Daily Loaf

MyGreenBuildings, the Sarasota-based green building company owned by Steve Ellis and Grant Castilow, has recently won an award in the Qualified Remodeler Master Design Awards Contest for the Green Remodel category.

The yearly Master Design Awards, sponsored by Qualified Remodeler magazine, is the premier national design contest that recognizes outstanding achievement in residential remodeling projects in 22 categories. Some of the other categories include: Whole House over $500,000, Outdoor Living, Historic Restoration, Bathrooms over $50,000, and Universal Design.
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Relationship Card

It used to be that film festivals in the Tampa Bay area were a rarity. No longer. Totaling up all the fundraisers, workshops and side programming that go along with the ever-expanding number of festivals, it’s clear that fest-hopping has become a year-round sport. And that’s great, because we can all stand to broaden our horizons beyond the standard Hollywood pulp that fills the multiplex each Friday. In the next few weeks, there are two festivals of note: one with lots of local appeal, and one a bit farther south that attracts filmmakers (and filmgoers) from all over the world.

Independents’ Film Festival
Hosted by Tampa’s The Education Channel, the 16th annual Independents’ Film Festival promises an intimate look at locally produced films, including a strong program of student films out of USF. I say intimate because all screenings will be held at The Education Channel’s beautiful, newly upgraded screening room with seating for about 65 people. Festival organizers also promise ample opportunity to hob-nob with filmmakers and other fest attendees, as each themed evening begins with a food and drink reception and ends with coffee and dessert. (All included in the $15 ticket price.)

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Tampa police officer, Chris Baten, delivered an almost hulk-like performance while trying to thwart CT Turner’s powerful and relentless attacks during the main bout of the mixed martial arts (MMA) event, Rumble at Robarts 4, which was hosted by the Sarasota based promoter, Art of Fighting (AOF) on Oct. 23, 2009. But ultimately, his opponent CT Turner fought like the indestructible Superman and took the win via unanimous decision.

Turner dominated Baten equally well during the stand up portion of the fight, as well as on the ground throughout all three rounds. His cobra like attack-punches were always followed by a quick retreat in order to evade Baten’s counter punches. On the mat he wrung Baten through several submission attempts including one vicious arm bar that made it seem like Baten was made out of rubber. When Baten was not busy defending himself against Turner’s serial attacks he dished out a few hard punches of his own, which hardly rattled Turner. At the end of the three-round war the bout went to the judges’ scorecards, who awarded Turner the win via unanimous decision to no one’s surprise.

See the complete fight card results and more fight pics after the break.

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“I’m not interested in taking it from the seniors and giving it to somebody else.”

That is Sarasota Congressman Vern Buchanan’s statement about health care coverage from his town hall meeting on Thursday night at Braden River High School in Bradenton. Of course, Vern doesn’t tell them that they are ALREADY paying for other people, through their taxes that reimburse hospitals for the uninsured at exorbitant rates. Better to let uninsured folks get reallll sick (expensive sick), after all, than have health coverage that provides preventive and well care at lower, more affordable costs.

Here’s video of the towner from PoHo correspondent Robin “Roblimo” Miller, after the jump. It gets testy when a pro-Obama speaker gets up at about 4:20 in:

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Be sure to check out Curt Holman’s review of QT’s updated Inglourious Basterds, and CL’s Movies & Television site for all the latest movie news and reviews.

Peter Hooten’s current résumé lists a project titled Voices From Sandover at the very top of the section titled “Film.” A verse-video collaboration between Hooten and influential American poet James Merrill, the film — which Hooten both produced and costarred in — remains one of the 59-year-old retired actor’s proudest accomplishments.

“I felt really good and I worked a long time on it,” Hooten says, lingering over a double espresso and chocolate cake in the dining room at the Sarasota Ritz-Carlton. “And I got really good people together. And we shot it in Cambridge; it was the right atmosphere. … It’s not mainstream, but God, it was a labor of love. So who’s going to see that? But it will be in the libraries when Inglorious Bastards goes bye-bye. Nobody’s going to remember anybody for that.”

Quentin Tarantino, no doubt, disagrees.
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Etsy is like eBay for artists: a highly interactive, visually appealing online market. Artisans, “vintage” collectors, designers, stay-at-home moms — all kinds of buyers (and sellers) frequent the site. Etsy’s a great place to buy one-of-a-kind items and gifts for those “hard-to-shop-fors.”

