Carrot Top

I had questions and concerns that I 'verbalized'. They were my own questions and concerns and I did not presume to say otherwise. Literally, I had no specific person in mind but rather a body of work(s) by many here and there....and a tone that I picked up. It is possible that it is only me that picked up this tone...but I never claimed it as a fact that required 'answering for'. I merely stated my own thoughts, for myself, on that 'tone'. The questions were about the genre, and the questions were about stylistic approaches, about what is perceived to be the 'correct' approach...and the questions were about human nature. If there is a straw man or woman in your mind, they really are yours alone. If there is none, great! Whisk away my impertinence.

Nope. Decide for yourself.

This is possible and probable that different reviewers are being thought of, Bux. But I am thinking of nobody specific at all...in terms of the questions I have. Does a 'review' of a restaurant, as we generally understand it, as written by most reviewers across the country...fall under the category of traditional 'journalism' and therefore is it to be taken and read in the same ways journalism is? Is it subject to the same rules even though (to me) it seems to be a very different experience to prepare a traditional journalistic report which is based on verifiable facts rather than subjective opinion? There are lines being crossed here in ways of writing about things that makes the writing about things somewhat muddied and unclear to my mind. And I love good writing. I love good writers... and admire good journalists who take the time to research and check facts. This seems rather unclear to me....and it also galls me that people might read an opinion as a fact. And basically I have to admit I don't really care a whole lot, except I felt belligerent today.

A liar or a knave, huh? Nope, not worthless nor uninteresting. Just depends on how the thing is being presented...as an opinion or as a perceived fact...and the way it is written will inform the reader as to how the writer intends it to be taken. To me, pomposity is tolerable at moments. It can be amusing and useful in creating a mood. But pretension sticks in my gullet. To me, I consider a review or a criticism.... entertainment and a view into how other people think....most particularly the writer. If it holds more than that because of whatever has been put into it, that is great. The entertainment part is of the most value to me. Obviously, other things will be of value to other people.

I'm searching to see if this is a trick question, Michael. I don't see why not, unless the 'critic' brought a set of opinions into the mix and got them all blended into the analysis of the thinking behind the meal. For that is not reporting facts, that is something else. And it seems to me that food reviews are being put under the category of 'journalism' in terms of how it is thought we should think of them. But here. We are talking about how people, individuals, react to and then critique a meal. My experience is that I could seat four individuals around a table. I could match those individuals in terms of similar educations.... cultural backgrounds....general personalities...even as to how they had spent the day up till this moment in time. I could serve them four plates of the exactly precise same meal cooked by the same person with the same ingredients plated at the same time served by four servers who looked and acted as close as any four clones could. And I could call them afterwards and say "What did you think of the meal?" And I could get four distinctly different answers. Yep. It has happened. It is sort of like the stories of how when police interview bystanders about what the perpertrators of a crime (jeez bad choice of words when talking about a meal, but whatever... ) look like, they will get completely different 'eyewitness' reports. I just like to see and feel things for myself. And not be told I am being 'educated' by what is actually someone else's personal opinion.

No of course I am not in favor of ignorance. The more one can learn about anything, the better. BUT there is a difference between choosing one's own hopefully intelligent and useful pattern of learning and that of blindly following what someone else may say is the best pattern of learning. Obviously there are some classic things in every metier that require understanding for full understanding of the metier. But two things strike me. One. That a person will not get a full rich education from reading and swallowing another person's opinions which have been displayed as facts. If you think I am overstating the case for gullibility of the public...well...you may think I am overstating the case. Que sera. It may also perhaps not be placed under the heading of 'gullibility' but perhaps a confusion of what is factual journalism and what is op-ed sort of writing. But "Follow-the-Leader" is a popular game not only with children. Two. Too often...again...in my own personal opinion...I see people who are so busy being analytical about things, so busy showing how much they 'know' in an intellectual, tearing-apart-of-subject sort of way....that they are writing scenarios in their heads about what is going on in the moment rather than just experiencing it. Everything they see, feel, hear, taste, is instantly reflected into the pool of intellectual knowledge to be matched or mirrored. They are so busy thinking that they don't even really lose themselves in the fact of tasting something without superimposed this and that. I hope that explains what I said better. If you add in the idea that I love to throw out bold blanket statements just for the purpose of getting a good discussion going, maybe that will help too.

Yes. And that is not about opinion..which is what many reviews offer. Ingredients, processes, history. And cooking. Should be learned if one wants to have a good understanding and sense of food. Reading someone's opinion of a meal does not do this.

