My options were dwindling in terms of impressive recipes since he’d recently given up red meat, so I whipped up a quick but simple menu: Salmon en Papillotte with cherry tomatoes, bright yellow and green squash, a little grated ginger, lime juice and sliced oranges.

I served the delicate parchment-enclosed packets of fish and vegetables over quinoa in place of rice. As I watched Harrison take his first bite, I imagined myself a tiny person in his mouth, seeing the first hot cherry tomato burst, its juices pooling on his tongue and mixing with the fragrant ginger, curling into a drop of lime juice before finally connecting with the silky, fork-tender morsel of salmon.

To read the rest of the post and comment … see the piece in today’s issue of NY Press.

*Comments are closed on this post. Please post them to NY Press page linked above.

I was reading something on my phone, then I looked up and electricity passed between my heart and his. You know that feeling. When you see someone in the crowd and your heart flip-flops. You get a chill that starts at the base of your spine, spreads to your stomach and ends with the hair standing up on back of your neck. You just know. I know within seconds if a person is going to be a real part of my life.

I looked back down at my phone. Tried to avoid his eyes. Looked back up, and he was straight up staring at me. He was gorgeous. A head of dark, thick curly hair and curious eyes. Tall. And still staring.

At the next stop, people piled in and he wound up pushed up against the train door next to me. Directly in front of me, a homeless man with a cart was smashed up against the pole. His back was to me, and a pic was sticking up out of his afro. I stared at it to avoid staring back at the man next to me.

Another stop went by. I couldn’t not talk to him. I turned to him and asked him if he had a piece of gum. I’m standing there, dressed up like a doll with a little purse and fancy shoes, asking for a piece of gum. He rustled around in the pockets of his leather jacket, dug around in his bag. No dice. He said, “Sorry, I don’t.” A beat passed. “I wish I did.” I was in.

He asked me what I was all dressed up for. Told him where I was headed, and he asked if I had any favorites for the awards. It turns out that he’s a filmmaker. Time was running out to chat. I missed my stop. I always miss my stop. The homeless man was getting dangerously close to backing right into me. His pic was in my face.

I told the man I’d give him five dollars if he would grab the pic out of the homeless man’s hair and put it in his own hair. He laughed and said he’d give me a hundred dollars to take it out and put it in mine. I refused on principle. Which principle, I’m not sure. But there it was … time to get off the train. I looked up at him, said it was nice to meet him and went on my way. He didn’t ask for my number. I took it to mean he was either uninterested or unmotivated.

A couple of nights later, my friend Tracey posted a cheeky ad on Craigslist trying to get rid of a couch that her and her husband believed to be possessed. My eyes wandered to the sidebar and I saw it: Missed Connections. I thought, “Nah. That doesn’t really happen.” I clicked nonetheless. I clicked back a couple days, since I had seen him on Sunday night and it was now Tuesday.

And there it was, in very big letters:

You needed gum for the oscar party – m4w

Reply to: pers-xxxxx@craigslist.org
Date: 2009-02-23, 12:11AM

And you stayed on the a train for an extra stop. I should have grabbed the afro pick when I had the chance.

Sarah told me the line of nail polish had just come out. It sounded unique because the colors were textile-based or had some other industrial influence, so people would see some shades in the line not typically found in other polish lines like OPI or Essie.

There happened to be an American Apparel in the neighborhood we were in, so after walking Sarah to her car, I headed over to check out the nail polish.

I picked up a color called Factory Grey. (I love the color grey.) It’s the second bottle from the right in the top row in the photo below. I snapped the shot with my phone and posted it to my microblog.

American Apparel Nail Polish In-Store Display, Jan. 18

Last weekend, I finally had time to sit down and paint my nails. I snapped this photo.

American Apparel Nail Polish in Factory Grey

A friend asked me how I liked the polish, so when she stopped by my apartment last weekend, I loaned it to her.

And that was it. Girl hears about pretty polish from friend. Girl finds polish, buys and shares with her friends. End of story.