Shoppers can place requests on the “Alchemy” list, or search for items by color, materials used, location and recently listed. Etsy was developed in New York, and the team that runs it keeps it up to date and highlights various vendors, making sellers accessible as soon as you get to the homepage. It has a DIY heart and a entrepreneurial spirit.

Check out a few pieces from my favorite local artists after the break:

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(Editor’s Note: This recipe comes from CL Sarasota’s next-door neighbor, nationally recognized chef Derek Barnes of Derek’s Culinary Casual. It’s another part of CL Sarasota’s Summer of Pig coverage.)

CRISPY PIG EAR SALAD
with house cured bacon, frisée, local radish, poached Will’s Farm egg,
creamy whole grain mustard vinaigrette

FOR THE PIG EARS:
6 pig ears
1 gallon water
12 sprigs thyme
3 bay leaves

1. Blanch the pig ears in ½ gallon of boiling water for 20 minutes, then remove ears and discard the water.
2. In a medium size stock pot, add the remaining water, thyme, bay leaves and pig ears and simmer for an additional 90 minutes. Pull the ears from the water and chill in the refrigerator. Reserve for marinating.

PIG EAR MARINADE:
2 cups buttermilk
12 ounce lager beer
2 tablespoon Crystal hot sauce
2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Cut the pig ears into 1 inch strips. Marinade the pig ears 1 hour before frying.

PIG EAR BREADING: Read the rest of this entry »

Two wins, two TKOs, two Tampa mixed martial artists—would you like some blood with that? Haki Lee and Eddie Boza both emerged victorious from their bouts at the mixed martial arts (MMA) event Rumble at Robarts 2 hosted by the promotion company Art of Fighting (AOF) in Sarasota on April 25, 2009.

Lee dominated his opponent Keith McCabe during the majority of the fight mainly through his superior conditioning and jiu jitsu skills. While McCabe started off with a noticeable height advantage that made it easy for him to land well-aimed kicks to Lee’s head and legs, Lee proved to have more endurance and a quicker sense of reaction when he managed a successful take-down in round one after connecting a hard kick to Mc Cabe’s body. Both fighters were mercilessly pounding each other on the ground with Lee attempting several unsuccessful rear-naked chokes and one painful looking arm bar that almost snapped McCabe’s elbow. In round two McCabe was visibly out of gas and put little effort into protecting himself from Lee’s vicious elbows during the ground-and- pound resulting in brutal damage and severe bleeding from McCabe’s eye. The referee called the fight and awarded Lee the win via TKO in round two. Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, if you were asked which local governments were early proponents of all things green, you may think: Sarasota with its early adoption of green ordinances; St. Petersburg, Florida’s first certified Green City; or Tampa with its initiatives and recent Green City designation. Yes, all good choices, but I bet it would surprise you that Hillsborough County led the pack. With little fanfare, one of the county’s employees has been quietly implementing energy saving strategies. It all started way back in 2000 when the county made the bold move of hiring Energy Manager Randy Klindworth. Back then, all he set out to do was curb expenses. Nine years ago, who would have thought that carbon footprint, sustainability, green, or Energy Star would be part of the vernacular?

On April 29th, in conjunction with USGBC’s Gulf Coast Chapter, County Administrator Pat Bean and Commissioner Rose Ferlita will host a tour of the Mr. Klindworth’s crowning achievement- a district cooling plant that provides chilled water for air conditioning for five county buildings downtown. The plant contains a thermal energy storage system that makes ice at night when utility rates are lower and are more efficient to operate, greatly reducing the carbon footprint of the county’s operations. This plant also collects condensate water from all five county buildings it serves, saving over 3 Million gallons of water each year. As a result of this program, the county has received the Energy Star Award for 3 of their downtown buildings. Thanks to the implementation Mr. Klindworth’s progressive programs, county taxpayers have saved over $1.2 million a year.

Preceding the tour, an overview of the county’s sustainability program will be presented.

When: Wednesday, April 29th (click to register)
Registration: 5:00pm – 5:30pm 
Program: 5:30 – 7:00 pm
Where: Edgecomb Courthouse – 800 E. Twiggs Street
Cost: $10 for USGBC Gulf Coast Chapter members, $20 Non members

Breaking news from the James Beard Foundation awards committee: Tampa’s Zack Gross (of Z Grille) and Sarasota’s Derek Barnes (of Derek’s Culinary Casual) made the semifinals list for Best Chef: South a month ago, and Bern’s made the short list for Outstanding Restaurant, but none of them made the cut to the finalists list announced today.

