C19

What kind of place can make me wish I ordered the fish over a delicious NY Strip? C19.

There's so much to like about this place.  It has a great atmosphere; there's something intangible about C19 that really makes you feel like they care about their food and the entire dining experience.

I like to take pictures of my food; but I had no chance at C19. I was too busy eating it.

To start, the service was a little slow.  But once we had our orders placed, there weren't any problems.  I highly recommend the wine flights.  The sommelier comes out and chooses several different wines to pair with the food and gives tasting notes on each wine.  He really put effort into explaining and arranging, and not because it was his job; but because he really loves wine and wants to share that.

For starters, I ordered the snails, Nutzle had the beet salad, and we both enjoyed these starters.  She then got the special, local black bass.  It was amazing. I'm salivating just thinking about it.  The NY strip I had was good; a nice dry rub, thick cut served medium rare.  But I wouldn't rave about it.

The only potential downside is that for the portions, the food is a little pricey.  But because of the location in the city, as well as the focus on fresh, local, sustainable ingredients, the prices are warranted.  I will be back soon.

PS, there's a tiny TV in the corner of the bar, so if it's playoff time and you've promised to take someone out for a nice meal, this is the perfect spot!

http://c19philly.com/
267 S 19th St
Reservations via Opentable.com

KCFC: A community food co-op in Kensington

There has been a push to get a locally owned and operated, non-profit coomunity food co-op going in Kensington. I attended one of the informational meetings, and it is a really excellent idea. I just want to spread the word on something that I think could be fantastic for the neighborhood.

There is going to be a focus on good business practices, healthy organic local food, minimal packaging, and all kinds of good stuff.

Currently, they're conducting their first membership drive. I'll include the details at the end of this post. A bunch of my (and maybe your) friends are working on it, so you could ask John Kolodziey, Jeff Carpineta, Stephen Way, or others for more info. This is going to be a huge success if the community supports it, and I think there is a lot of potential interest. Now people have to buck up and make it a reality.

FUNDRAISING INITIATIVE (1ST Member Investment Campaign)

This initiative is to solicit the 1st financial investment from our future membership. Our goal is to complete this initial investment campaign by August 31, 2009. Review of Proposed Budget Needs: The start-up budget of each committee for basic expenses has been estimated at $3,200.00. This includes a small number of reimbursements due.

NOTE ***At this time, our project has received support in kind from the following organizations: Cooperative Development Services, East Kensington Neighbors Association, Greensgrow, New Kensington Community Development Corporation, Philadelphia Brewing Company, the Spirit Newspaper, Urbane Development LLC, Walking Fish Theater and Weaver’s Way Co-op.

Terms of Investment:
Membership: A “member” is a person who has monetarily invested in the Coop. A "member" is considered to be the primary contact for communications from KCFC.

$ Amount: Based on the start-up needs of the group the recommended minimum initial member investment from each member is $40.00, though members are encouraged to invest as their means allow. This amount is intended to yield sufficient funds for start up expenses for all working committees.

Credit towards KCFC membership: Any direct financial investment in KCFC will be applied as a credit towards the total investment required of members once KCFC is established. At this time, member investment in KCFC (lifetime) is estimated to be $200.00.

NOTE: Members offering the full investment received or postmarked by August 31, 2009, will receive a 10% discount, making the membership investment a total of $180.00.

Limit to Member Investment: Any total capital contribution to KCFC beyond $180.00 will not be considered member investment, but will be handled as a donation. Donations are happily and graciously accepted.

Record Keeping / Accounts: The Steering Committee (SC) has voted to appoint an interim Bookkeeper - Dina Richman, until a permanent Bookkeeper and/or Treasurer is appointed. The Bookkeeper is required to be a regular participant of the planning and finance committee and must report to the Planning + Finance committee upon request. The SC voted to open an account at a local bank.

Signers on Account: The interim bookkeeper will be listed as signer on the account. In addition to the bookkeeper, the SC has approved 3 signers of the account: Lena Helen, Natalie Pollard, and Sarah Daub.

Refunds: If a member requests a refund while KCFC is active, then the full member investment will be returned to the member only if the KCFC store has been operational for one year and only if replacement capital is available at the time of request. If KCFC is no longer viable either before store opening or anytime after, then a refund of member investments is not guaranteed. Donations are considered gifts and will not be returned.

Transfer of Membership: Member Investment is not transferable.

Minature Earth

This video is a bit outdated, skewed, and I don't want to support the organization that put it out. That being said, I think it's an important reminder of where most of us fall on a global scale.




Considering "The text that originated this webmovie was published on May 29, 1990 with the title “State of the Village Report”, and it was written by Donella Meadows..." I think the internet and computer stats are especially deceptive.

Muhammad Yunus

Here's a break from the food posts, because I want to write a short piece on Muhammad Yunus, a total badass. Yunus won the Nobel Piece Prize for his work in microfinance. Never heard of microfinance? Maybe that's because its counter-cultural nonprofit, unintuitive idea, but one that has the potential to change the world. In Bangladesh, Yunus just started lending out his money to people who were being screwed by banks, either with crazy interest rates or outright refusals to lend.

His initial $27 USD loan helped 42(!) women, and Yunus knew he was onto something. He wrote a book about how small loans disproportionally help those in poverty, especially 3rd world working women. He then started a bank whose the main purpose to loan out interest free cash to those in poverty.

Down the line, others realized Yunus was really onto something, and kiva.org popped up. I found out about it first from Haley, and I just signed up for it this morning. I gave some money to Soeun Mao raising pigs in Cambodia, and Nejua Remijo selling food in Sudan. Sounds downright awesome to me.

There's so much good being done here. And even if you want to be selfish, you can get your money back (repayment for past loans is above 98%). Last night at cell we were talking about it's futile to recognize the bad in the world, and then sit around asking why. Life is about doing.

A few startling facts

I started to write a comment on my friend's blog. Her and her husband thought about only buying from the US for a while. Here's what my comment turned into.

I've been thinking a lot about international trade lately. Buying from the US does insure certain things: US minimum wage for workers, certain standards for pollution, and a relatively small carbon footprint. Those are the ideas off the top of my head.

At the same time, doing some reading, I came across this quote: "By 2002, [global trade] dropped to just 2% despite Africa having 12% of the world’s population. If Africa could regain just an additional 1% share of global trade, it would earn $70 billion more in exports each year. " I think there are real advantages to letting money be sent to third world countries.

Also, buying organic is something I've been thinking about. Even if we buy USA cotton, there can still be a lot of harm done. Cotton accounts for about 3% of all commercial crops in the world and about 25% of worldwide pesticide use.

I think there are a lot of things to think about, and it can be daunting, but you guys (Parsons, and other friends) have a good start.