A Pot & A Friend Gets You A Croc of ????

Michelle Beckham-Corbin Scheming.....Photo credit: Christiaan Todd Photography

I have said from the beginning that I truly believe in the power of people coming together in conversation.  Whether it is in-person or on-line, it is the start to the development of a relationship between the individuals.  A relationship that leads to a summation that is clearly greater than what can come from the individual parts. I have already written about a virtual friendship that went “live” with George Williams here.  Met on Twitter, moved to Facebook; and Skyped home tours all before meeting in person in trendy Northside.

Well, recently I came to be in possession of some frozen pounds of alligator meat.  I have had alligator a couple of times in my life, most recently in Sydney, Australia and at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland. What does that have to do with Northside George?  Well, George is a recent transplant from New Orleans and I recalled that he had spoken of a fondness for alligator when we had our first tete-a-tete, so I tweeted my desperation recipe request to him.  In true George fashion, he responded with an authentic Cajun recipe from Louisiana where both of our families originate.  Wanted to share that with you here,  just in case you find yourself with some lagniappe from a friend.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner??

Grilled Cajun Style Gator Tail Recipe

4 To 6 Lbs Gator Tail
Lemon wedges

Cajun Seasoning Mix:

12 T Paprika
6 T Garlic powder
3 T Salt
3 T White pepper
3 T Oregano, crushed
3 T Black pepper
2 1/2 T Thyme
1 T Cayenne pepper

To make seasoning mix, combine paprika, garlic powder, salt, white pepper, oregano, black pepper, thyme and cayenne pepper in jar with tight fitting lid. Shake well to combine. Mixture may be stored for up to 3 months. When ready to cook, cut gator tail meat into 1/2″ cubes. Roll each cube in 1 tablespoon of the mixture. Cook over high heat on an outdoor barbecue grill or under the oven broiler for 4 to 6 minutes, or until gator tail meat is white and firm to the touch. Serve warm with lemon wedges. The seasoning mixture will coat up to 24 (4 oz.) servings of gator tail.

This is from the CajunCooking.com Alligator recipes collection.

George Williams (holding coffee cup in the Pub) chatting it up with Roger Bora and friend. Pic credit: Beckham's Droid.

George is the genius behind the newest entree to our area:  CincyVoices.  Great stuff already in the works, and I have been invited to drop by and share some words with you there.  Be sure to check it out!  Also see Cincy Voices Photo Stream here.

Bonsoir!

Melt Monday

Credit: http://inspire21.com/site/ecards/5occasions/good_times_roll.html

Fall is in the air, sharp and crisp, as I maneuver my way down Hamilton Avenue in the heart of Northside.  The sun is shining, the sky above is a deep shade of azure and completely cloudless.  I am multi-tasking of course; trying to find the hip lunch spot Melt, looking for building numbers to determine whether to devote my gaze to the left or right and helping a friend with a serious personal problem via mobile.  A loud horn breaks my concentration, just enough to see a parking lot with an artistic onyx metal gate surrounding it just up to my right.  Still not quite sure where I am, I decide that parking and walking would probably be preferable to the locals honking their distate for my seemingly snail-like pace on the main drag.  I figure if the locals can exist here without a car, then the walk can’t be that bad.  As luck would have it (hmmn, did you know that I am partially psychic??), the lot was directly across the street from Melt.

Phone stilled glued to my ear, I remove my briefcase from the car and commence to cross the street where I am about to meet someone who quite possibly could change my life.  What does this have to do with my promise to blog about social media in my life- a kind of spill your guts-social media raw pathway?  Well, this Melt meeting was the exact example of social media done right.

Social Media is all about the conversation: an ongoing conversation where relationships are born and growth occurs through learning, friendships, business deals, connections.  The power comes when these virtual relationships come off-line and into the leaf-strewn fall winds of our lives.  Melt Monday brought two people together in the act of collaborating for the common good, who had never met before.  What they had accomplished, was to belong to a greater virtual community on Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn, where ideas had been shared and thoughts of future projects began to brew in the upstairs rooms of their psyches.

The previous virtual relationship allowed us to jump right in as if we had known each other for years, because in fact we already knew some of the background narratives.  We spent about 3 hours over lunch at Melt and had coffee in a back tree-lined patio at Sidewinder discussing our synchronicities and plotting to take over the Cincinnati Social Media scene.  Joking aside, we talked about how we could add to the vibrant social media community in Cincinnati and bring in some new ideas/projects that are working well in other parts of the country. (More to come on this in the future.)

In true social media fashion, I had the waitress at Melt capture our image for posterity and sent it on it’s mobile way to Facebook.  Six months ago I met George Williams from New Orleans, Louisiana as a stranger on Twitter,  last Monday afternoon I left Northside with a big hug from George Williams, my very good friend.  Stay posted on what we cook up next- and you can take that quite literally!!

Michelle & George: Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez!

Note:  George’s Blog is Social Gumbo- check him out!

Virtual Community in the Real Realm

The True Meaning of Community in the Third Millenium:

NewMedia Cincy: Jennifer Mitchell & Michelle Beckham deep in discussion.

Was on a planning call for the social media networking group:  New Media Cincinnati last night.  The call was on Talkshoe.com and was hosted by group founder Daniel Johnson, Jr.  Participants  connected to the discussion in a variety of ways:

• via phone line
• via text box on Talkshoe
• via the hash-tag stream on Twitter (#newmediacincy)

The purpose was to discuss the final Second Saturday meeting of the year and the novel idea of simulcasting sister group New Media Dayton’s meeting with our own.  (NMD was founded by my good friend, Carole Hicks.) Members of both groups were on the call and technical issues as well as format/theme issues were discussed.  As I listened in through my pc speakers (I was multi-tasking), I was struck by the fact that we have created a COMMUNITY in the truest sense of the word.  Most of these people didn’t know each other 2 years ago and many have just met in the last 9 months.  They described what they had learned this year via their involvement with the group and several participants mentioned that their businesses were launched with the help and support of those they met at NMC- businesses that all included a social media component.

It is known that this group brings together a wide variety of participants from every business, technical and creative community in the city.  What might not be known is that a lot of us have met virtually first; established an on-line relationship and then finally moved it into the ‘Real Realm’.  When that face-to-face meeting occurs for the first time, you have the feeling that you are connecting with a long lost friend.  That is the true meaning of AUTHENTICITY.

Here’s a story: I  “met” George Williams initially by following the conversation he was having with Daniel Johnson Jr. on Twitter.  George is a recent transplant from New Orleans and had connected with Dan prior to his move (not sure how that happened, but I’m sure there is a social media story in there somewhere).  I have family in NOLA and started tweeting with George about our commonality.  We moved the conversation over to Facebook, where we could engage in larger than 140 character conversations.  We made plans to meet in person at various meetings (NMC Second Saturday, SummitUp, etc.), but each fell through for one of us.  One night I entered  a Facebook Status Update in which I was lamenting having to stay up to meet my daughter’s 1:00 a.m. class trip bus when I was already very tired.  George saw it, and said he would be happy to keep me awake in discussions and invited me to connect with him on Skype.  We launched into a great talk and I got to see his house via webcam,  as well as see him live and in the flesh.  Overhearing the conversation, you would have thought we were long lost college friends and had known each other for years.  We still have never met in the “Real Realm”, but that is the power of connection and engagement in the world of social media.

Take that story and multiply it dozens of times and you get what I mean by community building.  NMC is a networking group, but it is so much more.  For me it has spawned some of the greatest friendships of my life,

New Media Cincinnati Second Saturday Event

and that says A LOT!