Congratulations to Chef Linton Hopkins

I hope that you have had the opportunity to watch the first of the "Cooking with Coca-Cola" videos we posted on Tuesday.  The video features Chef Linton Hopkins of Restaurant Eugene and Holeman & Finch Public House preparing a salad with a Coca-Cola balsamic dressing.

We were excited to learn yesterday that Restaurant Eugene was named the Atlanta Journal Constitution 2009 Restaurant of the Year.  What a great and well deserved honor for Chef Hopkins and his staff.

Spotlight on The World of Coca-Cola - Mary Alexander

I have blogged before about Mary Alexander and the poster that feature her in the World of Coca-Cola, but yesterday, national syndicated radio host, Tom Joyner, picked up the story for a new feature.  Mary's story became part of his "Little Known Black History Facts" radio segment. The printed version of the story appeared here.

When you visit The World of Coca-Cola, make sure to look for the poster in the Lifestyle Advertising case..

Archives Tour - K'NAAN

One of the perks of my job is meeting interesting people who are associated with our Company and brands.  Today, I gave a tour of the Archives to international recording artist, K'NAAN.  African born, K'NAAN learned English from copying the diction and styles from his favorite Hip Hop and rap artist.  His song, "Wavin' Flag," was chosen as the official anthem of the 2010 Coca-Cola World Cup program.

I put together a display of some of our Coke and music artifacts.  Sorry for the photo quality, but all I had was my cell phone.

 

Cooking With Coca-Cola - Chef Linton Hopkins

Readers of the blog will remember that we have partnered with noted Atlanta chef, Linton Hopkins and his mixologist Greg Best several times the past year.  First to celebrate their restaurant, Holeman & Finch, as the perfect serve labratory and then later to identify the perfect serving of Coca-Cola.  When Chef Hopkins was named one of the ten best new Chefs in American by Food and Wine Magazine, we celebrated with him.

We are happy to announce that we have once again partnered with Holeman & Finch and Chef Hopkins and Greg Best have agreed to share some of their recipes and cooking techniques with our readers.  We have filmed a series of videos featuring Coca-Cola as an ingredient in some amazing culinary creations.

We thought we would start off the meal with a nice salad - with a Coca-Cola Balsamic dressing.  Enjoy the demonstration and make sure to visit next Tuesday for the next creation.  You can Download Cherry Tomato Green Bean and Coca Cola recipe here.

Supersonic Flight and Coca-Cola

A few weeks ago, an aeronautical engineer named Richard Whitcomb passed away. Mr. Whitcomb was credited with solving one of the most perplexing problems that faced aviation engineers-the sound barrier. Even though aircraft seemed to have enough power, they were not able to achieve supersonic flight because of the increased wind resistance.

Whitcomb's solution in 1951 was to taper the fuselage to resemble the shape of a Coca-Cola bottle. That design dramatically reduced drag, and within three years, military aircraft could achieve supersonic speeds.

Who could have foreseen that the Coca-Cola bottle would have such an important role in a major scientific achievement.

Spotlight on the World of Coca-Cola - Olympic Torches

With the lighting of the flame in Athens Greece yesterday, the Vancouver Olympic torch run has officially begun.  I am also creating an exhibit of torches that will be used at the Vancouver games.  With all this going on, I thought my Friday Spotlight on the World of Coca-Cola had to highlight some of the torches that are on display at the World of Coke.

We have torches from seven Olympics on display in the Sports and Entertainment gallery of the Milestones of Refreshment exhibit.  I blogged last year when Olympic pole vaulter Sergey Bubka helped me install the Beijing Torch, so I wonder who we can get to help install the Vancouver one when it arrives?

In the meanwhile enjoy the photos of Mr. Bubka and the Salt Lake City, Beijing and Torino torches.

 

Promotional Display

Those of you who are fans of the Coca-Cola Archives page on facebook have already seen some of these photos, but I thought I would give our blog readers a glimpse into some of the work we do internally for our fellow Coca-Cola associates.