I think that's too bad. If you had instruction on how to read space in paintings and how they fit into a history of previous artworks, etc., you could understand the painting on many deeper levels than just an image you can see without any art education. And I suppose there's an analogy with food, in that some understanding of what chefs intend through their methods (the theoretical level) and what the history of different aspects of cuisine have been (the historical level) may help diners to instruct themselves. The fact that I'm less convinced such a culinary education is necessary for the knowledgeable appreciation of food than a good art education is for the knowledgeable appreciation of art may well just be a reflection of my relative lack of knowledge in various matters of cuisine. After all, it's hard for people to know what they're missing by virtue of not knowing things and, therefore, easy to think that ignorance is bliss or some such. Now, if you'd rather not have any of that context and would rather simply use your unaided eye to look at paintings, etc., that's your choice, but I won't pretend that I don't consider it an inferior choice. Whether paying attention to art critics will teach you much that's worth knowing and whether food critics are the best placed to educate the public about matters culinary are separate questions. And I suspect that the public is probably a bit better placed to judge the latter than the former, but that opinion might again be an indication of my relative lack of knowledge about the culinary arts as opposed to the fine arts. ← I have had education in how to read space and other things in art, Michael. And have lived with a gallery-represented artist in Soho in a time when there were only three places to eat in the entire neighborhood...Spring Street Bar, Broome Street Bar, and EAT. And have met and dined and conversed about art at length with the gallery owners who were first to move downtown into that neighborhood in a time of festering magnificent renewal and growth. I do know the difference between an unfettered experience and a possibly over-educated one (if there can be such a thing? that depends on how the person who receives the education swallows it, digests it...whole in a piece as a truth or...as a subjective, again...part of the entire experience). I have seen too many people mouthing the opinions of others without using their own brain cells, their own senses, their own common sense....and standing behind the fine title of 'education' (or in this case, of critical opinion)as they mouth other's opinions as their own. Education to me is a process that starts from within and takes from many places that exist ...outside. Education...often to me as it is used today seems a dry old duck that does not do a lot to encourage creativity. I like to have had access to the more formal facets of education. But the ultimate experience must still come from within. And that, is paradoxical as so many things are.

Your post did seriously entertain me, mebutter. Lovely, testy, point-on post there that has brought chortles of laughter from me in memory all this morning. Here is something that I must say. It is possible that nobody at all will agree with me on this...and it is also possible that nobody will even deign to answer the idea. So what. I am feeling mildly pugilistic as usual. It does not seem to me....that the ultimate way of 'education' in terms of food, of dining in restaurants...can be or should be made by 'critics'. The education about food...the gainsaying of knowledge that would allow for fine discriminations....the experience of food which is visceral and subjective...which can only be made objective by so many qualifications and delineations within each dining experience....is to my mind best made by the individual restauranteurs, by the chefs, by the tastes and experiences of the diners. The food is the education itself and the diner is best, self-educated. As when looking at a painting...a work of art. Do I want to be informed by a critic of its greater or lesser importance first, its place in the Grand Scheme of things, everything surrounding the making of it and the artist that created it, the influences, the differences from its influences, whether it is 'pure' in its way or not and whether the critic approves of it or not? Uh...not really. I want to see that painting as it stands with no forethought or analysis in my mind at all. I want to taste it and experience it unfettered. As unfettered as is humanly possible. To feel....that one needs to read and be 'educated' by critical reviews seems rather sad to me...and rather wrong if most people are doing it and following along...allowing their own perceptions to be shaped by someone else's. Knowledgeable guides to food and restaurants are good and valuable things for those that wish to have a 'lead' into where it is they want to go. But I say, let each person taste....for themselves. For greater knowledge of food, there are cookbooks. There are books written about the history of food...providing the way of education in what might be considered 'authentic' or not authentic...if that matters to the reader/eater. I would not ever really wish to argue...a review with a critic that he/she wrote. They have their taste, I have mine, and to each their own. But I really have no wish to be 'educated' by the subjective tastes of someone elses palate....it feels sort of pushy to me. That's just me.

Well. I know you guys are all serious about this, and rightly so. But it has been greatly entertaining to read, nonetheless. Maybe in unanticipated ways, but nevertheless... Mebutter....you just took the prize for the most entertaining post ever. A "10" on the Laughter Scale. And that...is what I look for in a critic. Mostly...an entertaining read. Everything else is so terribly subjective with food and with the people that eat it that.... honestly...how can one say what another will like or dislike...particularly given possible daily inconsistencies of BOH or FOH....and then of course the inconsistency of human beings which even depending on the particular "mood" they are in at the moment of dining, can affect the flavor of the food and the experience of the meal. A really good read and a hopefully good lead. What more could one ask?

Well... Papaya King has been surviving and apparently doing well with New York City rents for a loooooong time.....and in some decent foot-traffic locations, too. Of course, who knows. Could be they own the buildings...but the shops are so tiny that I sort of doubt it.

