Photo of the day – A no-good monkey in India

by Meg Nesterov on


Monkeys are a fact of life in India, a fact that I struggle to wrap my mind around as a primate-lover. You mean you see monkeys all the time?! And that’s a bad thing?! It’s all relative, though, maybe Indians find pigeons delightful. Flickr user Nico Crisafulli ran into this troublesome monkey at the Mahanavami-Dibba royal monument in India and captioned his photo “You see this monkey? This monkey is no good.” The photo is also beautifully saturated with color and a great capture of everyday life.

Photograph any monkeys on your travels, naughty or nice? Add them to the Gadling Flickr Pool and we may use one as a future Photo of the Day.

Istanbul to get second Bosphorus with new canal project

by Meg Nesterov on

The US may be all abuzz about President Obama’s birth certificate, but the big news in Turkey this week is the proposed Istanbul canal project to dig a second Bosphorus. Prime Minister Recep Erdogan’s self-proclaimed “crazy” project would connect the Sea of Marmara with the Black Sea, making Istanbul a city of “two peninsulas and an island.” Details of the project are still unclear, but it is estimated that it will cost more than $10 billion and would be finished in time for Turkey’s centennial in 2023.

“Today, we are rolling up our sleeves for one of world’s greatest projects which cannot even be compared with Panama Canal, Suez Canal or Corinth Canal,” Erdogan said. “Istanbul is the only city on earth that a sea passes through. With this project, Istanbul will become a city that two seas will pass.”

Turkey’s cultural capital is already known for several historic bodies of water including the Bosphorus strait, which divides Istanbul between Europe and Asia, as well as the Golden Horn, the Sea of Marmara, and the Black Sea. The Bosphorus is one of the busiest and most important waterways in the world, with up to 50,000 passages per year with one-way traffic for tankers. The new canal would alleviate all of the commercial traffic and allow for additional ships to pass. The waterway would be around 30 miles long, 500 feet wide, and 80 feet deep and cut through the European side far west of the city center. The upside for vistors is that the crowded Bosphorus would be returned to sport and pleasure boats, making the classic Bosphorus cruise less polluted and crowded.

Photo courtesy Flickr user alinnman

Pop-up restaurants: dining for a new decade

by Laurel Miller on

First, it was underground supper clubs. Now, everything’s coming up pop-ups. As with food trucks, this form of guerrilla cheffing borne of economic need has become a global phenomenon. Equal parts dinner party and dinner theater, a pop-up refers to a dining establishment that is open anywhere from one to several nights, usually in an existing restaurant or other commercial food establishment.

The impermanent nature of pop-ups means no real overhead or utilities, and little food cost and labor. They’re not enough to sustain chefs financially, but are instead a great way for them to make a name for themselves and draw some income in between (or during) gigs. Pop-ups also give chefs a chance to stretch themselves, stylistically or ethnically, although some prefer to let local ingredients shine. Most pop-ups give props to sustainability by sourcing product from local farms, which is part of what gives these fly-by-night operations such a wonderful sense of place.

I first heard about pop-ups while couch-surfing in San Francisco two years ago (my own pop-up form of survival after relocating back to the West Coast from Colorado). Chef Anthony Myint, the brainchild behind SF’s Mission Street Food pop-up, which started in 2008, was serving much-lauded, locally-sourced dinners Thursday nights, each time with the help of a guest chef. The food was unpredictable with regard to cuisine or style. The location? Lung Shan, a nondescript Chinese restaurant in the city’s vibrant Mission District (FYI, my favorite place for great, usually cheap, eats). I remember thinking at the time, “More, please.”Fast-forward 24 months, and while the pop-up is no more, the venture was so successful, Myint is now co-owner of San Francisco’s popular Commonwealth, as well as newly minted (har) chef at the forthcoming Mission Bowling Club. And Joshua Skenes of Saison, one of Food & Wine magazine’s newly crowned Best New Chefs, started the restaurant as a pop-up.

San Francisco has long been an incubator for innovative ideas involving food, so it’s no surprise pop-ups are, ah, popular there (click here for a recent round-up). Meanwhile, fellow 2011 Best New Chef Jason Franey, of Seattle’s Canlis, has also been getting in on the pop-up. In February, he cooked a one-night gig at “Hearth & Home,” held at one of the city’s Macrina Bakery locations (another tip: if you’re in town, visit Macrina in its own right. Four words: chocolate-orange pound cake).

The pop-up trend–which now applies to boutiques, galleries, clubs, coffee houses, and bars–has gone national. Los Angeles, San Diego, New Orleans, Chicago, New York, Boston, Portland (Oregon), Miami: all popular for restaurant pop-ups. Oakland has seen phenomenal response to its Pop-up General Store, which features a twice-monthly gathering of food vendors held at a catering kitchen. Founded by former Chez Panisse Chef Christopher Lee and his former sous chef Saimin Nosrat (of Berkeley’s defunct Eccolo), the venue features all the deliciousness you would expect when a group of mostly former Chez Panisse cooks and food artisans get together and prepare things to eat.

