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eGullet: How Has It Changed Your Life?


jamiemaw

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On the practical side, the restaurant discussions by region have been immensely helpful on two trips to London, various trips to the States, etc.

I've made great use of the eGCI courses (stocks, braising, etc) and I couldn't begin to count the number of times I've been given advice on preparation of something I know nothing about.

On the philosophical side, eGullet is the ONLY place where I can feel safe knowing there won't be a shortage of food topics to absorb, and occasionally contribute to. The definition of "foodie" is sometimes negative, like we're people who only cares about the best of the best, and won't eat anything below that which is ridiculously expensive.

And that's why I like coming here and reading threads on stall food in Malaysia, fried chicken recipes and "I have tonnes of leftover _____....what do I do with it?" threads. Even the recent Regrettable Foods thread is there to reinforce the idea that we're actually reasonable people, who may love food but just as often screw something right up and start it over.

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I have learned so much here.

First I was giddy with the fact that there ARE other people out there who understand my food & cooking obsession !!! :biggrin:

- I get ideas for dinner from eGullet on the Dinner thread, I always scroll through if I am stuck for ideas or I visit Recipe Gullet.

- I can travel secure in the fact that I WILL be able to find a good place to eat.

- I have picked up new techniques and recipes.

- I am learning more about wine in general and wine/food pairings.

- I have come across some very interesting food websites and blogs via eGullet.

- it gives me an opportunity to show off my creations ("Why are you taking pictures of the food..... ????????") to people who understand.

- now I have a great distraction from work !!!! :laugh:

I love eGullet !!!!

Today is going to be one of those days.....

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I've learned that I'm not the only person who's obsessed with re-working pastry recipes until I feel I've ended up with a version I can't really improve on. I used to think I was a freak, baking apple pie after apple pie (averaging at least 2 or 3 pies a week), changing the variety of apples, cutting each medium-sized apple into exactly 16 wedges (larger apples into 20 wedges), taste-testing each apple to see how crisp they were, then adjusting the stovetop cooking time accordingly...

:laugh::laugh::laugh:

Myself, I've thought I was a freak for a looooooong time. And not just about cooking either. But now that I've been hanging with all you fellow cooking freaks ... well, I don't necessarily think I'm any less of a freak (and not just about cooking either), but at least I feel a little more support for the cooking aspect of my freakhood.

Erm ... unless, of course, we've all just been enabling each other.

Aaaaah, what the hell. Normalcy is overrated! Freakhood forever!!! :laugh::laugh::laugh:

Uhhhhh ... (somewhat) more seriously: it's hard to pick any one single thing that I've learned here that's been momentous, because there's just a general onslaught of good stuff. But if you twisted my arm, I'd have to say it's been learning from those of you who hail from Asian countries or otherwise have first-hand experience with the homestyle everyday cooking of those countries. That kind of cross-cultural food lore exchange is literally priceless, and has majorly enriched my already-strong appreciation of those cuisines.

On the downside: I fear that the last thing I needed in my life was yet another on-line time-sink that happens to be more entertaining than my actual paid employment. :rolleyes:

Mizducky, I'm beginning to think we were twins in another life; especially the downside! :laugh:

"Commit random acts of senseless kindness"

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Well I have been lurking since the start(even at Fatguy.com), I have only recently had full use of a computer. Like others have said it is great to know I am not alone. I have also laughed, cried, and almost come close to throwing the powerbook across the room :raz:.

How has it changed my life? I have realized that this is my true passion(food and dining), which has helped to finalize my decision to go to cullinary school. It has also improved my overall cooking and baking skills more than any other medium (I.E. cooking, pastry&baking(forums), and the EGCI). On another note there are days now that I wake up log on and next thing I know it is four am, and all I have done is read many a thread, posted a few comments, and made myself something to eat(I bring the laptop into the kitchen so that I do not miss anything).

I LOVE YOU ALL (in regard to posting guide I am yelling this to everyone)

Edit: I also have learned that I need to learn how to spell

Edited by M.X.Hassett (log)
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Whew, where to begin? I've met about 20-30 wonderful local foodies, and had tons of fun cooking, eating and drinking with them. One of the coolest things is that we get together a lot to play, and thus I've acquired friends of all ages, something one normally doesn't find in the outside world. We're so united by a common passion that age, and any other social factors, really don't seem to come into play at all.

