However, after reading social media advisor Chris Brogan’s post Wiring Yourself for Success,  I’ve been inspired to play the game of choosing just three words to guide my actions, frame my thinking and measure my results for 2010. It’s a scary exercise for someone used to writing many words and describing things in greater detail – but here we go.

First, a clarification on Brogan’s process, which he began in 2006. The selection of three guiding words for the year is different from setting resolutions and goals since those two things have end points – meaning once you accomplish them, then what? You have to continually come up with more, better, etc. The use of three big-picture words as a compass point allows there to be constant growth, improvisation, interpretation, adjustment, etc. – similar to Keith Ferrazzi’s concept of performance goals vs. learning goals in his best-seller “Who’s Got Your Back?”

Here’s an example Ferrazzi gives:  You want to lose 10 pounds.  That’s a performance goal – you either hit the mark or you don’t.  Which means if you lose 9 pounds, you potentially could feel that you “failed” and fell short of your goal?  (this is why many people fail on diets!) The other side of the coin would be to set a learning goal of taking classes to cook healthier meals.  This has a long-term effect that will likely allow you to achieve your performance goal, but even if you don’t hit the 10 pound loss, you still have gained a valuable skill in your life with long-lasting health benefits. So, we want learning goals, yes?

Without further ado, my words for 2010 – Balance, Improvement, Perspective.

Balance – this is an concept I think about a lot, and continually strive to achieve. Am I playing more than working? Am I eating enough of the right kinds of food? Does my client load make sense and support my overall company goals? Do I spend too much time watching reality TV?

By choosing balance as a compass point for the year, I can measure virtually any idea/option/choice against its alternative.  The cool thing is, the definition of balance will be different on any given day (depending on the circumstances), which will allow me to live more “in the moment”, a concept previously not well-known to me! This will be a big change, for sure.

Improvement – isn’t this something we all hope for, in most areas of life? And therefore it makes a great barometer; instead of setting unreachable numerical goals, there can be satisfaction by at least being “better” than yesterday, or last time we tried. It seems many resolutions are blown the first time you do (or don’t do) something, so there’s no way to really satisfy the intention.  But if there was a continual raising of the bar over time, isn’t that a better measure?

Obviously, change doesn’t just happen.  It’s a process, slow but steady. In the book “Good to Great”, Jim Collins talks about successful businesses and how continual 1% improvement has such a significant cumulative effect.  For example, If you could improve a behavior or accomplishment by 1% per day (a small feat, right?), you’d be 50% better in about 7 weeks.  It’s hard to be motivated to go from selling 100 widgets a day to 150 per day, overnight. However, continual incremental improvement makes the goal possible, and worth working towards.

Perspective – whoa, this is a big one for me…and maybe for you too. As the saying goes, everyone just wants to know the WIIFM – What’s In It For Me! We all have our unique perspectives of life and what transpires, and it’s often so hard to put yourself in another shoes and wonder how it is for them. Or is that just me? Also, keeping perspective as an over-arching theme this year will help minimize the “woe is me” attitude or “life isn’t fair” feelings from creeping in. 

As author and marketing whiz Seth Godin noted in a recent blog  “The problem, of course, is that people don’t always think like you…If they only thought like you, of course, and knew what you know, then there wouldn’t be a problem.”  Isn’t that the truth?! I often find myself feeling overwhelmed by some minor detail or small thing that isn’t going the way “I” thought it should, or someone who doesn’t agree with me, so a little perspective should do wonders for my actions this year. I can’t wait to see what life looks like through someone else’s glasses!

So there you have it – 2010 is all about B.I.P.  Balance. Improvement. Perspective. I’d love to know what your three words are, if you’d care to share in the comments. This is going to be a fun ride – hang on!

To set the stage, I was participating in the first local gathering of Tastecasting, an event where restaurants host a complimentary menu tasting for a small group (10-15)  of active social media enthusiasts.  In return, the group broadcasts their experiences and opinions to their followers, fans and connections via social media.

Photo: Diana Johnson

So we gathered on a cold, windy, rainy Seattle evening (what a shock!) to take a spin through the menu at Chao and share our opinions.  What I “thought” I knew about my tastes would be challenged – namely, I don’t drink (or like) sake, I like my calamari in little “rings and legs”, spam is to be avoided at all costs, and anything with gravy in the morning is to be avoided.  And you can guess what I found on the generous 17-item tasting menu – all of the above!

