March 2, 2010
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Tonight’s Omelette

When I want a quick but tasty dinner and I’m not sure what’s in the fridge, I often think, hey I’ll make an omelette. That’s what I did tonight. I got home late after a conference. Memphis and the cats wanted their dinner, and Memphis had a play-date in the park she reminded me she couldn’t miss. I fed the beasts then made a quick salsa like so… I chopped up half a Spanish onion and two nectarines, squeezed the juice of an orange in, added a pinch of salt and half a teaspoon of the chile mixture I dried the other day in the dehydrator. I mixed it all together, then Memphis and I went to the park so she could play with her buddies.

When we got back, I heated up a little splash of good olive oil in a pan. Meanwhile, I chopped up some prosciutto and tossed it in when once the oil was hot. Then I quickly cut up some nice gruyere cheese into little cubes, gave the prosciutto a little stir, and cracked a couple eggs into a bowl and added a wee splash of 1% milk to the mix. I whisked the eggs with a fork then poured them on top of the prosciutto.

Here’s how I usually cook an omelette. I move the pan around to spread the egg all over the pan, then I push the edges toward the middle with a wood flipper. When the omelette is almost done, I add a little salt and pepper and toss the cheese cubes on top. I let it cook just a bit longer then I fold one side over then the other and slide that baby onto a plate. Tonight I smothered the omelette with my spicy nectarine salsa.

Yum.

March 2, 2010
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Fascination

Sally Hogshead is the author of a book called Fascinate. She is also a speaker, a brand innovation consultant, and all around advertising maven. I had an opportunity to hear her speak today. She talked about 7 “fascination” triggers: mystique; power; lust; prestige; alarm; vice and trust. She mentioned a “brand personality test” called f-score, available on her website. In the interest of science, I decided to check it out. My results:

Yikes. Here goes…

Your primary fascination is VICE. (Nicely done, you.) Even without realizing it, you’re already instinctively applying this trigger when trying to persuade others. Your secondary trigger is LUST, and your dormant trigger (the one you’re least likely to apply in your personality and behavior) is TRUST.

Once you understand your own unique combination of personality strengths, you can start to create more influential ideas and messages.

  • Well, well, well. Look who has a rebellious streak.

    We’re all occasionally tempted by forbidden fruit, and you’re certainly no exception. You’re curious, independent, and entrepreneurial. Irreverence is sprinkled throughout your conversations, and you probably wield a keen sense of wit. Maintaining your independence is essential; anyone who tries to force you to play by their rules might just end up losing you.

    That devil sitting on your shoulder, whispering in your ear? What he’s whispering to you is vice. When told you can’t have something, or shouldn’t do something, this trigger of fascination can take hold and make you want it more. (You’ll try anything once, right?)

    Using vice, you’re remarkably skilled in tweaking traditions, changing long-standing routines, and updating even the most established norms. If you also possess the power and prestige triggers, you’ll be more likely to bring your unconventional ideas to life as a pioneer, inventor, or creative force.

    A little vice goes a long way, and overuse leads to unreliable behavior or erratic messages. Since vice is your primary trigger, you might want to increase your use of other triggers (such as trust or prestige), in order to establish a more consistently effective approach.

    YOUR SECONDARY TRIGGER: LUST

    If lust is your secondary trigger, you draw people closer with a warm and human style of interaction. Most likely, you’re expressive with ideas, communicate well in person, and probably have a strong creative streak. Even when you mask your emotions, you feel passionately about your opinions.

    You’re intuitive with information, often making decisions based on gut instinct rather than cold intellect. While other personality types prefer cold facts, you’re more attuned to the nuances of attitude and design.

    Lust is especially effective as a secondary trigger, because it adds warmth and attraction to your primary trigger. It heightens anticipation around any brand, product, or personality.

    Lust is an invaluable trigger for creating messages that are very, very difficult to ignore. By combining your natural talents of influence, you can create more irresistible messages, ones that persuade people to say, “I want that now!”

    YOUR DORMANT TRIGGER: TRUST

    One thing’s for sure: You’re definitely not boring.

    People who score low on trust tend to be thrilling, passionate, and intuitive. They live in the moment, and rarely plan very far in advance. As a result, they can be unpredictable, impulsive, and volatile.

    Of the 7 triggers, trust is the most difficult to earn, the easiest to lose, and the most valuable to hold.

    Perhaps you don’t need to sway opinion through consistency. Many people and brands, especially those unconventional few who delight in immediate gratification and avant-garde style, don’t rely on trust. However, this trigger comes with many rewards, so take a look at ways to increase trust in your message, without losing the excitement and edge of your other triggers.

    Oh my Goodness

    That’s the last personality test I take for a while….

February 28, 2010
comments 13

Hot hot hot

I don’t know how it happened. Somewhere, somehow along the way, Tuffy P and I developed a love and high tolerance for very hot chiles. I realized it one day when Tuffy was shoveling insane amounts of crushed red chiles on her dinner and commenting that they weren’t even hot. True, they may have been old and not super hot, but hot still.

I had an idea. We own a dehydrator we bought for drying wild mushrooms. Mushroom foraging can be a feast or famine business and when you get a good haul, it’s nice to be able to dry up a batch for use later. Off I went to the grocery store to buy a huge bag of scotch bonnets. I sliced them up, dried them and ground them in a food processor. They were hot enough that during the grinding process I was driven from the room, coughing. They were good though.

The Scoville Scale of chile hotness.

We ran out the other day. I decided this time to try drying a variety of chiles. It isn’t a huge variety because this is after all, Toronto, and there just aren’t that many different chiles available. I got scotch bonnets again and also some long dark green chiles and some jalapenos. I put them in the drier last night. This morning we awoke to the beautiful smell of drying chiles pervading the house. The smell has a sweetness about it that is almost intoxicating. Some of them are dry already. Others need a few more hours.

Do you like hot food? I’d love it if you shared some hot food recipes. I’ll post some here too over the coming days.

February 27, 2010
comments 2

Pipeline

It’s a beautiful snowy day…let’s go surfing. Here are The Chantays on The Lawrence Welk Show. I kid you not.

When I hear this tune I always think that Billy Idol must have been a Chantays fan. Listen to this tune back to back with White Wedding.

Back to Pipeline, here’s Stevie Ray Vaughan and Dick Dale

This one has a different feel…

I’ll spare you the Anthrax version.

February 26, 2010
comments 3

Winter?

We finally have a little winter. I actually had to shovel snow this morning, although I don’t think it will help because the blustery winds are only going to blow it back in short order. When Tuffy P and Memphis came back from their morning constitutional, they were both covered in snow (pics later, don’t fret). Tuffy P reported that at one point she had to close her eyes because of the wind and depended on Memphis to lead the walk. Memphis of course delivered Tuffy home safely.