I always stress about hosting parties, because my brother took all of the culinary (and style) talent in our family. (My middle brother got all of the mechanical skills but that is a post for another time.) Back to the point, I saw this awesome new service that could solve at least half of my hosting issue – the food part! (and it looks like a cool way to host some fun events, too!)
Enter Kitchit, a bunch of chefs from Chicago’s top restaurants (and NYC, Bay Area and Los Angeles, too!) who are willing to cook for your next dinner party! You select the type of party you want (from cocktails and passed hors dourves to a five course feast – cooking classes are also available.) You select from a roster of well-trained chefs available on your date. You can see their rates for each style of event (they’re actually more affordable than you might think) and contact them using the online form. Then you work out a menu and then let them do the hard stuff: planning, shopping and COOKING. How cool is that?! Worth a try for folks like me!
I found another handy app for foodies, too. This is also good for winos (I mean oenophiles.) No matter how delicious a meal is, it’s hard to retain the details unless you write them down (and who really does that? especially after some wine.) But a new app from Evernote may help jog your memory.
Called Evernote Food, the app is organized around snapping images on an iPhone and tagging them to a specific meal. You can create captions on the fly, so you can record the details of your meal in real time. The uses stretch beyond basic “What I Had” (a/k/a food porn) documentation. You can use Evernote Food to remember bottles of wine that you try (and where.) It can even work as a tool for tracking dining expenses: Simply snap photos of receipts.
I found another cool app for tracking food, but this one has a new, healthy twist! You can put your smartphone-snapped food pics to better use with The Eatery, a free app devoted to healthy eating.
Here’s how it works: Take a photo of your meal and upload it to the app, then rate how healthy you think the dish is overall, as well as how much you ate of it, on a simple sliding scale. Other users can then rate how healthy your dish is too, to give it an honest score.
The Eatery then tracks your eating habits by time of day–to help you to see when and where you might be making bad choices–and whether you’re improving over time. Instead of counting calories, you’ll get a photo montage of your healthiest and most indulgent days of the week. Since this app is community based, it could also foster a sense of accountability and you can get helpful suggestions (and reality checks from the community!) This seems like a great idea, but you have to be willing to share (and I imagine consistent with it) What do you think? (It would be good for bloggers who do What I Eat Wednesday and similar!)
Speaking of food, here are some “links I like” on healthy eating!
> I found an awesome new (to me) website Health Bitch Daily! I liked:
– “The Secret to Curbing a Holiday Sweet Tooth” – (I happily read this one in MindBodyGreen and other places, too) – “Here’s the simple secret that will turn off your sugar cravings: eat more root vegetables. When you pass on dessert, you won’t even feel deprived. You literally just won’t feel like eating cookies, cake or candy.” The theory is that root vegetables are also sweet AND are packed with vitamins and minerals your body needs (and thus craves). I love root veggies, so I will keep eating them in earnest!
– “Five Healthiest Winter Foods” – yum! pomegranates, beets, kale, sweet potatoes and grapefruit (and how to use them!)
– “Don’t be a Healthy Grinch” – with great tips on avoiding holiday weight gain without putting a damper on things!
> Also, check out “18 Winter Power Food Recipes” from Whole Living magazine.
And of course, it’s Friday, so here are some deals!
> Bloomspot also has awesome local deals (in major metros) on food, spa and services and travel deals, too! Check it out HERE. Here are just a few examples:
– In NYC and want to learn a new language (or give the gift of language lessons?) – check out 50% off on 10 week beginner classes at Cactus Language Schools in Manhattan or other great NYC deals HERE.
– In Los Angeles, check out 50% off a variety of facials at Skin Addiks in Studio City or other great LA deals HERE.
– In Chicago, check out 50% off on brunch or other options at Las Palmas in Bucktown or other great Chicago Deals HERE.
– There is also still time for great deals on hard bound photo books from Photobin – up to 75% off – great way to capture holiday memories! and 50% off on gifts for the home from Winward Designs
> In NYC? How about a fun last minute gift of something to do together? Living Social has 2 tickets plus a guided tour of the Museum of the American Gangster for $20 (50% off) in Manhattan. Sounds like a fun afternoon out to me!
> Want to have healthy snacks for home or office delivered monthly? Check out NatureBox ,a service that delivers delicious, wholesome snacks to your door once a month. Sign up for this snack delivery service and receive 30% off your first box with the code DEC30. (I tried these and they are delicious and have also brought them as hostess gifts, too!)
> Hey Chicago friends, need a new look or help clearing out some old stuff from your closet in the new year? Katie from KS Style Consulting who helped me get my closet organized and took away (and donated or consigned a ton of stuff for me) (see my post on her services here) has a deal on Gilt City Chicago – $95 for 3 hour closet clean out and outfit pairing or $165 for 3 hours of personal shopping and “closet editing” (and she will take and consign your stuff, too) Katie is awesome Chicago friends! Give her a try!
> Turn your photos into art and get a great deal! Gilt City has 70+% off at Printcopia on 16 x 20 inch gallery wrapped canvas prints of your photos (and more)!
Last thing for today…
Don’t forget to check out a bunch of events on 1.1.2013 to support health and wellness called “Commitment Day.“ I love their premise “A Healthy Way of Life all starts here. Forget making a resolution. Make a commitment. Share it with friends, family members, and the whole world. You’ll feel good, and inspire someone else to make a positive change.” 5K runs and events (in 30+ cities in the US) are $39 for adults and you can get $5 off with the code CORP0290. All kids can register for free with every paid adult. You can register more than one child per paid adult. I am running in Chicago with my friend Yvonne. Who else is with us??
That’s all for now. Have a great weekend and good luck getting ready for the holidays!