Gimme Pops, popstickels in great new flavors
17-8-2011
Gimme Pops are freshly made, natural ice pops, without the use of artificial ingredients. The ice pops are available in the tastes Mango Chili, Berry Basil, Mojito, Carrot Cake, Minty Pineapple, Razz Tarragon, Ginger Melon and Banana Curry. Gimme Pops are available at several events.
From tree to art
17-8-2011
Commissioned by the Indianapolis Musuem of Art, Visiondivision is creating a project for the Fairbanks Art and Nature Park. In order to sacrifice something, to make something new, a large tree will be rebuild to several tables, chairs, swings and a kiosk.
The Cookie Monster
17-8-2011
Seen on several menu’s in America – freshly baked cookies – at the Top Notch Hotel in Vermont, served as ‘The Cookie Monster’ with a healthy glass of milk! Given by the number of (small) children who were eating this, it is clearly a hit! But also spotted in other restaurants – a bowl of freshly baked nuts, chocolate and coconut cookies, – also fun to share. If you order this dessert by yourself, it is wise to order a doggy bag as well!
The taste of ‘Echt’
16-8-2011
At the end of August, four small Dutch family breweries, will present a new beer: the taste of Real 2011 (De Smaak van Echt 2011). The great thing about this beer is, that the best individual ingredients are being used. And what we understood from their tasting notes, they succeeded in making an ambercolored beer fermented with 6% alcohol, not too dry, with a pleasant bitterness.
CoffeeQube by MobiCcino
16-8-2011
MobiCcino opened his first CoffeeQube (an espresso bar) in an officebuilding of a big Dutch company in Amsterdam. We, of Horecatrends, are jealous, imagining having a barista in the canteen! At 6 square meter, espresso made by the Mirage machine and a barista. MobiCcino is working on the CoffeeQube XL and XXL. Although we like the CoffeeQube we prefer the MobiCcino (smal red car), it’s such a great eyecatcher!
The perfect dessert for kids
16-8-2011
The ultimate dessert for kids: Camp Fire Smores! Roasted marshmallows with biscuits, hot chocolate and fresh red fruit, it is finger-licking good. This is often served in America, the photos were taken at Harbour Sixty Steakhouse in Toronto. Easy to make and kids do want to come back! So if you ever visit Toronto with kids, go to the Harbour sixty steakhouse for a great steak and delicious dessert!
Winecocktails
15-8-2011
Homemade cocktails by VinCo. By mixing the pre-mix with a white wine and ice cubes you create the perfect fresh and light alcoholic cocktails. For the non-alcoholic version, mix this with Indian Tonic, or to create a stronger version, mix it with tequila.
All you need to know. Nothing you don’t!
15-8-2011
Last week we spotted a 20 minutes newspaper at the website of Ads of the World (created by the Miami Ad School in Madrid). During our holiday in America we noticed that newspapers are still served at the hotelroom door. At the Topnotch resorts we were served the New York Times Digest, a ten-page synopsis of The New York Times. TimesDigest is designed and edited to provide a balanced selection of the Times’ top stories and editorial comment, along with sports, weather, business news and the celebrated crossword puzzle.
BBQ and herb-garden in one
15-8-2011
A barbecue and herb-garden in one. Perfect for the (smaller) terraces, balconies, or just because they look nice.
Inspiration from 2008: Work-out rooms
15-8-2011
Spotted in august 2008, but until today still possible at some Westin Hotels, the work-out rooms. Westin offers the special option of booking a guest room equipped with a treadmill, a stationary bike, dumbbells, fitness DVDs, resistance bands, stability balls and bottles of water.
Optimism is contagious, share it at Brew Some Good
12-8-2011
An effort from coffee brand Maxwell House in Canada, serving free coffee, positive stories and performances by musicians to the people of Toronto at their Optimism Café. Open for the month of July, and part of their “Brew some good”campaign, (with tv adds etc.). With the campaign they are trying to make Canada feel more glass half-full and in the meantime building brand awareness. At the Optimism Café musicians and artist appeared. Take a look at their website with a video explaining set up of the campaign. The add above is the optimistic result of the campaign.
Frozen Pints
12-8-2011
Frozen Pints, icecream made of different kinds of beers.
Fresh baguette dispenser
12-8-2011
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French baker Jean-Louis Hecht has rolled out a 24-hour automated baguette dispenser, promising warm bread for hungry night owls, shift workers or anyone else who doesn’t have time to pick one up during their opening hours.
A great invitation
11-8-2011
The owners of the foodhall Eataly in New York do invite President Obama to visit. They have a banner hanging in their foodhall with the invitation to come and toast at his 50th birthday with a 1961 Barolo. An original way to invite a President! A beautiful food hall by the way where you can eat Italian food and buy it!
