Pachapapa Restaurant : Cusco Peru

grilled alpaca 0 cholestrol, originally uploaded by shashiBellamkonda.

We ate this very nice restaurant called Pachapapas(http://www.cuscorestaurants.com/pachapapa_eng.htm) , located at the San Blas Square in Cusco, Peru. Its a sister restaurant of Inka Grill or MAP in Cusco Peru. Mery Calderon Owner of Kuoda Tours (http://www.kuodatours.com/) who managed our entire itinerary joined us for dinner. She is a fountain of knowledge, having worked in the luxury travel business for over 15 years. As i wanted to try alpaca meat (First time in my life) and Mery suggested this dish - Marinated Alpaca Brochette , corn tamales, stuffed roasted hot rocot and assorted potatoes.

This dish was fantastic . I ate it accompanied by Cusquena beer and we had a fantastic meal.

Inka Grill Cusco Peru : Can't pronounce it but its yummy

Can't pronounce it but its yummy, originally uploaded by shashiBellamkonda.

We landed in Cusco this morning and went to a wonderful hotel called the Casa San Blas. half a mile from the hotel is the town square. Cusco is 11k ft above sea level making it a first for me at such a high altitude.

Lunch was at Inka Grill very nice restaurant in the Square where we had great Peruvian dishes including this dessert.

This restaurant was world class for both food and service.

The Luck of being born around 1955 Outliers – The story of Success By Malcolm Gladwell ( Book Review)

Malcolm Galdwell writes very well. His books Tipping Point, Blink really changed the way people think of making a difference in business. Outliers is about success, what contributes to the success of “Outliers”. Outliers are defined by Malcolm Gladwell as “outside everyday experience where the normal rules did not apply. Gladwell himself is a outlier. Jay Goldman writes on in his blog http://jaygoldman.com/2008/12/02/malcolm-gladwell-talks-about-outliers-at-rotman-school-of-management/

Things you probably don’t know about Malcolm:

· Was once the Canadian record holder in 1500m run but is not the fastest Gladwell in his family

· 10,000 hour rule: takes 10k hours to be expert at something. He’s an expert at playing Risk.

· Was a student activist of an odd sort. Organized a march to prevent principal being transferred to another school.

· Was in Reach for the Top. His aspiration was to be a pastry chef (though he doesn’t remember it)

· First major assignment was for Ad Hominem, a high school newspaper

The mention of the Italian community of Roseto in Bangor Pennsylvania which defied all scientific theories for remaining healthy and built a community carrying over all the advantages of community resources from their original Italian countryside.

The waste of human capital that results our of sports teams choosing kids from school who were born between January and August. Being born in the perfect age 1955ish and being around 20 years of age in 1975 the dawn of the personal Computer Age– examples

Bill Gates : Oct 28 1955

Paul Allen Jan 21 1953

Steve Ballmer March 24 1956

Steve Jobs Feb 24 1955

Eric Schmidt April 27 1955

Bill Joy Nov 8 1954

Scott McNealy Nov 13 1954

Vinod Khosla Jan 28 1955

Andy Bechtolsheim Sept 30 1955

Bill Gates was lucky to be in a school Lakeside where the mothers banded together to buy a computer for the school in 1968 . I was a 5 year old J then. I chose to move to a school district that had a good record of parents contributing to school efforts and I have to wait for my kids to flourish to completely agree with Malcolm Gladwell as he does make a good case.

The 10,000 hour rule. Again studying people who succeeded in life Malcolm Gladwell says each of them spent 10k hours practicing their speciality. The Beatles Playing for 7 days a week in Hamburg, Bill Gates non-stop programming and getting a place in Seattle to program for free, Bill Joy who wrote UNIX give me a message that perseverance is also a factor for success.

I love the statement “the only measure that a law school really ought to care about – How well its graduates do in the real world “. The story of genius Chris Lagan compared to Alex Williams in the book is an example that intelligence and genius matters to an extent after which your access to resources and the timing plays a part.

This is a topic that most parents of India origin debate over – the school cut off date. When I arrived in the United States in 1997 I chose to live in Maryland rather than Virginia due to the fact that Maryland had a cut off date of Dec 31^st for school then versus Virginia which had a Sep31st cut-off date. Why does this matter? Did I d the right thing? All these answers I found in this book by Malcolm Gladwell – Outliers – The story of Success.

I was surprised by the chapter on Harlan Kentucky, the battles for honor in the Southern States and attributing it to the Scottish-Irisih origin. I did not know that the South has higher murder rates but property crimes and muggings are lower. While it may be a very stark case study I look at my own Indian roots and see the differences in regions of India where honor means a different kind of action and the idea does have a meaning. If I was writing this book I would research Kadapa in the State of Andhra Pradesh In the Wikipedia article there is no mention of what Cuddapah is known for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kadapa but go to this website http://www.umeshchandra.org/front.html and you will find it descried as the “second most troublesome district in India”.