Then yesterday, another friend who saw the photos I posted of the nail polish sent me an article with news of a product recall. Nitrolicious shared an internal memo allegedly from American Apparel regarding the recall:

“Hello,

Due to some quality issues with the glassware used in the American Apparel nail polish we are requesting all bottles be taken off the sales floor immediately. We are working closely with our vendor to improve the product, and will be shipping an improved polish within 5-10 days. Please remove the nail polish from the floor and store it in the back. We will let you know how to dispose of it on the Monday back stock conference call.

THE ABOVE IS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION FOR EMPLOYEES OF THE COMPANY ONLY. If customers inquire about the nail polish, please inform them that we are preparing our new stock and that they should check back soon. Also, let them know that we are launching 6 new colors for Spring! Give them a card to the store and encourage them to call and check if we’ve received our new shipment.

Your compliance is appreciated. Please contact me directly with any questions.

Thank you,

[Redacted]“

I was sort of bummed out about it, but didn’t think about it too much. I don’t bite my nails, and if it came out that there was something wrong with the polish itself, I’d remove it and stop using it.

A little later in the afternoon, the same friend (who had been thinking of buying the polish herself) sent along an update on the recall posted in Jezebel with an update purportedly from American Apparel:

“As for the vendor, here’s what the company press release had to say:

For the initial run of 60,000 bottles… the creative directors found a true family-operated nail polish manufacturer in New York City with… the techniques and secrets the family had been using since the early 1970s – symbolized best by the 91-year-old grandmother who still fills the bottles.

Wonder how that 91-year-old grandma is doing right now.

Update: Looks like the bottles were to blame. An American Apparel rep emails:

After receiving a few reports of bottles breaking, we made the internal decision to do a voluntary recall of the bottles on both a retail and public level.

We chose this small US manufacturer to produce our nail polish because we support their business model and have a fondness for family who runs it. However, one of the realities of all manufacturing is first-run glitches. We worked all last week with the manufacturer to make the improvements necessary for the second run. Another reason we sought out a US-based company is so we would be able make changes and now, we can investigate what went wrong as quickly as possible. We still believe in the factory we’re working with and the new polish will be in stores within the next two weeks.

We will offer an exchange of two new bottles or a $10 giftcard for anyone who brings in a unit from the original run or a receipt.

On another note, one thing we’re taking very seriously is the disposal of the bottles we had in the stores. Even though our polish was DBP, toluene, and formaldehyde-free, we don’t want our stores just tossing it in the trash. We’re using our internal shipping and distribution line to arrange a pickup and removal of the polish to make sure it gets done right.“

Now, THAT is a story. After reading that, I thought to myself, “What a wasted opportunity this was.” Apparently, the company had shared some of this information (along with cool details on what inspired each polish color) in a press release in December. But that information wasn’t anywhere near the point of purchase, out in front of the people ready to spend money. Why would you rely on a press release to deliver your brand story for you?

As far as I was concerned, the only things that were special about this nail polish were that it came in unusual colors and that is was recommended to me by a friend.

Listen, a tomato is a tomato is a tomato. Some tomatoes taste better than others. But to a person that doesn’t care much about tomatoes, tasting better isn’t enough to make a story about that one tomato spread.

But if you bring someone who likes tomatoes even just a little bit to a farm, and you show them fields full of 20 varieties of tomatoes . . . tomatoes in red, yellow, or with pale green stripes. . . round or oblong, smooth or bumpy and kind of ugly, then you’ve educated someone who has the capacity to be passionate about tomatoes and given them a great story to share with their friends.

They will take your gift when you offer them tomatoes, and they will share the tomatoes and the story, and then their friends will never look at tomatoes the same. (That actually happened to me, by the way.)

What if this were the American Apparel story instead: You walk into the shop, and next to the nail polish display you see a sign that looks like a white board with a white filigreed border.

Just like so.

On the white board, in hand-written marker, it reads:

“These bottles are part of an initial run of just 60,000 bottles made for American Apparel by a family-operated nail polish manufacturer in New York City that’s best symbolized by the 91-year-old grandmother who still fills the bottles.

