Twelve years with eGullet

[johnnyd]

March 2004 here. Didn't see daylight for weeks. Way too much fun reading Bourdain and Bittman (maybe), drinking their way through Cincinnati; Tommy's larb, laab thread... back when it was a wild frontier hive mind. My cooking matured that year and continues to evolve.

[andiesenji]

On 8/31/2015 at 2:04 PM, Franci said:

 

I also spent some time on King Arthur Baking Circle a couple years before joining egullet, also in 2004!

 

So many people I miss: Chufi from Holland, Hathor living part of her time in Umbria part in NY, Foodman, Pontormo. I also miss a lot RRO and too long of a list.

I migrated to eG about a month after you did, also from King Arthur Baking Circle when I became annoyed by a guy who doubted that I had attended Dunwoodie baking school in the '50s - claimed it was a school for men only. I didn't spar with him, didn't answer but he just wouldn't let it go.  A long time friend from SOAR, the old Compuserve online recipe source, suggested I look in on eG and I have been here ever since.

Gifted Gourmet - Melissa was the first to welcome me and I miss her.  Also Fifi with whom I corresponded by email about a lot of off topic things.

Edited January 11, 2017 by andiesenji (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

1 hour ago, andiesenji said:

I migrated to eG about a month after you did, also from King Arthur Baking Circle when I became annoyed by a guy who doubted that I had attended Dunwoodie baking school in the '50s - claimed it was a school for men only. I didn't spar with him, didn't answer but he just wouldn't let it go.  A long time friend from SOAR, the old Compuserve online recipe source, suggested I look in on eG and I have been here ever since.

Gifted Gourmet - Melissa was the first to welcome me and I miss her.  Also Fifi with whom I corresponded by email about a lot of off topic things.

 

 

I'm sure glad you found your way here, andie. I have learned so much from you. I have learned never to doubt your word, but it is amazing all the areas you have experience and are conversant in, so I can understand why someone who hasn't taken the time to read your writings (and is also a pompous ass ) might. His loss, our gain.

[andiesenji]

I was born into a family of "foodies" - a great grandmother who had traveled extensively in Europe, the UK and even to Egypt in the late 1800s and was an avid collector of "receipts."  Not that she ever cooked herself, being a rather aristocratic lady, but she knew how to instruct cooks.

My grandparents who raised me, were adventurous with foods and like to try interesting and even exotic dishes.  Their cook was a Gullah woman from the "lowcountry" and she loved conspiring with my great grandmother in trying some of the recipes she had collected in her travels.  

During WWII there were three Italian POWs who worked on the farm and one had either worked in or owned a "trattoria" in Perugia and taught cook how to make several dishes - braciola was one that became a family favorite.

I was fascinated with food and how to prepare it from the time I was old enough to stand on a kitchen chair and "help" and cook had the patience of a saint because I am sure I was a terrible pest.  But I learned so much.

I have to laugh about a "new" product on the market, "Bee's Wrap" which is cloth coated with bee's wax.  One of my tasks when I was about 8 or 9 was rubbing beeswax into fine muslin that was stretched on frames and then one of the maids would iron the fabric with the wax face down on an enamel counter.  It was used to wrap food.  Now it's a new old thing.

[Jacksoup]

@@andiesenji you have had an interesting life and I absolutely love your stories, knowledge and historical information.  It's always a joy to read your posts.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

On 1/10/2017 at 2:52 PM, johnnyd said:

March 2004 here. Didn't see daylight for weeks. Way too much fun reading Bourdain and Bittman (maybe), drinking their way through Cincinnati; Tommy's larb, laab thread... back when it was a wild frontier hive mind. My cooking matured that year and continues to evolve.

 

johnnyd, I sure miss you around here and I'm sure others do too. I love your reports on Maine seafood harvesting. I've learned a lot from you too, and wish you would come back to visit and enlighten a lot more often!

