Happy New Year from Bernays Sauce

May your 2010 be better than 2009....shouldn't be too tough in many instances. Be sure to check back here throughout next year for PR news, tips and views, and feel free to comment.
Best wishes.

Happy Hollandaise from Bernays Sauce and EventPros

We hope it's been a banner year for you, and if it hasn't here's hoping things turn around in 2010.

In the meantime, being holiday time again, we're proud to present to you our favorite Béarnaise Sauce recipe, courtesy of John Short at EventPros, Inc.

The Best Béarnaise Sauce
Ingredients:
1 lb 4 oz butter 1/8 tsp peppercorns, crushed 1/8 tsp salt 3 Tbsp tarragon vinegar 2 Tbsp cold water 6 egg yolks 1 Tbsp fresh tarragon cayenne pepperlemon juice
Instructions:
Clarify the butter. Keep it warm but not hot.
Combine the peppercorns, salt, and vinegar in a saucepan. Reduce until dry.
Remove from the heat and add the cold water. Transfer the diluted reduction to a stainless steel bowl.
Add the egg yolks and beat well.
Hold the bowl over a hot-water bath and beat the yolks until they are thickened and creamy. Do not overcook them or they will curdle.
Remove the bowl from the heat. Using a ladle, slowly and gradually beat in the warm, clarified butter, adding it drop by drop at first. If it becomes too thick to beat before all the butter is added, beat in a little of the tarragon vinegar.
When all the butter has been added, beat in lemon juice to taste and adjust the seasonings with salt and cayenne. If necessary, thin the sauce with a few drops of warm water.

Variations:
For Hollandaise Sauce delete tarragon and tarragon vinegar - replace each with lemon juice
For Mousseline Sauce fold 1 cup whipped cream into basic Hollandaise Sauce
Other variations: Substitute each for tarragon/tarragon vinegar – Paloise Sauce (fresh mint); Maltaise Sauce (orange juice with orange zest); Mikado Sauce (tangerine juice with tangerine zest); Choron Sauce (1/2 cup diced Roma Tomatoes).

Be creative!

Happy holidays. Stay safe.

PR Trend Predictions for 2010

We tend to agree with these points from Communications Catalyst:

What does 2010 hold for PR pros?

I’m sorry to say that I don’t have a crystal ball – for that matter, I don’t even have a Magic 8 Ball – but there are a few trends I think we’ll see unfold over the next 12 months.

So to kick up some lively conversation about the immediate, short-term future of PR, here are four trends I think we’ll spot in 2010.

1. PR Pros Will Learn that Social Media isn’t a Three-Trick Pony. Okay, we get it. Corporate blogs and Facebook and Twitter. There’s nothing wrong with using them, but if you don’t think those three platforms are the beginning and end of many social media proposals these days, you’re kidding yourself.

PR people will begin getting past the shiny object syndrome of these three and realize that it’s a big digital world out there. They’ll start to better understand technology and the possibilities it unlocks online – or hire and/or partner with people who do.

Why?

Other than being a smart business decision, the next best reason is that many advertising and digital agencies DO understand technology and platforms, and how to leverage them to develop creative content and efforts online for clients. If PR people don’t get smarter about this in 2010 and look beyond “Tweeting 101” as a prominent example of the social media value they bring to the table, advertising shops are going to eat their lunch.

Read the rest here.

December and All That...Larry King Rambling Style

Just a little end of the year housekeeping, Larry King style...you can find your humble editor on Twitter here, follow me for news, tips, personal junk and the outright banal...The Raspberry Dinosaur blog is in the running for funniest blog of the year...Poor Sooners had a rough one, hope Coach Stoops doesn't go to Notre Dame...EventPros has work all the way until Christmas, so not too shabby...we would love to help you plan your 2010 events and PR (we do more than special events, remember?!), just contact us...more soon...until then, have a great week.