My husband, Chef Beau Been, is selling his food trailer. We have loved using it for catering but are ready to try some new things. It is a really great trailer and will work well for many purposes. Please read the full description here.
Traveling Bistro is a winner!
Traveling Bistro has won the Austin Chronicle Best of Award 2009 for Best Catered Sunday Brunch at a Bar!!!! Beau Been left his full time job to live his dream and I am so proud of him! The Daily Texan agrees! Thanks to every single one of you who has come to brunch or a Traveling Bistro event. Sure they give me credit in the article because I serve the waffles, but it is my fantastic husband, Beau, who makes all the Like Water For Chocolate magic happen! He’s only just begun! YIPPPEEEEE! Congratulation Traveling Bistro! You make my tummy happy!!!
Join us each week at the Traveling Bistro Sunday Brunch at NOMAR BAR!
So sorry we will not be having brunch Sept 13.
I would also like to point out my company Groovee Fortune won Best Local Web Designer in 2005 and they haven’t ever had the category again so I consider myself the reigning Web Design winner each year. I’m just saying! ha!
Beau and I snuck into the NOMAD BAR photo for Best Bar Staff
TIE: Rio Rita and Nomad Bar
Many thanks to Miguel who always includes Beau and I in the fun!!!
Congratulation to all the winners!!!! Cheers! Till we vote again!!!
Pistachio Florentine Mint Ice Cream Sandwich
This might be able to compete with Pistachio Gelato!
Pistachio Florentine Mint Ice Cream Sandwich
YUM!
The Cupcake SmackDown
Come to the Cupcake Smackdowm, Saturday, August 1st! Traveling Bistro will be providing the only non-cupcake food items, Jerk Chicken on a Stick and Bourbon and Coke Pork Chop on a Stick! Beau Been is in this Fox 7 clip! The event is dog and people friendly!!!! WATCH FOX 7 highlight.
Traveling Bistro Maker’s Mark Bourbon Brunch
Sunday, June 28th ~ 11 am
Traveling Bistro ~ NOMAD BAR
Join us for some food, libations and fun!
Photography show by Chris McElhatton at Corona Cafe
5 FREE ways to promote your business, band, event…
As owner of Groovee Fortune, I need to know about all the latest fads on the internet. Currently, I spend too much time taking quizzes and catching up with old friends on Facebook, playing Mobsters on MySpace and playing Word Womp on Pogo. At least it’s fun and I’ve learned a few things I can pass on to you. Take these seemingly time wasting applications and make them useful marketing tools.
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Facebook – What is Facebook?
How can you use Facebook?
My husband owns Traveling Bistro and we serve Sunday Brunch at Nomad. Each week I taunt my friends with the Waffle of the Week by posting it in my STATUS including a link to the page with the menu for the whole month. I have been put on Waffle Probation by some who want to come to brunch and don’t live in Austin, but they know about brunch if they make it here. Periodically, I post links about Groovee Fortune Specials and News. You can use FB to promote your band’s upcoming show, your business’s sale at your shop or online, an exciting event in your life by updating your status where it says “WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?” You can post longer items with who, what, when, where in NOTES or you can set up an EVENT, but you will have to add each person individually. NOTES are posted to everyone on your friend list and EVENTS allow you to be selective. If you have a web page with all the info already laid out and you want everyone to know about it you can post a LINK to the web page. You can’t customize the look of your FB page at this point. There are all kinds of quizzes and things to send your friends to let them know you care. Just last week I played trivia with someone from high school, a fellow Hell Mary, a friend from elementary school and a guy from college all at the same time!
Yahoo Groups – What are Yahoo Groups?
How can you use Yahoo Groups?
