Next Generation Cooking Class

Who doesn't love going out to grab a cocktail and some dinner with the girlfriends? But those cocktails, appetizers and dinners can add up quick! Instead of a costly night out grab all your M.D. friends and plan a girls-night-in and host a virtual cooking class! Macy's and Tyler Florence have teamed up together to offer a free 12-part series of podcasts featuring some of his favorite recipes! The podcasts are short (only about 4 minutes long), perfect after a few drinks :) and each one has the recipe in printable form!

Planning your Virtual Cooking Class

1. Visit the website and print out the coordinating recipe for the podcast you want to show that night.
2. Send out an Evite or call the girls and tell them what ingredients they are required to bring
3. Plan a great cocktail to serve before the class. My personal favorite: The Cucumber Mojito (saw it; tried it; from Top Chef season 5..I just loved Jeff!!)
4. After the much needed cocktail (especially if its been a long week!), gossip and chit chat play the podcast and start cooking!!!

Hosting a virtual cooking class will allow you and your girlfriends to have some great personal time and wont leave everyone's pocketbook waiting till next payday!!!! So all you Modern Divas go forth and create!!

Give me yours and I'll give you mine!

This morning I finally had an hour to just relax before heading off to class. While enjoying my breakfast and a cup of coffee (Jen and coffee...NO WAY! LOL) I turned on the Today Show to check in with the world around me. With the economy running around like a chicken with its head cut off, news stations are flooding its audiences with helpful ways to save. The Today Show was no exception and had a really interesting segment with Farnoosh Torabi from thestreet.com reporting about the hottest trend that's re-inventing itself throughout America.

Trading/Swapping/Bartering has been around for centuries and is a popular form of business in other countries but here in the U.S. that was never the case (yes I know back in the day it was...when we were still traveling west and riding the Oregon Trail). But that is all changing. Farnoosh goes on to tell audience members that bartering is making a comeback and is becoming the hottest/trendiest way to save money!

Here is the list of websites Farnoosh gave to the audience.....

Craigslist - I know, I know we have all heard of this site but did you know that it has seen an increase of 100% in its bartering posts since Janauary '09.

U-Exchange - This site is excellent for trading cars, homes, renovations and even vacation spots. This site has become so popular that it has seen an increase of 172% in viewing and posting traffic.

FavorPals - This site is geared towards trading services. Here you can find people with all kinds of services just waiting to be traded in the U.S, Canada, the U.K. and France!

SwapTree - This site offers a place where people can trades books, CDs, DVDs and video games. This is a great site for families and especially ones with children (or for wives with husbands that are geeky gamers).

Farnoosh also emphaised to be specific when posting your bartering needs or wants, to make sure to keep records (specifically drafting up a simple contract to protect yourself) and to always file with the IRS.

So Modern Diva's go forth and enjoy a world without money!