Kristina Chung Blog

A Brief Tale of the Vans Authentic Trainers

Vans founder Paul Van Doren was born in Boston in 1930. Paul’s first job was organised by his mother who, despairing over his minimal scholarly instincts, found him work at the shoe plant where she worked. This is where Paul found out about shoes.. Paul did well in the end becoming Vice President of Randy’s, a distinguished shoe corporation in Boston.. Paul went directly into the shoe business along with three partners who combined together and opened the Van Doren Rubber Company, setting-up the factory in California in 1966. He noted the lack of profit margin for the manufacturer but also saw the huge profits made by the retailer, so he opened a retail outlet and, on opening day 16th March 1966, he sold twelve pairs of Vans deck shoes (known in the future as Authentic).

The 1970s experienced a time of financial growth for the firm partly due to the introduction of new designs being developed and introduced to the market including large contracts for the US Air Force - rubber mukluks and wool lined canvas shoes.Skateboarders loved Vans, because they really enjoyed the strength of the trainers and enjoyed the sole’s slightly sticky nature, which provides grip. Vans were very popular in California throughout this period.

The Vans Era was released in 1975, although at the time it was known as the Vans #95. Skateboarders adored this shoe, enjoying the large number of spectacular designs, the cushioned collar. The ubiquitous Vans Slip-on was introduced in 1979. It became amazingly desired by skateboarders and BMX bike riders. The ongoing launching of extremely successful trainers created the enterprise a ton of success and subsequently the company had as many as seventy shops in California towards the end of the 1970s. Vans also gained national and international dealers.

The 80s saw many changes for the company.. To compete with the larger and more well know competitors and brands Vans kept-up the pace of bringing new products to market as well as move into new markets, markets which had a demand for rugged sports shoes. Such markets included moto-cross and surfing. One particular example is the Vans Slip-on, which became widely popular in the US and, most importantly, internationally, opening-up many new customers for the company.

At this time Paul Van Doren reliquished a good deal of his day-to-day contribution.

Persistent growth and expansion caused financial problems. The situation reached a climax when the company filed for bankruptcy in 1983. It took Vans three years to get back on its feet, though it did pay-off its creditors. The original founders sold the business to an investment firm: the enterprise went on to be sold more than once.

Vans came out of the 80s stronger, which led to success in the 1990s. There was still a lot of change, for example the company moved manufacturing out of the USA, which brought about a closure of the California factory. Advancing Vans began sponsoring events such as the ‘Inaugural Triple Crown’ series which eventually became the ‘Vans Triple Crown’ series, along with the ‘Warped Tour’ music festival. The company opened skate parks: first in 1998 in Orange County along with the second in 2002 in Orlando. Naming rights are also important and Vans has, for example, the naming rights to Australia’s internationally famous Bowl-a-Rama location.

Click Vans Lo Pro to learn more.

Big Mother - The Wafu Restaurant

Don’t imagine eating at the Wafu eaterie in Australia if you’re not going to eat all of your meal, you could be asked to stay away in future.

Diners are asked to be mindful of the quantity of food they order and to order just the right amount “in harmony with your appetite.”

The Wafu website explains Chef Ichikawa’s policy in clear and simple words: “Re-think what you use and waste!”.

Chef Yukako Ichikawa’s vision for the restaurant, which provides ” guilty free Japanese cuisine.” The Sydney restaurant’s mission statement explains it this way, “Wafu is not just a restaurant, it is an extension of Yukako’s personal ethos toward nourishment and sustenance. Wafu is the expression of an ethical and spiritual commitment to food.”

Famed Eatery Fire Catastrophe

June 9, 2010: Firefighters were unable to save the Riviera Restaurant from the fire flames. The legendary historic restaurant, established sixty miles away from Chicago, was utterly wrecked.

The firefight was hampered due to a lack of water. The restaurant was positioned away from any hydrants and water needed to be shipped in by tanker.

