Tag Archives: NYC

Dining In On A Different Level

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Do you love connecting over delicious food and sometimes wish you could bring the intimacy of a restaurant to your own home? Dream no more because now, having a private chef cook dinner at your house could be as easy as a swiping your smartphone.

Kitchensurfing has managed to create a online community that redefines the idea of eating, by bringing you a spontaneous culinary experience into your space. The service allows anyone to find and book outstanding local chefs (professional or amateur) to cook for you, in your home, at prices that are competitive with restaurants. The booking includes your meal, gratuity and kitchen clean-up.

So, if you find yourself with a house full of guests, without a desire to cook or clean, and are willing to spend, try Kitchensurfing. Or, be creative and use Kitchensurfing for an epic night of exotic food degustation for a bachelorette party night.

Currently Kitchensurfing is only available in New York, Boston, Chicago, Washington DC and Berlin but is in the process of expanding to more cities. If you are not living in those areas, be patient. Meanwhile, you can Kitchensurf on Instagram or Facebook and take note of yummy food pictures.

What Sparks Our Fire: An innovative and easy way to bring a restaurant atmosphere to your home.

On what occasion would you use Kitchensurfing?

Rome Wasn’t Built In a Day

And neither was NYC. The subway alone was built in many days, most of them taking place over ninety years ago.

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Let that sink in for a moment.

In fact, most of the city’s infrastructure is at least 50 years old, according to the latest report from the Center For an Urban Future, which has the troubling title of Caution Ahead. Some highlights are century-old water mains which lose about a quarter of their capacity to leaks, the 84 year old sewers, the sexagenarian homeless shelters and schools, and the 60% of cargo facilities at JFK that are unfit for modern screening, storage, distribution. Troubling news, to say the least, especially for those who depend on those systems of infrastructure every day.

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This is not surprising for an old city such as New York. However, according to the creator of the study, there is no reason for panic. Rather, Adam Forman said the major concern right now is bringing maintenance to the forefront of the city budget: “It’s time to refocus our capital programs and bringing things into a state of good repair, not just building new things.”

What’s important to remember is while the urban decay is troubling, there is no reason to worry as of yet. Many of these infrastructures remain serviceable and in working order, so there’s no need to find a new way to get to work in the morning. Rather, the report is meant to spur action on the part of the city and investors, to focus on the future of the city.

What Sparks Our Fire: Our city is old, and full of stories. We should maintain it so that we can keep making new ones.

Do you see signs of urban decay in NYC?

Meet the 13 designers on Fast Company’s most creative people list

Fast Company compiled a list of the 100 most creative people for 2013. Find out how each of the 13 designers are starting fires and changing the world through innovative thinking. What sparks our fire: There is no limit to creativity. Which designer do you find most creative?

Enjoy!

-Canopy Team

blog pix2 Top: Ivan Poupyrev, Senior Scientist, Disney Research Left: Emily Sugihara, Founder, Baggu  Right: Liz Muller, Director of Concept Design Starbucks