cakewalk

Yes. Definitely.

Actually the word "verboten" still makes me shudder. But aside from that, the word "gourmet" is right up there with "artisan" at this point. I always expect something special and unknown to me (which is really not hard), but I walk into these "gourmet" shops and see the same old stuff all the time. I get annoyed at the word "munchkins" when people mean "donut holes." Did Dunkin' Donuts do that? Really obnoxious.

Real Noo Yawkahs don't drive.

Splitting, buttering, and throwing it butter-side-down on a griddle? A griddle? Griddles are for southerners. Bagels never fit in toasters. Once upon a time, that was all we New Yorkers had. This is pre-toaster oven. Toasting a bagel was a good way to burn your house down. Don't even get me started on blueberry bagels. First time I saw one, I thought it was some kind of joke. I still do. Bagels were always bought by the dozen and then brought home to eat. You went to the bagel store for the bagels (plain, poppy, sesame, salt, period.)* Then you went to the appetizing store and bought lox, cream cheese, maybe some herring as a side dish (NOT to put on the bagel, God forbid.) When did bagels become something that was totally prepared for you in a sandwich store? That's relatively new. Or now you can try to guess how old I am. Maybe that's why bagels became so puffy and soft, because suddenly people wanted to turn them into sandwich bread equivalents. Sigh. Who is responsible for this? *edited to add onion and garlic.

I love pie crusts. I'm not usually too interested in the filling, whatever it is. Broccoli stalks are definitely the best part of the brocolli. (Choose yer spelling.)

I can't believe they have a separate category for low carb. My favorite grilled cheese sandwich is from Amy's Bread in NY. Every once in a while on a Saturday or Sunday I'll go to the one on 9th Avenue and have one for brunch. They are so good. NY Cheddar, tomato, onion, bit of some kind of pepper for a little heat, cilantro, and it's on Amy's WW bread. Mmmmm. A few weeks ago I had one and they inadvertently left it on the grill a little too long. They apologized all over the place and said they'd throw it out and make another one, etc. I took one look and it and said, give me that sandwhich! All nice and browned and extra crusty on the edges. Next time I get one I'm gonna ask them to burn it a little.

i don't think so. your boss isn't purchasing a product that he weighs. if that were the case, i'd be a rich man. all jobs are different. many jobs require that you bill clients. i'd say that most people are honest with that, especially when you're talking about lawyers and whatnot who are oftentimes under the microscope. other jobs are results oriented. did you get the job done? if yes, then you keep your job and maybe get a raise. it's not unethical to spend a portion of your day at the office on personal matters. it's expected. and there's a school of thought that suggests that it's even healthy, both for the worker and for the company. i really don't see stealing food and fucking off at work as being the same, especially since i can eff off all day long and it doesn't cost you a cent more. And I'd say that you're rationalizing. Which is what we all do, albeit for different things. Which is precisely my point. Thank you very much. BTW -- so many people break off fingers of ginger that I always find just the size I need without breaking any myself. Now how's that for smug?

Oh now. And how many of us are logged onto eGullet while we're at work? Getting paid to add our two cents here, are we? Now that's stealing too, y'know. Like it or not, the question of degree exists here. I'm not saying this to "excuse" anything (I'm no goody-goody, I confess), but I do live in the real world. If I'm at work and I'm paying a bill or surfing the web, whose time is that, really? And when I mail that bill, you think I put a stamp on it? True confessions, here. Does that mean it's okay to do it? No. Not at all. But I do it. Mea culpa. People do a lot of things that I would never do. (I don't take anything from supermarkets that I don't pay for, for example.) But I probably do things that other people would never do (send my personal mail from work, for example.) What makes me a little nutsy here is all this judgement passing.

Yes, it's amazing, isn't it? It's usually while I'm grocery shopping that I think to myself, "boy, am I glad I don't own a gun." Although I have to say, everything really is relative. New York supermarket shopping is absolutely *laid back* compared to supermarket shopping in Israel. They've only recently begun to understand the concept of waiting on lines altogether. And no one packs your stuff for you. They'll ring it up, you pay for it, and then they start ringing up the next person. You have to bag your stuff quickly, or the next person's items are thrown on top of yours as they are rung up. Laid back, New York is, I tell ya. I go nuts if I'm waiting on the express line and there's a new cashier who doesn't know what the heck he's doing (which is the usual case). I guess they figure if he's new, the express line is a good way to practice because people don't have too much stuff. But hell, it makes the express line slow as molasses! I mean, what's the point? Well, I hope these will always be the most terrible things we all have to worry about in our lives.

In addition to wondering who ever thought of adding X to Y in the first place, I often wonder about things like: who ever figured out how to eat an artichoke? And why? I mean, why didn't they just leave the darn things alone? (I mean, I'm glad they didn't, but still ...) And acorns. Acorns are poisonous, no? Unless you do all sorts of things to them, which makes them okay. Well who figured that out? And how many people died in the process? This stuff keeps me up at night.