We tasted the menu in three sections – breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I was pleasantly surprised by the breakfast items (served Sat-Sun, 8am-3pm) and would definitely return for most of the dinner items, either during regular hours (6-11 pm) or the incredibly well-priced happy hours (3-7pm, 11pm-1am).

As for breakfast, gravy is not something high on my list – nor is anything with spam! Oh but I was wrong.  The Island Fried Rice was a beautifully balanced salty-savory dish, with two over-easy eggs atop a mound of spam-speckled fried rice. Uh oh, spam.  Really?? But it was great, and went well with the portuguese sausage, barbecued pork, onion and carrots, with a nice touch of sesame oil. 

And the gravy? Whoa, it came slathered over the Chicken Fried Steak, a mountainous 11-ounce ground beef steak, atop a bed of hash browns. Yowsa, that could feed a whole tableful of hungover diners, and the rumor is that only one person has ever finished the whole plate by himself.  I believe it, since the plate easily served 5-6 of us, and we lapped up the gravy, speckled with bacon and sausage, like nobody’s business.  So, two myths down – spam is actually good, and gravy works for breakfast.  Who knew?

In the dinner segment, we tried 11 different dishes and it gave my palate a workout!  There were some great Pan-Asian takes on traditional dishes, such as the Miso Cream Fettuccine (with chicken or salmon), the Wasabi Caesar Salad (a unanimous favorite with all 10 of our diners!) and a great Chao Salad with candied walnuts, Asian pear slices and lychee vinaigrette.

But the three dishes that really stood out for me were the Calamari, Lemongrass Crab Cakes and Whole Fried Chicken.  As previously mentioned, I like my calamari in little fried “rings and legs”, as you would find in most restaurants – but I have a new favorite!  This dish delivered perfect little strips of solid calamari, cut from a full steak, breaded in panko, chili powder and orange peel and fried quickly and perfectly. It was served with a lemon ginger aioli that was a perfect accent, and I don’t believe I’ll ever be able to eat “rings and legs” again – this is the new standard in calamari for me!

Note: A special offering from Tastecasting: You can try a free calamari appetizer with dinner and a minimum $15 purchase! It’s good until Nov 30 and you just need to mention you read about them on Tastecasting!

The Lemongrass Crab Cakes were a meaty, crunchy blend of crab, panko, lemongrass, coconut, red peppers and shallots, served with the same lemon ginger aioli (above) and a nice sweet chili mango sauce.  Perfect!

And the whole fried chicken, you might wonder, what’s the big deal with that?  Well, it was beautifully served on a platter with small dishes of pickled daikon, salt & pepper, and sweet chili sauce, and the skin was a perfectly crispy crackly delicious finish.  And it’s not just a Sunday comfort food dinner – the owners related that in Korea when people go out drinking, this style of chicken is what they would order to eat while they are imbibing.  Hmm, so much for bad nachos and wings, like they serve at most bars late-night!  This bird was just $25 and would easily serve 3-4 hungry (and buzzed!) diners well, and it was fabulous.

And what about the fourth food myth – that I don’t like sake?  Well I don’t – and I passed on the first three samples that were served with dinner.  More for everyone else, right? But then came that aroma –  enticing sweet crisp fresh - that arrived before the cup even hit the table.  Wow, I thought – but I don’t drink that.  Bummer.  But the aroma prevailed, I tasted the lovely green apple sake and my mind is forever changed!  I think it could be a very dangerous drink for me, you have been warned…

We tried many more excellent dishes – waffle cut sweet potato fries, wok-seared edamame, 12th Ave french dip, ahi trio, etc. and you really can’t go wrong with any of the choices.  In fact, if I lived closer to Chao, I’d be in serious danger of eating several times a week here, thanks to the great variety in the menu. Many thanks to co-owner Tony, manager Paula and Chef Kevin for a fantastic evening.

And now, back to the drawing board for my “food myths” – I think I need to work on a couple new ones…can’t wait for the next Tastecasting event to find out what they will be!

Chao Bistro & Bar, 1200 E Pike, Seattle, 206-324-1010 www.chaobistro.com

The holidays are a great time for restaurants to be tweeting about specials, holiday parties, group events, and other festitivites to draw customers in for another visit.  And we know everyone is trolling around out there on Twitter looking for a great deal or to discover the new hotspot, so this is a great time for companies to establish their presence.  Building the clientele – or strengthening the relationship – during the already-busy holiday season is a great headstart for the post-holiday months when sales drag and clients are few and far between.

Here we go – please add any additions in the comments!

Now in it’s 7th year, Dine Around Seattle provides a great opportunity to sample our city’s great cuisine at fantastic prices – as in a three-course meal for only $30!  Many of the restaurants also offer a three-course lunch deal for only $15.

