It might not seem so strange these days, what with how news (see that one about minarets in Switzerland?) and non-news can amaze and baffle, that in the same place where I’ve bought tires for my family’s car as well as organic apples in bulk that I recently received a 232-page, glossy cookbook.
For free.
Yes, Costco is showing that it knows how to get to people when budgets are tight because of The Great Recession - through their stomachs.
It was a nice surprise since going into the long Thanksgiving weekend, I was so used to hearing about deep Black Friday discounts, especially on televisions, computers and video games.
The book, Home Cooking: The Costco Way, features photographs and nearly 300 recipes, as well as tips on how to stretch your food budget and recipes from noted chefs, including Mark Bittman.
Dubai, as you’ve seen, has caught the world’s attention in recent days, largely because of the possibility that developers might not be able to repay their debt on time.
Dubai World, which The New York Times describes as the main investment arm, stands an estimated $59 billion in the hole.
The newspaper reported that Dubai World floated the idea of not repaying interest on that debt for half a year.
It also ran a piece talking about how Dubai World wants to temporarily stop paying for all or part of its debt.
Yes, that can rattle markets.
If there’s any symbol of the rocket-like growth in Dubai, it has to be the Burj Dubai, the more than $4 billion structure which is the world’s tallest at 818 meters, or 2,684 feet.
A 30-year-old man that U.S. authorities say had a role in making firebombs used in a 2001 attack on the University of Washington has been convicted on drug charges in a mountainous region of China, The New York Times reported Friday.
Justin Solondz will serve a three-year jail sentence issued by a Chinese court in Dali, which is located in Yunnan province. Dali police said they found 33 pounds of marijuana in his rented house, Times reporter Dan Levin wrote.
A local prosecutor said that Solondz, an environmental activist in the United States, also had a “drug laboratory” at his house, according to the newspaper article.
After Solondz, who apparently used two aliases in China, finishes his jail sentence, he will be sent to the United States to stand charges for his reported involvement in an “arson rampage” in Washington, Oregon and California.
The Smith Tower in downtown Seattle used to be one of the tallest buildings on the U.S. West Coast – and apparently in the world. The sun was last seen in the Seattle area, well, days ago.
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My family and I once ate cupcakes (not with motorized wheels, of course)Â with ice cream in them. Sweet but delicious.
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A tuba can always please a crowd – be it a large group or small. As I think about it, I’m sure people in Seattle still miss the popular guy known as Tuba Man.
Storm King Art Center in New York's Hudson Valley strikes the right balance between sculpture and natural scenery. Photo credit: briandgoodman's photostream on flickr
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Finding moments of peace can be trying these days, especially as the thought of holiday shopping engulfs and the spectacle of a couple reportedly attending a White House state dinner uninvited unfolds.
Speaking of which, CBS recently aired an interview with a “retired party crasher” - proving that this is apparently a profession or trade from which you can formally step down after years of hard work.
The former crasher told Harry Smith about the possible hazards of said work:
My dad, when I was a boy, took me aside and said, ‘Don’t mess with the Secret Service.’
Smith: Uuh, huh.
Rich, huh?
So in this context, here’s one place to put on your “to visit” list for some moments of quiet:Â The Storm King Art Center, a 500-acre outdoor museum about an hour’s drive north of New York City.
It is, as that saying goes, where nature and modern sculpture meet.
Fox Business Network has an interview with the inventor, Seth Tibbott, who said he started the bean curd substitute because he’s vegetarian.
Jones Soda Co. is giving a nod to the bean curd substitute with a Tofurky and Gravy Soda (plus a metal lunch box with the words “Cirque Du Tofurky” on it).
For the holiday 2009 shopping season that kicks off the day after Thanksgiving, flat might be the new black.
As in: Analysts and businesspeople hope sales, at the least, remain flat compared to last year – which was a historic low in decades.
The reason is clear: Flat trumps a drop in sales.Â
The message of saving – and saving big – during The Great Recession hit home Tuesday when I pulled out a handful of printed advertisements from my mailbox.
If your schedule permits this Thanksgiving weekend, reserve some time to rent and watch Kekexili.
It really can help take your mind out of the box. It’s based on a true story from the 1990s about frontier life high along the Tibetan-Qinghai plateau.
The film, directed by Lu Chuan, looks at a group of men who pursue animal poachers - the animal in this case is the chiru, which is the Tibetan antelope.
The animal’s skin is used to make the illegal shahtoosh scarves and the number of antelopes has alarmed conservationists.
But Western reporters covering President Obama’s recent state dinner in Beijing with Chinese leader Hu noted it: The high-profile event included chicken soup with bean curd.
If only prosperous, mutually-beneficial relations between the two countries bloom in the coming years, I will point to this meal – notably the soup with soybean cake - as the unifying agent.
You know: “World leaders, Obama and Hu, gather around tofu to talk pressing issues.”
If U.S.-China relations continue in the framework of diplomacy, dialogue and some bumps here and there, I will, nevertheless, note the historic moment.
Hey, I have to write sentences like that:Â I run a blog about soybean cake and other essential topics.
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