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Best Food and Drink in Seattle 2011
Or, why we couldn't stop eating in 2011.
By Seattle Mag December 6, 2011
Best Pie
Seattle Pie Company
It was the year of the pie! Proof: A half-dozen new pie shops opened this year, A La Mode, American Pie, High 5 Pie and the easy-to-remember Pie among them. But after eating our way through miles of crust and pounds of filling, we're convinced that the shop that makes the best pies is one that we discovered a couple of years ago in Magnolia: the sweet, charming Seattle Pie Company.
Chef and owner Alyssa Lewis' pies have flaky crusts, delicious fillings, and a crumb topping on the apple-huckleberry, apple and cherry crumb pies that is so good, you'll be tempted to eat it right off the top with a spoon. Especially delicious: coconut cream, banana cream and the to-die-for chocolate cream pies. Long live pie!
3111 W McGraw St.; 206.217.4743; seattlepiecompany.com
Best Pop-Up Restaurant
Little Uncle
Despite the dozens of local restaurants opening every month, Seattle foodies are always on the hunt for the even newer, even hotter, even more brag-worthy finds. Enter: the pop-up restaurant.
Usually only around for a limited stint in a borrowed or rented space, these temporary restaurants are a clever way for chefs to test recipes for upcoming restaurants, play with different concepts or just cook in a different style than their current jobs allow. This year, we saw pop-ups from Skillet pre-diner, Canlis' Hearth & Home pop-up, which lived inside Queen Anne's Macrina for two days last winter, and chef Erik Jackson of Cuoco, whose pop-up was called A Square Meal when he staged it at the Volunteer Park Café last summer.
But our favorite—perhaps because it has been so long-lived—is Little Uncle, which, until late September, was known as Shophouse. Lark sous chef Wiley Frank and his wife, Poncharee Kounpungchart (shown above), cook the Thai street food that both of them love dearly. In fact, the success of the pop-up—which first lived at Licorous before the bar closed this summer, and is now alive on Monday nights at La Bête (Capitol Hill, 1802 Bellevue Ave.; labeteseattle.com)—spawned a summertime farmers market stall in Columbia City. Could a brick-and-mortar space be far behind? littleuncleseattle.com
Best Diner
Skillet Street Food
Could it be that the economic downturn, our uncertain times and our frayed nerves are making us all even hungrier for the comforts of down-home cooking? That's our theory on why the fried chicken, meatloaf sandwiches and biscuits—oh, heaven-scented buttermilk biscuits—have folks lined up at new diners all around the city. Of course, we've adored the Varsity Inn, Glo's and Geraldine's Counter for years now, but there's a new batch ready to take your order.
The Lucky Diner in Belltown caters to the breakfast crowd with biscuits and gravy, lots of omelets and flapjacks, and early hours (open at 7 a.m. daily)—and even earlier hours on Fridays and Saturdays (open all night). In West Seattle, Meander's Kitchen serves up home-style cooking with a big, friendly welcome in the teeny-tiny space that used to house the Jade West Café (and still wears its sign; Meanders can be tricky to find). Gut busters like the Decadence (eggs Benedict on French toast) and the Red Eye, with ham, gravy, cheesy grits, eggs and a biscuit, are what's for breakfast, and everything—even the ketchup!—is made in house by chef/owner Miranda Krone.
But Skillet, in all its pistachio-ice-cream-hued glory, is the Diner of the Year. Try to resist the Belgian waffle with pork belly, the massive Skillet burger awash in bacon jam, the delicious grilled cheese sandwich. Morning, noon and night, Skillet's got our number.
Capitol Hill, 1400 E Union St.; 206.420.7297; skilletstreetfood.com
Best Place to Wave Your Vege-Locavorism Flag
Sitka & Spruce
If we may be so bold, we think it's time to lay the term "Northwest cuisine" to rest. After all, historically, it's been used synonymously with Pan-Asian cuisine—the tuna tartars and salmon ceviches so popular on '90s menus. But Seattle's restaurant scene has moved on; Pan-Asian cuisine feels a bit dated now.
