Internet coverage in rural Sri Lanka using Google Project Loon

3-8-2015

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, Mangala Samaraweera, announced on 28 July 2015 that the country will provide full internet coverage in collaboration with Google. It will be the first country in the world with affordable, universal access to the internet.

Project Loon

The Project Loon balloons drift in the stratosphere, twice as high as airplanes and above the highest clouds. Loon balloons are able to go where they are needed by increasing or decreasing their altitude and move to the layer in the atmosphere with the desired wind direction. Each balloon has a 4G wireless communication transmitter and a reach of about 40 km in diameter.

Facebook Aquila

Facebook is also working on the internet accessibility in rural areas under the name of ‘Aquila‘. The engineers of this company develop a solar-powered plane that can communicate with the ground via laser technology. Global Internet coverage for everyone is nearby now because these two Internet giants are working on it.

With these developments, communication during disasters and in remote areas will be cheaper and faster in the future, one of the motives of Google.

Swipe your favourite dishes with Tender recipe finder

31-7-2015

With the Tender app you can swipe through tasty recipes.

Tender – Food and Recipes

Inspired by the dating app Tinder, Tender replaced the pictures of potential boy- and girlfriends with food. Three alumni of the College of Charleston have figured out that it is also a pleasurable experience to swipe through recipes and they have developed the app Tender where you can do this.

Swipe

By swiping to the left, a dish is thrown into the trashcan. Swipe to the right and the recipe is stored in your own cookbook. This makes the search through food pictures very easy. The app is aimed at the youth of 18-30 years old who want to cook at home more often but look for easy and attractive recipes. By a number of filtering options they can filter for categories like vegan, drinks, desserts etcetera. The start-up is looking to improve filters in different cuisines, prices and other options.

Development

The functionalities are somewhat limited and the app can be more intuitive, but this app shows how consumers will determine whether something (or someone) is visually appealing for them within a tenth of a second. Do you already have attractive pictures of your catering business online, considering this visual future? Find the app in the iTunes store or the Google Play Store.

Workshop Gertjan Kiers at Julius bar & grill

30-7-2015

Julius bar & grill in Amsterdam opens its doors on Sunday afternoon 6 September for a workshop with the famous butcher Gertjan Kiers of butchery ‘Fontijn Vlees en Vleeswaren BV’. This edition Gertjan Kiers debones a pork and teaches how to get the best out of it. The learnings can be tasted right back during a four-course lunch.

Pork deboned by Gertjan Kiers at Julius bar & grill

The previous workshops on beef and lamb were sold out, this edition Gertjan Kiers will elaborate about pork. In the afternoon of 6 September, Kiers debones a complete pig and provides chapter and verse. He shows how quality meat is cut, shares how a butcher knife is handled and teaches how all parts of the pig are best cooked on the barbecue.

4-course lunch

With a four-course lunch at Julius bar & grill the guests can taste back the lessons about the pork directly. There is a special wine pairing menu for the grilled meat dishes available.

About Gertjan Kiers

Gertjan Kiers is a born butcher with a clear opinion about meat and the meat industry; “Many consumers prefer convenience over taste and some butchers and chefs attach more importance to marketing rather than the product. By broadening the general knowledge about meat, the consumer gets a better piece of meat on the plate and the butcher profession gains the respect that it deserves. ”

This unique workshop will be in Dutch and can be reserved online via www.juliusbargrill.nl/reserveren stating ‘workshop Gertjan Kiers’.

When: 6 September, 2015

Time: 13:00 to 16:00 pm

Restaurant Waag opened in Leiden

29-7-2015

This month ‘Waag’ opened in Leiden. The Waag was once the bustling center of Leiden but was barely used until recently. This summer, the monument is the vibrant heart of the city again.

The Waag as backdrop for traditional events

Guests can enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner at the Waag under the magnificent vaults of the monumental Boterhal or in the new glass construction. The Waag remains the backdrop for the traditional presentation of herring and white bread on 3 October and the Waag will be renamed the House of Saint Nicholas in late November.

Interior

Great Persian rugs and a special lighting plan transform the stately monument in a place where it’s pleasant to stay. A wall full of old scales refers to the past, when ‘The Waag’ was the commercial centre of the city and traders had their goods weighted.

