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Quote of the Week:

Generous Servings to expand to dessert service and evening hours on February 20th.

One of my fave cafés, Generous Servings, is all set to expand their operation to desserts and drinks. They'll be expanding into the old Happy Cakes space, adjacent to their cooking school and current café space, on Newton and 32nd. Hours for both the café and new space will extend until 10pm. Excited to try the Dutch Donuts with Caramel Sauce!

Labels: food

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1.21.2010

I'm sure it's not what Don Draper drinks, but it works for me.

the Sunset Gin Cocktail
Originally uploaded by bucknam

After a long day bent over the light table, and no beer on hand, I whipped up a little something that cooled me down and made me forget about all the little pieces of finger my X-ACTO left all over the client's mockups (good thing their corporate color is Pantone 201). Check out the recipe for this little gin number over at MadeUpFood.com

Labels: cocktails, food, productivity, xacto

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9.03.2009

Mmmmm...beefy.

I'm working on a nice social media and online branding campaign for a small family ranch in eastern Colorado, and it's a heck of a lot of fun. I'll point you to a placeholder site page once we have it up, and then we'll be moving into a content rich, visually enjoyable site experience where you can find out all you ever wanted to know about what ranch life is like, what you can do with a Pikes Peak Roast, and what the heck "certified Angus Beef" means, anyway. The owner of the ranch is a great writer, so I expect the site to be not just a great place to buy your beef, but also a nice window into the world of a small family ranch.

Labels: beef, food, social networking, twitter, web design

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2.23.2009

Now I won't have to wonder what that new store-brand orange juice is

...because Tropicana is dropping their bland, "looks-just-like-a-house-brand" orange juice packaging, and returning to their original, more distinctive design. Apparently I wasn't the only one who was confused and/or annoyed by the new look. The New York Times' Stuart Elliott has an article here.

A telling excerpt:

“We underestimated the deep emotional bond” they had with the original packaging, [Neil Campbell, president at Tropicana North America] added. “Those consumers are very important to us, so we responded.”

Among those who underestimated that bond was Mr. Campbell himself. In an interview last month to discuss the new packaging, he said, “The straw and orange have been there for a long time, but people have not necessarily had a huge connection to them.”

Reminded of that on Friday, Mr. Campbell said: “What we didn’t get was the passion this very loyal small group of consumers have. That wasn’t something that came out in the research.”

Labels: b2c, branding, clients, design, food, logo, packaging, typography

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2.05.2009

A Cause Close to my Heart

I first supported Project Angel Heart years ago, helping Ellen create some pieces for their fundraising events. And for 15 years, the Colorado chapter of the AIGA has been putting their heart and soul into supporting this worthwhile effort. I've bid on art at the auctions in years' past, and it's all great stuff! Come on by Feb. 11th and check it out. Deets are below:

AIGA Colorado Presents: The 15th Annual Heart Art Auction

When: Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Time: 5:30-9pm
Location: Colorado History Museum
1300 Broadway Denver, CO 80202
Admission: $20 (for both members and non members)

FOR THE LOVE OF IT

Please join us for an evening of exciting bidding on magnificent handcrafted artwork, live jazz by one of Denver's top jazz ensembles, delectable food, and drinks (open bar this year folks!). AIGA Colorado is proud to have hosted this truly unique event for the past 15 consecutive years to raise money for Project Angel Heart. So please, mark your calendars and come out to support this really great cause -- if for nothing more than for the love of it.

SPECIAL HONOR

Not only does this year mark the 15th year for Heart Art, this year also marks the 20th anniversary of the Colorado chapter of AIGA. To mark this special occasion we will be honoring the 23 founding members of the Colorado chapter and recognize their contribution to the Colorado design community. Many of our founding members will be present and examples of their design work will be on exhibit during the Heart Art event. Please join us for this special celebration as our chapter celebrates its 20th year.

WHO BENEFITS?

Project Angel Heart

Project Angel Hearts mission is to promote the health, dignity and self-sufficiency of people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening illness by providing nutritious, home delivered meals with care and compassion.

AIGA Colorado

AIGA's mission is to advance designing as a professional craft, strategic tool and vital cultural force. AIGA Colorado is one of the most active and largest chapters in the nation. Our members are dedicated to raising the bar of graphic design through collaboration, communication and contributing support with fellow designers.

Special thanks to our event sponsors: Unisource, Spectrographics Printing, FOILS + DIES Vintage Pressworks, Urban Dwellers, Eye Candy Graphics and Tom Ema, of Ema Design for designing our event collateral. A very special thank you goes to Marian Halliday and Carrie Martin for putting their hearts and souls into planning this very special event.

SUBMIT NOW

We are still accepting donations of handcrafted artwork for the Heart Art auction. While the deadline to drop off your work is this Friday, it'll help us greatly if you alert us that you'll be submitting something. Enter our intent to submit form to let us know you'll be donating artwork. You'll also want to download our artist form ( http://www.aigacolorado.org/events_images/artworkartist.pdf ) that you'll attach to the artwork you'll be submitting so we know whose work we're putting on the auction block! Art work is should be submitted at one of our drop off locations by Friday, February 6th.

Please RSVP here.

For questions about the event or donating artwork, please contact AIGA CO President, Mindy Nies.

Labels: aiga, art, ebd, ellen, food, fundraising, nonprofits

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11.26.2008

Need a Ham? I got your ham right here.

Non-design-related, but still tasty and relevant post for you:

Alton Brown is one of the less annoying Food Network personalities (I think he brings the right amount of awareness to his campy "announcer" role on Iron Chef America, for example). His Good Eats recipe show is also very approachable, and not over anyone's head. He is almost the food host equivalent of my favorite Let-Me-Explain-It-To-You guy, Bill Nye The Science Guy.

Well, last year I made his recipe for City Ham for Thanksgiving. Mostly because it calls for both bourbon AND gingersnaps. And of course, ham. So if you're looking for a nice easy way to spice up your Thanksgiving, give Alton's Ham a try.

(Alton Brown cartoon courtesy of the amazing Natalie Dee)

Labels: food

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7.11.2008

Free Slurpee Day

It's 7/11. So get to it.

Labels: food

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4.24.2008

Can't I just eat my waffle?

Having spent four years in the south, I appreciate a good Waffle House Experience. First, there's the black-on-yellow signage above the establishment, shining through the early morning, stuffy haze like a lighthouse beacon. Then, there's the usually friendly staff, which is a feat in and of itself, considering they are working in, well, a Waffle House. Then, of course, there are the waffles. Need I say more? Ok: I spent two days almost entirely encapsulated inside the McDonough, Georgia Waffle House while my Volkswagen Beetle was having its guts replaced in the garage next door. And the waffles just kept coming.

All of this is by way of introduction to the Very Small Array's lovely collection of maps, which can be found here.

Labels: cartography, food, SCAD

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10.05.2007

Great design and great food take the same stuff to make

I am a closet foodie. And I love the metaphor of a good designer being like a good chef (take all the ingredients you are given, and make something amazing from them). This all by way of saying I'm not going off on too much of a tangent here when I announce that I am also blogging over at MadeUpFood.com, fellow designer Heather Gardner-Madras's blog about how to make great food with whatever you may have on hand. My first post is on a food item dear to my heart: the Chocolate Burrito. Check it out. And more, importantly, make one, and tell me it isn't the best breakfast food you've ever had!

Labels: blogs, food, hgm

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