Serge the Concierge

Hot Dogs as America in DC from Fenway Frank and Chicago Red Hot to NY Deli Dog

I was looking up details on an exhibit of a British Icon from the 60's and came up with a slice (a bun) of Americana.

Call it food as history if you will, the Courtyard Cafe at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC picked as its summer feature, Hot Dogs as America.

Here is what's it's all about:

"As a special tribute to America's favorite pastime and a warm up to Nationals Baseball Family Day, Saturday, July 18, the Courtyard Café will feature three authentic hot dogs from baseball cities across the country during the month of July from 11:30am–3pm daily. Specialty dogs are $5.95, a plain dog is $4.95."

• New York Deli Dog-- New York City's delicatessen tradition brings us this great natural-casing beef frank topped off with sauerkraut and deli mustard.


• Chicago Red Hot-- a jumbo Vienna Beef frank on a poppy seed bun, is "dragged through the garden," topped with mustard, relish, onion, tomato, dill pickle, peppers, and a dash of celery salt.


• Fenway Frank-- boiled and grilled Fenway-style, a beef hot dog served on a New England-style bun and covered with mustard and relish.

Will the Chicago Red Hot look and taste like those offered by Red Hot Chicago (picture below)?

Are they pairing them with New York, Boston and Chicago beers?

Another reason to visit DC this summer...

Fall under the Spell of Lura, Free Chicago Concert by Portuguese Singer, July 9

If you are lucky enough to be in Chicago this evening of July 9 and not afraid to fall under the charm of Lura, the Portuguese singer will be treating happy ears to her sensual voice as displayed in 'Oh Naia' (below).

Even better, the early show (6:30pm) is Free.

Location: Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park (info: 312-742-1168)

Sharing the bill with Lura is Megitza Quartet.

Lura's latest release is 'Eclipse'

Found out about this Summer Freebie via Chicago Reader.

Recent Music Bit:
3 Days of Peace and Yoga, Wanderlust, Music Festival with a Different Recipe, Lake Tahoe, July 24-26

Cheese, Vermont-France Terroir Exchange kicks off Taste of Champlain Festival, July 8-12

As Vermont celebrates Champlain Quadricentennial, the 400th anniversary of French explorer Samuel de Champlain’s arrival to the lake that now bears his name in 2009, food had to be part of the equation.

The Taste of Champlain Food Festival kicks off on July 8 with morning seminars, tastings and discussions focus on the potential and importance of “origin of product” with experts from Vermont, France, and beyond. Guest speakers included cheese expert and microbiologist Sister Noella Marcellino (subject of the PBS documentary The Cheese Nun), French sensory expert Florence Berodier, and professors Amy Trubek of UVM and Pierre Merel of the University of California at Davis, among others.

It is followed by an Evening Tasting Event from 7 to 9pm with some of the most prestigious AOC French cheeses and the finest Vermont artisanal cheeses, all paired to perfection with Vermont and French wines and other specialty products from the state.

It takes place at Firehouse Center for the Visual Arts (Burlington).

Tickets are $50 and available at City Market (also in Burlington), by phone at (802)-264-0766.

I did noticed that City Market launched special products to mark the celebrations:

"The Quad-a-Poundah ($7.49/lb) is a delicious blend of local LaPlatte River Angus ground beef, Vermont Smoke and Cure bacon with a zesty Montreal-style seasoning. The Champlain Wrap ($7.95) combines Maple Ham and Brie cheese topped with Maple Honey-Dijon Mustard and greens.  In addition to the specialty burgers and wrap, the Co-op features Boyden Valley’s Quadricentennial Wine ($14.99) and Shelburne Vineyard’s Cote de Champlain ($12.99)."

On July 11, the Consumed to Thrifty in search of week-end plans can visit a FREE "open-air showcase of the region’s finest providers, from freshly harvested produce to locally produced honey, cheeses and gourmet prepared foods" on north and south sides of City Hall Park" from 8:30 a.m to 2 p.m.

At $5 per dish (proceeds benefit Burlington City Arts education scholarships) get your fill of everything strawberries at the Strawberry Festival also on Saturday, July 11 at the Food Festival Tent on Main Street, between St. Paul & Pine Streets from 11:00am to 5:00 p.m.

