food – Page 17 – Designverb!

Category: food

Instructoart and Wordless Pancakes

September 26, 2006

I love it when stories, instructions, or just about anything gets communicated through the universal means of images and as little text as possible. The world of information visualization does exactly this by data mining the billions of bytes of data that none of us can see or prefer not to rumble through to figure out and visually communicating it to us mindless humans.

Anyhow, back to the basics, such as cooking! I’m the type that loves to cook, but hate to read while squinting my computer burned eyes onto poorly printed out inkjet recipes. I’m also the type that loves those emergency illustrations on airplane pockets. So by all means, I LOVE this project for a “wordless pancake recipe” which illustrates every step for making yummy pancakes. It reminds me of a wonderful book called “Instructoart” by Matthew Vescovo, which is an incredibly amusing must buy book. Check out their site for a musically and visually satisfying glimpse of Matthews book here. I’ll post some of my favorite pics from Matthews gallery after the jump!

Buy his book here!
(more…)

INKOS: Healthy White Tea

July 30, 2006

I was browsing for some Honest Tea at Wholefoods and stumbled across Inko’s Lychee flavored white tea instead. I’m a sucker for Lychee, hence gravitated towards the bottle, made sure it wasn’t one of those over flavored or sugar saturated ripoffs, then read the rest of the info. Apparently this is the ONLY white ice tea available in the market, which is also one of the most rare tea leaves in the world. There are tons of health bennies you can read about on their webpage, but I’m just going to say this drink rocked! Not to sugary, very crispy, and a delightful satisfying tea flavor with a zest of lychee goodness. Hopefully I can get my hands on a case of these drinks to pass around to friends at my next gathering.

ilove Magazine Water Bottles

July 27, 2006

Call it a magazine, call it a bottle of water, or just plain call it a refreshing idea in between. “ilove” is the first gossip magazine for women on a bottle of water. Each month several 32 page issues are attached to bottles which allows women a quick update on several topics while they enjoy their beverage….it’s somewhat like a daily blog on a bottle of water. Their hopes are to make these monthly issues weekly, hence, 6+ issues a week, with a version targeting the male audience soon.

I’m somewhat skeptical of this idea, but I’ll admit, I was a sucker for those laffy taffy wrapper jokes, those snapple wisdom caps, games on the back of cereal boxes, and those many fun facts and stories on several other food+beverage products. Adding this content might be a nice way to jazz up the value in this competitive world of bottled water, and infact, I’d probably spend a few extra pennies if the content was good, fun, addictive, and useful. Promotionwise, I’m sure they can strike up some other incentives, much like soda cans did with amusement parks ($10 off, when you still have to spend 65$). Anyhow, for sure in this world of time management it’s always great to get snippets of news on the go anywhere!

Bong Vodka Artist Series

July 26, 2006

Bong Vodka has just launched a sensational series of artist bottles in collaboration with several artist. These limited edition bottles and graphic boxes will be available towards the end of August in select cities. If you would like to get involved, and perhaps strut your artistic abilities on these beautiful bottles, head over to Spirit Of The Brand and get involved! Their site has a pretty sweet music cast as well.

I love it when seemingly ordinary objects get artist involved to spicen up their products to new levels of desirability! Theses bottle are plain beautiful and I’ll be craving to get my hands on them once they come out!
(thanks josh)

Adagio Tea Bags

July 7, 2006

adagio tea bag Just when I thought there were no more inventive ideas in presenting tea bags comes adagios blooming tea bag, which, as the title says, blooms right before your eyes as you pour some hot water into a clear cup of boiling water. I’ve yet to actully witness this magic unfold, but I could imagine the delightful little touch and smile it gives to the tasty tea experience.
via NotCot

Dinner in the Sky

July 6, 2006

“Dinner in the Sky” is a unique and a rather bizarre breathtaking experience taking place on a suspended table for 22 guests hovering 50 meters above the ground by a crane. Each guest is strapped down to a roller coaster like seat then hoisted up for one chilling, perhaps frightening exciting experience of their life. If you happen to be one of the lucky participants in this event, I’d hope youâ€™re not the type that drops their utensils much. I’d also wonder about the birdâ€™s flying around or those bathroom breaks. Otherwise, get your camera, strap on your shoes, add a strap to your cell phone, and enjoy!
via springwise

Ferran Adria: elBulli

July 4, 2006

I just finished watching an amazing documentary on the travel channel called “Decoding Ferran Adria” which had me drooling over the visually magical and breathtaking experimental dishes served at the world famous restaurant elBulli and chef/owner Ferran Adria. The mind-blowing combinations in ingredients and creative presentations are truly original and an experience like no other. To make reservations for this restaurant is said to be over a year long. elBulli is only open for 6 months out of the year as it takes the other 6 months to travel, experiment, and come up with new concepts each year in their ultra modern controversial innovation foodlab. Not only do the dishes taste sensational, but the process in creating and manipulating the ingredients to their extreme is astonishing! One fact that I loved was that Adrias lab team consist of a Chemist, Industrial Designer(wohooo!), and several other chefs.

For some pictures of their beautiful dishes check out this flicker set, this one, or this website review. The pictures only give you a glimpse of the real magic that was captured in the video which flooded your mind with simple informational elements that just mystified and surprised you. I couldn’t track many videos online, but there were a few short ones here and here. If anything, I’d say go find that episode, buy it, watch it, drool, and perhaps buy his visually stunning book filled with several images and recipes. Otherwise, if you find yourself in Cala Montjoi Spain, outside the city Roses, about 2 hours north of Barcelona, go there, eat, and make people like me jealous!

More droolingÂ pictures from a recent visit via chocolateandzucchini

Flavored Skewers

June 29, 2006

Heres a “Why didn’t I think of that” idea! Flavored Seasoned Skewers! Perhaps I’m just really hungry right now, but these sure sound tasty for a nice BBQ. I’m also the type that licks every savory taste off the stick usually. It’s about time something simple gave a kick of flavor into the middle of the meat!
via coolhunting

Business Week: IDEA Awards

June 29, 2006

sushi time Business weeks annual IDEA awards for outstanding designs and innovations is out. They have 108 projects documented, some great, some stunning, some just ok in my mind. One that popped out for me was the Sushi Plate by Mint Inc. Take a browse at the winners here.

Kenka: spunky, tasty, awesome!

June 19, 2006

While in nyc I went down to St. Marks street to grab some grub with some friends at Kenka, a spunky, fun, and wildly popular japanese restaurant streaming with a vibrant crowd of college students and visitors curious about the oddly colorful and punk like scene, though I think the whistling grandmother logo and beaver-like red eyed mascot really caught my curious attention. I’d been to a like place nearby, Yakitori Taisho, right down the street, but thought I’d give this find a try. The wait to get in took some time, but it was worth evey second.

As for the restaurant, the staff was jazzy, the environment was fun and spontaneous, the bizarre menu was full of delicious and surprising items, and the prices just rocked! A bowl of edamame for $1, Seaweed salad $2, japaneses pancake $4, smoked salmon $5, sapporo beer for $1.50!!! The best part was their dessert. Instead of the traditional mint, or chocolate candies, they give you a little bucket of red suger to toss into their cotton candy machine at their entrance. You toss it in, grab a chopstick, and spin it till you have a fluff of carnival like candy to munch on. Kenkas is a great place to kick it with friends and munch down on some fast, hot, and tasty japanese food. If your in nyc, give it a try!