By doing a blog last year I got the food writing bug. I combined hanging out with local eGers and food writing here, when we cooked our way through an issue of Food and Wine together. We just did that again, and once again, our story will appear on the F&W website. Now that's pretty cool.

I've hung out a lot on the Pastry forum, which was really foreign territory to me initially. I'm a personal chef, and while I do bake, it's always been at a competent but basic level. But I've learned so much from those sweet-siders, and I'm starting to have a few little pastry skills of my own, which I cherish.

I've acquired a lot of new techniques, and a few priceless recipes. I already knew larb, and bacon, but roasted cauliflower, well, that's worth the price of admission right there.

I've even participated in a couple of food swaps with eGers in other countries, and can now honestly say that my homemade BBQ sauce has been eaten in England after a quick flight from Seattle. Now that's cool, too.

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let's see

got fatter

went to culinary school

got a job (Cafe Gray! boo yah!)

cook more at home, use techniches I had abstmindedly lay aside

go on more nyc "restaurant outings"

am more thoughtful about my grocery shopping

consider cauliflower important

know how to bbq...for real

have an easier time at the butcher

cant stop braising

and have begun to consider using a bit of science in my cooking.

thank you guys, you have changed my life for the better. really. Thank you.

does this come in pork?

My name's Emma Feigenbaum.

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Actually, it's done something very important. Although my fiancee and I were introduced through friends, one of the major factors behind it is that we're both major foodies. She introduced me to eGullet and it always has provided a common frame of reference in our conversations about anything and everything. Some of my favorite memories when we were first dating was getting home from a great meal and looking over her shoulder as she showed me a posting about a really bad meal or a facinating ingredient. I still smile when I think about it.

Has it changed me as a student of the culinary arts? Of course it has...but it also provides a refuge for the both of us that has become very special.

I guess it's true...the couple that eGullet's together... :wub:

"What garlic is to food, insanity is to art." ~ Augustus Saint-Gaudens

The couple that eGullets together, stays together!

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EGullet.

It has brought me larb.

It has brought me roast cauliflower.

It has made me make stuffed pasta four times within 2 weeks.

It has made me buy stuff I always looked at in my ethnic foodstore wondering what to do with it. And I use it, too.

It has made me cook dishes that I always wanted to cook (or always wanted to cook the right way instead of just okay). (Mole, anyone?)

It has made time fly on many evenings.

It has made me lose sleep.

It has satisfied both the voyeur and the exhibitionist in me.

It has made me blog (one of the nicest weeks this year, so far).

It has made me think and obsess about food even more. Was that possible? Apparently.

It has made me realize that I'm not the only person on this planet with this obsession.

It has given me the unexpected thrill of reading that someone, on the other side of the world, has cooked one of "my" dishes.

It has inspired me, made me laugh, and it has made my world bigger and more beautiful.

I :wub: EGullet

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  • 1 year later...

I have a friend who is a CIA graduate, that I try to encourage to join this happy throng all the time. Whenever I do she says that she already knows al the techniques of cooking and that when ever she checks out stuff on foodtv or the other discussion groups that it is just rehashing material that she learned in school.

What would some of you say is the benefit of joining and participating here. She is not currently working in food.

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Wow, vilasman, your friend thinks she knows EVERYTHING?  How's that possible?  I can't imagine most top chef's thinking that there isn't something they can learn.  Isn't that why they travel, taste the food of other chef's, read constantly?

:laugh: Most of my class at CIA knew everything. I still laugh myself sick about some of it. It took me about three days there to see that, even after 15 years in the business, I knew almost nothing! And it took me about a month on eG to learn that you can disagree with someone on these boards, sometimes pretty intensely, but that the olive branch that's extended is often full of extra fruit. (you know who you are, dahlinks! :wub: )

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
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I have a friend who is a CIA graduate, that I try to encourage to join this happy throng all the time. Whenever I do she says that she already knows al the techniques of cooking and that when ever she checks out stuff on foodtv or the other discussion groups that it is just rehashing material that she learned in school.

What would some of you say is the benefit of joining and participating here. She is not currently working in food.

Wow! Where to start? There is so much out there to learn that it is impossible that the dogmatic structure of a culinary shcool can expose you to all of it. That is not to say that culinary school is bad thing. I think it is great and I am grateful that I had the opportunity to go, but I have defitinely learned so much more through my travels and desire to break out of my skin.