So we've come up with our own descriptor of Northwest Cuisine 2.0: vege-locavorism. (It's just a bonus that it rolls so easily off the tongue.) Vege-locavorism gets to the heart of a trend we're tasting all around town: a full embrace of seasonal vegetables and ancient grains, simply prepared and placed center stage, especially on small-plates menus like the ones at The Walrus and the Carpenter, where the garden section of the menu is nearly twice as long as the meat section; and at the Madison Park Conservatory, where a farro dish was the highlight of an entire meal.
But we especially like it at Sitka & Spruce, where oily fish is often used minimally to flavor roasted vegetables. Don't get us wrong: This isn't a shift toward strict vegetarianism. (Foodies sure like their pork! And anchovies! And, all of a sudden, beef tongue!) But there's a strong less-meat, more-veggies approach catching on across Seattle and around the country. Granted, the term is not perfect, but we're pretty sure it beats "metro-natural."
Capitol Hill, 1531 Melrose Ave. Suite 6; 206.324.0662; sitkaandspruce.com
Best Fusion Bakery
Frapanese? Japench? It was the year of the Japanese-French fusion bakery, most notably the year when everyone who tasted anything at Fuji Bakery went absolutely nuts about the place, telling their friends and their friends' friends.
Pillowy curried beef pockets and square smoked-salmon brioche cubes, green tea cookie breads and petite but delicious sandwiches the length of a child's hand. Not to mention exquisite cakes, as gorgeous as they come and singing of mango or coconut; brioche; croissants; and chocolate decadence.
But Fuji isn't the only one of its kind: Hiroki has long been fusing French techniques with Japanese flavors in Tangletown, and the Cafe de Lion on Queen Anne was such a success, it spurred a second bakery in Tokyo.
International District, 526 S King St.; 206.623.4050; fujibakeryinc.com
Best Nanobrew
Epic Ales' Beatrice
It takes a little effort to wrap your hand around an Epic Ales brew. After all, like most nanobreweries' potables, Epic's ales are produced in small batches, and are only available at the brewery and at select bottle shops. But make the effort for Epic's Beatrice and you'll be rewarded with a rare and wild brew—made with Szechuan peppercorns and cinnamon. Ever-daring brewer Cody Morris is known for using unexpected ingredients in his beers—mushrooms, for instance—and will soon offer food and beer pairings in his SoDo tasting room.
3201 First Ave. S, Suite 104; epicales.com
Best New Foodie Neighborhood
14th Avenue and Union Street on Capitol Hill
Seattle's Capitol Hill is home to many blocklong food havens (10th Ave. and Pike St., 12th Ave. and Pike St., and Broadway Ave. and Roy St. quickly come to mind). But restaurant watchers know the hottest corner right now is at 14th Ave. and Union St. Already home to our Best Diner of the Year, Skillet, Oola Distillery and Marjorie, the block will soon include Scott Staples' (Quinn's, Uneeda Burger) reimagined Restaurant Zoë (relocated from Belltown) and Lucky 8 Chinese restaurant, which will offer delivery service, too!
Best Cocktail Trend of the Year
Infused-water Cocktails
Riding high in tandem with the other cocktail trend of the year, unusual brown liquors (were we the only ones who noticed artichoke liqueur Cynar on bar menus everywhere?), was the polar opposite: light, refreshing cocktails created using water infused with cucumbers, berries or herbs. Local culinary consultant and chef Kathy Casey kicked off the trend with the "H20 Cocktails" she developed for Sweden's Purity Vodka. Then a summer drink mixed by former Poppy bartender Veronika Groth (now at Chino's, the new Taiwanese/Mexican restaurant on Capitol Hill; at press time, set to open in mid-November) using water from a cucumber made us believers (and thankful there are options for non-brown-liquor drinkers).
Groth's (shown above) new bar menu will feature drinks made with hand-crafted "hydrosols"—water infused with ingredients such as thyme, lavender and douglas fir—for what promises to be an olfactory cocktail experience.
