Chamber After Hours today at Stevens-Henager College (Snake River Landing)

Stevens-Henager College's branch location at Snake River Landing

The Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce will be holding its first Business After Hours of 2013 today from 5 to 7 p.m. at Stevens-Henager College in Snake River Landing.

If you come, you may win one of $150 in gift cards being offered, to Stockmans Restaurant, Love At First Bite and Bella Vita Coffeehouse, all of them Snake River Landing tenants.

The Idaho Falls campus opened last May, but Stevens-Henager dates all the way back to 1891, when it was founded in Ogden, Utah, as Intermountain Business College. Its founder was James Ayers Smith, an educator from Nebraska who wanted to teach commercial subjects and place graduates in business positions. It changed owners and names several times, becoming Smithsonian Business School in 1910; Moench University of Business in 1938; and Ogden Business College in 1940. It became Stevens-Henager in 1959 and established its first branch campus in Provo in 1978. In addition to Provo and Idaho Falls, it now has branch campuses in Murray and Logan, Utah, and Boise.

Mattress Firm to build at old T.G.I.Friday's location in Ammon

The picture from Mattress Firm's Web site, www.mattressfirm.com

Mattress Firm, a Houston-based chain with more than 1,100 stores in 28 states, has begun preparing a site in Ammon, at the old T.G.I.Friday's on Hitt Road.

Although a contractor has not been hired, Gay Leming of the Ammon Building Department confirmed the company has applied for a building permit. Obviously there is going to be a dramatic change at the location, which has been vacant for more than a year. A big tip-off that something was finally happening was the presence Tuesday of a dumpster in the parking lot.

I know this is a bit of a snooze (ha, ha!) to those of you who were hoping for something more exciting, like a Red Lobster.

The largest bedding retailer in the nation, Mattress Firm began with a single store in July 4, 1986. It carries such brands as Sealy, Stearns & Foster, Tempur-Pedic, Simmons and Serta. The store in Ammon will be its first in Idaho.

More information can be found at its Web site, www. mattressfirm.com.

Seinfeld, Kenny Rogers Roasters and a reader's request

Jerry and Kramer in "The Chicken Roaster" (Season 8, Episode 8)

I got a request Monday from Ben Rippel for the old Kenny Rogers Roasters corn muffin recipe that I once posted in Shoptalk. "I went digging after seeing the notorious 'Seinfeld' tonight," Ben tweeted.

It's been nearly 10 years (and at least one face lift for Kenny) since the Roasters on 17th Street closed and was remodeled into a KFC. Thanks to the miracle of the Internet, I was able to Google the recipe in a flash. If I wasn't trying to lose weight, I'd make a batch right now.

Before I share it, however, here's a bonus, a YouTube link to the actual "Seinfeld" episode. If you've got some time to waste (and you wouldn't be here if you didn't), you can watch it right now. It's even subtitled in Spanish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUByLkX8AYI

KENNY ROGERS ROASTERS CORN MUFFINS

Ingredients
3/4 cup Yellow cornmeal
1/2 tsp Salt
3/4 cup yellow corn; frozen
1 1/2 cup All-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2/3 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Honey
1/2 cup Butter
1/2 tsp Baking Powder

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cream together butter, sugar, honey, eggs and salt in a large bowl.
3. Add flour, cornmeal and baking powder and blend thoroughly. Add milk while mixing.
4. Add corn to mixture and combine by hand until corn is worked in.
5. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan and fill each cup with batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until muffins begin to turn brown on top.

Makes 12 muffins

Straube promoted to EIRMC physician support IT position

Myles Straube of Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center has been promoted to the position of physician support coordinator for information technology and services.

Straube previously worked in computer technology at EIRMC. He replaces Lenette Maxwell, who has accepted an information technology position with the Hospital Corporation of America's Mountain Division. Nashville-based HCA is EIRMC's owner.

Straube has a degree in information technology and 20 years' clinical experience as a Navy corpsman, Army medic, EMT and private office medical assistant, a hospital news release said.

I.F. Advertising Federation guest speaker to talk about listening skills

Brent Bean of BYU-Idaho

The Idaho Falls Advertising Federation will have its Lunch & Learn this Thursday at Billman's Steakhouse, on 17th Street in Ammon.

The guest speaker will be Brent Bean of BYU-Idaho, who will be talking about developing better listening skills in business and personal matters. Better, more attentive listening, can save time on revisions, reprimands, re-dos and can spare relationships a lot of unnecessary pain.

Sign-in starts at 11:45 a.m., 15 minutes earlier than usual, to give Bean time to arrive from his last class of the morning. Billman’s has a large (and warm) meeting room, so there will be plenty of chairs for all. For lunch: Soup, salad, and build-your-own-sandwich bar with chips, a cookie and lemonade.

RSVP and pre-pay  at a discount online at: http://groupspaces.com/IFAdFed/item/380656
Or, reply to tina@mightymcs.com or Lisa Fischbach before Wednesday 5 p.m., and pay at the door. Cost is $15 for members, $18 for non-members at the door.

Teton VW to hold ribbon cutting at noon Friday

Teton Volkswagen, south of Idaho Falls

There will be a ribbon cutting at noon Friday at Teton Volkswagen, 3084 Outlet Boulevard, on the west side of Interestate 15 Exit 116 and next door to Queenie Linderman's One16 Sports Bar and Grill.

Light refreshments will be served, and there will be a drawing for a VW Mountain Bike.

Teton Volkswagen is owned by the same company as Teton Toyota. The Outlet Boulevard location is temporary, as the plan is to build a new dealership this year on the east side of the Interstate, next to Teton Toyota.

All this comes at a time when Toyota has retaken the top spot as the world's best-selling auto company, passing General Motors. According to a story on NPR this morning, Volkswagen came in at No. 3. To hear the story, follow this link: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=2&t=1&islist=false&id=169387401&m=169392544

Here is the link to Teton Volkswagen's Web page: http://www.mytetonvw.com/. I notice Buddy, Teton Toyota's mascot, is on the Teton VW masthead. I was going to volunteer my dachshund, Schatzi, but it's probably all for the best. She's not comfortable with strangers and even more nervous around children.

Riverbend Communications acquires Harvest Fest, Home and Garden Extravaganza

Riverbend Communications has taken over management of two of eastern Idaho’s largest community events, Harvest Fest and the Home and Garden Extravaganza.

Harvest Fest was purchased from Blue Fox Events and The Home and Garden Extravaganza from 78 Productions.

This year's Harvest Fest, the eighth in as many years, is set for Sept. 14 at Snake River Landing.  The 5th Annual Home and Garden Extravaganza will be held March 15 and 16 at the Kingston Plaza on West Broadway.

The shows join a growing list of events put on by Riverbend Productions, a division of Riverbend Communications, a company owned by Frank and Belinda VanderSloot. Other Riverbend events include the East Idaho Kids Fair in the spring, East Idaho’s Biggest Garage Sale in June, the What Today’s Women Want Expo in October, and The All I Want for Christmas Expo in December.

“Our goal continues to be to provide quality entertainment for the east Idaho community and results for those clients who participate in the events,” said Jay Dye, the company's director of special projects. 

For more details on all the Riverbend events, call (208) 535-8331.

Riverbend Communications companies include, Classy 97, Z103, 105-5 The Hawk, KBEAR 101, NewsTalk 690/1260, Riverbend Digital, Riverbend Outdoor, and Riverbend Productions.