| Thrifting: Finding treasure in other people's junk
While driving home from a story one day, I detoured through South Tampa with one mission in mind: The Salvation Army at MacDill Avenue and Bay to Bay Boulevard. As far as thrift stores go, this one is pretty good, I rarely walk away empty-handed and, over the years, have found some unique tchotchke, designer clothes, even one-of-a-kind collectibles. My impromptu foray proved worthy: No sooner had I walked in the door than I noticed the place was unusually packed. Elderly women hovered in the dishes aisle, customers were sweeping up armloads of clothes, pillows, books; one woman even admired a slightly tattered wedding dress, well-cut, I thought, sleeveless, with satin covered buttons and a tulle skirt. As it turned out, it was "Wacky Wednesday" - a weekly event where everything in the store was half off.
Eat To Live: Now, the low-carbon diet
Students and office workers, you'd better brush up your math skills. On top of counting calories, you can now calculate how much what you're eating is adding in carbon cost. It's a new take on "carbs," only this time we're talking the damage you may be doing not to your body but to the globe. In another possible confusion, Bon Appetit is the company behind it. And it's not the gourmet food magazine. It's a management company that runs cafeterias for corporations and university campuses, operating with the rubric, "Food services for a sustainable future." From May, Bon Appetit, which runs more than 400 cafes in 28 states, will be testing a "low carb diet" that will allow cafeteria diners to choose between, say, a banana that has reached the fruit bowl having been flown in from many greenhouse gas-creating miles away and a locally grown apple.
Gourmet coffee becomes latest office perk
The coffee break refuses to die. As more workers flee their cubicles to get a latte fix, the office coffee machine has become a forgotten stepchild. Of people who drink coffee at work, the percentage that drink the in-house brew dropped to 52 percent last year from 64 percent in 2003, according to the National Coffee Association, an industry group.Now, in hopes of keeping their employees on the premises - and sparing them the pain of a $4.95-a-day habit - some companies are trying new measures. First and foremost: upgrading the java.Employers ranging from Microsoft Corp. to law firms and plumbing contractors are ditching their old suppliers and hot plates and switching to Starbucks Corp. and its competitors. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc., a wholesaler based in Waterbury, Vt., says it saw a 29 percent increase in its office coffee sales in 2006.
Jackie Chan & Jet Li team up
The story line originates from the classic Chinese novel ''Journey to the West,'' in which a monkey king helps guard a Buddhist monk who searches for religious texts. In this new version, the teenager, a fan of kung fu movies, travels back in time after discovering the monkey king's stick weapon in a Chinatown pawn shop, film distributor Lionsgate said in a news release. While Chan's and Li's roles are still under wraps, the film could offer a sharp contrast of fighting styles. Chan is known for his improvisational, defensive moves while Li tends to dominate his on-screen opponents. Famed kung fu choreographer Yuen Woo-ping, known for his work on the Matrix trilogy, will design the action sequences in ''Forbidden Kingdom,'' and Rob Minkoff, who made Stuart Little and The Lion King, will direct the movie.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Adds Michael J. Mardy to Board of ...
WATERBURY, Vt.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) announced today that Michael J. Mardy has been appointed to the Company's Board of Directors. Mardy is currently Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Tumi, Inc., a retailer of prestige luggage and travel accessories. The addition of Mardy expands the Board of Directors to seven members. Effective upon his appointment, Mardy will become Chair of the Audit Committee and will serve on the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors of the Company. Prior to joining Tumi, Inc. in July 2003, Mardy served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Keystone Foods LLC, a global manufacturer of food products. From 1980 to 1996, Mardy held various senior level financial positions with Nabisco, Inc., last serving as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Nabisco Biscuit Company, the leading U.S.
Jacques Torres talks chocolate
How much chocolate do you sell around Easter time? We will mold about 4-5 tons of chocolate into Easter figures during this time of year. This holiday is very different because it is all about molded items and little things for children. Valentine's shoppers are buying one thing for their lover and one thing for their mom. Christmas includes multiple gifts -- corporate gifts, gifts for the office, gifts for all of the service people, gifts for friends -- always in multiples. What is especially interesting is that there are not actually many chocolatiers who make all of the artistic gourmet chocolate molded items like we do. We make them by the hundreds (and in some cases, by the thousands). Every year, my mentor/teacher arrives from France to help us during the Easter season. We hand paint our molds.
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