Chino's, Capitol hill, 1024 E Pike St.; 206.860.4238; chinosseattle.com
Best Ice Cream and Cookies Fix
Bluebird's Snickerdoodle Ice Cream
When we first tasted this spot-on creamy iced incarnation of the cookie classic last spring at Bluebird Homemade Ice Cream and Tea Room, our first thought was of November—and how well this ice cream would pair with pumpkin pie. But we'll also take it all on its own, any time.
Capitol Hill, 1205 E Pike St., Suite 1A; and greenwood, 7400 Greenwood Ave. N; bluebirdseattle.blogspot.com
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When an interior designer wraps up a major project, the next objective often is getting that project published. The first step is drafting a great pitch. According to editors at some of the industry's top magazines, websites, and blogs, how you present your work is as critical as the projects in your portfolio.
While many designers aim for a feature in ELLE DECOR, or other national design magazines, it's also wise to consider outlets like online magazines, regional magazines, or blogs. (For the record, ED does accept pitches—the appropriate email address is at the end of this piece.)
We asked both online editors (Jaime Derringer, editor of Design-Milk.com; Michelle Adams, editor in chief of Lonny magazine; and Crystal Gentilello, editor in chief of Rue magazine) and those who work primarily in print (Clinton Smith, editor in chief of VERANDA magazine and Wendy Goodman, design editor of New York Magazine) what it takes to catch their eye.
Pitch one media outlet at a time
Editors can spot blanket pitches immediately—especially when they begin with a highly impersonal Dear Editor. "I want to feel like the designer has taken some time to look at my site before hitting the send button," says Derringer, whose website Design Milk focuses on modern design. Reference the specific sections of the website or magazine that might be a good fit for your work. "Do your homework," says Gentilello of Rue. "Check out the archives, and see what we're publishing at that time of year. Help us see the angle of your story."
When it comes to exclusivity, every publication has its own criteria. Many will run something that has been published, but others—like Rue and Lonny—won't. "Give each magazine the offer of exclusivity rather than shopping a location around." Says Goodman of New York magazine, adding that it's best to be honest up front. "Figure out your priorities and pitch accordingly. Be clear with editors and give right of first refusal."
What editors love (and loathe) in a pitch
Most editors prefer to receive pitches via email. "Cold calls drive me bananas!" says Adams of Lonny. The best emailed pitches include a short bit of copy (less than 300 words), and cover all the basics: the name of the designer and/or architect along with the location and the goal of the project. "If I want to know more, I'll ask," says Derringer. Don't send pages of information—no one has the time to read it—and don't send any information in your pitch that you wouldn't want to see in print. "If you don't want an exterior shown, then don't include 100 photographs of the front garden," says Smith of VERANDA. He also takes issue with vague voicemails or emails. "Never leave a message saying, 'I have something that might interest you and your readers. Please get back in touch with me,'" he says. "That has to be the worst way to make a first impression with an editor."
Once the email is sent, give editors some time to process it. Nothing can sour a great pitch like overzealous follow-ups. "One follow-up email is totally fine, but it's important not to go overboard with multiple aggressive emails or phone calls," says Adams.
Excellent photographs are paramount
The most important part of your pitch is the photography. High resolution photos are optimal, but be mindful of how you send them so you're not crashing an editor's email server. Send images in a zip file or via USB flash drives. "Don't ever direct an editor to your FTP site where we can download images," says Smith. "We don't have time." Some editors use these images purely as scouting shots. Goodman, for example, needs to see every project in person before it can be fully considered for publication. Adams says Lonny typically re-shoots locations prior to publication. ELLE DECOR always does. Even so, take the time to make your photographs great, though they don't have to be by a professional. "Poor photos can really make an otherwise amazing room look just plain awful," says Derringer. "If you spend a lot of time preparing a pitch, take the time to gather decent photographs."