Glass construction

To relieve the monumental Waag and Boterhal an additional glass construction was built behind the high, vaulted room of the Boterhal. Here is a large open kitchen located in the glass construction with a private entrance to the Mandemakers Alley.

Chicken in the lead

Freshly grilled chicken plays a major role at the Waag. On a Josper charcoal oven chickens are freshly grilled in French or Portuguese style. In addition there are salads, pastas and culinary classics like a sirloin steak, prawns, satay and a burger on the menu.

Terrace in 2016

The monumental ‘Waaghoofd’ will be the location of the new ‘Waag’ terrace in the spring of 2016, and has room for 150 guests. To achieve this the main bridge of the Waag is moved to Catharina Alley in late 2015.

Debut BV – Hospitality Management and Development

The Waag is part of Debut BV, which is responsible for several successful restaurant concepts as Mad Mick’s Breakaway Café Rotterdam, STAN & CO, Belgian Beer Café Olivier in Utrecht and Leiden, the Mexican restaurants of Popocatepetl, Hometown Coffee & More in The Hague and Stadscafé Progress in Eindhoven.

Your Take On #centerparcslol

28-7-2015

#centerparcslol

Center Parcs organized a contest under the title “Your Take On” where teens can film themselves in all kinds of activities both inside and outside of Center Parcs. The company works together with well-known vloggers (video bloggers) like the ‘Knol brothers’ that promote the contest. Contestants can upload their videos to Instagram with the hashtag #centerparcslol.

Performance by rapper Dio

The maker of the best video will win a day of activities and an exclusive concert by rapper Dio at Center Parcs De Eemhof. Dio is a Dutch rapper who is known from the songs ‘Dom, Lomp en Famous’ in collaboration with the Opposites and Willie Wartaal and ‘Tijdmachine‘ with Sef.

Enzo and Milan Knol

Among other vloggers Enzo and Milan Knol collaborate with Center Parcs for the campaign. Both are social media stars that focus on Dutch teenagers. Enzo Knol is a YouTube hero with nearly 800.000 followers and often new videos by him are viewed more than 200.000 times within a single day. Milan owns Youtube channel DagelijksHaaDee (550.000+ followers) and his other channel DitIsMilan is good for 320.000+ followers.

For more information: www.yourtakeon.nl

Solving the sunbed race during peak season with the ‘sunbreaker’

24-7-2015

One of the biggest irritations in the summer: claiming sunbeds! Other guests have already claimed all the sunbeds by placing their towel on it. This ‘Sunbed Race’ starts very early in the morning at most resorts during peak season. The sunbreaker is nothing more or less than a parking disc for sunbeds. Hotel owners can offer a sunbreaker with every sunbed to take away some of the frustrations on the subject!

A sunbed race is difficult to avoid.

The only way to avoid this is to provide enough sunbeds for all guests and enough space for all the sun beds. Because otherwise your guests will lay down their towel on the sunbeds at the best spot! At most hotels a sunbed race is inevitable, especially during peak season. Hotel owners who deal with those irritations on a daily base could start to use the ‘sunbreaker’ by entrepreneur Theo van den Dungen. Your guests can set the ‘sunbreaker’ at the moment they leave their sunbed. When they come back within the hour they can use their sunbed again, when they come back later, other guests may take the sunbed. Create a system around it, like for example have the belonging of the old guest handed to the pool attendant. The system is still somewhat susceptible to fraud but as hotel owner you’re showing that you at least try to avoid irritations. It’s possible to personalize the sunbreaker.

Do you have a secret menu?

23-7-2015

Hot in the USA: secret menu’s at fast food chains. From fast food chain In-N-Out, to Shake Shack to McDonald’s. Why not create your own ‘secret menu’ as a cafeteria or small fast food chain?

Last year I did visit the fast food chain In-N-Out in California, my daughter who worked and lived in New York already heard about their (not-so) secret menu. Recently I saw a video of Anthony Bourdain discussing his appetite for burgers of In-N-Out. This chain has been offering customer-created riffs on the menu which have been passed down through word of mouth since the 1960’s. At their official menu it has just three burgers (a hamburger, cheeseburger, and the ‘double-double’), it’s ‘not-so-secret’ menu adds six more. I tasted the iconic ‘animal style’ burger with a lot of grilled onions and mustard. Did I like it? Well it certainly was the most tasty fast food burger I have eaten on the West Coast. But I didn’t eat many!