Pop-ups are even crossing the pond. The New York Times reports that, starting today, Singapore is sending some of its top chefs and a pop-up kitchen on a yearlong trip around the world, with nine stops planned in Moscow, Paris, London, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Delhi, Sydney, and Dubai. Dubbed Singapore Takeout, the goal is to showcase the city’s eclectic, multi-ethnic cuisine. The kitchen is a converted 20-by-eight-foot shipping container. Also hitting the road is chef Thomas Keller of The French Laundry, Ad Hoc, Bouchon, and Per Se. He’ll be featured in a ten-day pop-up at Harrods, London later this summer.

Tip: Due to the nature of pop-ups, the best way to find them is to Google the words, “pop-up restaurant, ____ (city).” You can also go to Pop up Restaurants for news. Get popping!

What I learned about earthquake preparedness

by Matthew Firestone on

When the Great East Japan Earthquake struck on March 11th, I was working from home here in Tokyo. Having grown accustomed over the years to frequent tremors, I foolishly proceeded to ignore the early warning signs. But when the low rumble grew into intense shaking, I quickly realized that it was time to enact my exit plan.

In 20/20 hindsight, it was not a very good exit plan.

I grabbed my wallet, keys and cell phone, slipped on a comfortable sweatshirt and managed to dig out my running shoes from the closet. Before leaving the apartment, I turned off all the gas, and filled a backpack with a flashlight, batteries and a few cans of tuna. Mind you that all of this took place in just under a minute.

Once outside, I followed the crowds of startled people to a nearby park where we would in theory be safe if buildings started to collapse. Fortunately – at least for those of us in Tokyo – we were spared from the worst. Regardless, the whole encounter made me realize that earthquake preparedness is not something to be taken likely.

This is what I learned…1) Have a stockpile of emergency cash. To be clear, you should definitely keep your hard-earned money in a bank account. Stuffing piles of money underneath the mattress is best left for grandmothers, conspiracy theorists and money-launderers alike. But I can’t emphasize how important it is to have a hefty reserve of liquid cash in your wallet.

In the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake, at least in my neighborhood of Tokyo, ATMs simply froze up. What-if scenarios are beyond the scope of this blog, but the point is that having extra cash in an emergency situation is always a good thing. Lesson learned: keep a hidden envelope full of cash at home for times like these.

2) Voice over IP is a lifeline. In the minutes following the earthquake, all of the mobile networks in Japan went down. And they stayed down for a solid twenty-four hours. In a country where you can normally text message in a one-mile deep subterranean subway station, this came as a huge shock to the Japanese.

The reason was justified, namely that government and industry officials wanted to keep telecommunications networks open for use by emergency responders. Fortunately, the internet was up and running, which meant that Voice over IP services like Skype served as vital lifelines to friends and loved ones.

3) Plan for the worst, hope for the best. During my panicked flee from home, I never considered the worst case scenario. As such, there were some vital items that I left behind. For starters, I forgot my passport, which would have severely hampered my ability to catch an international flight out of Japan.

I also forgot my glasses, which is a major concern given that a) my contacts are disposable and b) my vision is only slightly sharper than your average ground mole. And while I don’t take regular prescription medicine, if I did, there is a good chance that I would have forgotten to pack that as well. Which brings me to number four.

4) Always keep a bag of emergency supplies on hand. I did a good thing by grabbing a flashlight, batteries and random cans of tuna. But I wasted valuable seconds that could have been spent escaping from the premises. There is also a long list of potentially useful items that I left behind.

What’s packed in my bag now you ask? A lot of goodies, including a first aid kit, essential toiletries, compressible sleeping bags, emergency flares, duct tape, gloves, face masks, rain gear, bottled water, plastic bags, dried snacks, utensils, Swiss Army knives, soap, hand sanitizer and iodine tablets (for purifying water, not preventing radiation sickness).

A bit on the heavy side? Definitely. Dependable in times of dire need? Absolutely.

5) Dress appropriately. To clarify, we’re not talking about fashion, but rather survival. I was smart enough to grab an extra layer, and the running shoes seemed like a good idea in the event of spreading fire. But had there been wreckage containing anything from broken glass to steel shards, I potentially could have been injured.

I have since invested in a seriously sturdy pair of steel-toed, Vibram-soled military boots, which I keep in a small nook near the front door. Next to my previously mentioned bag of emergency supplies, I keep a folded pair of work jeans and a durable Carhartt construction jacket. And although I forgot to mention this prior, there are also extra socks and underwear in my emergency bag. Always good to have a few clean pairs on hand!

Is there something that I’m missing? Most likely. Am I being overly neurotic? Always a possibility. With that said, if anyone out there has experience packing an emergency kit, please chime in and share your thoughts. And, if anyone out there has a carefully thought out escape plan for dealing with any kind of natural disaster, let us know!

Stay safe, and remember the scout motto: Be prepared!

** All photos are courtesy of the Wikicommons Media Project **

A video of Bali’s elegant details

by Justin Delaney on

Bali is like sand in a fist. It is tough to get a handle on. I always come back from the island dumbfounded with my inability to properly explain what makes it so special and extraordinary. The pervasive culture and feel is difficult to communicate with language; its character escapes the calculated classification of words. This video is a collection of the elegant details that make Bali such an enchanted place. I think Stephan Kot does an excellent job showcasing this beautiful “Island of the Gods” – far better than I could ever do with words.Postcard from Bali (Canon 5d MkII) from Stephan Kot on Vimeo.