A great pitch is just the beginning
Once you've reached out to editors, there are steps you can take to increase your visibility. "Keep your website up to date," says Derringer. Flash websites, she notes, are outdated. An updated portfolio website or blog highlighting recent projects and news is helpful to any editor seeking out new projects. But Adams says to regulate what you upload to your own website. "If you add photos of a recent project to your site, it can be considered published," she says. Bloggers can re-post those images at will, making them off-limits to some editors who are seeking unpublished work. "Instead, post photographs of only a few of the rooms, not the entire project," she says.
Getting the editorial coverage you want can take time. But for designers who are committed, it can be well worth the effort. "The mistake many designers make is that they only market themselves when business is slow," says Smith. "Time needs to be allotted every week to make sure the word is being spread about what they're doing, whether that's through social media, postcards of recent work, or email newsletters. You never know what will catch an editor's eye."
Looking to pitch one of these magazines or sites? You can contact:
Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles: firstname.lastname@example.com
Design Milk: firstname.lastname@example.com
ELLE DECOR: email@example.com
Lonny: email@example.com
New York Magazine: firstname.lastname@example.com
Rue: email@example.com

subset: commoncrawl


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Donations Pour in for Homeless Man, Glen James, Who Found and Returned Backpack With More Than $40K
Glen James, the homeless man who returned a lost backpack filled with more than $42,000 in cash and travelers checks was honored by police in Boston, Mass., on Monday and he took the opportunity to praise God and thank everyone who ever gave him a penny.
"I don't talk too much because I stutter," he noted in a boston.com report on Monday. His stutter did not, however, prevent him from saying more. The honest man shared a handwritten statement in which he exalted God for always providing for him.
"Even if I were desperate for money, I would not have kept even a ... penny of the money I found. I am extremely religious — God has always very well looked after me," he wrote in the statement.
Returning the backpack, he said, made him feel "very, very good" and he noted: "I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank everyone — every pedestrian stranger — who has given me spare change. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis called James "honest" and said his actions are "really a remarkable tribute to him and his honesty."
"He's an honest guy and realized the property belonged to someone else," Davis told boston.com.
But James is in for more than just a "thank you." As of Tuesday evening, a gofundme campaign started on Monday by Ethan Whittington had already raised more than half of a $50,000 goal seeking to help James, who has been homeless for several years, turn his life around.
"A homeless man by the name of Glen James found $40,000 yesterday and promptly returned the backpack with all of its contents. Let's all chip in and help this man change his life. Every little donation helps. Let's be reassured that there is still hope and humanity in our great nation," wrote Whittington.
On Tuesday, Whittington called the level of support the campaign had received so far "UNBELIEVABLE."
"I am currently in the process of finding out more about Glen. What's his situation currently? What does he need? How can we best help him? Once this is determined, I will lay out a financial plan. (Apartment deposit/ down payment, rent, utilities, clothes, food, job consultation, etc.) I am also in contact with a few people about the possibility of housing help," he wrote in a post on the campaign wall.
"What a fantastic thing you are doing, Ethan. $50,000 goal? Try adding a zero at the end. That's my call on what the final total will be. Once these stories go viral, it explodes," wrote on donor to the fund, Marnie McCallister.


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This article is more than 1 year old
SanDisk preps 4GB SDHC memory card
Bundles USB adaptor
Solid-state memory specialist SanDisk will this month ship its first 4GB SD card, based on version 2.0 of the SD standard, also known as SDHC. The company said it plans to bundle the card with a compact USB adaptor - handy given the paucity of devices with SDHC slots.
The 4GB card delivers a minimum data-transfer rate of 28MBps - dubbed 'Class 2' in the SDHC specification - SanDisk said.
