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Fat Guy

eGullet Society staff emeritus
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Everything posted by Fat Guy

  1. It's going on this weekend. I didn't get down there the first day but will be there today. Any advice. Event details here: http://bigapplebbq.org/ Host Note: Click HERE for the terms under which this has been posted on the eGullet Forums
  2. I think that ended up being the solution. I guess there is no word that exists in English that most people would understand without the need for a definition.
  3. Tri2Cook, the context is that a colleague is writing about a product that works for both muffins and cupcakes, and in the copy he doesn't want to keep repeating "muffins and cupcakes." He wants to use one word that means both, and that people will understand. It may not be possible.
  4. Hard one, right? Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2
  5. Anybody have an idea for a single vocabulary word that means either a cupcake or a muffin, i.e., an individual sized baked good baked in a muffin/cupcake pan?
  6. I had some fine experiences at the Stage Deli. I don't think it was ever the best for any one thing, however the sandwich combinations named for celebrities were often brilliant. I wonder if the one in Vegas is still in operation.
  7. I was walking through Midtown yesterday (not pleasant) and noticed that the Stage Deli has closed. This article confirms: http://www.myfoxny.com/story/20231162/nycs-famous-stage-deli-closes Not that it was ever my favorite, but it is a lost piece of deli history.
  8. What kind of tubing does one need to use in order to accommodate hot liquid?
  9. Those who use siphons, is it just a piece of flexible tubing and you get it started with your mouth?
  10. Love the saucepan idea. Totally did not think of that. Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2
  11. What's the safest way to get 12 quarts of hot cocoa from a stock pot into a dispenser contraption? The require maneuver involves filling the dispenser from the top through about a 4" mouth.
  12. Friend's mom just died. Need to send food. Jewish food. In Cleveland. Who should I call?
  13. Not being the boss pays better! Basically, if the company endeavors to build your invention, the company owns the intellectual property and pays you (and your collaborators) a perpetual royalty.
  14. Thanks Nick. I was just talking about you at the new office. I mentioned that we once had our community focus group transcripts analyzed by a corporate psychologist in Australia, who developed a survey for us. It all sounded very impressive. Actually, in retrospect, the story impressed me too. With respect to the behind-the-scenes work, I think my successors are slowly realizing that I did less than they thought and that I didn't do it as well as I should have!
  15. Once I settle in, surely, I should be able to do that.
  16. I have never seen a corporate refrigerator situation to rival this one. There are actually four refrigerators -- the big-ass Sub Zero kind. Two of them are stocked with an array of beverages that includes not only soft drinks but also beer and wine. One is stocked with fruit, yogurt, and other snacks. One is for use by employees for storing items they bring for themselves. There are also cabinets full of snacks like potato chips, pretzels, pistachios, muffins, Five Hour Energy, etc. There's a Natura machine for sparkling and still purified water. A Nespresso machine for coffee and related beverages. Not to mention a fully operational, well-equipped kitchen.
  17. After more than a decade, I'm stepping aside as executive director of the Society for Culinary Arts & Letters (the parent organization of eGullet.org). Here's what happened: Around the time of our 10th anniversary, I told the board of directors I was going to start looking for a new challenge. Since then, we've worked to ensure a smooth leadership transition. Let me tell you about that first. Dave Scantland, who many of you know online as "Dave the Cook," will be taking over as executive director. Dave joined us in 2002 and went from member to host to manager to director of operations, and is now taking the helm with the unanimous support of our board of directors. Dave has been a great friend to me and to the organization. He has been acting executive director on several occasions, such as during my leave when my son was born. He has been the person we've given our most difficult jobs to, and he has always handled them with aplomb. I will let Dave speak for himself about his vision for the future of the organization -- and you will hear from him soon -- but suffice it to say this should be an exciting new chapter. Dave will be supported by Chris Hennes, who will expand his portfolio (he is currently director of operations for technology) to include managing our finances as director of operations. Janet Zimmerman ("JAZ") will continue on as a manager and a member of the board of directors. Finally, Chris Amirault will remain director of operations for eG Forums, supported by the amazing Linda Kowalcky ("LindaK") and the best team of forum hosts and participants ever. (The forums team is always looking to recruit new staff, so if you think you'd fit in please reach out to Linda via the personal messenger system.) So, what am I doing? What am I even qualified to do after spending a decade here? A couple of months ago, I met the folks at a company called Quirky (http://www.quirky.com). Quirky does what is called social product development, though that hardly tells the whole story. Quirky has a rapidly growing online community of about 230,000 people. Community members submit product ideas on the Quirky.com website. The ideas are evaluated by the community, the community collaborates to make them better, and every week the best inventions are selected, further developed, and actually built. Quirky has been very successful with this model and has placed quite a few products in stores like Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Container Store -- many of the best places. So, essentially, it is a company built around an online community, and they were looking for somebody to head up their community team. When I saw the job description, it read like it had been written to smoke me out: they were looking for someone who had experience with a large online community, and who was looking for a new challenge. When I told them what we've been doing here since 2001, we started a conversation that extended through more than a dozen meetings