SparkBlog by The Hartman Group

Your One-Stop Shop for Hornet’s Honey and Pearl Dust

Want to be the most talked about person at the potluck? Try a sampler from Edible, the UK-based specialty store featuring such rare delicacies as Thai curry crickets and scorpion vodka (giant eight-legged arthropod included). Planning a romantic weekend picnic? Edible's aphrodisiac department has you covered with lizard wine and 24 karat gold lollipops. Tired winter skin in need of a refreshing kick? Take their Ambergris wash for a spin. From the site:

Ambergris comes from the hindgut of the Sperm Whale, it is a natural phenomenon and they spit the secretion into the sea after eating Giant Squid. The sun macerates it into a resin after it spends months floating on the oceans surface. It is then rarely found washed up on beaches in the southern hemisphere... It will most probably perfume your entire house!

While the promise of sperm whale potpourri is a bit unsettling, it will do your heart good to know that all of Edible's ingredients are ethically sourced and meet health and safety codes.

So don't fret, those giant leaf cutter ants on your plate were collected with the gentlest of hands and toasted to perfection. Although they may not be taking the place of your usual hors devours any time soon, their "nutty bacon-like taste" is sure to be a crowd pleaser for adventurous party guests.

Bon appetite!

Fresh, AmazonFresh

A few weeks ago we mentioned Amazon's foray into grocery delivery. Although we had glanced at the website and tossed a few things idly into our shopping cart, we had yet to experience AmazonFresh's delivery system firsthand. Until now.

Yesterday afternoon, with the pantry bare and the hike to the grocery store unbearable, we found ourselves ordering an assortment of food from Seattle's latest online grocer. Having been underwhelmed by other grocery delivery services in the past, we expected to encounter poor product images, odd delivery hours and extra fees. We were pleasantly surprised. In fact, AmazonFresh is pretty darn accessible and convenient from start to finish with prices that undercut many popular grocers in the area.

With products ranging in quality from your average grocery fare to local artisanal brands, AmazonFresh provides gorgeous product shots and allows customers to search for items according to their dietary restrictions. While some areas of the store, like deli, seem a little bare, keep in mind that AmazonFresh is still in its testing phase. When placing our order, we tried to choose a diverse range of items without venturing into areas we are less comfortable with. No matter how beautiful the photograph, it's difficult to relax into purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables from a retailer known for their books and DVDs.

Stomachs growling, we reviewed our order and hoped for the best. Our delivery was scheduled to arrive before dawn, gently left on our stoop while we worked on our beauty sleep.

This morning, slipper-footed and in desperate need of caffeine, we opened the front door to four large plastic crates of various colors, each branded with a large lowercase "a." Like the milkman of yore, Amazon had visited in the wee hours of the morning. After dragging the crates inside, we surveyed the packing list and began sorting through our purchases, all present and accounted for. While the packaging may seem a bit excessive, each crate is fully reusable and ready for pick up by Amazon upon reorder. Our groceries were treated with care, not a single egg broken or box punctured. Also, each crate was sealed with a removable plastic zipper to ensure that no nosy neighbors had messed  with our grub.

The verdict? We'll be ordering staples from AmazonFresh in the future and look forward to them expanding their service areas. Now if only they would stock wine...

 

A Moveable Feast: Skillet Street Food

Last week a few members of the Tinderbox crew ventured out of the office with empty bellies and delicious expectations. We were on the hunt for Skillet, Seattle's mobile restaurant. Operating out of a renovated Airstream trailer, Skillet roams from office parks, farmers markets and events around the city to bring locally sourced seasonal food to the hungry masses. No matter how quirky the location - the trailer is quickly becoming a staple at derby matches for the Rat City Roller Girls - Skillet's mission is simple: to serve exceptional food quickly.

In other words, this isn't your average weenie roast. On the afternoon we visited Skillet, the menu featured hamburgers, hot dogs, poutine, pork sugo, and red coconut curry soup. Skillet's post-modern interpretation of traditional street food blends seamlessly with their less-conventional dishes. The Skillet burger consists of grilled Kobe beef served on brioche and outfitted with creamy blue cheese, bacon jam and arugula. Yes, you heard it right, bacon jam. All delivered hot and cozy in fully compostable containers with a bill that won't lighten your wallet.