I profiled Barnes in CL Sarasota a couple of weeks ago, and reviewed Z Grille a couple of months ago; both are well worth a visit, but the Beard Foundation has always tended towards honoring chefs with name recognition, usually from bigger markets. Still, as hackneyed as it sounds, it’s a big step for Barnes, Gross, Bern’s and Florida’s Gulf Coast just for them to be nominated. Congrats again, guys.

Check out the full list of finalists after the break:

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We love Sarasota resident Jaden Hair’s Steamy Kitchen blog so much, we asked her to write for us a couple of years ago. Now she writes for these guys. Still, there’s no arguing with her beautiful food photography,  penchant for food-related double entendres and damn fine recipes.

The UK’s Times of London pegged her very sucinctly: “modern Asian cuisine by media savvy blogger.” See the full list here.

Aaahh, the drama. Once, there was The Table, a Sarasota restaurant that I named Best Restaurant of 2006. When chef/owners Pedro Flores and Rafael Manzano opened a second location in downtown St. Petersburg, things started to go downhill. Both locations were forced to close last year, on the day the new location was named Best New Restaurant by our Best of the Bay voters.

Then, a few months ago, The Table re-opened, with new owners, the same name and largely the same menu. The new regime brought in Pedro Flores to helm the kitchen, a smart move since he was always the better chef of the two previous owners.

Just today, I heard that Pedro is no longer cooking at The Table. Not that they’ll tell you that. Read the rest of this entry »

Hi, I’m John Matthews. Last week, Brian Ries convinced me to blog for Creative Loafing concerning local foods. I’ve read some blogs, but never thought I would be doing this. But with the help of my lovely wife, Andrea, I hope I write a few things you will find informative and insightful.

To give you a little background on myself, in recent years I managed the Sarasota’s Downtown Farmers’ Market and facilitated the establishment of the ‘Farm to School’ program in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties. In May of 2008, I created the Suncoast Food Alliance to further connect area farmers with their community. I am currently the Chairman of the Florida Association of Community Farmers’ Markets. Whew, that was a mouth full, but I hope you can see that I have a passion for good food, good farmers and eating well!

When I came to Florida in 1999, I wanted out of agriculture. Read the rest of this entry »

Say you have a ponzi scheme that’s lost $350 million dollars of Sarasota-area investor cash — where do you go to hide? South of France is nice. Switzerland is a classic. Even just a little embezzled money can set you up nicely in Africa or South America.

But after discovering his car at the Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport, investigators from the U.S. Marshals thought he hopped a plane to Slidell, LA. Really? Bad choice.

Even worse choice? Stay close to home. After leading the government on a merry chase, the 76 year-old Nadel turned himself in to authorites in Tampa this morning. Best quote of the story so far is Sarasota Herald-Tribune’s:

Investors have wondered since Nadel vanished Jan. 14 whether the hedge fund manager had been running a classic pyramid scam or had possibly lost the money through titanically bad trading.

“Titanically bad?” Hundreds of corporate CEOs are getting federal bailout money for doing worse than Nadel, and they never had to flee to Slidell. Wrong time, wrong place, Nadel.

The downtown St. Petersburg location of the Tastings franchised wine bar chain closed this past weekend after long problems maintaining its franchise agreement with corporate HQ. According to Tastings — which is based in the Bay area — co-owner and corporate director Mike Newfield, “we pulled the franchise last week and they decided against going on their own.”

The St. Pete location was the company’s original store, which was then sold to a franchisee a few years ago. It featured Tastings’ upscale wine dispensing machines that allow customers to peruse the selection of 80-100 wines, insert a card and pick a size of pour without staff help.

“It was a nice store, with wonderful staff,” explained Newfield, “but they were in long-term violations of the franchise agreement. That was like cutting off our arm — we live here and go there. To close it is a very sad day for us”

Last week, Tastings also pulled the franchise for the Sarasota location (which I reviewed a few months ago). “After any number of warnings to get the store up to our standards, they didn’t comply,” said Newfield. “It’s very difficult to pull these out of our system, but we had to. We keep tight standards.” That location will be staying open under the name Sarasota Vineyard.

That leaves Tastings with five open locations in multiple states, and another three in the pipeline. According to Newfield, the chain has had a lot of interest in opening another local outlet, but none have yet made it past the concept stage.