SanDisk's 4GB SDHC - plus adaptor - will ship this month for $200/€160 (£109). ®
Related reviews
SanDisk Sansa e250 MP3 player
SanDisk Sansa c150 2GB MP3 player


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I have been ramping up my origami activity a bit recently, and wanted to make an origami bicycle for a friend. I tried to find instructions for one, but could only find references to two origami bike designs – and one is really a scooter, not a bike, while the other is a great design, but very complicated and not fully documented. So, I decided to try to come up with my own design. Because of the geometry of a bicycle, I decided to fold it from a long rectangle instead of a square. (While squares are more common, origami can be made out of different shapes of paper.) Here are my sketches and rough draft:
After another rough draft, I came up with this model:
It's made from an single long rectangle with no cutting or glueing. It could still stand for some improvement, but I think it's a good start!


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The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) has published a list of five test and procedures to be avoided. The list is part of a comprehensive effort that spans across all areas of health care to encourage conversation and shared decision making by patients and their healthcare providers. SCAI's list was developed as part of Choosing Wisely®, an initiative of the ABIM Foundation, which now features dozens of lists – more than 250 recommendations of procedures to avoid in certain circumstances – that were developed by the experts in each field.
Since SCAI is medical society composed of interventional cardiologists – heart doctors who diagnose and treat problems with the heart and blood vessels with minimally invasive procedures – SCAI's list focuses on heart tests and treatments that warrant extra consideration. While we all should always discuss every procedure with our doctors, these five deserve extra conversation.
SCAI's five recommendations are as follows, along with a few comments on why you don't need each test or procedure routinely and when you might need it.
Why you DON'T need it routinely: If you are free of chest pain and shortness of breath after heart procedures, you probably don't need regular stress tests. If you are feeling well without shortness of breath or chest pain, it usually means your heart arteries are in good shape, with no need for further procedures. Stress tests sometimes mistakenly produce abnormal results even when nothing is wrong, and false results can lead to anxiety, further testing, and additional risk of complications.
When you DO need it: Formal guidelines from cardiology societies indicate that stress testing is reasonable after two years have passed since your heart procedure. Stress testing after coronary artery procedures may be particularly appropriate in a variety of situations. Examples include:
Why you DON'T need it routinely: If the angioplasty procedure to unblock your heart arteries fixed all of the significant blockages, usually they don't grow back. If they don't grow back and new blockages don't develop, then another angiogram of your heart will not be of any benefit. (And heart tests always carry some risks.) So if your symptoms go away entirely after the procedure, or you have stable mild symptoms and nothing bad shows up on a stress test, then you probably don't need another angiogram.
When you DO need it: Heart angiograms may be necessary if a stress test shows major problems or if you are having lots of chest pain and hope to get it fixed. If you develop chest pain that occurs when you are resting or worsens from one day to the next, call your doctor immediately or go to the nearest emergency department. In that case, an angiogram may be necessary.
Why you DON'T need it routinely: This mostly applies to persons who know they have heart artery blockages. If you are considering an angiogram to find out if you are likely to die of heart disease, then you are probably willing to do something about it. Otherwise there is no point to doing the procedure
When you DO need it: Having an angiogram to assess your risk of heart attack or death might be beneficial to determine if other procedures can be undertaken safely. In such cases, you might not be willing to undergo further heart procedures to fix blockages, but you might consider undergoing other kinds of procedures if the risk is not too high.
Why you DON'T need it routinely: If you don't have heart symptoms and your stress test is normal (assuming you exercised to a good heart rate), your doctor already knows that your risk of heart troubles is very low. In that case, having an angiogram of your heart would not give your doctor any additional useful information about your risk of heart disease.
When you DO need it: We couldn't think of a reason why you would need an angiogram in this situation.
Why you DON'T need it routinely: Heart artery blockages that are not causing symptoms or are not limiting blood flow to the heart are best treated with medications. Fixing them with heart artery stents does not prevent death or heart attacks. And if you are not having any symptoms, it can't make you feel any better.
When you DO need it: Rarely, tests that measure blood flow to the heart can fail to show blockages that really do exist. If there is such a blockage in a critical part of the heart, even a person without any symptoms might benefit from fixing the blockage.
The questions below can help you start a conversation with your physician/practitioner about recommended cardiovascular tests.
Ask them. Contact your healthcare provider and ask all of your questions. Any time you have health questions, the conversations you have with your doctor are the key to successful results. Ask every question you have.