Groovee Fortune has set up Yahoo Groups for it’s Groovee Clients, the Texas Rollergirls, Rank and Revue Magazine, Alejandro Escovedo…. to name a few. If you have a group or organization that needs to share files, links and information this is a great tool. It is not so much a socializing tool as an administrative one. The Texas Rollergirls still use these Groups to share suggestions, events, opportunities, etc. Before the existence of MySpace and Facebook, this was one of the only tools to network music fans together. There is a calendar where they can set reminders for shows, send out press releases, announce upcoming albums to a group who specifically wanted to receive this information. The difference between this and a newsletter or mailing list is all participants can contribute to the conversation if you set it up in that manner. You can also use it like a mailing list or newsletter by changing the settings but it’s really all text based. Rank and Revue Magazine used their Yahoo Group to let writers and photographers know about deadlines and opportunities. It has a spot to organize TASKS for a group. Groovee Fortune has a Yahoo Group for it’s clients, but since the clients don’t all work for GF it’s kind of a one sided conversation, but I do post events, holiday greetings, specials, etc.
MySpace – What is MySpace?
How can you use MySpace?
MySpace is a lot like Facebook, but I feel it is really well suited for bands and the entertainment industry. You can customize the heck out of MySpace with graphics and backgrounds and your own jukebox. Bands can post songs for listening and this is much better than having the music files on your own web server. You can post BULLETINS that go out to all your friends, set up EVENTS where you select who will see the post. You can change your STATUS in the same manner as discussed with FB to promote a small snippet of what’s happening. These last three tools allow you to send private messages to individuals. I am addicted to Mobsters and finally starting to know what in the heck to do to win! You can add images and links to Myspace, especially if you know a little HTML. Matthew Ballard uses it to promote his latest album, host music clips and promote shows, the Texas Rollergirls post their bouts and the Jackalope uses it to promote current specials and directions.
Twitter – What is Twitter?
How can you use Twitter?
I will be honest and say I am new to Twitter but it seems to just be the STATUS tool on MySpace and Facebook. You can only post a few lines (140 characters including spaces). I feel compelled to tell you about this tool because Austin was all a Tweet during SXSW and I’ve seen a lot of news anchors speaking of Twittering. I also love the lingo that is developing around it with words like “Twitterific.” Please feel free to post any comments about it’s strongest usages. It is a big hit and I expect it will develop more marketing applications for me in the future. I need to add more friends so I am not tormenting 5 friends about waffles.
Wordpress – What is WordPress?
How can you use WordPress?
I got a blog on WordPress because so many clients were asking if they needed a blog. I wasn’t too thrilled with the idea but now I LOVE my Groovee Fortune Countrystarr Blog. I spend a lot of time posting YouTube videos and dumb pictures of me from the past, but I do use it to promote events like Plutopia, Traveling Bistro Sunday Brunch, Groovee Fortune Specials and News, information about clients, friends and points of interest, etc. There are many templates to choose from for your blog and you can customize what information shows up – other blogs, categories, a calendar of your posts, etc. I will note that you need to know CSS to really customize the look of your blog. Blogs get amazing results on search engines and you don’t have to know HTML to add images and links. Artists can post new works, bands can tell about recording their latest album or link to a new video and business owners can post info about sales, events, etc. You are reading WordPress right now and I’ve already told you about Sunday Brunch and Groovee Fortune. Be sure to add tags a.k.a. keywords to your posts so the search engines will head your way and create categories so readers can break all the info down into groups of interest. The stats on WordPress are awesome and break down lot’s of info so you know what is getting read.
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So there you have it. 5 tools you can use to promote what’s going on in your world. Groovee Fortune is not resposible for the wasted time you spend on these sites Twitting, pretending to be a Mobster or finding out what character you most resemble from LOST. If you use it to promote your business, band, art or event, maybe you can relieve the guilt of playing trivia games with old friends or posting photos for your class reunion. Feel free to comment about how you use the tools. Thanks for reading. Nerd out. – Beth Been
SXSW 2009 Events and Fun
Will post all the SXSW 2009 events I know about here!
