I have a couple words....

stop being gloomy and start being happy, doc.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Cookin' in da Cuse...

or at least, cookin' in da Syracuse Test Kitchen. And yes, I went there.* Literally, I Pulled into Syracuse** to the Syracuse Test Kitchen and took a cooking class. Not just any cooking class but a class from Julie Tabouli (aka Julie Ann Sageer) who makes incredible Lebanese cuisine. Her mother, Hind, showed me some exciting knife skills while we make fresh, delicious tabouli, kibbeh, hummus, babaganoush, toum (garlic emulsion), and fresh falafel. It was exquisite. I'm also happy to report that the Syracuse Test Kitchen is hot. Not temperature-wise either. Hot like an amazing place to cook with all sorts of neato equipment (like the oven that heats in seconds). Hot like your mom, even. Hot. I will be going back and for $15/students, $20/mere mortals...it was equivalent in price to eating out and and twice as fulfilling a culinary experience.

*If you haven't checked out the actual blog Cookin' in da Cuse, what on this green, tender, and chewy earth are you waiting for?

**Ditto for Pulled into Syracuse, for the less hands-on, more eat-out crowd.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

See how the other half live...the Syracuse Downtown Living Tour





Presented by the Downtown Committee of Syracuse, the 2010 Downtown Living Tour is scheduled for Saturday, May 22nd noon-6 pm.

Come see downtown’s finest examples of urban living. The tour features ten tour stops, showcasing a wide variety of living environments found right in your downtown! The 2010 Tour will be headquartered at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que’s new function room and will be showing off residences throughout downtown, including Clinton, Hanover and Armory Squares! The 2009 People’s Choice award winner, the Jefferson Clinton Commons, will also be featured –come back and see how much it has changed since just last year! This year’s tour features five new tour stops. Come see a variety of upscale condo’s, new apartments, historic renovations and enjoy specials from downtown restaurants and see what downtown living is all about!

If you are interested in volunteering for the event, please contact Michelle Erno at merno@downtownsyracuse.com or 422-8284. A volunteer orientation will be scheduled closer to the event. Each volunteer is asked to volunteer for a two hour shift and will receive a free t-shirt and ticket to enjoy the tour.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Healthcare Teach-In

In case you haven't been following the FUBAR nature of our healthcare debate, this Friday at Syracuse University's Schine Student Center there will be a Healthcare Teach-In with info in abundance.

April 16th, 11-5 in Schine 304 A, B, C
Goal: To clarify some of the complexities of a healthcare system and dispel misconceptions with straight forward, factual information that students may interpret and subsequently formulate their own informed opinions.

1st Panel – Healthcare 101
• Single payer v. public option (THE BASICS…)
• Medicare, Medicaid
• Costs to be insured, employee benefits

2nd Panel- Healthcare Systems: Domestic v. International
• Shortcomings of our system, and what other countries (of comparable development..i.e other countries in the OECD[organization for economic cooperation and development] mostly European anyway)
- What within their models is able to address such short-comings?
• Reasons behind the hesitation to adopt things from other models.

3rd Panel- Life without Healthcare (Students from Dr. Lane’s Class [prof of epidemiology/public health ethics)
• Graduating students getting kicked off of parents insurance plans
• What demographics trends are normally uninsured

4th Panel- The Economic Implications of Healthcare Reform
Which system provides reduced cost?
• Current challenges for small businesses, will they be reduced?
-small businesses like start-ups are a major source of innovation and job growth, and protecting them could greatly help to improve our economy.
-sometimes can’t provide health insurance for employees, and therefore reduces the likelihood that people will opt for such a job (especially if they have dependents).

The 700 Space pARTy

The 700 Space pARTy is the coolest thing happening in April or your money back. This free event will feature a whole night of "out of this world" entertainment sure to knock your space boots off, including guest appearances by your favorite aliens, bands, and artists. Come one, come all and by all means come in costume.

Launch Date:
16 April 2010
18:00 - 23:00 hours
(that's 6 PM - 11 PM for you civilians)

Why Space, you ask? And why pARTy?
This event is all about transforming vacant and traditional commercial spaces into art galleries and music venues for one evening. It’s also about bringing greater attention and new visitors to spaces that already exist as music and arts venues in our community (cough cough, Craft Chemistry). Because this event so heavily focuses on the theme of “spaces”, we thought it only right to introduce a space theme to the evening. We figured it couldn't hurt.

The Flight Plan
Bands:
Joe Driscoll: http://www.myspace.com/joedriscoll
Cheap 'N Easy
David Wax Museum: http://www.myspace.com/davidwaxmusic
Summer People: http://www.myspace.com/summerpeople
Brownskin Band: http://www.myspace.com/brownskinband

Visual Artists:
Isaac Bidwell - illustrations: http://isaacbidwell.com/
Tara Hogan of Ink+Wit - papergoods: http://www.inkandwit.com/iw/
Sara Mills - mixed media installation
Vanessa Miguel - jewelry
Christine Clifton - photographs
Danielle Sakowski - paintings: http://www.infiniteintuitions.com/

Things you'd have to see to believe:
Open Hand Theater puppetry: http://www.openhandtheater.org/
Moon Bounce
Motivational/Prompted Photography
NASA footage, hosted by UVP: http://www.urbanvideoproject.com/
Juggling Lessons

Green of the Crop

Belated post...but at least you can see that green is growing in Central New York. Implementing the competition is and has been a wonderful team effort with the Creative Core, Syracuse Center of Excellence, AMOS Project, CNY Works, and the Metropolitan Development Association...the $150 cash prizes come from a Who's Who of green development organizations and agencies in Central New York and the prize sponsors are green businesses from all over Upstate NY. Look for more info next week at the awards ceremony and keep Green of the Crop in mind for next year.