The verdict? We Tinderboxers were too busy munching to express our joy.

Although Skillet is exclusively serving the Seattle area at the moment, founders Josh Henderson and Danny Sizemore are looking to expand to other locations in the future. Do not fret, if you're desperate to create a savory bacon jam experience at home, you can check out their online store and start concocting your own delicious treats as fast as you can say eBay.

To Market, To Market...Or Not

Attention Locavores: Small Potatoes Urban Delivery (that's SPUD for those of you in a hurry) wants to help you feed yourself. The latest grocery delivery service on the scene, SPUD offers a wide range of fresh and local products, complete with food bios to let you know where your chow is coming from. Sourcing half of their produce from local organic farms and half of their grocery products from local food suppliers, SPUD insures that your food won't have to travel far from farm to table. After all, isn't it good to know that your organic Ciabatta loaf trekked a mere seven miles from the baker to your bread box?

While the overall look of the SPUD site is a little Web 1.0, ordering is straightforward and cost effective. Design-conscious folks, however, may find themselves drawn to the sleeker, also Seattle-based Amazon Fresh, which is an entirely different box of veggies. Although Amazon Fresh does offer local items by category, you are also welcome indulge your inner super saver by stocking up on less-than-good for you foods. Plus, Amazon.com's little sister enables you to order cookbooks and tunes to accompany your dinner party fixings.

Thus, the battle between local and large continues. Whatever service you choose, it beats pizza and breadsticks.

It's Not Fun Until Someone Throws Up

This past weekend we had the privilege of attending Bumbershoot, Seattle's annual three day music and arts festival. Boasting a plethora of bands ranging in style from The Apples in Stereo to Wu-Tang Clan, the majority of Bumbershoot's focus is, of course, on the music. However, as the DIY craze reaches its peak, the "art" end of things has been growing rapidly, with Bumbershoot devoting large spaces to interactive installations and crafts from various corners of the country.

While we made an effort to attend multiple air conditioned exhibits, we stumbled upon our favorite happening quite by chance. On Saturday, as our spirits grew weary from dodging throngs of surprisingly enthusiastic Seattleites to hear the mellow sounds of The Shins, we decided to head to the main lawn for a quick nap. Upon arrival, however, we were confronted by the excited shrieks of spinning festival goers.

Under the watchful gaze of a large wooden clown head four hollering adults swung through the air as four pedaling adults powered the nouveau-carni monstrosity. What sort of alternative playground universe had we discovered? Cyclecide: The Heavy Pedal Bike Rodeo.

Cameras flashed, children shrieked; interested parties lined up in droves. "Imagine," a friend said to us in awe, "a world in which this is what people did for fun." Exciting, creative, communal exercise for kids and adults? We were at once inspired and overjoyed.

Five minutes on the Dizzy Toy, however, and our long day of people watching was finally catching up to us. Was that the smell of corn dogs in the distance? We were called to investigate.

Supermarket Sweep

Talk about controlling the retail experience. Shoppers in Shenyang, China are enjoying new views at one grocery store, where consumers hop onto roller coaster-like carts and are led through the aisles, grabbing items as they go. The downside? If shoppers forget an item, they must ride all the way through the store again.

The wild ride could be channeled into either a stressful nightmare or a low-impact game show, depending on your outlook.

(via Boing Boing)

iPhone, Therefore iAm

Just in case you've been living in a hole since December, Apple is set to release the iPhone this evening. Mac enthusiasts and opportunity seekers young and old are waiting with bated breath, many having been camped out in front of Mac motherships across the country for the past week. Their reward? The ultra-anticipated status symbol of the year.

Craigslist posts abound with titles like, Will wait in line for you! iPhone $125 and, our favorite, Homeless crew will wait for iPhone $50 (apparently, they're also willing to sit in exchange for cigarettes). Ebay is pulling auctions for the yet-to-be purchased phones left and right. If fast-food restaurant openings have taught us anything, it's that folks will wait in line for pretty much everything, if only to turn a profit or boast the golden ticket of being first in a crowd of many, in this case ten million.