Edited January 13, 2017 by Thanks for the Crepes (log)

[quiet1]

5 hours ago, Jacksoup said:

@@andiesenji you have had an interesting life and I absolutely love your stories, knowledge and historical information.  It's always a joy to read your posts.

 

Agreed. I think I'd love to just watch cooking happen sometime to absorb whatever I could. (A large part of how I learned to cook was watching pbs shows back in the day when they'd do things like just televise random lectures and cooking sessions from the CIA. I love to watch skilled people cook, you can learn so much.)

[johnnyd]

12 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

 

johnnyd, I sure miss you around here and I'm sure others do to. I love your reports on Maine seafood harvesting. I've learned a lot from you to, and wish you would come back to visit and enlighten a lot more often!

 

Hey thanks - you've inspired me.  One reason I joined was to shout from the rooftops about the potential of Portland Maine for restaurant development - top quality resources and heavy seasonal traffic.  The town has since exploded so fast it would take days to catch up.  The place is on fire. 

 

Funny though - with all the interesting experiments and cuisine varieties being seriously considered here, my wife, who works downtown, can't get a decent sandwich during her 1/2hr lunch.

 

Anyway, I found this old clipping from the local paper dated 9-7-1997 of me on my floating oyster bar.  Boy, was THAT ahead of it's time...

 

[Kim Shook]

I wonder what on Earth was going on in my life that I completely missed this thread.  It is fascinating and something I certainly would have contributed to if I'd known about it.  I'll post on the newer one.  

[Kerry Beal]

On 8/13/2015 at 11:24 AM, Shelby said:

Oh yeah, Verjuice!  She wouldn't know me but  I loved reading her blog.  And Lior...I think about her and wonder how she's doing over there.

 

Darienne, you have attempted and cooked so many foreign things (to me) YOU are a mentor too! 

I met @Verjuice when I went to Silver City at @gfron1's invitation in 2008 for the Silver City Culinary Extravaganza. She's a delight!

[MetsFan5]

I’ve been reading backwards on @Kerry Beal and @Anna N’s adventures in Manitoulian before I shut off my phone or iPad for the night. It leaves me happy (yet hungry) when I fall asleep, which is much better than the news or most websites. 

[scamhi]

18+ years for me

[liamsaunt]

I just checked my profile.  I joined July 31, 2003.  I can't remember what prompted me to join though.  

[CantCookStillTry]

I read every single food blog from the dawn of time before I signed up. Waited for a while to post. I asked for one of my very first posts to be moved if it was in the incorect area at the start of the post before doing the bulk, I was so new. Got blasted the very next day with an admin asking me not to ask admin to move posts as it was against the rules and to read the rules again... with a lot of !!!! 

 

Almost never posted again. I am glad I persevered, but, that was a shitty start to my dream of being part of the comunity 😄.  

 

[Darienne]

16 minutes ago, CantCookStillTry said:

I read every single food blog from the dawn of time before I signed up. Waited for a while to post. I asked for one of my very first posts to be moved if it was in the incorect area at the start of the post before doing the bulk, I was so new. Got blasted the very next day with an admin asking me not to ask admin to move posts as it was against the rules and to read the rules again... with a lot of !!!! 

 

Almost never posted again. I am glad I persevered, but, that was a shitty start to my dream of being part of the comunity 😄.  

 

Sorry to read that.  Most of the mods were always nice and polite...heidih helped me through a lot of gaffs on my part.  However, I do remember a few shits who were mods when I joined.  One in particular, who will remain nameless......

[lindag]

6 minutes ago, Darienne said:

Sorry to read that.  Most of the mods were always nice and polite...heidih helped me through a lot of gaffs on my part.  However, I do remember a few shits who were mods when I joined.  One in particular, who will remain nameless......

I think I was a target of that one as well.

I really appreciate @Smithy's gentle hand.