Egullet is a great forum to converse with like-minded and sometimes not like-minded people about one of the world's greatest pleasures: cuisine.

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  • 1 year later...

I'm bumping up this topic because membership in this forum truly has changed my life in various ways, some quite subtle, others more visible.

I'm going on a trip to New Mexico next month to spend some time with my dad and I have worked things out so I can stop off in a couple of places on the way to visit with a couple of eG members and while I am in Deming, will spend part of a day in Silver City and plan to visit the establishment of gfron.

(I also plan to visit some Basenji people and at least one person on a forum devoted to Terry Pratchett's Discworld)

When I look around my kitchen, I note there are several things that were brought to my attention by posts on eG. (Far too many to list)

And those do not include the vast number of wonderful recipes and ideas I have appropriated from various posts on eG.

I can truthfully state that my life has been enriched by eG!

Edited by andiesenji (log)

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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. . .

I can truthfully state that my life has been enriched by eG!

And I am betting I am not the only eG member who can honestly say that my life has been enriched by "knowing" you! Your incredible knowledge, your generosity in sharing that knowledge and your upbeat attitude to life despite some serious challenges has been inspiring. :wub:

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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Wow, great topic. Great new friends, recipes, a library of info on kitchenware of every kind, all of the footwork being done for me before I visit a new town......for the most part, nothing new from me compared to other posts.

However, one HUGE difference eG has made in my life is the fact that in a roundabout way I met my current girlfriend because of this site. Long story short, she visits this site and happened to read my post on a Sopranos Cookbook dinner party that I hosted and followed that to the extended version on my blog. We began chatting shortly after that, and met face to face for the first time in DC in May. The first "big date" was at minibar...which I only knew about because of eG, and since then we've been flying back and forth to visit each other every few weeks. I couldn't be happier. Go eGullet!

Jerry

Kansas City, Mo.

Unsaved Loved Ones

My eG Food Blog- 2011

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However, one HUGE difference eG has made in my life is the fact that in a roundabout way I met my current girlfriend because of this site.  Long story short, she visits this site and happened to read my post on a Sopranos Cookbook dinner party that I hosted and followed that to the extended version on my blog.  We began chatting shortly after that, and met face to face for the first time in DC in May. The first "big date" was at minibar...which I only knew about because of eG, and since then we've been flying back and forth to visit each other every few weeks.  I couldn't be happier.  Go eGullet!

I'm so jealous. I want an eG boyfriend!

:raz:

Congrats though, I love stories like that.

"Nothing you could cook will ever be as good as the $2.99 all-you-can-eat pizza buffet." - my EX (wonder why he's an ex?)

My eGfoodblog: My corner of the Midwest

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However, one HUGE difference eG has made in my life is the fact that in a roundabout way I met my current girlfriend because of this site.  Long story short, she visits this site and happened to read my post on a Sopranos Cookbook dinner party that I hosted and followed that to the extended version on my blog.  We began chatting shortly after that, and met face to face for the first time in DC in May. The first "big date" was at minibar...which I only knew about because of eG, and since then we've been flying back and forth to visit each other every few weeks.  I couldn't be happier.  Go eGullet!

I'm so jealous. I want an eG boyfriend!

:raz:

Congrats though, I love stories like that.

The one drawback........all this air travel back and forth does take quite a chunk out of the dining budget! Thank God for half off happy hours! :laugh:

Jerry

Kansas City, Mo.

Unsaved Loved Ones

My eG Food Blog- 2011

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I'm going on a trip to the other side of the world.

If it wasn't for eGullet and some exquisite eGullet foodblogs, it is probable I never would have felt the inclination to go to this particular part of the US.

I have the phone numbers of 2 eGullet members, who I've never met or seen or spoken to in real life, in my phone, and plans to meet said eGullet members for food and drink.

Over the past 5 years, there hasn't been a single vacation I planned without consulting the forums, getting great advice from eGulleters, and then meeting eGulleters while on the road.

eGullet has changed my daily life but at moments like this (ready to go on a plane first thing tomorrow morning) I am very happy that it also changed the way I spend my free time. My vacations have been incredibly rich thanks to eGullet and all its members. My favorite thing about it is that it makes a lot of difference just being an outsider in another country, or getting in touch with people who live their lives there - it gives you a very different perspective!

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