR CHOICES.

It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the number of options, and it will be hard to accomplish anything if you hunt and peck. Decide your criteria and job location before you start.

2. USE SMART KEYWORDS.

Use keywords that relate to specific skills or interests. I found some really interesting jobs by searching for health, performing arts, and green building in conjunction with the main keyword: marketing.

Continued...

Warning: May Cause Tastebuds to Spontaneously Combust

After a stressful morning and afternoon, I turned in the evening to cooking experiments. I figure if I self-medicate with healthy food, it's okay. Ha.

Since my last post I made another wallet-denting market trip, realizing that- hey, summer doesn't last forever and blackberry season is even shorter than that. Thus we have Exhibit A:
Dangerously tantalizing little things, aren't they? One more, because I can't help it.



That, right there? That's what blackberries are supposed to look like. Not those flavorless things you get at the grocer, which shouldn't even be allowed to call themselves blackberries. They taste more like weak orange juice really, nothing at all like the flavour you get from these. Real blackberries bleed purple juice all over your fingers. Mmmm.

The nice lady at the market warned me that whatever berries I didn't eat tonight I should freeze, because they were already so ripe. I've been making smoothies out of these guys and other fruit, so that sounded fine. I freeze the berries as they are, or chop bananas into chunks or scrape out all the mango/peach/apricot pulp into a bowl and freeze that, before throwing it in the blender with a splash of milk and a pinch of stevia. Heaaaven.

But today as I made my usual cyber walk around the gluten-free foodie mecca that is our internet, I saw the lovely Heather at Healthy Indulgences had recently posted a sugar-free blackberry ice cream recipe. No ice cream maker needed.

Ohgoshohgoshohgosh.

The only ingredient I was missing was the heavy cream, so I set out to Martin's to get some (and of course ended up buying a pile of Bob's Red Mill Flours I'd been wanting to get... me + good food and new recipes to try = empty wallet). I'm going to make gluten-free soft pretzels soon!

Anyway, blah blah blah, here is the result. It's beautiful. The texture is much better than I expected from the pictures- not too hard, not too icey- it feels absolutely delightful in the mouth and tastes aaaamazing.



As always, those of you not trying to cut carbs or gluten or sugar can substitute the sugar back in and do it that way. I understand- erythritol is expensive stuff (but so worth it!).

Want a bite?

Go to your Farmers’ Market. Buy some food. Drool. Eat. Savor. Repeat.

My first job was working at the Eastern Farmer's Market on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, selling produce for Marshall Farms. I think I was ten years old? Back then I didn’t eat much of the produce I was selling. Eggplant looked terrifying to me. Squash was untouchable. Even tomatoes were too strange, although I gladly handed out samples, explaining to customers that some were sweet, some tasted more acidic… parroting what I’d heard people say, and faking a southern accent. City folk trust southern produce.


There are a lot of socially conscious reasons to buy local, but my primary motive? Taste. Nutrition. A better, fresher, more flavorful and delicious peach than you could ever find at Food Lion. An heirloom tomato from Takoma Park that takes a sandwich that was alright and makes it heavenly. Blackberries too delicious to talk about without blushing. ..I wish I’d taken a picture before I ate them all. The carnivores will find happiness, too, enjoying flavorful, fresh cuts of beef, chicken, turkey, lamb, pork, and so on. The fresh butter is delightful. The eggs are scrumptious and hooray! –chemical-free. A necessity for allergy-crushed kids such as myself. My kitchen currently boasts farm-fresh peaches, cantaloupe, tomatoes, cucumbers, beets, two types of squash, zucchini, cayenne, turkey, butter, and eggs. There are some things worth spoiling yourself over, and I think splurging on food that’s healthy and delicious is more than worth it.

I admit I’m selfish in that I target much of my activism toward personal benefit. Obesity-prevention initiatives to lower the costs of fruit and vegetables by taxing sugary drinks? Sign me up. Network neutrality to protect my precious internet? I’m there.