We hope you will use SecondsCount.org to learn more about your cardiovascular health and treatment options. SecondsCount.org was developed by the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions.
Learn how SCAI is advancing patient care »


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Is There A Right And A Wrong Way To Help Someone?
It's the TED Radio Hour from NPR. I'm Guy Raz. So you've probably heard the statistics - about half the world's population, 3 billion plus people, live on less than $2.50 a day. Every other person on the planet is very, very poor. So how did that happen and why? Well, on the show today, we're going to explore the ideas about how we got to this point and how we can get out - about the haves and the have-nots. So let's start in Italy 1971, and the government, inspired by the U.S. Peace Corps, starts a program...
ERNESTO SIROLLI: ...That allowed young men and women who did not want to join the Army to go to Africa for two years instead.
RAZ: This is Ernesto Sirolli. And at age 21, he wasn't that excited about the Army.
SIROLLI: I spoke, at the time, fluent French and there was this interest for me to go and work with this agency.
RAZ: And it seemed like a pretty good opportunity.
SIROLLI: I very quickly became involved in the training of the volunteers.
RAZ: He trained them and then he'd send them off to Africa with a project and he'd say, don't forget to write.
SIROLLI: And very often, they would write two different letters. One letter to the boss say, everything is fine and the letter to me, say, get me out of here.
RAZ: So Ernesto, he got himself a nickname.
SIROLLI: And my nickname was tarmac because I was the guy getting all the flu shots and then be sent to all these African countries - Kenya, Zambia, Ivory Coast - try to rescue these volunteers - Somalia, Algeria - who were in sometimes, in desperate situations. I was the guy who saw the problems and mistakes that were created by our very silly international aid programs.
RAZ: Like this one. It happened in Zambia, and it's a story Ernesto Sirolli told on the TED stage.
SIROLLI: It was a project where we Italians decided to teach Zambian people how to grow food. So we arrived there with Italian seeds in southern Zambia in this absolutely magnificent valley going down to the Zambezi River. And we taught the local people how to grow Italian tomatoes and zucchini. And of course, the local people had absolutely no interest in doing that so we paid them to come and work, and sometimes they would show up. And we were amazed that the local people in such fertile valley, would not have any agriculture. But instead of asking them how come they were not growing anything, we simply said, thank God we're here. Just in the nick of time to save the Zambian people from starvation.
And of course, everything in Africa grew beautifully and we had these magnificent tomatoes. In Italy, a tomato would grow to this size. In Zambia, to this size. And we were telling the Zambians, look how easy agriculture is. When the tomatoes were nice and ripe and red, overnight, some 200 hippos came up from the river and they ate everything. And we said to the Zambians, my God, the hippos. And the Zambians said, yes, that's why we have no agriculture here. Why didn't you tell us? You never asked. I thought it was only us Italian's blundering around Africa, but then I saw what the Americans were doing, what the English were doing, what the French were doing. And after seeing what they were doing, I became quite proud of our project in Zambia because, you see, at least we fed the hippos.
SIROLLI: And if you arrive in a community with arrogance and you don't listen to the local people, you don't ask, you are going to have your pride chewed off by the local hippos.
RAZ: I mean, that was like a moment of clarity for you. This was like a turning point for you.
SIROLLI: Yes. There was the moment of - this kind of moment of clarity where you really sit back and say, we do not know what we're doing here. What are we doing? What the hell are we doing here? It was one of those revelations. It couldn't be clearer that for somebody to arrive in a country and to have this superior attitude towards the local to say, why don't they grow anything here? Look how beautiful this land is.
SIROLLI: Every single project that we set up in Africa failed, and I was distraught. I thought, age 21, that we Italians were good people and we were doing good work in Africa. Instead, everything we touched we killed.
RAZ: How did every single project fail?
