Have you ever tried hot yoga? Hot yoga is practiced in a room heated from 104 degrees to 120 degrees. About a month ago, I started attending classes at Yoga To the People, which is an organization that believes yoga should be accessible to everyone.

In New York, Yoga to the People teaches two types of classes:

Hot Vinyasa (My favorite!): Hot Vinyasa is a 60-minute class comprised of yoga poses in addition to stretching. The term Vinyasa means “breath-synchronized movement,” thus the teacher instructs you to move between poses on an inhale or an exhale. This makes poses almost seamlessly flow together. I like this class because it is never the same twice.

Traditional Hot Yoga: Traditional Hot Yoga classes are 90-minutes long and consist of a series of 26 poses that incorporate flexibility, strength and balance. Each pose is done twice during the class.

Whether you’ve been doing yoga for years, or you’re a relative newbie like me, I’d recommend trying hot yoga!

- Megan

As the only Minnesota native at Hunter Public Relations, I grew up eating delicious fare known as hotdish and bars. If these culinary specialties aren’t familiar to you, hotdish is Minnesota’s version of casserole, while bars are a dessert. Hotdish contains a starch, meat or other protein, canned or frozen vegetables (optional) and a canned soup. Bars, on the other hand, consist of cookie batter or other ingredients that are poured or pressed into a pan (sometimes in multiple layers), and cut into individual pieces after baking.

To beat the Blue Monday blues, I recently celebrated Hunter PR’s third annual Hotdish and Bar’s Day with my colleagues. We each taste tested seven varieties of hotdish and an assortment of ten bars. Following are the recipes that were voted top-notch in each category.

2011 Favorite Hotdish- Hash Brown Casserole (hotdish!)

By: Annette 

Inspiration: My Hash Brown Casserole has been a crowd pleaser for years. I made it for my family for Thanksgiving and they LOVED it.  It then became my staple dish for my post-Thanksgiving potluck with friends, held the Friday after turkey day.  It has now become a staple on my Cuban family's table.  They serve it as a side for dinner or breakfast and they pair it with any Cuban dish you can think of--black beans and rice, pork, plantains---you name it!

Ingredients:

- 1 package Simply Potatoes Shredded Hash Browns

- 1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Fat free Campbell’s cream of chicken soup

- 2 cups (8 ounces) Kraft Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

- 3/4 cup Fat free sour cream

- 3 old friends who are now acquaintances

- 1/4 cup chopped onion

- A handful of questions to keep in your back pocket for small talk

- Salt and pepper to taste

Topping:

- 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted-divided

- 1 1/2 cups corn flakes, coarsely crushed

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 2 quart glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray*. In large bowl combine all hash brown ingredients; mix well. Spread into prepared baking dish.

2. In small bowl stir together topping ingredients. Spread topping evenly over Hash Browns. Bake 45 minutes or until hash browns are tender.

3.  Pull out the basic 5 questions (How are you?, What have you been up to?, Are you seeing any one?, How’s work?, How is your family?) out of your back pocket if you encounter awkward silence with someone who used to be your “best friend” but now you can’t relate to.

* An 11x7-inch rectangular or 8-inch square-baking dish can be used.

2011 Favorite Bar- Caramel Heavenlies

By: Ana

Inspiration: I simply googled hot dish and bars recipes and came across TasteofHome.com. I chose this recipe because it had all of the ingredients that I personally love. It also had a "91% would make again" stat, so I couldn't go wrong! I added in a few white chocolate chips and walnuts to give it that extra kick of love. Also, instead of just stirring the butter and brown sugar, I whipped it to make the caramel end result thicker. I'm not a great cook, but I like to think of myself as an aspiring baker!

Ingredients:

- 12 whole graham crackers

- 2 cups miniature marshmallows

- 3/4 cup butter

- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar

- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 1 cup sliced almonds

- 1 cup flaked coconut

Directions:

1. Line a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan with foil. Place graham crackers in pan; cover with marshmallows. In a saucepan over medium heat, cook and stir butter, brown sugar and cinnamon until the butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla.

2. Spoon over the marshmallows. Sprinkle with almonds and coconut. Bake at 350° for 14-16 minutes or until browned. Cool completely. Cut into 2-in. squares, then cut each square in half to form triangles. Yield: about 6 dozen.

Enjoy!

