me

la giostra florence alleyway
la giostra florence mozzarella tomatoe

My first experience of an Italian restaurant brought me to a tiny cozy place called La Giostra Ristorante nearby the central Duomo and hidden in a small alleyway on Borgo Pinti Street. The cabin like space was lit up with a cascading assortment of flickering ceiling lights, aisles of rustic wine bottles, melting wax candles on every table, laughter, and a warm welcoming by the pirate like passionate owners. I came here my first day and last day, so I’ll be posting on both these occasions at this wonderful restaurant which I’d highly recommend for a tasty enjoyable meal. If you dig into their site, you’ll find a set of pictures taken by celebrities who have been there, which are also plastered on the restaurants interior.

More pics and yummy food after the jump.

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Florence TASTE mozzerella

My first stop in Florence was at TASTE, a 3 day food gathering of Italy’s finest foods ranging from jams, wines, cheeses, meats, chocolates, and much more from over 160 select exhibitors. This mouth watering event allowed attendees to eat, taste, question and buy products from a wide range of creators and distributors around Italy, though many of them seemed to be small independent family run organizations, which I liked. The highlight of the event for me is pictured above….it’s buffalo mozzarella! Simply Amazzzing!!

More pics and info about TASTE after the jump. Continue Reading

italy trip train station milan
italy map

My trip to Italy/Milan started off with a frustrating cancellation during a crazy winter storm on March 16th in Boston. Snow lashed in multiple directions at 45 degree angles and a foot of snow dropped within an hours time. My flight with Northwestern Airlines was cancelled while the Boston airport closed at 8pm though it opened up spontaneously after 9pm to allow some flights in and out. Upon my cancellation, I was booked on a NW flight 4 days later which I found ridiculous. 3 phone calls to different NW operators resulted to no resolution. I asked about getting booked on another airlines, but their policy does not allow this if it is due to weather. Oh crap I said… my client meeting is in 3 days..I can’t show up the day after.
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florence streets
egg noodle and mushroom truffles

I’ve been dancing and prancing around Florence for the past week and will finally have time to check out the city over the weekend. A stop by the Duomo, the huge galleries, and famous churches is a must. The architecture here is charming, unique, and fluent thriving with colors and hand made rustic materials. Food so far has been ok….a few amazing meals (truffles above, egg noodles, mozzarella(buffalo), meat, salads), and a few misses due to my trust in touristy areas. An endless supply of amazing wine, cheese, coffee, and gelato exists in every corner while the weather has been cloudy, rainy, but sunny at times. If the weather is nice over the weekend, I’ll probably rent a Vespa and cruise abouts the hills fashionably with my camera in one hand.

The people I have met so far locally are incredibly friendly, fashionable, jazzy, and passionate about Italy. Many of them smoke, all of them ride Vespas, and all must have coffee. The city of Florence is annoying to an extent that there are toooo many tourists and some local businesses take advantage of that in unkind ways. The nightly streets are packed full of fake brand goods, but it gives the place charm in a funny way.

I’m trekking over to Milan on monday, so if you have any must do’s there, let me know..otherwise, I only plan to visit a few churches and the Italian Design Triennale as my flight is the next morning back to gloomy yet good ole Boston.

I’ll have a more visual report once I return, but for now, I’m going to experience Italy and try to stay away from my laptop as much as possible besides work reasons. Ciao!

italy trip

I’m off to Italy this weekend for a brief research project dealing with experience design and fashion to some extent. While there, I’ll be diving into their culture, food, wines, and anything inspirational. If you know of any must see or eat places, let me know.(must eat restaurants are always welcome 😉 ) A majority of my time will be in Florence and surrounding areas, but a few hours will be in Milan. I’m not sure how much time I’ll have to post any finds while there, but rest assured that if I find a wireless network, I’ll post something. ciao!

update: The crazy thick winter snow cancelled my flight out of Boston, hence I’ll be a day or two late…..a small note from my experience during the cancellation….face to face works soooooo much better than by phone….I spoke to 3 people by phone who could not get me anything within 5 days and even told me they could not tranfer me to another airline……then, I decided to give the customer service desk a go and bahm a business class seat on another airline the very next day… ;)  (thanks Mariana!)

g pure energyA few weeks back the iconic creators of Voss Water sent me a case of their new drink G Pure Energy to try out.(thanks melissa!) At first I thought it would be another over caffinated and marketed drink in a very busy sector, but oh was I wrong. I was sent two awesome flavors: Orange Blossom and the Zero Carb Lime both in their squeeze shaped glass bottles with metalic covers. I was also sent a folder containing some zesty cocktails mixes which I have not had a chance to try out but will do so for some upcoming spring parties. So now for testing it out… I snapped open a chilled bottled and gave it a sip. It was snappy, fresh, smoothe, and poppy like champagne. It had a soda like touch but much cleaner without the sugar though sweet enough to enjoy. Unlike many other energy drinks, it didn’t leave a weird after taste, but more like a healthy dose of carbonated water with a kiss of sweetness. Super chilled was a must. It was almost like carbonated water with a bit of a zest which I enjoyed. The only minus was that these bottles emptied fast at 200ml. I’m not sure how much energy these actually gave me but the refreshing zest made me smile. I’ve never seen these in stores, but if you do, give it a go! I’ll post a pic of two of the bottle chillin in the snow on my porch after the jump.