SIROLLI: And they still do. See, the first reaction was, let's not tell anybody we made a mistake. Let's not tell anybody about this project. I really thought that it was one bad project that will never be repeated, which, I think, is what the Americans in the Peace Corps are thinking right now. That they are in a bad project, but it's unique. So what they do, they don't tell anybody what they've done because there must be lots and lots of lot good projects out there.
But if they had the chance to go and find out what their colleagues are doing around Africa, they will discover that, in fact, the norm is failure. The question is, of 50 years of international aid, what can we point to that has been successful? In the last 50 years, the donor countries have donated to Africa 2 trillion American dollars and the African continent is the only continent in the world that has not caught up with the alleviation of poverty, education and health that the rest of the world has done.
RAZ: I mean, this is a serious issue here. Poverty is a real thing, it is a really serious thing that many people want to tackle, right. I mean, they want to fix this problem. So how do you do it without doing it...
SIROLLI: Not by arms. You never solve problems of poverty by giving people money. You have to teach them how to fish.
SIROLLI: I decided, when I was 27 years old, to only respond to people. And I invented the system called Enterprise Facilitation where you never initiate anything, you never motivate anybody, but you become a servant of the local passion. The servant of local people who have a dream to become a better person. So what you do, you shut up, you never arrive in a community with any ideas and you sit with the local people. We don't work from offices. We meet at the cafe. We meet at the pub. We have zero infrastructure. And what we do, we become friends, and we find out what that person wants to do. The most important thing is passion. You can give somebody an idea. If that person doesn't want to do it, what are you going to do?
The passion that the person has for her own growth is the most important thing. The passion that that man has for his own personal growth is the most important thing. And then we help them to go and find the knowledge because nobody in the world can succeed alone. The person with the idea may not have the knowledge, but the knowledge is available. So years and years ago, I had this idea - why don't we, for once, instead of arriving in a community to tell people what to do, why don't, for once, listen to them? But not in community meetings. What we do, we work one-on-one, and to work one-on-one you have to create a social infrastructure that doesn't exist. You have to create a new profession. The profession is the family doctor of enterprise, the family doctor of business who sits with you in your, house at your kitchen table, at the cafe and helps you find the resources to transform your passion into a way to make a living.
RAZ: I mean, that makes complete sense, but I mean, is the whole idea of sending aid wrong?
SIROLLI: Completely, entirely wrong.
RAZ: Wow.
SIROLLI: Has to be dismantled. I wish we would set up a website called www.internationalblunders.com for people to come out of the closet and tell the truth about what they're doing.
RAZ: I can't help but imagine, you know, like a young aid worker hearing this in despair and thinking, my God, I'm just doing the wrong thing. I mean, it can't possibly be the case for all of them.
SIROLLI: It's never our intention, you see, the damage is not done by the original intent. The unintended consequences of what we're doing when we show up uninvited, when we don't know what we're doing. To do aid in Africa is like trying to back a truck with three trailers, and every minimal change at the front is going to create a absolute, huge effect three trailers back. All of a sudden, you lose control. And some of the stories are funny, but some of the stories are heartbreaking, and that's why I encourage more people who have done what I've done for the last 40 - 50 years, to come and tell the truth. What did they leave behind?
SIROLLI: So we can create a community where we have facilitators who come from a small business background sitting in cafes, in bars and are your dedicated buddies. Somebody who will say to you, what do you need? What can you do? Can you make it? OK. Can you sell it? Can you look after the money? Oh, no. I cannot do this. Would you like me to find you somebody? We activate communities. We have groups of volunteers, supporting Enterprise Facilitator to help you to find resources and people. And we have discovered that the miracle of the intelligence of local people is such that you can change the culture and the economy of this community just by capturing the passion, the energy and imagination of your own people. Thank you.
RAZ: Ernesto Sirolli. He works on enterprise projects all over the world. Check out his entire talk at TED.NPR.org. Stay with us, more stories of the have and have-nots in a moment. I'm Guy Raz. And this is the TED Radio Hour from NPR.
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You are currently browsing the daily archive for October 29, 2010.