How to create a secret menu

The appeal of the secret menu is a delicate matter for restaurants. You can’t promote them because of the fact that it will instantly lose its secrecy factor. It’s a matter of involving your fans and let them spread their favorite ‘secret menu’ through social media and locally through word of mouth. For more information read the article ‘Secret Burger Menus, Explained’ on Eater.

You can even check the secret menu’s at fast food restaurants in your vicinity at the website Secret Menus. At this website I even read that one of the secret menus at In-N-Out is called the ‘Flying Dutchman’. Just two patties and cheese, very trendy without gluten!  ^Marjolein

These catamaran hotel rooms would be great on our Dutch lakes.

22-7-2015

Design studio Salt & Water from Serbia created this floating hotel where guests can drift off in a private catamaran. At the waterfront guest find a reception and a restaurant.

Catamaran hotel rooms

The catamaran hotel recently won the Millennium Yacht Design Award. The project is developed with the aim to promote tourism on inland waters in Serbia that offer wonderful examples of untouched nature. When passing through the central floating construction, guests are reaching pathways which are connected to the apartment catamarans. Each hotel room is actually an innovatively designed catamaran which can be easily separated from the dock and navigated, allowing guests to choose the perfect location for their vacation by themselves. The catamaran hotel rooms consists of a salon, a galley, a bathroom, a hall with storage space and a sleeping area (above the salon). Each hotel room can accommodate 2-4 persons, thanks to the possibility of converting the salon into a double bed. From the beach platform it is easy to access the water.

On the Dutch lakes?

We think that a catamaran hotel like this from design studio Salt & Water would be an asset on our Dutch lakes as well! What do you think? Check the article on the website of the Daily Mail for more details and great pictures.

Grand Resort Bad Ragaz is part of Bad RagARTz

21-7-2015

Grand Resort Bad Ragaz is part of Bad RagARTz. Many sculptures from the exhibition are to be found in and around the hotel.

The Swiss town of Bad Ragaz is called Bad RagARTz from May 9 to November 1, 2015, this because they house Europe’s largest outdoor sculpture exhibition. The park of Grand Resort Bad Ragaz is one of the centers of the exhibition. If you want to know more about the sculpture exhibition BadRagARTz you can check the images in Google. Many enthusiasts have put beautiful pictures on the web.

Pillars of the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz

Grand Resort Bad Ragaz has an extensive park where a lot of sculptures are exhibited during BadRagARTz.. During the exhibition they show sculptures of international artists from 13 different countries including works by David Bill, Robert Indermaur, Igor Mitoraj, Werner Pokorny and Sophia Vari. The columns in front of one of the hotels are part of the exhibition. A beautiful way to display a column series! They also have a number of sculptures placed in the hotel, for example around the central staircase and in the entrance.

About Grand Resort Bad Ragaz

The Resort is member of ‘Leading Hotels of the World’ and ‘Leading Spa’s of the World and is situated in Bad Ragaz, Switserland. Grand Resort Bad Ragaz is just four miles from the Tamina Gorge, where the physician and alchemist Paracelsus documented the healing powers of the Bad Ragaz spring water in the 16th century. The Grand Resort comprised of two hotels: Grand Hotel Quellenhof & Spa Suites and Grand Hotel Hof Ragaz. The resort has a wellness centre of 12.800-square-meter spa, one of the largest in Europe. The hotel also offers rooms with medical care where you can recover from surgery or an injury.

Inspiration from Grand Resort Bad Ragaz

20-7-2015

Restaurant Bel-Air in the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz offers a few dishes with local plants and herbs along with a small card with a picture, an explanation and a recipe.

Jelly from plants from the nature around Bad Ragaz

Renato Wüst, executive chef serves jellies of buckthorn, blackthorn and primrose in his dish ‘Terrine de foie gras maison, gelée d’argousier, primevère et prunier épineux’. Every jelly is described on a small card with a photo of the plant and the recipe! See the photos for inspiration.