By buying local food, I get much bang for my buck. The food is delicious and nutritious. I know most of my money goes right to the farmer. I’m stimulating the local economy. I’m preserving the genetically diverse and thus varying flavors of heirloom produce instead of mass produced food only in the most easily shipped and preserved varieties. I’m taking care of my environment by taking trucks off the road and conserving energy. As I sit eating a piece of cantaloupe, I feel conscious and spoiled all at once. Glorious.

For my Blacksburg crew, the market is on the corner of Roanoke and Draper Roads and is open on Wednesdays from 2pm-7pm and Saturdays from 8am-2pm. Come out August 22 for the Tomato Contest and taste over 40 different tomatoes!

For everyone else, find local farmers’ markets by typing your zipcode into LocalHarvest.org.

Enough from me. Why do YOU buy local food?

Persian Chicken with Apricots

I made this dish for the second time tonight, and I'm thrilled. It's absolutely delicious! I modified the original recipe and adjusted to make it cheaper by substituting other ingredients for the cardamom and leaving out the saffron, and by substituting my sweeteners- which do NOT raise blood sugar!- for the sugar. The first time I made it I substituted raisins for the dried apricots, which was okay, but now that I've had the apricots I'll never go back. The fat dried apricots soak up all the delicious seasoned broth.. the taste and texture are just to die for.

In adjusting this recipe to make it for only two pieces of chicken, I've done two things:
First, I kept all the ingredients the same but reduced the amount of chicken broth and lemon juice. This made a thick, very flavorful, very sweet sauce, which I saved to brush on chicken and fish for grilling. If you do this, be sure not to pour too much over your rice- it really is an extremely full-flavored sauce.

The second time, I kept the amount of liquids as what the recipe called for, and it's more of a broth. And I could eat a ton of the stuff. I'll do something with the leftovers tomorrow and report back what I ended up doing with them.



Today in the grocery store when buying a piece of ginger root, the cashier had to ask me what it was to ring it up. So, for those not yet familiar with this amazing ingredient- get familiar! It wasn't a staple ingredient for me until I realized in eating Nate's congee how much I really do love it. I've been buying it ever since.

Persian Chicken with Apricots

2 boneless chicken breasts
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon all spice
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
Olive oil
1 large vidalia onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup erythritol
A pinch of NuNaturals Stevia (all stevia is NOT created equal!)
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup dried apricots, halved

Rinse chicken and pat dry. Mix the nutmeg, allspice, cumin, cinnamon, and salt to make a rub. Rub half the mixture on both sides of the chicken, and set half aside.

Before beginning to cook your chicken, make sure all your ingredients are chopped, measured, and on-hand. This made round two turn out a lot better than round one for me!

Using a large pot with a heavy bottom (like a Dutch oven, cast-iron pot, or in my case- an old fashioned pressure cooker), pour a thin film of olive oil and set pot over medium-high heat. Let the oil bubble a bit, and then set your chicken inside and DO NOT TOUCH IT. A cooking tip- anything you want to brown will brown quicker if you stop tossing it around. Just let it set! 5 mins on each side, and then pull it out and set it on a place.

Add onion, garlic, and ginger to pot and cook and stir for one minute. Then add your cayenne and remaining spice mixture. Add lemon juice, erythritol, and stevia, stir and let it come to a boil. Pour in chicken broth and replace chicken to pot. Let liquid come to a boil again, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, stir in apricots and cook for about 10 minutes more.

To serve, I spooned some broth/onions/apricots over white rice and had mine with my other recent love: beets! My grandmother and I have been doing a farmer's market hunt off the interstate for weeks, and finally came upon some. Thank you to my grandmother and to Tom Robbins, for turning me on to this sexy, red, heavenly, delicious vegetable. And to Molly for giving me Jitterbug Perfume!

Ani Tix Winner: Jennifer Heit!

Congrats! Names were pulled from a hat, and you won two tickets to the Ani Difranco show July 9th. :)

Send me an email for confirmation: jessicalforrester@gmail.com.

To the others- Keep checking back for freebies and general blabber.

Jennifer- See you at Rams Head Live!

I'd make a graphic but most unfortunately I am without laptop this week, and so I am without Photoshop. I suppose I could mess with GIMP, but I'm not feeling so inclined.

Here's hoping HP gets it back to me soon.. Four days without it feels like torture. I think these are the signs of addiction, no?