Need sunglasses for this drama on the Hudson? "Random" means … spotted in a plethora of places, like Elizabeth, passing the Hudson waterfront at dusk with a barged Weeks crane 532 in tow. Note the Crow or Cheyenne in push gear with barge on the far left.
Paul T Moran at Gulf Marine Repair in Tampa. Not to be insensitive to customary modes of dress, but–as east river pointed out– doesn't this vaguely like a burka or abaya from the eyes down on the tug?
Justine McAllister pulling a light RTC 120 south of Catskill.
Atlantic Coast pushing Cement Transporter 5300 south of –you guessed it–Cementon, NY.
Meredith C. Reinauer pushing a loaded RTC 150 toward the Highlands. By the way, if you're looking for a fun read, try the novel by T. C. Boyle called World's End . . . my current source of chuckles.
Sea Hawk in Brooklyn Navy Yard last June appearing tied up to sludge tanker North River.
Connecticut (1959?) crosses the Sound north to south.
That's it for now. Thanks to Deb DePeyster (who previous contributed to this) for the foto of Elizabeth, and to eastriver for the foto of Paul T Moran. All others by Will Van Dorp.


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Attention foodies: Every summer, hundreds of foodies end up needlessly ruining s'mores by screwing up the ingredients. These poor saps are left with a disgusting excuse for a campfire treat and unhappy children. Don't let this happen to you!
S'mores are a simple treat; stop overthinking them with foodie ingredients. To help the struggling foodie, I have put together this very simple guide to s'more ingredients. The elements of your s'mores should be as follows:
1. Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar
Chocolate is the essential s'more ingredient, but it's also the main way that foodies screw up. I have seen far to many foodies, sitting around the campfire after finishing their pancetta-bison burgers with confit of caramelized onion, drag out some 78% Ecuadoran single origin bean-to-bar chocolate for the s'mores. Now don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of high cacao chocolate and have reviewed many of them, but there is a time and a place for it. That time and place is not in your s'mores. Dark chocolate doesn't complement the pure, sticky sweetness of marshmallows and graham crackers. You want a milder flavor profile for that: the taste of old-fashioned Hershey's milk chocolate. You know, the kind you were perfectly happy with before around 1999. Plus, the richness and subtlety of high cacao bars is lost in the amalgam. Putting them on a s'more is like mixing great Bourbon with Coke; you lose the flavor. Plus, if you're s'moring with kids, artisan chocolates are (1) not kid friendly (who wants to see a kid with a sad face after eating chocolate, of all things?) and (2) filled with caffeine. Come on foodies, I know you have it in you, go to Von's or Rite Aid (you will find addresses for both on Google), walk up to that candy aisle and grab a Hershey bar.
2. Nabisco Honey Maid Graham Crackers
This is a similar issue. Most fancy schmancy graham crackers are too thick, too sweet and too full of weird flavors to make a good s'more (lavender-maple graham crackers do not belong on s'mores). The s'more is a sandwich. You want it on thin crackers that are just slightly sweet and easy to bite through. Do they taste like cardboard on their own? You bet! But the s'more is about the gestalt; the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
3. Marshmallows
Okay, marshmallows are the one thing I will give on if the foodies are raising a ruckus. The traditional big-name marshmallows are pretty offensive and full of weird chemicals. Some of the craft marshmallows (as opposed to Kraft marshmallows) out there are pretty darn good and would probably taste good on a s'more, so I give you permission to use them, but no weird flavors (pictured above are the excellent vanilla marshmallows from BonBonBar). That being said, it won't necessarily be easy. The old Jet-Puffeds are the perfect size to slap on a stick and roast over the fire. Artisan marshmallows tend to be petite and a bit fragile. While the taste will work, the execution might not. I suggest doing a few trial runs and having a big bag of the old-standbys just in case.
So, please, have a safe and sane Fourth of July and don't ruin anyone's summer fun with your weird foodieness. Oh, and don't forget to shoot off lots of illegal fireworks! Happy Fourth!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Important Fourth of July Warning: Be Safe and Sane with S'mores
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