Inspiration for other chefs

How often do you use local herbs or plants in a dish or special, distinctive ingredients? Is such a small card not a nice little welcoming gesture to your guests to provide more information about this dish? Furthermore, it is certainly a nice gesture to add a recipe for guests from the area. Name and phone number on it and you catch two birds with one stone: extra promotion of your dishes and you do not need to give more information to the table on that ingredient! Recently I also told my companions during dinner all I know about cresses, how you can use them and how healthy they are. You can also co-create a small card with a producer, like for example in this case with Koppert Cress.

Chizza by KFC in the Philippines

17-7-2015

KFC Chizza (#KFChizza) is KFC Philippines’ newest product. It consists out of chicken fillet topped like a pizza!

Chizza

A combination of two of the most well-loved food in the Philippines chicken and pizza, KFC Chizza features KFC chicken fillet topped with pizza sauce, pepperoni, bell peppers, pineapple tidbits, and melted cheese. A chicken fillet (pizza) crust in style of KFC and the taste and ingredients of pizza all in one.

#KFChizza; Inspiration for your country?

Sometimes you do spot food combinations that make you wonder whether the Dutch would love that! And then we came across this video, an ad for Kentucky Fried Chicken. We prefer a piece of chicken and a slice of old fashioned pizza on the side. KFC in the Netherlands, what do you think?

FoPo Food Powder creates powder of almost expiring fruits and vegetables

17-7-2015

Kent Ngo created FoPo Food Powder which saves almost expiring fruits and vegetables by drying & powdering them.

FoPo Food Powder is a nutritious powder

FoPo food powder is a nutritious powder made from unattractive market fruit that has been freeze-dried just before it expires, in order to help reduce food waste.

Worldwide more than 40 percent of fruits are thrown away, unattractive items which are classified as unsellable are quickly disposed of by supermarkets. All over the world we see initiatives to reduce this food waste.  Like our Dutch initiative the Kromkommer and Inglorious foods in France. FoPo food powder is another ingenious solution created by students at Lund University in Sweden, who plan to freeze-dry fruit immediately before it expires. Food that otherwise would have been wasted can be used up to two weeks to two years later.

Freeze-dried almost expired fruit and vegetable waste

Freeze-drying isn’t a new technology, even in restaurant kitchens it’s used frequently to create powder.  New is that FoPo aims to freeze solely products that would otherwise be discarded. The powder will be sold to consumers to be used in smoothies, soups etc.  Besides that they hope that the food powders will contribute to help feed the hungry, especially in the Philippines, where the operation will be based. FoPo is crowdfunded through Kickstarter with, amongst others, a contribution by Ben & Jerry’s.

Inspiration: Chefs who are working with freeze-drying could try to use their almost spoiled fruits or vegetables and come up with ways to use this food powder, all in order to reduce food waste.

Pop-up power food restaurant with popular writer Rens Kroes

16-7-2015

For lovers of healthy and delicious food the popular writer Rens Kroes is a true hero. She is no longer ‘the little sister’, the Friesian has built her own health empire.
The second book of Rens Kroes ‘Power Food – From Friesland to New York’, was launched mid-June. In a sold out pop-up restaurant, guests could enjoy a very healthy dinner with dishes from her new book.

First pop up

Rens personally welcomed herthe guests, and had a culinary contribution to the diner as well, supported by a team of chefs. It was the first time that Rens presented her dishes to the public this way and all guests received a copy of the new book to take home. With two dinners and one lunch, a total of 135 guests could enjoying the food. That’s only a fraction of the 72.000 Facebook fans, 17.600 followers on Twitter and 223.000 followers (!) on Instagram and thus screaming for more events like these!

Friesland to New York

Rens was inspired by what she has seen, tasted and learned in Friesland and New York. She uses fresh, pure ingredients, and makes tasty dishes with nice combinations of spices. For every moment of the day Rens offers delicious and original, easy recipes. In daily life Rens is a nutrition coach and advises people in adapting a healthy lifestyle and diet.

Participants

Rens’ pop-up restaurant is made possible by Sien Concepts and sponsored by Amsterdam Flavours, Vedett, Bountiful, Arisz et al, Lemonaid – Charitea, V2Cgin, Bowls and Dishes, Catchii and Bloomon.