We're hoping beyond hope that when the clock strikes six, Steve Jobs himself will descend from the heavens, an iPhone in each hand (adhering to the two-per-person limit, of course) to personally bestow his latest technological gift upon the masses. Frankly, anything short of that would be a disappointment.

For more iDay coverage, check out a live map of the happy campers here.

Stuck on Stilton?

For years, and with little competition, Demeter has served as the gold standard in the off-beat perfume market. Promoting "real scents from real life," Demeter's fragrances like Dirt and Laundromat draw upon the collective memories of their consumers to create a unique aromatic experiences.

One category missing in Demeter's line? Dairy. While we wouldn't be particularly keen on donning the stuff, the Stilton Cheesemakers' Association recently commissioned a Manchester-based aromatics company to produce a perfume that mirrors the pungent cheese. Appropriately named Eau De Stilton, the scent has been rendered to yield a "highly wearable perfume." Although we don't recommend Eau De Stilton for job interviews or first dates, praise is due to the cheesemakers for reimagining the idea of what a perfume aught to be. The question is, how will the scent be put to use, other than generating buzz around the historic cheese?

Here's an idea: why not take your cocktail party guests to the edge of molecular non-gastronomy by treating their olfactories to a calorie-free scent buffet? Start with Demeter's Gin and Tonic followed by Fig Leaf and Chocolate Covered Cherries. Stilton is traditionally served with chocolate and dried fruit.

A word of warning to late night snackers: Stilton has been proven to cause vivid and bizarre dreams when eaten close to bedtime.

(via Hello Delicious)

The Rise of the Urban Chicken

Lately, we've had chicken on the brain. Urban chicken, specifically. Backyard coops are en vogue, with poultry-empowerment classes springing up all across the country. Even Google's how-to wiki features an article on city chicks. In a New York Times article on the popularity of keeping metropolitan fowl, one family claims to have been tending their coop for several years. As the chicken population of the US outnumbers humans by over one million, many urban farmers feel it's time we treated the birds with a little respect. At last count, Meetup.com boasted a total of 153 groups dedicated to promoting chicken appreciation.

So what is the lure of the urban chicken? Not only do hens lay a surplus of fresh eggs (up to 320 per year), coops yield large amounts of rich fertilizer. A once small, spirited network of urban farmers has grown into a knowledgeable movement, with organizations like Seattle Tilth offering a total of five chicken workshops each year, including walking tours of local coops. 

On the more extreme end of the spectrum, some chicken enthusiasts are even keeping their feathered friends as indoor companions, claiming that domestic chickens are just as lovable as cats and dogs. Chickendiapers.com offers products that help chickens are their owners retain clean communal living spaces. While we can't see ourselves cuddling up with a chicken on the couch, or changing its diaper, for that matter, city chicks seem to be a fresh addition to the urban farming trend.

(via New York Times, Seattle Times)

Upwardly Mobile Homes

Is the cost of modern living getting you down? Do you find yourself unable to afford even the most humble of abodes? Are you a nomad? If you answered "yes" to any of the previous questions, you might be interested in constructing your very own portable micro home. They DIY zeitgeist has manifested itself in the form of movable housing modules. Providing transitory "social constellations" suitable for both land and sea, micro homes can be easily constructed by, "anybody that knows how to weld."

Does metal work make you nervous? Are you design conscious? Then the m-ch may better suit your needs. Guaranteed for up to five years, the m-ch is sold as a fully-recyclable temporary living space. As the structure is made of aluminum,  "it is possible to clad the m-ch temporarily with a heavy-duty graphic film." Never before have individuals been able to coordinate their cellphones, laptops, iPods and dwellings so seamlessly.   

If you'd prefer something a little more spacious and lasting, IKEA is currently applying the concept of modular green housing to several projects across Europe. The appropriately named BokLok structures (Swedish for "live smart") were initially designed to provide functional, minimalist homes for lower income families.

While the m-ch and the BokLok are not yet available in the US, there are plans to introduce them shortly. Without the collective acceptance of the "less is more" mantra, their potential for success is undetermined.

(via Digg, TreeHugger)