Inspiration from 2010: Not far from the tree
11-8-2011
Spotted in august 2010, but it’s a good initiatif! In the parc where we walk our dog, a lot of prunes are rotting away. And of course our labrador (^Marjolein) eats them till he gets sick, if he gets the possibility. So this project in Toronto could work! They launched a project last year to prevent local grown fruit to perish. Volunteers pick fruit in the gardens of people who do not want to do this themselves. One third of the fruit is meant for the owner, one third goes to the volunteers and one third goes to charities in the area.
Museum for divers
11-8-2011
Vandenberg: Life below the surface, an art gallery at a underwater shipwreck. Austrian Photographer Andreas Franke did use strong magnets to attach 12 digitally layered images (in 3 millimeter pexiglass) at the starboard side of the former military ship Vandenberg. All at a depth of 93ft offshore at Key West, Florida. We saw statues under water in Mexico but this is a new gallery. The website of the project will be ready end of august 2011.
The Ticketometer
11-8-2011
The Ticketometer works as follows: the artist announces his or her show on the site by entering the city, date, ticket price and (essential for the use of Ticketometer) the “set-off point” (minimum number of tickets needed to sell to make the show profitable). The concert or festival is promoted and fans purchase tickets through Ticketometer. Once the set-off point is reached the artist confirms the event, and fans are charged. If the set-off point isn’t reached no harm! A couple of advantages: transparant, risky towns are worth a try, negotiations with venues are more transparant. Benefits artists, fans and venues.
Tea-time by Pengtao Yu
11-8-2011
“Tea-time”, designer Pengtao Yu created a simple but yet convinient set combining tea leaves, water and steeping time. You put tea leafs and hot water into the first part of “Tea-time”, twist the timer to set the steeping time and the tea slowly trickles down to the bottom beaker. The timer/filter hold back the leaves and your cup is ready to sip.
The America Eats Tavern and ketchup
10-8-2011
At America Eats Tavern, opened July 4th 2011 in Washington, Chef José Andrés applies his innovative style to the American cuisine. America Eats offers a new take on American classics and celebrate native ingredients and some long forgotten dishes, from burgoo to oysters Rockefeller. With recipes and stories collected through extensive research, and with help from the National Archives and a culinary advisory council of chefs, the menu showcases the fascinating history of America one plate at a time. As we read in the New York Times José Andrés is also serving different kinds of ketchups (like blueberry, red currant, yellow tomato and mushroom). Picture of the different kinds of ketchup with the article in the New York Times.
Find guests through a Twitter scan service
10-8-2011
Reach.ly is a new service focused specifically on finding potential new guests. Reach.ly monitors Twitter for mentions of planned trips and allows hotels to reach out to visitors who are heading their way. It’s a free service which begins when hotels register with the site via Twitter and indicate which cities they’re interested in. Reach.ly then begins to filter Twitter traffic for them, and presents it in a manageable number of tweets. Hotels can communicate with the potential guests at the Reach.ly interface. According to Reach.ly 9% did make a booking en about 20% indicated that they appriciated the contact. Interesting?
Luxury resort Amphibious 1000 in Qatar
10-8-2011
Another interesting hotel will appear in Qatar soon – hotel resort “Amphibious”. the hotel is designed by the Italian company Giancarlo Zema Design Group. The hotel complex will include residential buildings, offices and marina with modern bay. In the central tower will house a restaurant that offers exotic dishes in addition to stunning panoramic views. Guests can stay in the 80 semi-submersible suits, which were called “Jellyfish.” The rooms have wonderful open views to the underwater artificial reefs. On the territory of the hotel complex will be used only electric vehicles and small aluminum boats with hydrogen engines.
Pie per inch
9-8-2011
Auberge Saint-Gabriel, with Chef Eric Gonzalez, serves his version of lemon pie per inch. The pie is cut at the table, and tastes delicious.
Baked Alaska
9-8-2011
Although an old-fashioned dessert Baked Alaska remains delicious and we don’t understand why it isn’t served more often! Steakhouse Harbour Sixty in Toronto serves it with all the right ingredients and at the table! At all the tables they served it while we were there, it looked like a small party!
From last year: Never again wet shoes
9-8-2011
Spotted last year but they would have been very usefull last weekend at Dancevalley in the Netherlands, the shuella. These sleeves fit over any shoe, boot or pump, and easily fit into any handbag. See the shuellas here.
Great outdoor adcampaign by Sapporo Beer
9-8-2011
This summer Japan’s legendary beer, Sapporo, has created urban spectacles in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal that let participants transform their shadows into giant legendary Japanese characters including a sumo wrestler, a geisha and a samurai. We saw people standing in line to performe in the act and put the commercial on their facebook!