I got a preview of what was coming in the book at Pop!Tech where Malcolm Gladwell spoke about Human capitalization and lost opportunities http://blog.networksolutions.com/2008/malcolm-galdwell-speaks-about-human-capitalization-at-poptech/

Others who have reviewed this book: ( Buy the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell from Amazon )

New York Times : Michiko Kakutani http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/books/18kaku.html

New York Magazine Jason Zengerle http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/52014/

Jay GoldMan http://jaygoldman.com/2008/12/02/malcolm-gladwell-talks-about-outliers-at-rotman-school-of-management/

Entertainment Weekly: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20239689,00.html

Guardian : http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/nov/23/outliers-story-success-malcolm-gladwell

Technorati Tags: Malcolm Galdwell,outliers,tipping point,books,blink

Whole Foods I like you

Today as I was looking for a birthday cake for my daughter, I chose

  the fruit cake and then realized the problem . There is no way to write anything on top of this, The guy at the counter comes up with a impromptu idea. He takes a cookie and writes on the top if that and places it very nicely on this fruit cake. Now that's making the customer happy.

In any service business there are exceptions and if the institution is rigid then it soon fades away. Empower your employees to take decisions that will enable customers to stay with you and become your raving fans.

Why I like whole foods:

• Enjoy the food samples
• Like the health food concept
• Some of the food items that are only available at Whole Foods
• Nice and friendly staff

Now do I pay more , I don;t think so, for the run of the mill kind of grocery we go to Costco and go to Whole foods for exclusive items. We are not in there every week but maybe once a month or so.

Digital Media Wire : List of top "25 Executives to Watch in Digital Entertainment”

 

See the list at Digital insider : http://cli.gs/zL7uph . if you are too eager the list is here, and I still feel you should read the Digital Media Wire article to get more context.

 

1. · Ali and Hadi Partovi, Founders, iLike
2. · Amit Kapur, COO, MySpace
3. · Brent Weinstein, CEO, 60 Frames
4. · Chamath Palihapitiya, VP of Growth, Mobile & International, Facebook
5. · Chris Di Cesare, Head of Marketing, YouTube
6. · Craig Sherman, CEO, Gaia Online
7. · David Verklin, CEO, Canoe Ventures
8. · Dick Glover, CEO, Funny or Die Networks
9. · Dina Kaplan, Co-Founder & COO, Blip.tv
10. · Ian Rogers, CEO, Topspin
11. · Jason Kilar, CEO, Hulu
12. · Jill Braff, SVP, Global Publishing, Glu Mobile
13. · John Edwards, CEO, Move Networks
14. · Julie Shumaker, SVP, Worldwide Sales, GM, Core Games Group, Double Fusion
15. · Karin Gilford, SVP Fancast & Online Entertainment, Comcast Interactive
16. · Kyra Reppen SVP & GM, Neopets, MTV Networks
17. · Lynda Clarizio, President, AOL’s Platform-A
18. · Matt Palmer, EVP & GM, Stardoll
19. · Max Levchin, Founder & CEO, Slide, and Co-Founder, Paypal
20. · Min Kim, VP of Marketing, Nexon America
21. · Owen Van Natta, CEO, Playlist
22. · Steve Jang, CMO & Head of Business Development, imeem
23. · Suranga Chandratillake, CEO & Founder, blinkx
24. · Teemu Huuhtanen, President, N.A., Sulake
25. · Tim Westergren, Chief Strategy Officer & Founder, Pandora

Washington Post : Please don't close Sunday Source

 

I love the Sunday Source. In out household there are Sunday morning battles over the paper. I understand Washignton Post has to make some hard decisions but I wish they would not shut down the most interesting part of the Washington Post Sunday edition. if you agree with me please write to sundaysource@washpost.com

Thanks ! Do you know the 3 Guys?

Big Ben London

Big Ben London, originally uploaded by shashiBellamkonda.

London seems full of history in all the buildings. More pictures here http://cli.gs/qRHWzD

How can restaurants grow sales in this economy?

Noah Glass CEO of GoMobo asked this question on LinkedIn

In this economic climate, how can restaurants chart a path for calm waters or even realize growth? I'm interested in discussing your thoughts and invite you to join our upcoming webinar on this topic at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/432987831

 

My Answer ;

Love the concept of GoMobo. You should find a way to connect your payment with twitter :) . To answer your question:
I find a lot of restaurants are doing this wrong. Menu prices are going up and people not eating out much. This is a good opportunity for reducing the portions and reducing the menu prices o a levle where your business remains the same. I usually cannot eat the whole thing I order so always pack half to eat for the next meal. Does this sound logical?

 

You experts who read this blog should answer. There are very good answers from other Linkedin users about the Restaurants and the recession. How to make changes

Corn wadas in Hyderabad

Corn wadas in Hyderabad, originally uploaded by shashiBellamkonda.

This is a traditional way of making corn wadas and is served with a sweet sauce that you dip the wada and eat. Made mostly at home and not sure if this is served in hotels or restaurants