Inspiration: food blogger evening

For restaurants, it is interesting to consider a special evening with a popular food blogger or writer, it will amaze you how many loyal fans are waiting for events like these!

Restaurant in Leiden with homely atmosphere

15-7-2015

The historic building ‘The Volharding’ at the harbour in Leiden in The Netherlands is the home base of homely restaurant ‘Lot & de Walvis’ since a few weeks now.

Homely atmosphere at restaurant in Leiden

The fictional tour of Lot and her van that was named ‘De Walvis’ (translated as The Whale) went through Southern Europe and South Africa and recently ended at the port of Leiden. At ‘Lot & de Walvis’ American Barn wood and authentic weathered materials are used, mostly gleaned together by co-owner Rob van Wijnen himself. In the opening week, neighbours were personally invited for a drink and 80 people attended the neighbourhood drink. Friends and residents got a 25% discount to have a taste of the food in the first week.

Nightmare

The walls are plastered and transformed from sleek and straight into coarse and wavy. It was a nightmare for the plasterer who was used to deliver plain walls, but the result feels very natural. The various areas are named after the various rooms as you would expect in someone’s house. By using the same tables and style both inside and outside, the various areas of ‘Lot & de Walvis’ feel as one. On the toilet hangs a sign “The toilet design is Lot’s next project”, indicating why this space is less connected to the rest of the restaurant and still needs a make-over.

Food and drink

The extensive menu provides the opportunity to have breakfast all day. In addition, there is a cacophony of categories with headings like ‘bites’, ‘sandwiches’, ‘soups’, ‘small dishes’, ‘homemade burgers’, ‘Lot’s favourite dishes’, ‘desserts’ etc. The fans of refreshing fruit water can eat their hearts out with complimentary glasses of water from three jars with for example fresh melon water, citrus water or lemongrass water. There are beers available from the local brewery Pronck Leiden, wine lovers can definitely enjoy themselves and trendy Gin and Tonic lovers are served as well.

The Hospitality Group Leiden

Just as you would expect when visiting someone’s home, new guests are given a tour of the property, which, with its many nooks and spaces is well suited for a discovery tour. The waiters are already experienced in welcoming guests because a part of the crew worked at the party centre La France in Oegstgeest. Lot & de Walvis is part of the Hospitality Group Leiden together with Van der Werff, La France and City Hall. The board consists of the brothers Richard and Wouter van Leeuwen and Rob van Wijnen. Wouter van Leeuwen and Rob van Wijnen are responsible for the hospitality companies in Leiden. Richard van Leeuwen focuses on four Harbour Clubs based in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Scheveningen and Ibiza.

It was a warm welcome at the harbour of Leiden. Although we would have loved to get acquainted with the real Lot!

Unique pop-up restaurants in Amersfoort

15-7-2015

Coming Friday, 17 July there will be a pop-up dinner at a secret location in Amersfoort. There are still some seats left for adventurous food lovers.

Adventurous dining at pop-up restaurants

Visitors of pop-up restaurants are open to adventure and often naturally spontaneous. In addition, the hosts do a lot to break the ice and the reactions to the diners are positive. An interesting side effect is the free publicity the host location gets with such a dinner, and it offers unique closing events for locations as well. Two weeks after a dinner at the Porsche dealer one of the dinner guests bought a car and a number of sites closed shortly after the pop-up event, where the dinner leaves a nice final memory. There have been dinners at a gym, a library, a car dealer, a farmer barn and an art gallery. The initiative for the pop-up restaurants at special locations in the region was created three years ago at restaurant ‘Bergpaviljoen’ in Amersfoort.

Surprise

The dinners host never more than 50 people at a communal table. Visitors come alone, in pairs or small groups. The location of the dinner will be a surprise until the day itself. When ordering tickets, guests fill in their mobile number and dietary wishes and leave their mobile number. They receive a text message with the location on the afternoon before the dinner. For € 59.00 per person, guests receive a welcome cocktail, appetizer, a 3-course dinner, plenty of white and red wine and mineral water, bread, coffee and tea with a digestive and sweets.