The full lineup can be viewed below and full contact info is at this link: http://www.dinearoundseattle.org/restaurants.php.  By clicking on each restaurant logo, you can view the scrumptuous menu choices before you go….warning, drooling may ensue!

And as the Twitter-happy strategist that I am, I have conveniently listed all the restaurants with their Twitter addresses below – so you can “eat and Tweet” and let us know all the juicy details of your culinary outings!

And p.s.  I’m still working to get ALL these restaurants on Twitter, so if you can make an introduction to any of them for me, I’d be happy to chat with them about how I can help create a splash on Twitter!

So, which one is your favorite?  Which menu looks the most enticing to you?  The dish I’m most excited about = pumpkin risotto at Andaluca! Please come back and share your comments – bon appetit!

Urban Eats is a special dining out program that features 39 Puget Sound region restaurants providing fabulous 3-course dinners for just $30!  As they say, it’s a good deal for a great meal, and I’m already trying to figure out how many of them I can visit during the Oct 1-29 promotion (Sunday-Thursday nights).

As a huge proponent of Twitter who actively seeks to help restaurants use Twitter to be the “talk of the town“, I’m listing the Urban Eats restaurants here along with their Twitter accounts.  I hope you’ll “tweet” often about your great experiences with each establishment, and let us know how you eat well and spend less!

But I do have to ask – why are only 16 of these 39 restaurants on Twitter?? So if you dine with a non-Twitter restaurant on this list, please do me a favor and ask them why they aren’t using Twitter to make more money and talk with their customers!  And then kindly point them in my direction – and let’s keep the regional Twitter foodie scene live and vibrant…bon appetit!

p.s. You can find Urban Eats on Twitter @urban_eats_Sea

RELATED: “You Are What You Tweet – Using Twitter as a recipe for your online success!  Oct. 19 event for non-Twittering restaurants and food companies

Monday, October 19, 2009
Mayflower Park Hotel, Seattle
6:00 pm – 8:30 pm
$50 for early-bird registrations (by Oct. 9); $65 after Oct. 9/at the door (if space available)
http://youarewhatyoutweet.eventbrite.com/

As a restaurant, chef or food company, do you dream of:

• Being “the” neighborhood destination for socializing, eating and drinking
• Connecting with customers and your community
• Making more money
• Multiplying repeat business
• Making frequent customers feel special
• Attracting a steady stream of new customers
• Getting name recognition for making delicious food

If so, we have an event for you! Using the micro-blogging tool “Twitter”, you can accomplish all these things and more! This is a customized event for restaurants, chefs, wineries, breweries, and food-related companies that are not using Twitter – but that are pretty sure they should be! If you are scared, curious, skeptical or not sure about what Twitter can do for your business or how to get started then this is the event for you!

You’ll hear success stories and sage advice from featured panelists:

• Chef Wayne Johnson, Andaluca Restaurant
• Nancy Leson, Seattle Times Food & Restaurant Writer
• Linda Stratton, Asst. Marketing Director, Pike Brewing Company
• Clay Loges, Taste and Tweet/CEO of Yodio.com
• Moderator and Presenter – Karen Rosenzweig, Incredible Chef/Social Media Strategist

We’ll show you how using Twitter effectively can deliver:

• “Talk of the Town” status
• Access to your customers through engaging conversations and feedback
• Full restaurants/stores with adoring fans
• Loyal customers as you provide inside info and/or special offers
• “Raving Fans” by acknowledging and interacting with your customers
• New customers attracted by recommendations and special promotions
• Positive feedback about your food in a highly visible and viral platform

And the end result of this event? You’ll be inspired and motivated to take the plunge and join us on Twitter, thus creating a more robust community for all of us in the Puget Sound food scene. Information will be provided on programs available to help you start Tweeting! We look forward to seeing you there!

TO REGISTER: http://youarewhatyoutweet.eventbrite.com/

Hosted by the Mayflower Park Hotel and Andaluca Restaurant

Food and beverages provided by: Andaluca Restaurant, Woodhouse Family Winery, Buchanan Chocolate

http://youarewhatyoutweet.eventbrite.com/

To help ease your searching, I have compiled a list of all the restaurants I’ve found (and follow!) on Twitter, mostly in the greater Puget Sound area.  But I must preface it with this – I know lots of restaurants are missing!  That’s a given – and I hope you will chime in with additions, corrections, etc. and help make this a more robust list.  I will make my best effort to keep it updated so we all can use it as a tool to keep track of our favorites – and give a little nudge to those that haven’t joined us in the Twitterverse yet!  Also, I have not included individual chefs – that’s another list to come later!