and culminated last week in my taking on the position of Head of Community at Quirky, Inc. I'm tremendously excited about this new chapter in my life. I will also miss this place terribly. Over the years, you all have become my extended family. Last summer, at our annual Heartland Gathering, I looked around and thought what an extraordinary group of people came together in this community. For example, did you know that our head of membership, Kris Yamaguchi ("Torakris"), until recently was based in Yokohoma, Japan? Yes, if you applied for membership, your application was reviewed in Japan -- that's why the people who applied at 2am in New York got approved so quickly. Yet she was there in Ohio at the gathering -- I think she traveled the farthest of anyone, though she was not the only person who came from Asia. Our community members have accomplished many things that have moved the conversation about food forward in significant ways. Most recently, Nathan Myhrvold (member "NathanM") released his treatise, Modernist Cuisine, which was born many years ago in discussions on our forums about sous-vide cookery. A few years ago, our members broke the biggest story ever about culinary plagiarism, which ended up in the Wall Street Journal, the major magazines -- and, to this day, in law review articles. In 2003, before anybody had thought to do it, we pioneered online cooking instruction with our community-based eGullet Culinary Institute project. Several of those tutorials, like Sam Kinsey's course on cookware, remain definitive and frequently cited. At least one, Chad Ward's knife tutorial, developed into a book from a major publisher. In 2002, we launched the Daily Gullet, articles from which have been selected for inclusion in the annual anthology Best Food Writing as often, or more often, than any other publication, whether its form is paper or pixels. It's been an early venue for some of today's most promising and prolific food writers. Not long ago I ran into a chef who many consider the best chef in the US right now. He said to me, "Do you have any idea how much eGullet has meant to so many people?" That makes me proud, but I also know that I'm just a recognizable name attached to eGullet and that all the real accomplishments belong to the community. I will come around the forums when I can, and I will still be on the board of directors -- and available to the team when they can't find the password to the Stamps.com account. I also hope there can be some sort of dialog about consumer products in the kitchen, because I'll be at a company that can actually build the stuff you guys think up. So I won't say goodbye, but I will say thank you from the bottom of my heart for an amazing decade. With relish, Fat Guy
  18. He hasn't lost one yet. A couple have been destroyed: the way they pile up and abuse the lunches at a NYC elementary school is reminiscent of how that same process would happen in prison. But since all the containers go in his vinyl lunch sack every day, they all come back every day -- so far. I love the multi-compartment ones but they lack flexibility. With different types of individual containers, I can choose the shapes and sizes that work for a given meal. It also makes it easier for him to do something like hold the pretzels as a snack for after school.
  19. That's a question. It seems everybody has a slightly different method. I don't think my method is the best, and I'm going to make a frittata for guests pretty soon. So, what to do?
  20. Which is why it doesn't work. I don't actually know anyone who is predictably always late by the same amount of time. We have occasionally tried the strategy of lying about timing, and it sometimes works, but then there's the time that the target of the lie actually shows up an hour early. I think, if you're going to deal with people who are chronically late, the better move is to cook food that can tolerate large margins of error. Some of my friends are simply never going to be served risotto in my home. I've also been trying to be more proactive about avoiding situations where the margin of error matters. The chronically late people don't get invited over on school nights, and I've bee trying not to invite them in combination with reliably punctual people who deserve risotto.
  21. I would add: 9. Hot dogs. NJ is surely the leader. 10. Indian food. The Edison/Iselin area is the best place I've been in the US for Indian food. I just wanted to make sure you'd miss an even 10. Make it 11: White Manna.
  22. There are some things we still don't have in New York City, like a whole-hog operation that rivals what Ed Mitchell does. But in quite a few categories we are turning out very fine barbecue, following the pattern we have followed with so many other types of food. In the barbecue area, New York's big advantage is money. Barbecue at Hill Country costs substantially more than barbecue in Lockhart. Some of this goes into real estate and other fixed costs, but some goes into ingredients. On the whole I think the quality of meat being used for barbecue here is higher than anywhere else. Most of the other things being served, from sides to desserts, are better here than in their native places. With the smoking technology issues long settled, and so many of the top pitmasters consulting here, and an audience that has traveled and experienced and is eager to pay for good barbecue, it's hard to imagine any other outcome.
  23. I have a layer of body fat I can draw upon during lengthy meal delays. But a lot of people, especially children, don't. There's also the question of paying the babysitter. Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2
  24. Yesterday I started a topic about my annoyance with people who can't get a meal ready on time. In a related vein, I know several people who never show up on time when I invite them over for a meal. I'm not talking about being late within a socially acceptable margin of error -- say, half a hour. I'm talking about consistently being an hour or more late beyond the time you say dinner is going to be on the table. I've found that there are two defenses against people like that: 1. Serve foods that are extremely forgiving of extra holding time, such as braised meat. (Not, for example, risotto). 2. Serve foods that are cooked at the moment of service and take very little time or attention. (Not, for example, risotto). Also never invite habitually late and habitually on-time people to the same dinner, especially when the on-time ones have kids.
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