Serves 4.

1 butternut squash, approximately 1-2 lbs
1 yellow onion, peeled
1 carrot, peeled
2 stalks celery
2 T olive oil or melted butter
¼ cup maple syrup
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Water
½ cup cream, if desired

Preheat oven to 350 F. Peel squash and cut into small cubes. Cut remaining vegetables to approximately same size. Toss vegetables with oil or butter, maple syrup and seasonings. Arrange on a roasting tray and roast in  oven until squash is golden brown and cooked through, about 45 minutes. Place all vegetables in a pot and cover with hot water. Simmer for 15 minutes and puree with a hand blender. Cream may be added if desired.

I love events, don’t you? I love planning them, promoting them, speaking at them and attending them. There’s something wonderful about bringing people together to achieving a specific goal. And I love the increasing number of tools that help you make your event that much more special.

Like foursquare. It’s a mobile app that’s been around for a couple of years now, so you might have heard of it, even if you haven’t used it.

foursquare (they spell it all lower case) encourages users to “check in” and let their followers know where they are. About 4 million people a day check in on foursquare, so while it’s not totally a household name, it’s no slouch either. And it can be a great way to create a little buzz around an event or a location based business.

Some planners have found creative, game like ways to get event guests to check in on foursquare over the evening, making their event seem trendy. Let’s say you get 50 people to check in and each of those friends has 50 friends. With literally the click of a button, your event has just reached 2500 people who might be more inclined to support your cause or buy your products in the future because they know a friend of theirs cares enough about you to give you their time.

Even marketing-smart restaurants and galleries have trained their staff on foursquare and offer discounts, coupons and other incentives to those who check in while visiting their venues. What do they do when they have guests not currently on foursquare? No problem. Staff are actually trained to download the application and show them how to use it for anyone who’d like to try it. Talk about value added!

And some people really get into it. If you have more check-ins than anyone else, you become the “mayor” of a place. The battle to become mayor of high profile destinations, like airports and trendy
restaurants, is very hot.

Of course, before you start asking your guests to check in on foursquare, you’d better be familiar with it yourself. And like anything in our increasingly wired world, there are some downsides and some best
practices to observe.

Some of the biggies:

1. Don’t check anyone else in without their express permission. Your guest might not appreciate you advertising where he or she was a particular night. She may have bailed on one event to go to yours, and the simple act of checking her in could cause her embarrassment. Not good for relationship building.
2. Connect only with people you know and trust on foursquare. Enterprising thieves also have access to it, and the last thing you want to do is give them information on patterns of when you are in and out of your home or when you might be away for any extended period. Chances are good you wouldn’t walk down the street carrying a sign saying “I’m currently out of my home at 555 Main Street and won’t be back for two hours or so” or “we’re in Hawaii with no one watching the house” so don’t advertise that information on foursquare either.
3. Be careful of oversharing personal or sensitive information about your children, family or anyone else. Don’t check into your child’s school, gymnastic classes or any other child-centric event. Always err on the side of caution when it comes to others.

But don’t think of foursquare as something scary. Like anything in the online world, you just have to exercise a little caution and some common sense.

It’s a fun fast way to crowd source a little bit of your marketing and maybe give it a little oomph. And when all is said and done, it’s hip to be foursquare.

Susan McLennan is the President of Babble On Communications and an expert in Public Relations and
Social Media. To receive her weekly newsletter with helpful PR and Social Media advice, you can sign up
here or visit www.susanmclennan.com.

Serves 4

This salad was the inspiration for one of our appetizers.

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
¼ cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
¼ cup olive oil
Freshly ground pepper to taste
2 cups watermelon, cut into 2 cm cubes
1 cup firm feta cheese, cut into 2 cm cubes

Mix vinegar and mint in a medium bowl. Add oil slowly while whisking. Combine
watermelon and feta, then add dressing. Toss gently to coat.

Enjoy!

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This is essentially a Bearnaise sauce with mint substituted for the tarragon. It is excellent with grilled lamb chops.