Looking at what local Indians used to eat and grow when back when, Alice Levitt reports in Indian Summer (July 09, Seven Days) on the recreation of an Abenaki Traditional Garden.

All in all a blend of cultivating, culture and history...

Treat your Creative Self to Free Coworking Fridays at Lab 24/7 in Brooklyn

Getting a slice of Jelly in my e-mail this morning, I noticed that the next Jelly NY Session was taking place at a new space Lab 24/7 in Brooklyn.

What the space is about in their own words:

"Lab 24/7 incubates creative projects and events for fun, profit and community service. The Lab has a space in the cellar of an old Brooklyn brownstone where we meet up, jump off and occassionally cowork."

Need to take a break from your routine and some human interaction, Lab 24/7 has Coworking Fridays and best of all it's FREE.

WHEN: Most Friday's (join the list for updates)
WHERE: 247 Stuyvesant Ave, @ Putnam, BK (click for directions)
HAPPY: Happy Hour from 5:30-ish - 7:00-ish

From the look of it, seems like Lab 24/7 has a strong Food connection including with Senegal, not sure why and an artist/fundraising take, the Kimchi Pancake Project and a Cooklyn Improv (see below).

As for the Jelly Session on July 10, it will feature,Todd Sunstead, one of the authors of I'm Outta Here (a book on coworking) amongst others.

All you have to do is Take the A Train

3 Days of Peace and Yoga, Wanderlust, Music Festival with a Different Recipe, Lake Tahoe, July 24-26

Following my No Vacation Nation thread, I was checking the correct definition of 'wanderlust' and discovered by accident the Wanderlust Festival which brings together Music and Yoga from July 24 to July 26, 2009 in Lake Tahoe (California).

Any other festival with a main stage at 8000 feet I wonder?

On the music side, line up counts Michael Franti, Spoon, Gillian Welch, Broken Social Scene, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings to name a few.

I noticed the Yoga Slackers in the Yoga lineup, great name...

For the Consumed to Thrifty crowd who cannot fork out the $120 plus dollars for 3 days, I suggest the Daytripper option: "Friday ($24.50), Saturday ($69.50), and Sunday ($49.50). These passes are for music only and are good for all music events (day and night) for that particular day. They also include the Funitel lift ticket for the days in which there is music on top of Squaw."

More music from a different kitchen:
Music not Druids, Green Man Festival in Glanusk Park, Wales (August 20-23)

Is Vagabond Life the Answer to No Vacation Nation Conundrum?

Ask anyone you know why they don't take what I call a real vacation (2 weeks or more) and the answer will probably I do not have the money or I do not have the time (my job does not allow me to) or both.

Call them Nomads or Vagabonds, a number of people in the US and around the globe are exploring ways to blend work and life with their wanderlust.

Type 'Vagabonding' in your search box and you will find Rolf Potts who defines it as "taking time off from your normal life — from six weeks, to four months, to two years — to discover and experience the world".

Since he already was a travel writer, he might not be the best example. Greg Rogers of Vagabonding Life who describes his 'program' as  'Escaping corporate America and traveling around the world on the cheap!' is a more to the point illustration.

Another benefit of Vagabonding highlighted by Nomadic Matt is that as time is not of the essence you have a better chance to travel green.

Pat of Digital Vagabonding calls it 'Life off the leash'.

Which leads me to another category Digital Nomads some of which might be blending life, work and travel while other digital nomads are just workaholics jumping from one project to the other, not really explorers.

I would definitely put In the life, work, travel blending Soul Travelers 3 (parents in their 50's, child 5) who with the arrival of Summer left their Andalusian base for a European Roadtrip.

Work, life and money on the go for Monday Work Etiquette # 97

Previously on Monday Work Etiquette:
In No Vacation Nation, She Wants 6 Weeks Summer Vacation, These Americans Settle for 3

What Size and Shape is your Cucumber? European Union Lets Love Rule

Should Greek cucumbers be identical twins to Irish ones or strawberries from Brittany be the same as those from Catalonia?

The European Union decided to take the corset off its regulations as to what shape of form 36 categories of fruits and vegetables should be size and look wize.

