If you are not thrilled by the idea of being Jonny Fu as I suggested yesterday, visit a legendary forest, Broceliande.
This imaginary place where maps point to the forest of Paimpont (in Brittany) is populated by Lancelot, Merlin (l'enchanteur), the Knights of the Round Table.
This is one of these celtic legends that gets your mind racing.
Maybe it gives you a theme for your Halloween party.

Rather than go for the used and tired with Any Way You Like It  Asheville (North Carolina) asked the You Tube generation to submit videos recounting their visit to the city and what impressions they left with.

The main advertising campaign is called Unscripted or in their words "Come and spend some time in a place where life is unscripted, where each day is any way you like it".

The Asheville Tourist Office site puts the accent on the outdoors, the bucolic scenery and specials such as Girls Getaway.

In My Asheville you can submit Your Asheville story.

Kudos to their inclusive and innovative approach.

For Independent views on the Arts and the Local Scene you can also check Mountain Xpress.

Let me plan a week-end there to explore.

I found out about Asheville, Any Way You Like It on Coudal.

On one of my Monday morning trips to the world of PingMag in Tokyo, I discovered a character I could be for Halloween.
His name is Jonny Fu and is the creation of Ron Jonzo, the man with the pen.
The whimsy of the Jonny Wu story reminds me somehow of Wallace and Gromit.
So if you have not yet decided what character you want to be on Halloween Night, why not be Jonny Fu.

At least you will not be one of a hundred wearing the same outfit.

You might be the only Jonny Fu in town. Maybe you will be asked: Who are you?

You will have to find a costume designer ready to put it together overnight though.
Good Luck!

The picture of Jonny Fu and the Kungfu Girl was borrowed from the PingMag piece.

For more on Halloween, check my Halloween and Wine posts.

Heading for San Francisco and looking for up to date information on the hospitality industry here's a new source.
Ryan Tate, reporter for the San Francisco Business Times shares his insider knowledge of restaurants and hotels in and around San Francisco, tables and sheets and warts and all in Covers.
I was especially interested in his Mall Madness for Center Chefs story mentioning Tom Colicchio's Wichcraft outpost amongst others on the opening of the new Food Court at Westfield San Francisco Center mall.
The San Francisco Chronicle piece Old Emporium dome has turned into symbol of the new Westfield also mentions the presence of a 30.000 square feet grocery space.

From his report it sounds like the Upscaling of the Food Court.
Will we have to stand behind the velvet rope before grabbing a quick bite?

Westfield, in the process of re-branding all its shopping malls worldwide under the Westfield brand, is expanding my local Garden State Plaza mall along the same lines.

I discovered Covers thanks to Becks & Posh.

A week does not go by without my getting requests for links or product reviews.
I obviously take a look if it sounds interesting.
Today I did just that for Blue Shoots. They are a UK based family owned online store offering a quality selection of Aprons and other Textiles as well as Cooking Ustensils, Bakeware and more. Amongst their textiles, the Grumpy Old Men apron (pictured here) caught my eye.
It is inspired by the BBC series of the same name.
You will also find a nice selection of children aprons which is not so common.

I also discovered on their site the Penguin Steam Cleaner with its Funky design.

All in all Blue Shoots offers good designs, interesting kitchen products and an easy to navigate website.

Take a look!

In this age of segmentation, we can search for jobs with non strictly 'professional' needs in mind.
After reading about a recent update to the Simply Hired service on TechCrunch, I did a quick search on 'Dog Friendly' jobs using their service. It came up with odd matches such as Hot Dog stands positions and servers needed for The Lazy Dog Cafe. I also discovered the Animal Behavior College.
I did not see any 'bring your dog to work' position though.

I pay frequent visits to Parenthacks, not so much for advice, rather to follow the conversation.
Along the same line comes Maya's Mom which combines other parents tips with suggestions of activities in your area or at home.
They guess your location vased on your IP address.
Maya's Mom also hosts Parent Groups such as Dads with Daughters and Parents with Pets which according to them work with existing Yahoo Groups.

To add to this topic let me also mention a New Jersey based site called Parental Wisdom,the creation of Tina Nocera who I have known for a number of years.

I guess today with this post and the previous on Book Exchanges, I am on the Parent Track.

Even though I knew about Online Independent music distributor Magnatune, I was not aware that his founder John Buckman also started BookMooch or 'New Life for Old Books' as they describe themselves.
There are not many books I bought that I would trade personally but I could see that as a useful tool for parents.
Our kids get older and grow out of things they used to like and some of them are voracious readers so it is a good way to update their reading list.
The process for BookMooch is pretty simple: Register as a member, then make a list of books you want to give away, then receive requests for some of these books from other members, mail them and get points that you can use to get books from others.

Another site working along the same lines is PaperBackSwap which as its name suggests is focused on Paperbacks.
The process is pretty much the same as for BookMooch except that you need to list a minimum of 9 books to get started. Read their How Does it Work page for more details.
I discovered PaperBackSwap on Lifehacker.

Illustration credit Andrice Arp

In I brushed, I swear Michele Foley (Chow) does a quick Q and A on the topic of Red Wine and Stained Teeth.
Wanting to educate myself on the topic I went on a little expedition.

I found Dental Care for the Wine Taster by Sue Courtney which highlights that the acidity of the wine tends to thin the enamel.

Gothamist offered us Malbec Mouth with more humor than practical solutions.

Chemical and Engineering News ads coffee and tea (besides red wine) to the list of stainer in chief.

The Scotsman on the other hand suggests that Red wine 'may help to stop teeth falling out' in being key to prevent and treat serious gum disease.

I will let you sort all that out.

What is your take on this?

Sante!

I have to be honest, in my 15 years in the States I have yet to travel to the Caribbeans. So I can say that I stumbled upon Island in the Sun, a site dedicated to Eleuthera and Harbour Island (otherwise as Briland) in the Bahamas.
It combines local storytelling and bands, tourist information, business directory, gift ideas and more.
It will take you a while to navigate the site which like a squid extends its reach in many directions.

You can also check My Harbour Island by Robert Arthur.

Surely looking at the Bahamas through the eyes of the locals will give you a new perspective.

I chose a straw work weaving display to illustrate this piece.

In previous Caribbean Stories, I recounted Meeting the Minister of Rum, Ed Hamilton.

On the topic of Rhum Agricole, I also suggest you read Rum Run by Jordan Mackay on Chow.