Given the competitive nature of the food industry, I’m sure there will be plenty of scrambling to “get on this list” so I offer this project up with the best intentions of getting EVERY restaurant in our area to play with us on Twitter…imagine that!  (and if they need help getting started on Twitter, you know where to send them! Here we go: (updated from 82 to 99! 9/16/09)

So as my partner says, “Posted is better than perfect” – so let the corrections begin!  Please add your comments in the “leave a reply” space provided below – thanks!

In virtually every instance, the reasons these users were frustrated with Twitter came down to this – they didn’t know about TweetDeck or TwitterBerry…or Seesmic or the IPhone App for Twitter, etc.  My poor frustrated Twitter friends were trying to send messages while out and about town by using the web browser on their phones (egad!) or streaming through that endless “river” of info of single column tweets on Twitter.com.

Enough!

When I asked them about TweetDeck and TwitterBerry, their faces lit up as if saw the light at the end of the tunnel!  They absolutely would use Twitter more – and more effectively – if they felt more proficient and had easier tools.  So voila, here they are!

TweetDeck is a dashboard-looking application you download to your desktop computer.  Don’t be afraid of the dark, black background interface once you install it – I think it actually makes it easier to see everything going on once you figure it out!  TweetDeck allows you to categorize your followers into “groups” – i.e. friends, business, travel, food, etc.  that you view in separate columns (up to 10).  Then when you log on with just 5 minutes to spare (but really, why would you ever do that?!) you can choose to view only the column that shows what your friends are doing, or just your work message column, rather than wading through that one super-venti-grande stream of info listing all 500 of your followers over on Twitter.com.  Make sense?

I won’t go into all the details here (email me if you want to hire me for a private session!) on all the features, but from this one dashboard, you can monitor all your contacts by groups, send Direct Messages, retweet a message, send a message, follow users, see user profiles, create shortened URLs to include in your update, etc.  It also allows you to post your updates simultaneously on Facebook – how cool is that? It completely simplifies all the tasks and makes you more productive and efficient than using the basic Twitter.com site.

An addition, if you are managing multiple Twitter accounts, TweetDeck allows you to customize your columns to “view” info as if you were each different user – so no more logging in and out of Twitter.com to see your various accounts!

The second tool I love is TwitterBerry, which makes it enormously easier to use Twitter on your Blackberry device.  And I will fess up  that I was one of the “ignorant ones” for several months, previously pecking out messages on my Blackberry’s web browser, cursing the small characters and my lack of a magnifying glass to see the tiny type!

But all that changed when I downloaded TwitterBerry and had a big, bold, simple interface to enter my updates – not to mention viewing my friends’ timelines, seeing direct messages, etc.  Now I could actually send messages (and attach photos) while out at restaurants, in meetings, etc., without having to delay that until I was back at the comfort of my desktop application.

So there you have it – a couple of tools to lengthen your life on Twitter, and make it a more fun and productive experience.  I know the “abandon” rates of new Twitter users are fairly high (some report 60% quit after less than a month) - because they are so overwhelmed at the info-overload and lack of tools to manage it.  I hope this has been helpful and I look forward to your feedback about tools that make the ‘Twitter-verse” more user-friendly for you!

And so that is why I now want to be Angela Shen (right) when I grow up.  Seriously.  As the founder of the nationally-celebrated Savor Seattle Food Tours, she can’t seem to go anywhere (at least in the downtown Seattle food world) without everyone greeting her, hugging her, giving her food – you get the picture.  You can feel the love a mile away.

It is this “feeling” that helped propel me into my recently-launched Social Media for foodies business, because I am all about enjoying great food, being connected with the purveyors and enjoying the flavor of Seattle.  Angela has that. I want it. And you can get it by going on one of her tours.  Follow along…

I have known Angela for several years through a local networking organization (BNI) and I have watched her grow her seedling business from a solely-owned and operated one-tour pony into an eight-employee, multi-tour Triple Crown threat (excuse the horse racing analogy; that’s another of my many past lives).  She has been celebrated in Bon Appetit magazine, USA Today, and Frommers Travel Guide.  But, believe it or not, I had never actually been on the tour until recently, when I signed up for the Gourmet Food & Cultural Tour.

I gathered along with 7 other hungry tour-ists (but not all tourists!) at the Mayflower Park Hotel lobby, set for our three-hour tour of 8 delicious food establishments in the downtown area.  We were outfitted with sound equipment, which I was skeptical of at first, but later found out was essential given the noise on downtown streets and in some of the bustling restaurants.