Here's what changed on July 1, 2009 according to Knobbles and curves are back for fruit and veg by Geoff Meade (Independent, June 30):

"26 items (restrictions on shape and size repealed without qualification) - apricots, artichokes, asparagus, aubergines, avocados, beans, Brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, cherries, courgettes, cucumbers, cultivated mushrooms, garlic, hazelnuts in shell, headed cabbage, leeks, melons, onions, peas, plums, ribbed celery, spinach, walnuts in shell, water melons, and witloof/chicory.

10 items (restrictions lifted subject to labelling to distinguish them from "class 1" produce) - apples, citrus fruit, kiwi fruit, lettuces, peaches/nectarines, pears, strawberries, sweet peppers, table grapes and tomatoes."

God knows what happened to the unevenly shaped produce before the Brussels crowd as voiced by agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel (pictured above) got wisdom.

What a waste as Ian Dury would have sung?

Fireworks Popping In and Around Town, Happy 4th of July

I heard that some cities decided to cancel their Independence Day festivities.

Others to save money lit up the sky on Thursday, July 2nd.

Driving down the Garden State Parkway around 9:30 pm, I saw maybe 10 different locations gracing the skies with their fireworks.

The tradition is still alive.

Shouldn't we make July 4th a work free day though?

Happy 4th of July

With Furloughs Will Americans Learn to Play? No Vacation Nation No 3

I had not thought of furloughs as an opportunity for Americans and others to learn how to enjoy their play time until I read Time will tell (FT, July 1, 2009).

Those who will most enjoy the 'forced' time off brought upon us by the recession have a cushion to fall back on. If you are scraping to get by, working less will be a source of stress.

Anita Bruzzese in Will Furloughs Change the American Workplace Forever? (45 Things, March 09) gets Lynnette Harris personal take on these hours of free time:

"Her first thought was that is was a much better alternative than making layoffs.

Her second thought was that she would finally have time to wade through her book club’s selection this month: the 900-page classic, “Don Quixote.”

“You can grouse about the furlough, but you can also look at it another way. So, I choose to think that I’ll be home to have a girls spa day with my daughter. I’ll clean out a couple of closets while the witnesses are at school and won’t stop me from donating things they haven’t used in years to a local second-hand store.”

Cali Yost offered a “Downsizing Flexibility Champions”—Alternatives to Layoffs Honor Roll (Fast Company Expert Blog, May 09) with a global list of companies and the way they cope with the challenges they face.

Getting back to Time will Tell, it chooses as an example Martin Thomas who "is at the forefront of a shift in working habits sweeping the world. The product manager at British Airways has just decided to take a month off without pay this summer and then work part-time for the following 14 months – and that is precisely what the lossmaking airline wants. “It was an opportunity to give some focused time that I wouldn’t have been able to commit to if this opportunity hadn’t presented itself,” says Mr Thomas, who will help his parents set up a charity in Wales as well as enjoying more time with his wife and two daughters."

As for the short time fruits of his break, Martin Thomas says in the same piece “The first priority of my unpaid leave is to recharge the batteries ... I’m also hoping that my month off coincides with some rather nice summer sun.”

You could also contribute to the Summer of Social Good which runs until August 28, 2009.

Are you taking a longer Independence Day Week-End?

No Vacation Nation #3

Free Jazz, 70 Years of Blue Note Album Covers at Jazz Fest Montreal, July 1-8

Visiting Montreal or just living there, you have about a week left to check 70 Years of Blue Note Album Covers, a Free Exhibit featuring many classic albums such as Dexter Gordon 'Our Man in Paris' (1963, cover below) at Village de la Musique ( corner of Maisonneuve Blvd. and Bleury St).

This 'for your eyes only' treat runs from July 1st to July 8 as part of the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal (Jazz Fest) which closes on July 12.

The hours for the Blue Note Records exhibit are great for 'noctambules' as doors are opened from 12 Noon to Round About Midnight.

Looking for more free stuff offered by this Jazz Festival, check the Free Concerts- Concerts Gratuits listing.

Par ici la musique

Summer events for the Consumed to Thrifty