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Best Sunday lunch ever

allen — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:14:19 +0000

Yesterday, I had a very out-of-the-ordinary lunch at Per Se. Its 4-star review in the New York Times is completely justified. Up to this point, I considered a dinner at Le Bernadin two years ago as the best meal of my life. This meal at Per Se completely surpassed that dining experience.

Thank you to my generous brother who gave me a gift certificate for my birthday! All of us at the table had the lunch tasting menu which was 5 courses. Like the NYTimes review says, the food definitely stuns one into silence. I normally hate taking food pictures while eating but all of us at the table felt compelled to document a bit of the experience without being annoying iPhone picture-takers. We were also amazed by the beautiful dinnerware.

Sorbet over raw shrimp (this blew me away)

Crab with paper thin radish slices

Langoustines over butternut squash

Veal (stunning)

Banana Moon Pie

Extra dessert on top of the dessert course!

Vote for us!

allen — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:03:26 +0000

Cities of Service is up for a IxDA (Interaction Design Association) People’s Choice Award!
Support us by voting for Cities of Service! Thank you!

Cities of Service is a SXSW Interactive finalist!

allen — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:24:43 +0000

We’re excited and humbled folks here because one of our projects, Cities of Service, has been named a finalist in the “Community” category for the SXSW Interactive Awards.

Cyril and I have attended SXSW for the past 2 years and weren’t planning to attend this year. Looks like we’ll be down there after all. Hope to see you all there!

Update (2/6/2012)
It’s up for a SXSW People’s Choice award! Vote for us and tell a friend!

Our 2011 holiday card

allen — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 23:13:49 +0000

We aren’t above whoring out my cute Westie for our holiday card. He does have to earn his dog treats!

2011 recap-another year in the clouds

allen — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:54:59 +0000

Mac helping us design a website....

When Cyril and I started the company 6 years ago, it was hard to predict how things would turn out. For a bit of a control freak like me, it was the ultimate lesson in letting go and trusting that if we made good work, treated our clients well, things would turn out for the best.

2011 was another good year for us. I’m truly impressed by the quality and amount of work that this small studio produces. This year we:

launched the Cities of Service Online Network. This national volunteer initiative includes 11 U.S. cities including Chicago, and Philadelphia.
for the 3rd year in a row continued our on-going relationship with The Full Yield, a company committed to making food the centerpiece of a new paradigm in healthcare.
continued to work with NYC Service on their website and a custom applicant review system for their Civic Corp program.
re-designed and programmed Odyssey Networks, an organization devoted to fostering religious tolerance.
created the Pop-Up Pianos website for the 2-week city-wide art installation in NYC. Remember all of those pianos all over the 5 boroughs in June?
continued working with FAIR Health, an exciting non-profit devoted to transparency in health care out-of-network reimbursement.
AND we welcomed a new office mascot named MAC! I like to call him the office C.M.O. (Chief Morale Officer).

This year, we also received awards for our work. The Cities of Service Online Network received (2) distinctions: an AIGA 365 Design Effectiveness award and designation as an AIGA “Design for Good” project. This project was also shortlisted by the Interaction Design Association in the “Connecting” category. We were listed in the same category with companies and schools I truly respect: Frog, R/GA (I worked there long ago!), Huge, Nokia, Art Center College of Design, and Microsoft. I’m humbled that our little company can compete with these heavyweights!

A huge thank you to our staff, friends, families, and all of our clients. The whole team is re-charging to march into 2012 with a big bang. Happy holidays!!

We made the cut for the 2012 IxDA awards!

allen — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:47:35 +0000

We’re glad to announce that one of our projects, Cities of Service Online Network, has been placed on the short list in the “Connecting” category for the 2012 Interaction Awards. Keeping our fingers crossed!

SuperCook on WKYC

allen — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:55:35 +0000

Thanks for the shoutout WKYC. It’s been a while since SuperCook wrapped and it’s good to see that people are still discovering it.

See a prior story about SuperCook on the Today show:

AIGA’s Design for Good initiative features Cities of Service

allen — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 22:49:43 +0000

A big thank you to the AIGA for featuring Cities of Service as part of their Design for Good Initiative. This initiative encourages and recognizes pro bono and social engagement design projects.

The project was also featured on AIGA’s homepage. Merci beaucoup!

Helicopter ride over NYC

allen — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:46:41 +0000

It’s not Friday but here are some photos from a recent helicopter ride over NYC with a buddy. I’ve never been in a chopper so I was full of nervous giggles. It’s an amazing way of experiencing the city.

I was surprised about how large the Central Park reservoir actually is….on the ground, you have no idea about how large it is in comparison to its surroundings. As urban as NYC feels, there’s a lot of green.

Cities of Service Video

allen — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 14:32:27 +0000

We recently entered a competition that required a video as part of the entry process. For some time, we wanted to create a video for Cities of Service so this was a good prod in the ass.

The quick storyboard we created:

The final product: