Disqus - Latest Comments for thefoodgeek

Re:

thefoodgeek — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 17:55:09 -0000

Oh, I dunno. I mean, yes, that's how the movie focused things, but I don't agree with the conclusions of the article. With a focused movie with a single plot or a couple of plots, you absolutely follow a couple through the stages from meeting to happily ever after. "Love, Actually" is more about taking selections of various stages of the process, many of them beginnings, and showing those. I don't think it's meant to say that these are the endings, just that this is how things are at the end.

As for specific critiques with the article, I don't believe Liam Neeson was saying that he needed a supermodel in order to love again. I think he was saying that he had no intention to love again, and was giving a ridiculous example of why it wasn't going to happen in order to keep his son from focusing on him. The arrival of Claudia Schiffer is just a way of saying, "Just because you don't think it's going to happen doesn't mean it's not going to happen." With a more focused film, it wouldn't have to go for the cute resolve, but that's not what this film is about.

The article also confuses love with attraction, which is a common enough flaw. Colin Firth's character, for example, didn't realize that he loved the maid when he saw her partially naked, he realized he was attracted to her. He realized he loved her when they went away from each other. One could argue that his difficulties in communicating was necessary because, as a writer, he's meant to be in control of words, and this is something outside of his control.

The subplot I like the least, with Knightley, I am given to understand (from what I believe was an article you posted during the midst of the anniversary craze) was based on an event from Richard Curtis's life.

So, no, it doesn't follow its story arcs the same way most of the other romantic comedies do. In some ways that works, in other ways it doesn't.

Re: Make bread by mixing ice cream with flour and baking

thefoodgeek — Sat, 11 May 2013 14:30:50 -0000

I disagree. It's a muffin or quickbread. The leavening is from chemicals and the mixing is closer to the muffin method than any of the cake methods. But yes, closer to a cake than a bread.

Re: A supercut of Gustavo Almadovar saying his name again and again

thefoodgeek — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 20:59:27 -0000

I liked the one where he twirled his mic the best.

Re: Marian Call’s Something Fierce is Something Amazing (hold til Nov 12)

thefoodgeek — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 13:31:11 -0000

Marian and Something Fierce in Berlin. Berlin when the wall fell. Coffee by the Numbers. The train to Rome as dominoes tumble. The moose jerked.

Re: Step 193: Get a grown-up email address

thefoodgeek — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 13:14:44 -0000

There's a hierarchy chart for how you are viewed by different groups based on your domain name. Gmail is a good start, but if you are a techie going for a techie job, having a gmail address rather than a custom domain means you lack initiative.

Then there's the situation I'm in, where my primary email address is from a domain called pobox which is for "lifetime email addresses." I've had the same, non-aol, non-yahoo, non-hotmail email address since 1995, and my plan is to keep it forever. So there are other options as well.

Re: Restaurant Roundup

thefoodgeek — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 16:13:46 -0000

I have also heard that a biker-themed bar is going into that area.

Re: Learning to Cook - Journal - The Food Geek

thefoodgeek — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 17:32:10 -0000

Heh. Well, this particular chili uses cubed meat rather than ground, so that's probably the difference. And there was definitely nothing particularly liquid left.

Substituting lettuce for lima beans, eh? Haha. Yes, I can see where that might cause one or two problems. :)

Re: http://chicazul.tumblr.com/post/5688451104

thefoodgeek — Sat, 21 May 2011 10:12:31 -0000

Probably something acidic would have brightened it up. Vinegar or lime juice, for example.

Re: http://chicazul.tumblr.com/post/5570859237

thefoodgeek — Tue, 17 May 2011 15:13:20 -0000

That's fair. I don't have any emotional investment in relying upon beauty, so that's part of the reason we differ somewhat in opinion. By rights, I should be self-conscious about my height, but that has rarely bothered me throughout life.

The other part is that I may be somewhat more opposed to relying on a single skill or attribute than many people (siloing, as you write). Clearly you do not like to rely on a single skill nor attribute, so we may have the same viewpoint on that.

But yes: beauty can fade quickly, and chasing it can often be worse than letting it go. It's unwise to rely upon it, but the temptation is hard to resist, because it makes things so easy.

Thinking harder about it, I do have a lower opinion of people who rely completely on their looks to get things done, so I'm apparently not completely philosophical about it.

Perhaps the difference is really that I can't fault someone for not liking something, or thinking that they are not able to do something. In both math and cooking, I try to encourage people to understand that it's usually not a lack of ability so much as either a lack of attention or poor instruction. They do have to want it, though, or it's just not going to happen.

I see your dilemma of how you would approach a conversation with the young lady in question, and I hope it's clear that I've just taken advantage of your post to work through my thoughts on this issue. So congratulations writing a thought-provoking post.

Re: http://chicazul.tumblr.com/post/5570859237

thefoodgeek — Tue, 17 May 2011 11:08:25 -0000

I agree that the shirt was a bad shirt. It does definitely seem to imply that only ugly people do math, but it might be worth looking at it another way.

Everyone has things that they are good at, and things that they are not. Some of us have talents/interests that are helpful for success, and some of us do not. It is not uncommon for people to maximize on their successes, as doing things you're good at feels good.

Similar slogans for other walks of life might be, "I'm too smart to dig ditches," "I'm too good at playing guitar to play the drums," "I'm too good at math to be an engineer," and so on. There is certainly an implied disdain for the other methods of doing things, but it's also an admission of your strengths.

If I had a slogan of that type, it would probably be something like "I'm too good at everything to specialize," which is the positive and jerky way of saying that I dabble and will likely never be an expert in any given thing.

Hopefully the little girl has learned that relying on your looks will rarely take you past a certain point, although it's an undeniable strategy if you can pull it off. In a social world, being attractive makes everything easier. The problem with that strategy is, if you ever become unattractive, or if you are stuck in a situation where other people can't help you, then you're doomed.

Mind you, that's true for most strategies. Take a college professor out of an academic setting and forcing them to fix a car, for example, often causes problems.

What will make the little girl happiest in the long run? I don't know. I tend to think, for most people, if you can work you way up to SOHCAHTOA then you probably have most of the practical math you need, though a good grounding in basic statistics is very useful.

All I can say is that I am glad, personally, that I did not rely upon my good looks to get me by in the world, however dashing they may be.

Re: What I taught my friend to cook - Journal - The Food Geek

thefoodgeek — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 12:39:15 -0000

Thank you. And yes, that is true both for cooking and for life. Many people see failure as a bad thing, and it's so much better if you can cultivate the idea that failure is good. After all, if you don't fail every so often, that's a sign that you probably aren't trying hard enough.

Re: A Year From Scratch - Journal - The Food Geek

thefoodgeek — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:24:51 -0000

Clearly this will be a good way to practice my French reading skills. :)

Re: Double-Strawberry Open-Faced Pie - Journal - The Food Geek

thefoodgeek — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 21:14:29 -0000

You are correct, 67h should have been 67g. Thanks for catching that,
and I've corrected it in the article.

Re: Double-Strawberry Open-Faced Pie - Journal - The Food Geek

thefoodgeek — Sat, 01 May 2010 13:50:30 -0000

They have it at the ABC stores. I know the one by Zinc definitely has it, or
did last I was there, but most of them should.

Re: Slow Cookery - Journal - The Food Geek

thefoodgeek — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:19:54 -0000

Our favorite application is to cook some onions and spinach, combine with the pork, and serve as a burrito with the normal range of toppings. You are more than welcome to add adobo or similar in the cooking process. We don't, primarily to keep our options open when we use it in the future.

Re: Seriously. That's it?

thefoodgeek — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:45:22 -0000

While I accept your points and do not begrudge you your not buying of an iPad, I suspect the general usefulness of it will become more obvious once people see it in the field.

My use case is probably a bit different from yours, but I expect to ditch the kindle and my netbook completely, and to only bring along a notebook if I'm doing something that I expect to have to do programming or video editing for. This should end up, with my phone, being my super-light travel accessory to go anywhere in the world with me if I'm doing personal or The Food Geek travel.

I also expect that it's just going to be really cool. Don't underestimate the advantage of the Touch OS combined with real speed. The Map and iPhoto demos were a really good hint at what's going to happen when developers start making things specifically for it.

Re: The Many Faces of Yeast - Journal - The Food Geek

thefoodgeek — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:07:48 -0000

Always a pleasure.

Re: Vanilla Salt Cookies - Journal - The Food Geek

thefoodgeek — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:43:21 -0000

That is correct.

Re: Who owns that recipe? - Journal - The Food Geek

thefoodgeek — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:20:44 -0000

Hi, Aaron,

There's no surefire way to reverse engineer a recipe from the final food. You might be able to guess, or use your experience to know it tastes just like something you're used to but with an extra bit of tarragon or similar, but you can't take it to a lab, have them tear apart the flavor compounds, and give you a recipe.

However, if you asked them for a recipe, or you did something underhanded like bribe a current or former cook, or you did something illegal like break into their house for the recipe (presuming it's written down), then you could publish that. Of course, you might have to deal with whatever consequences there could be for how you got a hold of the recipe, but that's neither here nor there (please don't break into their home).

The important thing, though, is that the mom and pop should want to tell people about their amazing food. There's a lot of benefit to sharing knowledge, and I encourage everyone to jump in and share.

Re: Cleaning trout - Journal - The Food Geek

thefoodgeek — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 08:03:58 -0000

Oh, yes, I loved Asheville. If I ever need to move from Charlottesville, Asheville will be on the list of alternate places.

Andrea, we were under a bit of a time crunch, otherwise we would have seen the rest of the process as well. However, we had a cooking competition to get to, so we couldn't spend much more time at the trout farm. I fear that my ability to clean a trout is limited to what was in the video, especially as I don't have the filleting machine, but it's a step.

Re: Cleaning trout - Journal - The Food Geek

thefoodgeek — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:46:54 -0000

I am pleased to report that none of the bloggers managed to slice their own hands open. Thank goodness.

Re: This week on Fine Cooking: Basil and Lettuce 2-for-1

thefoodgeek — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:00:46 -0000

Thanks, Alison!

It's funny, I'm so much more creative when I'm giving examples of how to be creative than when I'm, for example, deciding what to make for dinner. It's like I should follow my own advice or something. Crazy talk, I know, but I'm a crazy guy sometimes.

Re: Baking pan conversions…yay!

thefoodgeek — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:04:23 -0000

No reason why not, Coco.

Re: Cider

thefoodgeek — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:00:57 -0000

Testing out a disqus comment as a tweet for thefoodgeek.com.

Re: Dealing with living food

thefoodgeek — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 08:32:00 -0000

Good point on the sous vide. The other nice thing about it is that you don't have to worry about water getting into the food that you're sousing vide. My understanding is that it's somewhat tricky to get good results with vegetables in sous vide, but as you say, experimenting could be worth it.

For those interested in more info on the sous vide, you might want to check out the post I did for fine cooking on the topic. http://www.finecooking.com/...