Uh... No. No. Please, god, no. ← I pretty much have a little freak-out from seeing the nom de flume [sic] "Carrot Top," but not from our eG friend here. I think of the unfunny performer who could be Janet Reno's redheaded stepchild. But eG Carrot Top, you are worth the cover charge. ← You are a dear person, tanabutler...and not only for saying the above but for your beautiful photos and the care you have for things from the earth...and in the way you show us their beauty. I don't watch much TV...the children watch it as I wander around 'doing things' in the house...so when I chose that Carrot Top name I didn't think of that fellow! It was hard to find a name that wasn't 'taken' on eG ....lots of people here! and this is my first 'on-line' experience. The name was chosen because it is one of the ridiculous names small redheaded girls are called in their youth that makes them blush and makes them sort of mad...which of course happened to me. At first, every time I read it on-line, it made me laugh out loud to think of myself as this name, so that is good. It shows that so much less nonsense matters as one gets older! I was uh...yeah...somewhat shocked when I saw who this other Carrot Top was... But he is younger than me...so the name is mine first!! Sometime soon will get a photo and post it so there will be a different reference point for the name, I promise. P.S. Hey wait a minute...the cover charge here is free!!! Pshaw.

Ah. It must be that time again. That time to admit that I was only (sort of) kidding. It was the philosophy of the idea that attracted me...not the reality.

Well...isn't the correct answer to this question "It doesn't taste as good unless..." Isn't the correct answer....unless.... "Mom makes it"? Now my mother was a terrible cook...but I still think this is the correct answer to this question.

Heigh ho the dairy-o , the cheese stands alone...

And please do forgive my rather unscientific explanation. Cooking is like sex to me. I can tell you how to do it (hopefully ) well from my own personal experience. The art and action of cookery should be a visceral, live experience rather than a science class.. but that is just my way of things. Others may live differently.

I have had such a terrible urge for Papaya King lately that I looked up their website just several days ago to try to find the closest one. Really good stuff. Classic and sort of no-nonsense. And the drinks are very healthy, which balances out the hot dog thing.

In agreement with the idea that leftover mashed potatoes won't be the best thing to try gnocchi with...particularly for a first effort. Imagine...the difference between fresh hot mashed potatoes (which even to hold briefly for any quality at all must be topped off with milk and maintained at a certain temperature) and mashed potatoes which have sat in the fridge. They flatten and become heavy. Dense. And even the flavor changes slightly. There really are so many other great things you can make from them...as others have mentioned, a sort of fritter or a duchesse or a pancake or mixed with baccala or even regular poached cod to make a lovely fresh fish cake.... Gnocchi are lovely things....but there is some sort of texture thing that is integral to gnocchi that I do not believe you will get from using potatoes, pre-cooked, as the base for them.

This is beginning to sound like an episode of 'The Jetsons'.

This is hysterical! ← Even moreso if you read it too quickly as I did thereby thinking it said "stuffed it into his pants"... Ouch.

I am sure that is closer to Glory than to Simplicity. ( )

My answer would be the same about the labor question as terese's, Michael...for the area I lived, but with the note added that many people did have small farms in addition to or instead of the factory jobs. Lots of people still bring in hay every year but of course there is farm equipment for almost every job now, which reduces the physical labor quotient compared to other places in the world that may not have all this equipment at hand. And the farms were for cattle, which is a less onerous sort of farming than fruit or veggies. The only focus on physical activity I can remember was for Little League football and secondarily for cheerleaders for Little League football... I have no idea where to take my thoughts on this. Everyone did grow their own vegetables or have family right close by that did. Lots of people put up cans of things each year. Lots of people have freezers full of their own meats...either beef or venison from hunting....or meats from someone down the road that they bought cattle on the hoof from and had it slaughtered and cut to order at the local slaughterhouse. On the other hand, the two local grocery stores were rather grim to say the least. When I moved back into a populated place...here in Blacksburg...and again had access to places like Krogers (which I never thought of as a 'top' grocery store in other places I've lived ) I felt as if I had moved back to America from a foreign country...a foreign country with limited resources. And the people that live there are not totally isolated nor are they ignorant, either. They have access to all modern communications devices, they know about nutrition....they are no less intelligent than people anywhere else.... I don't know. The answer seems to me to be something more ephemeral. And to try to express it would likely sound foolish...so I won't. Well...okay, I will. I think, in this place, in this particular place....they are eating instead of dreaming. They are swallowing certain of their hopes, whole.

May we please be clear that rolling said stockings to just under the knee is NOT the look we're talking about here. (shudder) ← I dunno. Does someone want to post a photo? < That is an angelically smiling smilie face.

Actually, StudentChefEclipse...I was being my usual sarcastic self and hinting that somehow the schools must be teaching people how to do this stuff... for the scams I've seen and heard of are not only rampant but incredibly detailed and intelligent. Always surprises me that people that are capable of thinking up these things and then implementing them are sometimes not doing too well in the actual tasks their jobs require...but then again...all that energy and intelligence is being used to think of the next scam...

Ah. Not made precisely from food...but from a food-ish byproduct. Saw some very cute little handbags...large enough to carry a cellphone, wallet and lipstick of course in, at a local artsy store here in town. They were quite simply made from Capri Sun and other sorts of pliable small juice packs that had been laminated then sewn together with a quilting stitch on a sewing machine. The strap was the same. A small snap was attached on the inside to hold the top together. Very very cute. Colorful, shiny and fun. They were selling for about $20. each and really...all they mostly took to make was what normally would be thrown in the trash!