We chose a small US manufacturer to produce our nail polish because we support their business model and have a fondness for the family who runs it.”

That would have been a really fun story that the type of people who shop at American Apparel would have LOVED to have shared. I would have told my friends that story. I would have probably tracked down that grandmother ’cause she sounds cool as fuck and made a YouTube video of her filling a bottle of my Factory Grey polish. American Apparel would have loved it, it would have gone viral and we’d all be famous.

And then … AND THEN … when the news broke (no pun intended) that the glassware was too delicate to be safely shipped or transported, American Apparel could remind everyone who already bought a bottle that this was a very small, exclusive shipment of the product. But because their devoted shoppers were some of the very first people to try this product, they’d be happy to replace the polish for free when the new, perfected shipment arrived in stores.

Then buyers would have felt special for a second time (the first time being when they realized they were buying a limited edition product), they would have been more forgiving and would have spread the positive part of this story faster and more frequently, thereby helping American Apparel sell more nail polish.

Whether we’re talking about tomatoes or nail polish bottles, it sounds as though great stories are better left in the hands of 91-year-old grandmothers than big companies.

Let me back up. Last week, I accepted an invitation to read at an upcoming edition of the deliciously naughty In The Flesh Reading Series hosted by the one and only Rachel Kramer Bussel (of both Penthouse Variations and Cupcakes Take the Cake).

Asking you to help me pick a sexy photo is funny because I usually go out of my way not to promote myself and my writing based on how I look. But Rachel needs a photo to promote the reading I’m doing on April 15 for Nerd and Sex Night. (Nerd and Sex night! Isn’t that awesome!!)

Anyways, please vote for #1, #2 or #3 IN THE COMMENTS. You can retweet this, post links or whatever, but please leave a comment HERE so I can count the votes tonight and send Rachel the photo and a bio for event promotion purpose.

Option #1 -- "Diamonds on ma neck, di diamonds on ma grill."

Option #2: "Tumble Into You" < I stole that caption from someone.

Option #3: Urban Débutante (Photo Credit: Nick McGlynn)

I have no idea what I’m going to read yet. I haven’t ever written anything about nerds and sex. But here are a couple of things I have written about sex.

The first thing I ever wrote that truly scared me, and the piece I am most proud of:  Snapshots: Heat and Porcelain

The most graphic post I’ve ever written (I  just made this open to the public to read again last night): Copper Kisses, AKA the IUD Blog

Vote away, kids. Think hot and nerdy.

***

PS — If you’re in NYC, please put my reading on your calendar. It’s April 15th, 7 p.m. at Happy Ending Lounge.

Last Friday, he told me a story about a teacher who, on the first day of class, told the students that he was giving them all an A. All they had to do was to write a paper on how they would work to earn the A that semester. By doing so, he believed the students would be freed of worrying about the grade and focus on the actual learning.

But my mentor rebutted that and said I should give myself a D. “A D never killed anybody,” he said. “Expect that people are going to laugh at you. Expect that you’re going to fail. And, once you give yourself a D, you can create your art.”

Seth Godin and me at the launch of his new book, "Linchpin." 1.15.2010

The mentor was Seth Godin. Seth is one of few people to whom I believe the term “guru” applies. He’s been educating me about marketing, branding and the business of being engaged since I found his blog in 2007, when I started working on overseeing my company’s events for senior marketing executives. He’s written some of the most well-regarded books on marketing, and I have come to enjoy his voice as a daily part of my life.

He shared the above story during the launch of his new book, Linchpin. I haven’t read the book yet. I bought it on Friday when I went to hear him speak. In hearing him sharing the story of why he created this book, I knew that the message would be something many of you would find value in.

Below are the five main concepts I walked away thinking about.

"Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?" by Seth Godin

The Narrative

He welcomed us by telling us that the people in the room (between 800 and 1,000 people) were probably the people who least need to read the book. So his hope was that we’d take what we learned, put it in our own words and share it with 10 people. What a great message. This goes back to what I wrote last week in The Narrative, in that he asked me to make him a part of my story. (Please leave a comment here if you read and enjoy this. That way, we’ll know whether or not 10 people were impacted through what Seth shared.)