Other crews from a number of communities in the area were also called to help.

Although there were no injuries or deaths, the fire is being described as tragic. Investigations are on-going.

Vultures Scoff On the house at the Vulture Restaurant

The first restaurant for vultures is opened in Turkey and is already popular with four endagered species.

The neighborhood is the base of four vulture varieties, the bearded, the Egyptian, the Griffon and the Black vulture.

Igdir, close to the Armenian border was selected for the site.

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A Fine Italian Meal

Food has always played a substantial part in the Italian way of life. Sharing, enjoying, buying and preparing food are all done with a care and love that is not common in other parts of Europe. In Italy the meal is to be savored, It is a time to pause, settle downand enjoy the friendshipof one’s family and friends, and of course, some of the finest gastronomy on the planet.

A meal in an Italian restaurant for example a Trattoria habitually has four or five courses: the antipasto, the primo, the secondo, the contorno and the dulce course. Furthermore coffee and a digestive liqueur will be offered. Some meals such as Christmas, Easter and Weddings have more courses, often nine, ten or even eleven.

An Italian meal is in general served as a succession of plates. Unlike in northern Europe and other parts of the world, where separate foods are typically served on a single plate, in Italy the foods are brought individually. So for example, you might be given a plate having just a portion of meat or a bowl of salad. After that you might be given a plate with grilled vegetables (the contorno). In northern Europe and the USA those foods are served all together. As a result an Italian night out at a restaurant has more courses and far more washing-up! Italians often take an aperitivo before eating. This is a light alcoholic drink,like a white wine. It is often taken at a bar, which in turn results in being the place for people to meet before going to the restaurant.

The meal proper usually begins with a hot or cold eaten appetizer known as the antipasto.

The first course (the primo) habitually consists of something hot such as soup, risotto or pasta.

The main plate of an Italian meal is the secondo (second course). This is as a rule a cooked meat such as chicken or pork. Veal too is common.

Grilled vegetables or a salad, known as the contorno, is served individually or if requested, along with the secondo.

The secondo is followed by formaggio e frutta (cheese and fruits). Many local cheeses would be eaten with fruits of all kinds. The dolce course would follow bringing with it cakes and cookies.

And, of course as Italy is famed for the numerous diverse varieties of coffee, which is taken after the food prior to the round of liqueurs.

About Pizza

Pizza is the archetypal Italian dish. Actually it was created in Naples (Napoli) to celebrate the visit to Naples of the Italian Queen Consort Margherita of Savoy in 1889 by chef Raffaele Esposito. His first creation was named ‘Pizza Margherita’. To symbolize the white, red and green of the Italian flag he used tomato (red), mozzarella cheese (white) and basil (green). Prior to the Margherita there had been versions of food using a basic dough which was much favored by the locals.

Pasta

A further food class Italy is famed for is pasta. Pasta is a broad term for a collection of foods made from a wheat based dough and at times with vegetable flavorings and colors and eggs. Pasta comes in a huge range of shapes, sizes, lengths, textures and colors. Therefore pasta can be used in a lot of diverse ways. Some common kinds are spaghetti (thin sticks), lasagne (sheets), macaroni (small tubes) and fusilli (small swirls of pasta).

And Now - Wine

Another major part of Italian culture is wines. Italy is famous for its wine and produces and exports more wine than any other country on the planet. Vino cotto is a form of wine created in central Italy, made for personal use and not sold commercially. The wine is heated in a copper vessel until the volume is condensed to going on for half. This wine is left to age for a few years, each year a little more wine is added to make up for evaporation.

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Cheers! Dubai’s Population Can Pick Foodstuff Containing Alcohol

After a degree of prevarication, Dubai has decided that food containing alcohol may be served in restaurants on the condition it is segregated from other foodstuff and noticeably marked, Dubai newspaper The National reported Tuesday.