First stop – Andaluca and one of my favorite chefs, Wayne Johnson. Chef Wayne, who recently celebrated his 10th anniversary at Andaluca, paired an amazing crispy duck cake and apricot chutney (left) paired with a glass of sangria – a perfect way to start our afternoon trek!  The marriage of flavors in the duck cake – which is perhaps the only of its kind in the area – was marvelous, and we were off to a wonderful start.

Along the short walk to our second stop, Angela filled us in on a bit of Seattle trivia and history (Doc Maynard, brothels, etc), most of which seemed new to me, even though I grew up here!  But it was presented in a fun, lively, informative way that made me feel just like one of the tourists, here for a sunny afternoon tour.

Our second stop – Serious Pie.  Not as in “dessert” but pizza made withserious ingredients. The chef appeared from the hot kitchen to describe their version of pizza, which ain’t your daddy’s pizza! The crust is incredibly light and thin, as a result of using a slightly wetter dough and cooking it longer (7-9 minutes) at a lower temperature (680 degrees) than their competitors (2-3 minutes at 1000-1300 degrees).  This gives the crust a tasty slight char on the bottom, witha beautiful “structure” that features amazing toppings such as buffalo mozzarella with San Marzano tomatoes, or roasted chantarellemushrooms with italian black truffle cheese – wow!

In addition, Serious Pie’s other “secret” is to cook the pie until nearly done BEFORE adding the cheese – that way the cheese doesn’t burn or really even cook at all, but melts beautifully to maintain its artisanal structure.  They also cure their own meat, make their own dough, buy all ingredients locally – and then do as little to them as possible.  Seriously perfect.

Then it was time for more Seattle history – timber town, wooden buildings, the fire, “seamstresses” and taxes – you’ll have to take the tour to find out what that all means!  So we came to the third stop at Il Bistro, a charming candle-lit restaurntin a cave-like space next to Pike Place Market. We tasted a creamy saffron risotto withmussels and clams, paired with a San Giovese (right) – buono! We also discovered an important fact – Il Bistro offers one of the best Happy Hour deals in town -there are 15-17 items on the menu with half-size portions at about 1/4 of the regular price! Note to self – return here many more times!

Then we made an unscheduled stop at the famous Pike Place Fish – where Angela is CLEARLY a favorite daughter! – and she arranged an impromptu fish-tossing moment for a couple on the tour who were celebrating their anniversary.  The wife made a beautiful catch (above) while her husband documented it perfectly on his trusty camera.  Nice touch, Angela!

Next stop was Creminelli Fine Meats, actually inside the Market, where we sampled several fabulous handmade artisan salamis and sausages (right).  Then it was time for the longest stop on the tour, the Pike Brewing Company, where we were treated to a fascinating tour and great education from our vivacious tour guide Abil!  We then sampled a couple of beer/cheese pairings, the best of which was the Tandem Double Ale and Beechers Flagship cheese - a combo that will be served at many future parties in my home!

The last two stops satisfied our sugar cravings, as we visited Fran’s Chocolates and Gelatiamo.  Fran’s, located in the Four Seasons hotel, sampled four chocolates for us, including a pair of the amazing salted caramels – simply a must-try if you’ve never had one!  My favorite is the dark chocolate gray salt version, but I wouldn’t turn down the milk chocolate smoked salt variety either!

The Gelatiamo gave us – unexpectedly – my favorite moment of the tour.  Why, you ask?  While Angela only planned to take us downstairs to see the machines that crank out the luscious gelato and sorbetto every day (always at least 16 flavors!), we were treated to an impromptu appearance by the owner Maria Coassin, an authentic Italian if there ever was one!  All at once, she was gracious, apologetic, edgy, proud and generous about her products – which is EXACTLY what I want from a food tour!  I want to see the raw emotion of the chef/owner and experience their passion for their food, even if it’s by showing us a fallen cake that wasn’t “perfect”, all while dishing it up for us to sample anyway!  I heard her speak of her love for what she does, the many trips back to Italy to learn and return with new inspiration, and her devotion to a perfect product for her customers.

I’m feeling a little hungry now, how about you? And did I mention the $65 tour fee includes a handout with recipes, restaurant details AND a special discount card for 10-15% off products/services at more than 40 downtown merchants (including those on the tour)?

So there you go – an insiders tour of Seattle, giving you the “everyone knows my name” insights and discounted services to boot!  I dare you to resist!