I’m a genius.

“A genius solves a problem in a way that no one had ever solved it before. When you were four, you solved the finger-painting problem in a way no one else had. You are all geniuses.”

Seth said Henry Ford is the man of the century. T-Models were painted black not because black was a favorite color, but because black paint dries the fastest. Multiply that by assembly line proportions, and you can easily see the genius in that black paint.

Near the end of his talk, Seth asked everyone who was a genius to stand up. Every one of us did. He said, “I’m glad you did that. If you didn’t stand up, that would have been really awkward.” Sometimes, you just need to hear something from someone you admire to believe and embrace it. Yeah, YOU. You’re a genius. Own it and create like you believe it.

Industrial Age < The Age of Art

Seth shared a couple of hilarious photo slideshows with us. One was from “one of the world’s largest collections of photos of lunchladies.” He talked a bit more about assembly lines, how our school system was created to make everyone blend in instead of stand out, and then about the ever-maligned lunchlady. In his view, we’re quickly moving out of a time in our country’s culture when you do your time in school, work for Firm XYZ, punch a clock for 45 years and turn in your keys at the end for the cheap gold watch.

The dot.com boom and bust followed by the market implosion in late 2008 led several people to question their lives and careers and their place in the whole scheme of things. Many of those people reached out to Seth in letters and emails, and their outreach had an overall tone of “This isn’t how it was supposed to happen. I worked so hard, and for what?”

These emotional frequencies are what vibrated with Seth and are in large part what led him to write Linchpin. The subtitle of the book is “Are You Indispensable?” He wants people to feel as though they’re needed. We are moving away from punching a timeclock and towards working around the clock because we’re creating something of value.

Seth gave a shout-out to Elizabeth Gilbert’s wonderful 2009 TED Talk on Nurturing Creativity. I suggest you either watch the video or read the transcript to hear from someone who is creating this Age of Art.

Lethal Generosity

“The most generous person wins.”

The poster Seth gave all attendees at his book launch. Generosity in action.

This was my single favorite takeaway. My friends and family and boss all give of themselves constantly and it really makes me look at them differently. My boss in particular is always that person who will go to the ends of the earth to make sure our clients feel as though they are the only client we have.

Seth’s example of lethal generosity comes from a London coffee shop, Prufrock Coffee. The owner gives out a Dis-Loyalty Card to customers, encouraging them to get stamps at eight other local coffee shops. If his customer visits all eight competitors and comes back, he gives them the gift of a free coffee. This is brilliant for a few reasons.

1) Prufrock Coffee is losing money every time a buyer chooses competitive coffee over theirs. But they must be generating at least some good will in the process, as he’s putting some of the businesses in his niche on the radar for other people.

2) He is rewarding loyal clients. To have them drink at eight other places and STILL come back for his coffee shows that they are engaged and that they LOVE coffee.

3) How incredibly confident must the folks at Prufrock be for them to shove their clients into the arms of the enemy and know that they’ll be back? You have to admit, that’s both ballsy and awesome.

This concept of “lethal generosity” has been coming up for me quite a bit since I first came across it in Shel Israel’s book Twitterville. You can read about his definition of it here. I will be revisiting that topic here soon.

There were many other points I wish you could have been there to hear and experience with me. I hope you’ll check out reviews from people who have actually read Linchpin, or go ahead and buy it yourself. If nothing else, you should subscribe to Seth’s Blog, as he embodies generosity by giving away free content every single day.

There’s one last point I want to share, and this is the most important one.

DO THE WORK

Just do the work. If you write, sit down (as I am now at 3 a.m.) and write. If you’re a plumber, get down on your knees and plumb the ___ out of something. Don’t let anything stop you. Go for the D, fall on your face a few times and do the work.

***

Thank you to Jon Thomas of Presentation Advisors. Jon gave away three tickets to join him and his wife at the book launch, so I couldn’t have had this amazing experience without him.