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Myopenbar Presents: Four Square Punk And A Roller-Skating Rink By Saucony
Myopenbar is returning to Austin this year and we invited 50 of our favorite punk rock bands to come out and play. The result is four stages, in a square formation, with room for your crowd-surfing ass in the middle. And a cameo by a fifth stage: a school bus. And a roller-rink, courtesy of Saucony Originals, with free skate rentals and a chance to win free shoes.
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SXSW Season Events for Girls Rock Camp
Supporters from all over the world will be throwing down in March to show their love for Girls Rock Camp Austin. Don’t miss these rockin’ shows!
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Check out the Wooden Birds
includes Rolletta Lynn
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Churchwood @ Owl Tree Roasting (IH35 @34thish) 2pm, Crackpipes @ Beerland 6pm, Friday
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Groovee Fortune client Cynthia Bloom recommends Noelle Hampton
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Don’t forget
Traveling Bistro Sunday Brunch at NOMAD!
March 15
Turkey and Sausage Gumbo w/ White Rice
Roasted Pork Loin w/ Creole Mustard Sauce
Tomato and Bell Pepper and Cheese Omelet
Ham and Cheese Omelet
Combo Omelet
Mixed Greens and Artichoke Hearts
Peach Waffle
March 22
Deluxe B-L-T
Cedar Planked Salmon
Eggs any style
3 Bean Salad
Malted Waffle
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Plutopia 2009 – Living Systems
The 9th Annual EFF-Austin SXSWi After Party
Beth Been aka the Scarlot Harlot will have art and merch.
An extravaganza of music, art, & performance – The Biggest SXSWi Party
Monday, March 16, 2009, 6pm – midnight
Palmer Events Center map
FREE to all SXSW badge holders, $10 General Public. All welcome!
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Hell on Wheels screening in Austin on Sun, March 15 at 6pm.
The kick ass Scoot Inn Bar on the East Side in Austin will host the screening. There’ll be movie, DVDs for sale, filmmakers in attendance, post-screening Q&A, drinks! Good times.
Sunday, March 15th at 6pm.
1308 East 4th Street
Austin, TX
www.scoot-inn.com
www.HellOnWheelsTheMovie.com
http://www.CrashCamFilms.com
http://www.HellOnWheelsTheMovie.com
Year of the Ox
The Year of the Ox, which emphasizes prosperity through fortitude and dependable, hard labour, begins January 26, 2009. I am the Year of the Pig/Wild Boar in the Chinese New Year calendar and even redesigned my web site Groovee Fortune with a Karate Pig in 2007 the Year of the Golden Pig. My husband is an Ox, so I decided to see what was in store for 2009.
“Although we were warned of the Rat’s bite, many were not prepared for the upheavals and misfortunes that hit the world in 2008.
The effects of the Rat year will continue to spill over to the Ox Year, so we will still feel the impact. But with resilience and hard work, we can ride out the storm.” Insight into the Ox year – Sun 2 Surf
Can you believe Obama is an Ox! It would be cool if Bush was a Rat but GW is a Fire Pig. I am a Metal Pig (ha ha!) and GW had a pretty good year in 2007.
Ox – You may have been disappointed by a relatively modest 2008, but as your sign enters the heaven, the groundwork you laid should start paying off in 2009. Don’t expect fireworks, but success should arrive both in your family life and in business. This is a great year to achieve personal ambitions as well as take action on major decisions. You’ll find both family and friends supportive of new plans.
Considering my husband started his company, Traveling Bistro, last year, I like the sounds of this prediction. Go OX! Go OX! It’s your birthday! It’s your birthday! Wait! It’s actually your whole yearcuz a birthday can only spill into a few weeks before getting messing.
Best of Luck to all in the Chinese New Year!!!!! In honor of this year and my husband’s new business, I offer up a Year of the Ox Recipe for Ginger-Steamed Wild Black Bass with Stir-Fried Chinese Greens and a wine list to ring in the New Year!
Turkey day was DELICIOUS
Beth Been’s favorite food photos from Thanksgiving 2008
The Newest Been with his proud uncle Beau
Aunt Beth and Little Z
groovee fortune countrystarr 