WerkaBlog

It’s Restaurant Week again!   Below is the list of restaurants. And this year they are doing $20 – 2 course lunches and 3 course dinners for $35

Diners will enjoy three or four course (depending on the restaurant) gourmet dinners for $35 per person (not including beverages, tax or gratuity). Participating restaurants pledge to donate $5 from each special dinner sold to the Houston Food Bank.

This is a wonderful opportunity for diners to try new restaurants or re-visit old favorites while helping to fight hunger in Houston. HRW is planned by volunteers so that 100% of funds raised are donated to the Houston Food Bank.

Starting Sunday, Aug 1 – Saturday Aug 21st

http://www.houstonrestaurantweek.com/Menus-2010.htm

*17
III Forks
51 Fifteen
Americas Post Oak “The Original”
Amerigo’s Grille
Arcodoro
Arturo’s Uptown Italiano
Au Petit Paris
Azuma
Azuma on the Lake
Azuma Sushi and Robata Bar
Backstreet Café
benjy’s in The Village
benjy’s on Washington
Bistro Catron
Bistro Don Camillo
Branch Water Tavern
Brasserie Max & Julie
Brennan’s of Houston
Brenner’s on the Bayou
Brenner’s Steakhouse
Cadillac Bar Houston
Café Moustache
The Capital Grille
Carmelo’s Ristorante Italiano
Cava Bistro
Cavatore Italian Restaurant
Ciao Bello
Cielo Mexican Bistro
Crapitto’s Cucina Italiana
Crave Sushi Boutique
Cullen’s Upscale American Grille
Damian’s Cucina Italiana
Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House
Downtown Aquarium
Eddie V’s Prime Seafood
Feast
Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar – River Oaks
Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar – Town & Country
Frank’s Chop House
Gigi’s Asian Bistro & Dumpling Bar
Gravitas
Grotto Westheimer
Grotto Woodlands
The Grove
Haven, A Seasonal Kitchen
House of Blues Foundation Room
Hugo’s
Indika Restaurant
Julia’s Bistro
Kata Robata
Kiran’s
La Colombe d’Or
La Griglia
Le Mistral
Mark’s American Cuisine
Masraff’s
Max’s Wine Dive
McCormick & Schmick’s – Downtown
McCormick & Schmick’s -Town & Country
McCormick & Schmick’s – Uptown Park
The Melting Pot – Westheimer
Michelangelo’s
Mockingbird Bistro
Monarch Restaurant and Lounge
Morton’s The Steakhouse – Houston Downtown
Morton’s The Steakhouse – Houston Galleria
Mo’s…A Place for Steaks
Noe @ The Omni Houston Galleria Hotel
The Oceanaire Seafood Room
Ocean’s
Olivette at The Houstonian
Ouisie’s Table
Palm Restaurant
Pappas Bros. Steak House
Pappas Grill
Perry’s Italian Grille
Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille – Champions
Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille – Clear Lake
Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille – Katy
Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille – Memorial City
Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille – Sugar Land
Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille – Woodlands
Pesce
Polo’s Signature
Post Oak Grill
Prego Restaurant
Quattro at Four Seasons Hotel Houston
Rainbow Lodge
Rattan Pan-Asian Bistro & Wine Bar
Ray’s Grill
RDG + Bar Annie
Ruggles Grill
Ruth’s Chris Steak House
Sambuca Restaurant
Smith & Wollensky
Soma Sushi
Sorrento Ristorante
The St. Regis Houston – Remington Restaurant
Strata Restaurant & Bar
Sullivan’s Steakhouse
Sushi Raku
Tony’s
Truluck’s
Valentino Vin Bar
Vic & Anthony’s
VOICE Restaurant & Lounge at Hotel ICON
Willie G’s Seafood & Steaks
Yelapa Playa Mexicana
108

‘A cup of Joe,’ as a reference to a cup of coffee, first appeared as popular slang in the 1930s and 40s. Opinions differ on where this phrase originates from, but presented here are a few different theories.

In 1914, the secretary of the US Navy, Admiral Josephus ‘Joe’ Daniels abolished the officers’ wine mess. From that time on the strongest (and apparently therefore the drink of choice) on board navy ships was coffee. It was dubbed ‘a cup of Joe’ after the secretary.

‘A cup of Joe’ also refers to the GIs’ favourite drink. During World War II the US defence workers were supplied with as much coffee as they wanted. Coffee was a source of warmth and comfort for battle-weary troups.
The slang was popular enough to be included in the Reserve Officer’s Manual of 1931.
A variation on this theme has it that Joe refers to the average Joe, thus making ‘a cup of Joe’ the average drink of the average man.

There was a New York company named Martinson’s Coffee (Andy Warhol liked to paint the cans) owned by a man named Joe Martinson. The neighbourhood of the company would be saturated by the aroma of roasting coffee, and coffee therefore became known as ‘a cup of Joe’.
It sounds lovely, the thought of waking every morning to the smell of newly-roasted coffee beans, but actually it’s not. Take a trip through a town with a company that roasts coffee – for example Karlstad in Sweden – and you’ll understand. If the neighbourhood said anything they likely said ‘a smell of Joe’ and meant it in a negative way.

‘Joe’ is a derivation of ‘Java’. Java itself became a popular American nickname for coffee in the 19th Century when the island of Java in Indonesia was a major source of the world’s coffee.

Yet another theory connects ‘a cup of Joe’ to the song ‘Old Black Joe’, written by Stephen Collins Foster (author of ‘Oh! Susannah’ and ‘Camptown Races’) in 1860. Of course, if you read the lyrics you’ll find they have nothing to do with coffee:

Gone are the days when my heart was young and gay,
Gone are my friends from the cotton fields away,
Gone from the earth to a better land I know,
I hear their gentle voices calling Old Black Joe.

I’m coming, I’m coming, for my head is bending low,
I hear their gentle voices calling Old Black Joe.
Why do I weep, when my heart should feel no pain,
Why do I sigh that my friends come not again?
Grieving for forms now departed long ago.
I hear their gentle voices calling Old Black Joe.

Where are the hearts once so happy and so free?
The children so dear that I held upon my knee?
Gone to the shore where my soul has longed to go,
I hear their gentle voices calling Old Black Joe.

So Which Is Correct?

The most prevalent theory of the origin of ‘a cup of Joe’ is the one that concerns Josephus Daniels. It’s the one you’ll hear on the History Channel (if you’re in North America) and is the one you’ll find in columns exploring the origins of words and phrases. It’s widely repeated on the Internet (often word by word as if people were copying and pasting).

We know the workplace is changing and interesting how this article talks about what isn’t so rosie about it.

I found this article lurking the Yahoo! top, and after reading it thought it was interesting enough to share with you guys.  So, what’s funniest thing on your desk … and what do you think it says about you?

http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-articles-what_your_workspace_says_about_you-1348

You see, it doesn’t take millions just to be happy and werk! 

This is a little article I think most of you will enjoy readind!

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/109999/4-lessons-from-billionaire-college-entrepreneurs?mod=career-leadership