Thank you to Clay Hebert of Daily Sense. Clay spent six months working with and learning from Seth in 2009 and personally introduced me to Seth after his talk.

I learned one of Seth’s favorite ethnic restaurants is the awesome SriPraPhai in Queens. The conversation lasted all of a minute, but I will never forget that. Thank you both.

EDIT: The book is now for sale. You can buy on Amazon here, Barnes & Noble here or support your local bookstore and ask them to order it for you and other interested folks.

Domino's New Pizza

A few weeks back I read this article in USA TODAY about how Domino’s was actively implementing social media to promote their new pizza formula. This line caught my attention: “Domino’s will reach out to food bloggers and others who have criticized the brand in the past and ask them to comment live on the Domino’s website about the new formula.”

I tweeted a link to the article because several of my connections on Twitter are involved in studying the uses of social media for marketing and advertising. The people who run the Domino’s account on Twitter saw my mention of them and asked me to follow them, so I did as I was curious to see how they were using Twitter. They also were kind enough to send me a coupon for a free pizza so I could try the new pizza myself.

First of all, I will put it out there that it’s almost blasphemous that I’m reviewing Domino’s pizza here. I live in NYC, specifically in Brooklyn, which is known the world over for having amazing pizza provided by locally owned establishments. My favorites for whole pies are Lucali in Brooklyn and Two Boots in Manhattan. By the slice, my favorite place is a hole-in-the-wall joint near my office on W. 40th St. called Siena’s.

But every few weeks, my boss will order up a few pizzas from Domino’s for the office for people working late because there is one nearby. I figured I should see if the pizza was markedly improved since I do find it on my list of food options every so often. Also, a lot of my friends don’t live in a city with a lot of options when it comes to pizza but almost all of them have access to Domino’s. I thought they’d appreciate it if I tested it out for them.

So I ordered up a pie last night with pepperoni. After doing a little research, I saw that Domino’s truly made a commitment to rebuilding their pizza formula. Everything is new – new crust, sauce and cheese blend. The impetus behind the pizza makeover? 2010 marks Domino’s 50th year in business. I also think the nightmare earlier this year in 2009 with the gross video of their employees on YouTube (I’ll spare you the link) probably drove them to think of innovative ways to improve their image and their market share.

I got a kick out of using Domino’s Tracker to see where my pizza was last night. I didn’t know there was a franchise in delivery range of my apartment, so I learned something new because of all this. It took about 45 minutes for the pizza to arrive, which was inside the delivery time range they promised. The box clearly proclaimed the contents inside:

Domino's New Pizza Box

For starters, I never thought the “old” pizza was horrible. I’m very picky about pizza sauce and I always thought their sauce was fine. Based on the what the box was promising, I prepared myself for more cheesy, more spicy, more garlicky and then dove in. I had two slices to make sure I really got my tongue around what was going on there.

Verdict: The new pizza was good. Not amazing or a revelation, but good. It’s an improvement. I felt the biggest difference was in the crust. It is markedly more flavorful. Actually, it was almost TOO flavorful for my taste. I prefer thin crust anyway, so I wouldn’t typically be eating this style of pizza from them. The crust was soft and chewy and very garlicky and buttery. If you like saving all the crusts for last and dipping them in sauce, then this may be your perfect pizza.

Regarding the sauce, it is still good. I can’t remember the flavor of the old sauce well enough to say whether this new sauce is much spicier, but I still like it.

And as for the cheese blend, it does taste a bit more flavorful. I think the old pizza’s cheese was bland, but it was usually covered in a mix of veggies, so it wasn’t as prominent a part of the taste for me when I ate Domino’s. But here on the pepperoni pie, the more flavorful cheese was noticeable and appreciated.

So, there you have it. The new pizza is a better pizza and if you enjoyed Domino’s before, you will most likely like this one. If you didn’t like Domino’s before, I think you should give it another try and see if you like it now. Unless you live in NYC.

If you live in NYC, I think you should go support your family-owned shops and get a real New York slice.