Ron Howard wants Barack Obama to win so badly that he was willing to complete sacrifice his dignity and make the following video. Way to go, Opie. Happy Halloween everyone!

• New poll puts Obama up 7 in Florida.
• Obama’s infomercial scores in the ratings.
• Meanwhile, Barack pays a visit to Sarasota.
• The head of Hillsborough’s Republican Party should stay off the computer…
• …and learn how to craft a better apology.
• 23% of Texans think Obama is a Muslim.
• Live from New York, it’s John McCain on SNL.
• Tampa’s Friday downtown farmers market launches today.
• Florida Democratic Party has uncovered a vast right-wing conspiracy.
• Obama’s chief of staff: Rahm Emmanuel?
• Vote naked!
• Reviewing the season launch of 30 Rock.
• Exxon/Mobile’s record profits get the candidates sparin’.
• The Big Three soon to become the Big Two.
• Don’t forget to turn back the clock this weekend.

Shown: Madden 09 screenshot

It’s lunchtime on the third and last day of the Sarasota International Design Summit, and some conferees are playing video games (literally). We’ve just listened to Phil Holt, general manager of EA Tiburon, offer insights into some of his company’s recent successes and where gaming as an industry is headed in the future.

A few things seem certain: gaming is headed toward being an increasingly important global industry (already at $37.5 billion worldwide per year), even with the economic challenges ahead; gaming is increasingly taking place on a variety of platforms including online, on gaming systems like Wii, on iPhones, on cell phones, within social networking sites, etc.; the audience for gaming is growing beyond hardcore fans to include demographics like children, seniors and women of all ages.

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Courtesy Sarasota Int’l Design Summit/Pininfarina

Today and tomorrow, the Sarasota International Design Summit continues. (Click here to read an earlier overview of the event.)

At this point, the ideas start coming fast and furious, which is why the summit’s “visualization maestro,” Tom Wujec of Autodesk, plans to recap yesterday’s big ideas (memes, if you will) in sketches this morning. Throughout the conference, Wujec and a team of Ringling College students transcribe the speakers’ main arguments and/or research insights into digital tablet-drawn graphics. Believe me, by mid-Tuesday a mnemonic device or two starts to come in handy.

More of yesterday’s highlights:

Franco Lodato of Pininfarina described his company’s design for an electric car, Sintesi, that engages with the surrounding environment (i.e., the city) as a network. Hair-raising concepts included the absence of mirrors from the car – why have them when the automobile could network with a city’s omnipresent surveillance cameras? – and the obsolescence of stoplights when the cars themselves are able to negotiate who will stop when.

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Greetings from the Sarasota International Design Summit, where I’m sitting in the ballroom of the Ritz Carlton Sarasota listening to the summit speakers.

Bruce Damer (pictured) just finished discussing his work, including the development of the iDoublet—a renaissance-inspired garment that holds all of your “wearz” or gadgets, like iPods. (In addition to several music players, Damer was wearing a prototype of a LED Twitter feed, with text scrolling across a small panel at his hip as he spoke.)

Damer spoke about his work simulating complex processes that are not yet realizable in real life. Through his work with NASA, he has—along with a team of collaborators—created animations modeling possible asteroid landing techniques, for example. One of his most recent projects is EvoGrid, an animated model of how a computer-driven artificial evolution environment might look and operate. Though Damer’s own work is quite science- and space-specific, the idea of modeling a process or prototype and experimenting in a virtual world has potential for application in a wide variety of industries. (Including architecture and construction, which the summit’s next speakers will address.)

Megan Voeller is Creative Loafing’s visual art critic. She teaches at the University of Tampa and The Art Institute of Tampa, edits the weekly online newsletter of CreativeTampaBay and blogs at Artsqueeze.com.

Joe Biden gives ‘em a little hell after leaving not a dry eye in the house. Tonight, Barack finally takes the stage.

• Former President Clinton passes the torch.
• Hurricane Gustav approaches the Gulf.
• Russia finds itself in the international doghouse.
• Sarasota’s pursuit of the Red Sox makes its way into the NY Times.
• Ok, who’s surfing for porn on the International Space Station?
• R.I.P. Del Martin.
• Crash into the gate of the Playboy mansion once, it’s an accident. Do it twice and you’re just a boob.
• You can’t handle the truth: Aaron Sorkin (!) is writing a movie about Facebook.