Dubai, which is a relatively free and liberal Emirate state announced Sunday it would enforce a 2003 law banning alcohol in foodstuff preparation, due to complaints from Muslim clients who were not warned that dishes in various restaurants included alcohol. But it now appears that Dubai has changed its mind, based on comments from Khaled Sharif al Awadhi, director of Dubai municipality’s food control department.

“We have found violations where hotels are not clearly stating alcohol content in their food,” it quoted him as saying. Awadhi also stated that alcohol should be handled like other “non-halal products” such as pork.

Easy Pizza Recipe

A trouble-free recipe for cheese and tomato pizza. To begin with we provide a recipe for making the dough - significant to the entire success of the pizza. Then we show you how to make a tasty topping.

For the pizza dough you will need:

• 1tsp - salt
• 120ml - warm water
• 1tbsp - olive oil
• White Flour 225g
• 1tsp - yeast (the fast action type if possible)
• Sugar 0/5tsp

For the pizza topping you will need:

• 125g - Buffalo mozzarella
• 4tbsp - Tomato Sauce
• 1tsp - Oregano Died
• salt, pepper

To Make The Pizza Dough:

1) Add salt, flour together and blend yeast and sugar. Then mix well with your hands and make a small hole in the middle of the mix for the olive oil and water to be added.

2) Adding the oil and water, blend together with your hands. Add additional flour and water if required.

3) Keep mixing for about three minutes or until the mix is one ball and the bowl is fairly clean.

4) Move the dough to a floured surface and carry on kneading until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.

5) Now you leave your dough to rise, an hour should be more or less enough time. It helps to lightly oil a bowl and also the surface of your dough, wrap it in a clean dry cloth and leave in the bowl.

6) The dough will rise to something like double its original size.

7) Return the dough to a floured surface and knead for a few more minutes.

8) Stretch out the dough in a circle. Decide how thick or thin you want your pizza base to be.

Place the dough on a non-stick baking sheet and brush with olive oil. Pre-heat your oven to 220 degrees Celcius. Spread the tomato sauce evenly over the pizza base. Now scatter the mozzarella around the pizza evenly and sprinkle with salt, pepper and oregano. Add a drizzle of olive oil. Place on the top shelf of your oven and cook for approximately fifteen minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the base is firm. If required add your own choice of extra toppings. Ensuring that any meat used has been previously cooked. Then return to your oven for a further 4-7 minutes.

Feel free to add ingredients to the topping, e.g. meat, vegetables or fish.

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Illness From Food - enormous Costs

A current report from the USA describes the real and surprisingly high cost of foodstuff related illness. At more than one hundred and fifty billion US Dollars per year, the cost is far higher that formerly estimated.

This is according to Pew Charitable Trust’s Food Safety Director Sandra Eskin.

That sum comes from medical services, medicines and the cost of sufferings and disability.

Reports Business Week

Countertop Oven Facts

Countertop ovens derive from generic stoves. Extra compact in dimension and power effective countertop ovens are a more efficient way to cook food.

A first-class countertop oven will have numerous functions such as heating, baking, broiling and toasting. A number of of this type of oven are fitted with a timer that will turn off the oven after a certain amount of time, this makes it safer and more energy economical.

Most countertop ovens can accomodate a medium-to-large pizza tray or a large baking tray. So even if this kind of oven is economical in size, it is by no means too small to make use of to prepare your favourite meals.

The indispensable features which a countertop oven ought to be equipped with incorporate a rack and handle, a solid pizza tray, a moveable crum tray, a broiling grid, so look out for every single one these items when you are deciding which oven to buy.

Convection heating is an optional form of countertop oven. Convection uses hot circulating air, driven by an inner fan.

It is recommended that when working with a convection oven food should be cooked 20 degrees C lower and that the food is checked about ten minutes earlier than when using a standard oven.