1/2 lb. Butter
¼ cup white wine vinegar
¼ cup white wine
10 Black peppercorns
3 Fresh thyme sprigs
5 Fresh mint sprigs (leaves and stems separated)
4 large egg yolks

Heat the butter in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Continue to simmer until separated and strain into a glass measuring cup. Boil vinegar, wine, peppercorns, thyme and mint sprigs in a small saucepan over medium heat until reduced by half. Strain into the top of a double boiler. Whisk in the egg yolks and continue to whisk until mixture begins to thicken slightly, remove the top of the double boiler and continue whisking. Whisk in the melted butter, drizzling it in very slowly. When all the butter is incorporated, mix in the chopped mint leaves, taste and add salt as needed.

Congrats Sharon Barwick on receiving your CSEP! We are so proud of you!

Born on January 25, 1759, Robert “Robbie” Burns, also known as the Ploughman Poet, the Bard of Ayrshire and, in Scotland, simply “The Bard,” was Scotland’s greatest poet and favourite son. Although he died more than 200 years ago, he is still considered the Greatest Scot. The first Burns observance wasn’t held on his birthday, as it is now, but actually upon the fifth anniversary of his death. So in your face, Sir Sean Connery. You too Alexander Graham Bell. After all, you didn’t pen the song that opens every new year and closes the classic Christmas movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Nope. “Auld Lang Syne” is all Burns.

Intrepid Scots brought their love of Robert Burns with them when they settled in many countries worldwide. There are so many Scottish Canadians, they are considered Canada’s third largest ethnic group – and Gaelic is still taught and spoken in some parts of Cape Breton. In fact, wherever you are in Canada, chances are good you won’t have to look far to celebrate Robbie Burns Day.

Calgary was originally named ‘Calgarraidh’ by Col. James Macleod Haggis and it ranks as being one of the most Scottish cities in Western Canada demonstrated in our many subdivisions such as McKenzie Towne, Braeside and Douglasdale. Robbie Burns Day celebrations this year will include The Calgary Burns Club 36th Anniversary Burns Dinner to be held on Friday, January 20 at the Calgary Telus Convention Centre. And many Calgary offices will be ordering from our Weekly Specials Menu, themed appropriately with Scottish delights. You too can celebrate to the sound of a piper playing bagpipes. Nominate the office manager or CEO to “Address to a
Haggis” – an ode that Robert Burns wrote to the infamous Scottish dish. Once done, simply ceremonially sliced the haggis into two pieces and the meal begins!

The traditional Robbie Burns menu would include”Cock-a-leekie” Soup,(an old Scottish recipe); The main course of “Haggis wi bashit neeps an’ champit tatties” ( Haggis, mashed turnip/swede and mashed potatoes); Sweet course of “Clootie Dumplin” (Dumpling pudding prepared in a linen cloth or “cloot”) or Scottish trifle; Final course of “Bannocks an Cheese” (Traditional Scottish Oatcakes and cheese board) finishing off with Coffee or Tea.

The Haggis, truth be told, is actually nothing more than a type of large sausage. So of course, we’ve provided you with the perfect recipe to make your very own Haggis to celebrate Robbie Burns Day with friends and family at home or at the office (minus the sheep’s stomach). Grab your woolen kilt and daggers, throw on a bagpipe band CD to pipe in the Haggis while you recite Burns’ Address to the Haggis for a memorable and fun celebration of Scotland’s most beloved poet.

Then serve a dram of Scotland’s equally famous drink– whiskey for all!

6 slices of Serrano ham
12 asparagus spears
15 ml/1 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt and coarsely ground pepper

Preheat the grill to high. Halve each slice of the ham lengthways and wrap one half around each of the asparagus spears.

Brush the ham and asparagus lightly with the olive oil and sprinkle with the salt and coarsely ground pepper.

Place under the grill (broiler). Grill for 5-6 minutes, turning frequently, until the asparagus is tender but still firm. Serve immediately.

We’re so proud to announce that Hospice Calgary is Simply Elegant’s charity of choice for the 2011 season. It was a delight to sponsor the Turkey Luncheon for the 5th year running.