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ted2007

I’m back from the mind-boggling TED conference and am detoxing my brain from the incredible stories, experiences, and knowledge shared by the hundreds of shakers and movers present there. My minds exhausted and happy while my bodies trying to catch up all at once. As usual, I’ll point to Tom, Ethan, and Brunos blogs for their incredible recap on the TED speakers this year. As I slowly absorb and digest the many wonders of TED I’ll post them on up with my thoughts. For now, I’ll post a few glimpse of my journey there.

Overall, the TED Experience was incredible as usual with a diverse crowd of individuals craving to learn more about every topic imaginable. There was a new simulcast room with HD plasmas hovering over beds and comfy bean bags, a new chocolate tasting section which was oooo so yummy and satisfying thanks to Vosges, a few demo booths by various sponsors, a big gift bag, a cool IT help desk, an amazing photography studio, an addictive Google Snack bar, and much more. One thing I missed was the Aquarium party that usually happens on Friday night but was instead moved to Tuesday night for the speakers party hosted by Google. This years Grand party took place in an airport hanger which was cool, but by no means as magical as the Aquarium. The after Conference Beach party was very good as previous years ended with no party. I could go on and on about this years event, but much like JJ Abrams comments on his magical box, I’ll keep that to a mystery but post a few pics for a glimpse of my experience. Enjoy!

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ted conference 2007

I’m off to my 5th inspirational brain safari known as the TED Conference (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) over in Monterey, CA this week. This years speakers list is pretty damn amazing but as usual the conversations with attendees into the late nights will be the most memorable.
If you have not had a chance to dive into the world of TED you can catch a glimpse through TEDtalks (my selected picks here) or by exploring their site. I’ll post the captivating daily speaker schedule after the jump though the interactive one on their site is a bit more useful.
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nathan shedroff core77
If your interested in the world of “Experience Design” then give Nathan Shedroff, an experience strategists, a listen from core77’s podcast here(45 mins). Otherwise dig into his great publications on his website.
As a indusrial designer, I’ve always approached design as a methodology and not as a restrictive definition. I’m not saying restrictions are bad, but it’s bad without knowing what’s allowed, which also let’s you do a ton of different projects. If your a student out there still defining design, check out experience design, because once you figure it out, you can pretty much take on any project ranging from basic product development, business plans, marketing strategies, emotional connections, brand value, and much much more…it’s such a broad and adaptive direction that you’ll be always be learning, trying, and understanding. That’s just my take an love for experience design, which also includes the physical world and not just GUI/web design as most people know it as for some odd reason.
pink pitaya dragon fruit

Wow…OMG that looks soooo good! I personally loooove eating dragon fruits, but I’ve never seen a flamming pink one like the one above! As much as I crave dragon fruits, this picture made me mentally drool. Not only does an image like this capture my attention, curiosity, and thoughts, but it ignites my tastebuds. I’ve always wondered how to extract that magical element in food into product design. Sure, there’s amazing packaging, housewares, utencils, glasses, and items that surround food, but how can product designs in say laptops, pens, chairs, cars, etc make me drool like food does? I’m not sure, but I do believe in the idea of sense being enhanced or triggered by the other senses…like hearing through images, or seeing through touch.  Here’s a pretty cool thesis bases on that idea called “Synesthesia”.

via deliciousdays (a very inspiring tasty blog)(fyi: designers looove kick butt food)

Last week, Jetblue had a hell of a time with all the news spreading around about the horrific operational meltdown during the frigid weather that gave some unlucky passengers a hell of a crappy waiting experience (waiting in an airplane on the runway for 8 hours)(NYTimes story after the jump). I was stunned to hear this horrible news as I myself think and rate JetBlue as a revolutionary company redefining the airline experience both before, online, during, and after.

Well, right before I dived into the story any further, JetBlues CEO David Neeleman announced a YouTube video with an apology with some major policy changes. The changes include:

• All non-airport crew members of JetBlue will be badged and ready to go if needed to be called upon
• Increasing number phone lines open for changing reservations
• Tripling the size of the group that schedules pilots and stewardesses

The airline announced a new reimbursement program for delayed passengers, retroactive to last Thursday, February 15.

• Delays 1-2 hours: $25 off a future flight
• Delays 2-4 hours: $50 off a future flight
• Delays 6+ hours: Free round-trip ticket

More details on the jetblue site here.

Now, thats a hell of a incentive to book from Jetblue and be rewarded for the airlines delays compared to other airlines. I also read that any passenger booked passenger declined a seat because of overbooking would be rewarded $1000!!!Anyhoots, kudos to Jetblue for setting some new standards again in an age old business that everyone uses!

via consumerists

(full nytimes articel after the jump)
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PSP giveaway and game. Every Extend Extra

Win a fresh spankin PSP with the game “Every Extend Extra” signed by the guru game designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi! “Every Extend Extra” is a mind-boggling puzzle fighting game packed full of trippy visuals and crazy beats sure to keep you loopy and addicted all day long.

I’ve got 1 PSP, and 2 copies of “Every Extend Extra” to give away to readers, including one signed copy, courtesy of BuenaVistaGames.

So how do you WIN this PSP and games on designverb? I’ll make it simple. E-mail me:

1. The name of the guru gamer I did pong with last year?
2. Send me a link/s to something inspirational that I have not seen yet and that I can post?(I see lots!)(designverb@gmail.com)

I’ll wait a week or so, put some names in a hat, and update this post with the winners! (whoohooo!)

Update: Thanks for all the tips and inspirational links from ya’ll. Congrats to Eddric L and Sarah P for winning the prizes… I’ll have their tips posted soon.