Countertop ovens provide a number of benefits, including financial. Here are some:

• Cooking time is reduced, often lowered by up to thirty five per cent, which saves money.
• It also saves on space in the kitchen allowing you to potentially re-vamp your kitchen.
• This style of oven reduces the need for other cooking pans, reducing much post cooking cleaning effort.
• The oven interior is easy to clean because of its removable racks and the fitted glass door.

Visit our website for further information about Countertop Ovens.

Packets and Menus Give Bad Calorie Data

An alarming story in the New York Times describes many inaccuracies in calorie information on frozen-meal packaging and on the menus is fast-food restaurants. Data taken from 29 restaurants and 10 supermarket frozen meals showed significant differences!

Ref: www. nytimes.com

Not Such A Pink Valentine Day for Restaurant Owners

Restaurant managers customarily look forward to Valentines day bookings. However, recent monetary belt-tightening might necessitate fewer bookings leaving owners feeling blue, instead of in the pink.

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There Actually Is Such a Thing as a Free Lunch

Would free like a dinner on the house? It’s simple: just get the better of one of the dinner eating tests outlined on the couponsherpa.com website and you’ll get your meal free of charge. You’d better like the feeling of an awfully bursting tummy though - these monster meals are practically impossible to finish. And this is a no-no for vegetarians - all the meals have a really high meat content. You might fancy yourself as the equivalent of a black hole, but are you also quick eater? These meals are against the clock: if you don’t beat the clock, you pay.

Crash And Dine

Having rammed his car into the side of the Biscuits N Gravy eatery, 92 year old Charles Pierce then wandered in and ate his breakfast. It’s likely he pushed the accelerator rather than the break, according to accident investigators!!

Source: www. wesh.com/news/22157235/detail.html

Cooking Tips - Oven Cooking

I’m not a bad cook but sometimes I need a bit of help. I was looking for some cooking tips and found the tips below. It’s a small list but with a bit of luck it will be helpful.

This list makes reference to ovens. A wide range of oven types exist. For example wood pizza ovens are a kind of oven found in a restaurant. A particular type might be the deck oven that is generally used for cooking foodstuffs such as bread and pizza. The oven refered to below is the normal oven seen in the residence kitchen.

Benefit from reading the article!

• Carrots can make a good substitute for sauces if you want to sweeten your food.
• A mouth-watering gravy can be prepared from roasting juices, so hold on to them for later!
• Prepare in ample of time - it will save a great deal of pressure.
• Broccoli should never be over-cooked if you require it to be crisp.
• Do you wash mushrooms with running water? Avoid this because the mushrooms will absorb the water. Instead rub them with a moist cloth. Make sure you get rid of all the dirt.
• One should make certain that their kitchen has a quality potato ricer.
• A salad can be given a dash of variety and color by using some red.
• Soggy lettuce looks terrible. To avoid this use a salad spinner.
• Steamer platforms that fold and can sit inside saucepans are the best for steaming vegetables.
• The cook can, if necessary use a dried teaspoon of Rosemary leaves as a substitute for a table spoon of fresh Rosemary.
• In order that the juices within the meat and prevent the meat from drying-out, make certain to pre-heat the oven before you cook. This sear the exterior of the meat.
• Make sure your cooking pans have enough room for all the ingredients - it’s a small tip but many cooks are caught-out by this when preparing for a dinner party.
• When pureeing vegetables for soup consider using a hand blender because this means you do not have to bring the food to the food processor.
• When rotating steak, tongs and spatulas are the best utensils as opposed to forks.
• Wine that the cook never drinks should never be use for cooking.

If you own a restaurant or fast-food outlet click on the article here: Find new Customers For Your Restaurant.

Reference: Deck Ovens.

After the Crash a Solid Breakfast

Having crashed his auto into the side of the Biscuits N Gravy eatery, Charles Pierce, 92 then wandered in and had some breakfast. Investigators think he mistook the gas pedal for the break!

Source: www. wesh.com/news/22157235/detail.html

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