We have an area in the Archives that we can program or create displays to allow our marketing colleagues to see firsthand historical items that are relevant to their current project.  I was asked to develop a display and give an overview on the history of Coca-Cola promotions.  These promotions were to be both to consumers and promotions for our own bottlers and fountain sales associates.

While these photo were taken before the exhibit was completely finished, they should give you a good idea of the type of material we hold in the Archives and how we can present it.  There are some pretty nice pieces here as well.  An original syrup urn, Asa Candler's pharmacy scale, the bottle radio I blogged about a few weeks ago, beach pants, records, you name it.

I hope you enjoy your glimpse inside the Archives.  If you were wondering, the yellow and green colors were chosen as they match the early advertising colors of both our wall signs and trucks.  We wanted to show from the beginning that we were not only Red.

  

Recipe-Crystal Coca-Cola Cocktail

In commenting on a recent post describing an Ida Bailey Allen display piece at The World of Coca-Cola, a reader requested the recipe for a Crystal Coca-Cola Cocktail that appears in Allen's famous booklet, When You Entertain. Here it is:

3 bottles of iced Coca-Cola. Use the 8oz. bottles today. Originally, it would have been 6.5 oz. bottles.

3 tablespoons lime juice

Combine the ingredients and transfer to an ice cube tray.Freeze for one hour, stirring occasionally. Serve in small cocktail glasses. For a garnish use mint cherries or rubyettes. Makes six servings.

Feel free to substitute a garnish of your choosing. Mint cherries could be difficul to find, and I am not sure where you will find a rubyette. As best I can determine, it is a variety of grape. It is probably one of those recipes that made perfect sense at the time, but seventy years later has lost its relevance.

I would love to hear from you if you try this recipe.

Spotlight on the World of Coca-Cola - Collectors Around the World Video

This week for our Spotlight on the World of Coca-Cola we wanted to celebrate our biggest fans, Coca-Cola Collectors.  Just in case you have not had a chance to visit the World of Coke, I am posting the video that runs in the Collectors Corner section of the Pop Culture Gallery.

The video was directed by acclaimed documentary filmmaker, DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus and was shot at The Coca-Cola Collectors Club's conventions in Pittsburgh and Atlanta and in collectors homes or museums in Reading Pennsylvania, Avignon France, Lausanne Switzerland and Taiwan.

I love this video because I believe it represents that best of the collectors world, people who are brought together by their common love of collecting. Having attended many conventions, I know they love to trade stories of their latest find, items they are still looking for and even more importantly sharing time with friends.

More Resources for Collectors

One of my objectives in developing this blog was to provide collectors with resources they could use to enhance and evaluate their collections. I hope that this blog is becoming one of the best places collectors can visit fo find information that will add to their knowledge and appreciation of collectibles bearing the Coca-Cola trademark.

A few weeks ago, The Collectors Weekly published an interview with Florida collector Ray Kilinski that would be of interest to anyone who has a collection or is interested in starting one. During the interview, Ray shares his personal philosophy on collecting and provides some good tips for both the novice and experienced collector on collection development. Unlike most newspapers or magazines that publish occasional collector stories, the Weekly does not have space limitations and provides in-depth profiles of the personalities they feature. Here is a link to that story:

http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/an-interview-with-vintage-coca-cola-collector-ray-kilinski/

Another great resource is a magazine called The Cola Conquest. Published in Canada and edited by Blair Matthews, the publication is loaded with articles, interviews, eBay sales results, photographs and advertising that will appear to a wide range of collectors. Of particular interest to bottle and can collectors, are the features that highlight unusual packages and collections.In recent months, there have been lengthly interviews with myself and Jan Schmidt of the renowned Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Memorabilia. here is a link to the magazine's website:

http://www.sodaspectrum.com/conquest.html

Within the next few weeks, we will be adding a new feature to the blog. Visitors to this site will find an area where they can find all of the posts that I have done on the value of collectibles. Since I cannot respond to individual requests for information on the value of specific items, this segment of the blog will point readers in the right direction to get that data. Stay tuned!