Megan

It’s that time of year again. What time of year you may ask? Time for New York City Restaurant Week! NYC Restaurant Week debuted in 1992 as the country’s first-ever restaurant week. Today, Restaurant Week is a bi-annual event that lasts approximately two weeks every summer and each winter. Over 250 restaurants participate each season. These restaurants offer a three-course prix-fixe meal for $24.07 (lunch) and $35 (dinner).  

Last night, I dined at Le Cirque, one of the city’s premier French restaurants. I must admit that this was my first time eating French food and I was initially a bit intimidated by the menu. I ordered Chicken and Ramp Tortelli as my appetizer, which was a dumpling served in hazelnut broth. Everyone at my table agreed that this was the most delicious appetizer. For my main course, I ordered Sautéed Beef Medallions, which were served over a mushroom tart. This was equally scrumptious! Being a chocolate lover, I ordered Chocolate Fondant with caramelized bananas and salted caramel ice cream for dessert. After consuming my daily serving of chocolate, I sampled my friends Crème Brulee, which Le Cirque is famous for. The most unique element of their Crème Brulee is the dish in which it is served. Once you eat the dessert, you are provided with the recipe.

NYC Restaurant Week is a great way to experience restaurants that you wouldn’t normally frequent. While NYC Restaurant Week Summer 2010 officially ends on Friday, many restaurants have decided to extend their specials through the end of the summer. Click here for more information. Bon appétit!  

Megan

About a year and a half ago, I packed two suitcases and moved from the Midwest to New York City. While it had been my dream to live in the city for years, it was a big transition. I went from a college student to an adult, an apartment in a small city to an apartment in Manhattan and a person with a huge group of friends to just a few.

Starting anew in a new city really taught me about the importance of networking. One of the ways I’ve been networking outside of work has been through participation in sports leagues. I’ve always enjoyed both playing and watching sports and in addition to the exercise, it has been a great way to meet people and try new things.

I started playing on the “Thunder From Down Hunter” kickball team with a group of coworkers last spring through the World Adult Kickball Association. We had a lot of fun playing a sport that we hadn’t played since middle school gym class.

This fall, a friend discovered the Zog Sports league, which offers a variety of different co-ed sports. We signed up to play touch football and were placed on a team. While not the best football player, I look forward to playing with my teammates every weekend. We also plan to play together in Zog’s winter football league.   

My biggest piece of advice for someone who moves to a new city is to become involved. Step outside of your comfort zone and try something new and different.

Megan

If you’re interested, here are a few co-ed sport leagues in NYC:

Zog Sports 

World Adult Kickball Association 

New York CoEd Soccer 

NYC Social Sports Club 

Last night, I attended a Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) seminar with a panel of notable food bloggers that included editors from AOL Food, The Nibble, The Food Section and Apartment Therapy. One of the hot discussion topics was whether or not the abundance of food blogs caused Gourmet Magazine to fold.  The general consensus was that it was strictly a business decision based on lost advertising revenue, falling readership and the cost of paper. In my opinion, falling magazine readership could be a result of the wide variety of high-end “foodie” content, including recipes, now available for free online.

The panel of bloggers also gave their view on the current at-home cooking trends, which included:

- Quality, healthy eating

- Celebrity Chefs

- Gluten-free cooking

- Using bacon in unique recipes (Example: Chocolate Chip cookies with Bacon)

- Slow cookers and slow cooked recipes

- DIY Ingredients (Example: Salad Dressing)

- Vegetarian and Vegan Recipes

A question was raised over how the recent FTC Disclosure Policy would affect food bloggers.  All of the bloggers talked about adding a tagline to their blogs with a disclaimer about where many products came from.  While these bloggers do receive and review products from marketers, they also write about products that they find at their local grocery stores. One blogger, for example, said that she goes to the store to buy the products that she’s writing about, to ensure that her readers will be able to purchase them.

The panel also discussed how unfair they thought it was that the new FTC Disclosure Policy does not extend to newspapers. The bloggers claimed that their traditional media counterparts often receive free products, just like they do, yet they are not regulated.

Overall, the seminar provided useful insight into the world of a food blogger. As social media continues to gain momentum, it is important that we adapt our traditional public relations methods when communicating to social media content providers. Just like journalists working at traditional media outlets, bloggers are media content providers. Thus, PR should lead the way in establishing meaningful relationships with bloggers, as well as those providing content on Twitter, Facebook and other social media vehicles.

Megan