Edited August 28, 2020 by lindag (log)

[heidih]

1 hour ago, CantCookStillTry said:

I read every single food blog from the dawn of time before I signed up. Waited for a while to post. I asked for one of my very first posts to be moved if it was in the incorect area at the start of the post before doing the bulk, I was so new. Got blasted the very next day with an admin asking me not to ask admin to move posts as it was against the rules and to read the rules again... with a lot of !!!! 

 

Almost never posted again. I am glad I persevered, but, that was a shitty start to my dream of being part of the comunity 😄.  

 

 

It was a different time with different goals. Happy you are here now.

[Anna N]

3 hours ago, CantCookStillTry said:

Got blasted the very next day with an admin asking me not to ask admin to move posts as it was against the rules and to read the rules again... with a lot of !!!! 

I can only think you were extremely unlucky.  Our mods are volunteers and though all too often  subject to abuse, manage to maintain a level of equanimity that should make some of them eligible for sainthood. I hope your experiences going forward are much more positive. 

[gfron1]

Yeah, I remember a little blip where things got way over-zealous. But as others have said, generally, everyone is super friendly and helpful. I know when I hosted I had a tendency to merge, merge, merge...which appealed to the clean desk club. But the messy deskers were not as happy.

 

eta: Had to look...Joined December 29, 2005. And I know why...fascination with this place in Chicago that had recently opened on May 4, 2005...Alinea.

Edited August 29, 2020 by gfron1 (log)

[Margaret Pilgrim]

19 years on eGullet.   My experience was one of early and kind shepherding by Robert Buxbaum, who encouraged me to persevere as an outlier from California with a single focus on French food and travel.    I drifted away as I found more active French conversation on another forum, and was only recently encouraged to take a look at the Cooking Forum on eG.     Good advice.   Good people, good shared input.   

[gfweb]

12 hours ago, Darienne said:

Sorry to read that.  Most of the mods were always nice and polite...heidih helped me through a lot of gaffs on my part.  However, I do remember a few shits who were mods when I joined.  One in particular, who will remain nameless......

Yup  there were some bad ones for a while.

[Kim Shook]

I followed Steven and Jason over to eG from Chowhound.  I’m not sure how I figured out where they were going because it seemed like things were kept kind of hush hush (I think Leff resented eG).  Honestly, I think the reason I came here was that I found eG more interesting than CH.  I lurked for a long time and finally joined on July 30, 2005 – almost exactly 15 years ago. 

 

I’ve had so much help over the years with questions and advice about the kitchen, food prep/serving, etc.  Our trip to England and Paris in 2011 would have less delicious and fun and interesting without the flood of advice I got here.  The blogs and the breakfast, lunch, and dinner threads were and are my most visited.  I wish the blogs were active again (I know that I could be a part of that revival, but I lack focus these days), but I still go back and read. 

 

I’ve met a few folks including @robirdstx, @Zeemanb, @meredith h., @caroled, and the incomparable storyteller @racheld.  When we met, we talked about food, of course, but also about so much more.  There are so many more that I’d love to meet – folks that I’d love to sit across a kitchen table from.  Some who have lives so different from mine and some who have similar lives.  Some I’d like to have at my elbow teaching me how to properly make bread or pasta.  There are so many folks that I miss – the ones that have just drifted away and the ones gone for good. 

 

Mr. Kim would say that the strongest impact eG has had was to our finances😄!  I might have ended up with an IP without eG, but I never would have gotten the CSO and Anova without the influence of egulleteers.  And I certainly wouldn’t have a spare CSO in the attic. 

 

Someone else mentioned the armchair traveling eG has enabled. I get very excited when I see that someone outside of the US has joined us.  I immediately want them to tell us all about their food and homes, with photos! 

 

Mark Twain famously said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness…” and I have found eG to be the same.  I can “experience” a fabulous, exotic feast in China or Europe, thanks to our members in one topic and in a minute be enjoying a post about ordinary, everyday, but delicious food from the US.