Thanks to Domino’s for the opportunity to try the new pizza for free. I appreciate your efforts to use social media to reach out to people and let them know what you’re up to!!

So, what are your thoughts on pizza? Where is your favorite place for a slice or a pie? How many times do you order pizza for delivery. Leave me a comment and say hi!

More on Domino’s New Pizza:

Domino’s New Pizza Recipe: What Does it Taste Like? – Review on the Slice blog at Serious Eats

The Pizza Turnaround – Domino’s website with info on their new recipe and a display of live tweets on what people are saying about them.

Click the photo to see notes on my “stuff.”

What's In Yo Bag?

My bag’s contents vary on a weekly basis. If I’m working on my food website or attending a lot of technology or social media events, I usually have three cameras on me (a Sony Cyber-shot, a Flip Mino and a Kodak Zi8). If it’s a crazy time at work, as it is for me now, I have my Blackberry on me (in addition to my ever-present iPhone). If I’ve been traveling, anything goes; magazines, scarves, cords for my electronics and luggage claim tickets galore. At any given time, there are about 6 kinds of chapstick or lipgloss. I can’t live without the stuff.

As many of us refocus on getting organized and ridding our lives of clutter for 2010, I wanted to finally snap a shot of my bag for the Flickr pool. It’s a fun way to memorialize a relatively calm couple of days before work craziness takes over my life again next week.

Click the photo to see notes on what everything is in this picture. And while you’re there, check out some of the other photos. What’s in your bag? Leave a comment here. Better yet, take a photo and add it to the Flickr pool and include the link in your comment or Twitpic it to me (@EmilysPearl).

Wishing you a Happy New Year that’s as full as a busy NYC girl’s bag!

My Foursquare checkins - I'm all over the map. Literally.

Above is a map of all of the places I’ve visited and checked in over the past year using the location-based social network Foursquare. The application allows you to gain points, win “badges” and share your location with people that you’ve allowed to see your checkins. It has also recently become another way for local businesses to award its loyal customers with discounts or freebies after checking in.

I’ve been an avid user of Foursquare since Spring and love being able to see when my friends are nearby. I’ve even been in neighborhoods I don’t know that well and opened the application to find restaurants, bars and boutiques that are close to me.

I occasionally look at my Foursquare stats and it shows me a few interesting details about my travel and consumption habits. Businesses would kill to get this kind of data on its consumers. If I told you how many times I checked at coffee shops, it would make sense for you to want to send me coupons or free coffee-related products.

In addition to simply conveying your location to your friends, you can also add details to your checkins as far as what the occasion is or who you’re with and share that information on Twitter, Facebook or your blog. If you saw the number and types of restaurants I visit on a weekly basis, or the types of parties I attend, it would give you a good sense of my social circle and tastes in bars and eateries.

At the very least, I can see from the map above that I’m exploring Brooklyn and lower Manhattan like it’s my job. But Harlem and Astoria still feel like the ends of the earth for me! Here’s to pushing my boundaries in 2010.

Where To Find Me on the Web

Foursquare

Gowalla

Twitter

Tumblr

Yelp

12Seconds

YouTube

Flickr

Blip.fm

Blip.tv

Delicious

Pandora

Posted in Social Media, Technology Tagged: branding, foursquare, Life, nyc, socialmedia, socialweb, Technology ]]> http://emilycavalier.com/2009/12/21/emily-all-over-the-map-and-the-web/feed/ 3 Emily Cavalier foursquare http://emilycavalier.com/2009/10/12/devoted/ http://emilycavalier.com/2009/10/12/devoted/#comments Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:00:57 +0000 Emily C. http://emilycavalier.com/?p=598 Continue reading →]]> I got a tattoo on Friday night. It’s my second one (and my last). I’ve wanted to get this word on my body for over a decade, and I’m still kind of high after going for it.

I only told one person that I was doing it, so most people are just finding out here and now.

My friend John (the one person I told ahead of time) helped me take photos and video. Clink any of the below photos to view the full photoset.