Wonderful photojournalism! Very enjoyable. But -- forgive me -- you had an EGGCREAM with a KNISH??!?!? I nevah hoid of such a ting! (But if you liked it, I'm happy.)

What do you mean when you say you "should" like something? I don't think anyone "should" like anything, except the things they like Which will probably change over time. If one wants to try to like something, fine, give it a go. But to say that you "should" like something? Why should you?

Olives, definitely. Thought they were vile little things, now I love them. As for the "acquired taste" thing -- I never thought of it as meaning I have to force myself to learn to like something. Tastes change over time all by themselves. I hated olives when I first ate them, and so I just didn't eat them for years and years. I mean, why bother? And then one day I decided to try them again, and I thought they were great. I never "tried" to like them. I just suddenly liked them. I "acquired" a taste for them. Passively, not actively. But I'm sure it will NEVER happen with liver. I have no intentions of ever giving it another chance.

The apartment building I lived in in Jerusalem was once infested with scorpions. It taught me to appreciate cockroaches.

Man, has that tart been hanging around since Thanksgiving? It looks beautiful.

Cell phones are an incredible example of how big business created a "need." I think it is successful beyond even their own wildest dreams. People really think they need the damn things, all the time. I find that a lot of the differences in how we react to cell phones have to do with how old we are. (This is a completely unscientific, subjective observation.) People in their 20s, for the most part, see cell phones as a regular part of their lives, since they always had them as young adults and adults. My friends' kids just don't get why older people are so upset about the whole thing. The progression of telephone usage is interesting. The neighborhood store used to be the only place to have a phone, and it was used only in cases of absolute necessity. Then maybe there would be one phone in an apartment building. It's only fairly recently that we've been using phones to "chat" even if there's no emergency. When I was a kid my parents would yell at us if we called someone in Brooklyn, because it was considered "long distance" (we lived in the Bronx, and I'm 49.) So the idea of everyone carrying a phone around in their back pockets is really quite revolutionary, in many ways. I am always struck by one particular thing regarding cell phones: how completely incapable people have become to just sit by themselves quietly. It seems that people have no capacity to be alone, even for a few minutes at a time. A lot of the nonsense cell phone talk reflects this. Last night I was in a restaurant (with friends, not alone, but not one of us used cell phones at all). There was a couple at a nearby table. One of them got up, I guess to go to the bathroom. The other immediately pulled out his cell phone and started talking (fairly loudly), just chatting. It was like he had no capability to sit by himself for the five minutes his friend was not there. I'm not sure what to make of it when people show no capability of being with themselves, and that is one of the main things I see with cell phone users. Just another way of looking at things.

Dare I ask? That sounds like it even beats out the blueberry bagel. I find it interesting that the NYers are moaning about bagels and the southerners are moaning about corn bread. I guess we all grew up with certain things that are considered regional, and when they "transcend" their native regional boundaries the non-natives start to play around with the food, turning it into things we would never recognize. Like blueberry bagels. With cheese on top. Oh my. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if the blueberry bagels stayed in LA, but they're here in NY too. And if the corn bread with sugar stayed in NY it wouldn't be too bad, but it seems to have made its way down south as well. What a mess.

i have to step aside here and say, fan of tradition that i am-- sunflower seed bagels are really a "good thing". and curry? oy. The first time I saw blueberry bagels I couldn't believe my eyes, really, I thought it was a joke. And now you mention sunflower seed bagels? And curry bagels? Those are new ones for me. Where do they sell these things?

I guess each cooking episode on TV will now begin with, "do not try this at home..."

Well, um, actually, these are characteristics that are not unknown among the "gourmet-foodie" set either. So I guess it doesn't matter if you restrict your diet or not. This is also not about the food. People are people, no matter what they choose to eat (or not eat). But I guess we only see their attitudes as "negative" if we disagree with them.

Hmmm, y'see, everything in the world boils down to semantics. Those Yemenite wrap-type things are called, in Hebrew, "aish tanoor." If you want one of those, you wouldn't ask for a pita, because if you did you'd get, well, a pita, and not an aish tanoor.

I've read that "authentic" pita doesn't actually have a pocket - is this not the case? I accidentally made pocket-less pita a few weeks ago. They could have doubled as frisbees. My guess is that either my oven wasn't hot enough or I didn't roll the dough thin enough. Anyone else have an idea? I've never seen pita without a pocket, ever. I don't know if it was originally like that. The word technically just refers to bread, or a loaf ("pat lechem" meaning a loaf of bread), but in modern Hebrew pita is the round flat bread with the pocket. I mean, where would you put your felafel otherwise?

Amazing, isn't it. I made pita once, and was astounded to watch each piece puff up and form its own pocket. (Admittedly this was about thirty years ago, but it still amazes me.) I remember having to slice the log of dough into 30 separate pieces, and knead each piece individually before baking. (Then I moved to the middle east and never even considered baking my own pita.) I have a related question: what is this stuff I keep seeing in supermarkets (but have not yet dared purchase) called "pocketless pita"? I mean, what's the point?

I recently discovered these. Damn but they are good.