September 2011
1 post
June 2011
1 post
September 2010
1 post
Op-Ed: Lessons for freshmen as they enter college →
Was going to send this Times article to my 17-year-old cousin but then
1) remembered that she is starting her senior year of high school, not college, now
2) felt that the advice is pretty universal if you remove the campus details. We can all pretend it’s our first day of school, put on a good outfit, and set out to meet a lot of new people and make a good impression on them every day, as...
June 2010
1 post
Writers, youth, creative peaks →
Our urban generation may be increasingly slower to get married and settled down, but are we equally slow at producing our best work? This article proves that the greatest literature was overwhelmingly written when the authors were young. And that many authors actually reached their creative peaks young, while the work that followed in their later years was less significant. Hemingway was 27 when...
May 2010
5 posts
April 2010
4 posts
Me, on the phone with gas company: I’m calling because my stove and oven won’t work.
Customer service rep: We don’t have your name on file. Did you ever register?
Me: I think so.
Rep: How long have you been living there?
Me: Over two years.
Rep: (finds record of my name in previous apartments, in Ft. Greene, Park Slope). You have a balance of $4.44 on your account. You can...
February 2010
3 posts
Okay, and this is the sweetest review I have ever... →
Not to heap a barrage of ego-boosting on this micro-blog, but Lorna Sass is one of the coolest ladies I have ever met. And I am deeply humbled by her “vicarious” enjoyment of my drunken bike-riding nights (hey, they were fun as long as I didn’t crash). I have met Lorna twice; she is just the animated, sprightly, spunky, seventies-something you might imagine from the same...
Announcing HuffPost Green's Week of Eating In →
“We think taking responsibility for actually preparing what you eat for a week will be an (outrageously fun) consciousness-raising activity. Reading food packages, learning your way around your local grocery store or farmers market, and understanding what actual ingredients go into making your favorite dishes will empower you to think about what you eat in new ways.”
I could not have...
Probably the best review I'll ever receive →
So humbled and intrigued by Charlotte Freeman’s assessment of three food blog-turned books. I, too, enjoy the blog Chez Pim but have not yet read her book nor Jam Today, by Tod Davies, so I can’t comment on the other reviews here; but this review itself seems thoughtful, and a timely subject.
January 2010
2 posts
I find this blog extraordinary →
Within two blog posts she manages to write 3,600 words. This is not uncommon throughout the blog, and she seems to post almost every day. Words. I fear they’re becoming an underappreciated element of the Internet, a threatened species of the 2.0 age. Images and video take the spotlight while words mope behind the scenes picking up what work it still can (increasingly, as sidekick to...
Hello, New Yorker →
I have been subscribing to the New Yorker for years, and am really glad that I didn’t pick up this week’s issue and flip through the Goings On About Town section on the subway as I usually do, because I would have seen my name and there’d be a holdup in train traffic due to a “sick customer” — fainting.
December 2009
1 post
Hungry Filmmakers: the films
This is happening tonight and I can’t wait to see a packed theater see these films. It sucked to have to turn down so many would-be ticket buyers as we reached capacity and sold out a week ago. In retrospect, this was a bigger event than we had predicted and we didn’t give ourselves enough time as organizers to truly execute; I would have liked to distribute programs (hello?) with info...
November 2009
2 posts
Technology to Sex & Dating →
A very unlikely topic for David Brooks (sex and dating trends), in a very interesting Op-Ed. In it, he ponders the current technology-addled world of courtship and how it changes or threatens relationships. Specifically, he targets text-messaging as responsible for a drastic change in the way we communicate with partners:
The opportunity to contact many people at once seems to encourage...
October 2009
7 posts
NYTimes on cheap dating →
The Times reporter interviewed me a few days ago for this story: it’s basically about young people preferring less fancy, more casual restaurants and food (i.e. arepas) when dating over more formal meals — whether given the economic recession or just for fun. She didn’t end up using my quotes; I think she wanted me to name a few cheap, kitschy hamburger joints or something in the...
Hot Farmers →
When my farmer friend Dan asked me if I had something to do with an article/slideshow of young, attractive farmers in the Huffington Post that he was included in, I had to admit that yes, “I curated half that piece,” I told him. The article was Katherine’s idea (HuffPost Green Editor) and we both thought it was a gas. Some people may be turned off by it and think it degrades the...
"Vegetable bag" →
It is difficult to even know where to begin with the story of how and what determined my book’s cover art. There had been a cover, after about 4 bad ideas they ran past me, that was initially deemed THE ONE. It had a spoon with some messy sauce on it, and the title in Helvetica in red and pink. It was originally on the Amazon page for the book (linked above). Then some marketing folks...
Farmers use vending machines to sell local produce →
“The Regiomat machines can be placed outdoors 365 days a year as long as they’re under a roof (some have even been placed alongside hiking trails in Switzerland), effectively giving locals a 24-hour farmers’ market and farmers a lot more free time.”
Oh, Switzerland!
In Praise of Slowness →
Just reminding myself to buy this book. It sounds amazing… and I don’t even move that fast, for a New Yorker, at least.
Living Craigslist →
Amazing, hilarious, perfectly executed blog written by a guy attempting to live off of craigslist entirely, from foods to jobs and “friends.” Let’s see how it goes.
A devastating reminder that the illnesses persist →
“In the simplest terms, she ran out of luck in a food-safety game of chance whose rules and risks are not widely known.”
I love it when reporters, especially for a hugely read, well-respected journal like the NY Times, make a finely-tuned verbal punch in the face at the (industry) powers-that-be like this sentence right here in the lede. It makes me feel like I’m living in...
September 2009
12 posts
“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the...”
– Henry David Thoreau, via a paper tag from the end of the string on a Celestial Seasonings teabag I took from my office kitchen.
Upcoming Cheap Dates
A sneak preview of some of the guests lined up for Cheap Date!
Oct. 9: Rachel Wharton and Keith Wagstaff, food writers
Oct. 16: Charley Miller, GiveandDate.com
Oct. 23: Michelle Maisto, author of The Gastronomy of Marriage
Oct. 30: Yolanda Shoshana, The Luscious Life
Nov. 6: Rachel Kramer Bussell, erotica writer, Best Sex Writing editor
More cheap dating tips →
from The Times: “The two said the choice to slow down their spending was a no-brainer. They now frequent parks, take long walks, watch their favorite television shows on YouTube (they save money by not having cable), and bake cookies at home.”
Another book on how to Be Thrifty →
“Be Thrifty is not about being cheap — it’s about being smart and self-sufficient.”
Differing attitudes, word choice, but the message’s the same. There will probably be many more books like this honing in on all sorts of subjects to come. I contributed an essay to this book by Pia Catton. Coming out in Jan. 2010.
Want: this book →
“In Cheap We Trust: The Story of a Misunderstood American Virtue” — if only to know whether I’m misunderstanding things…
Pssst... talk radio show on cooking & dating... →
The web page hasn’t been completed, but “Cheap Date” — the radio show that dishes advice and personal stories on cooking, dating and everything in between —- will air on Heritage Radio Network every Friday, from 3pm-4pm EST. In the studio, I will be joined by a different guest, such as a food or dating/sex expert, and we will tackle a subtopic such as “break-up...
What he said →
Dan Barber on “Why Cooking Matters,” from the Food For All issue of The Nation. There are so many good things in this issue, including a contribution by Michael Pollan on his sustainable food-writing forbears, Wendell Berry, Frances Moore Lappe, Joan Gussow and Barry Commoner. Let’s keep them coming.
Crap, it was videotaped →
Evidently I wave my arms a lot when drunk. Thanks, Matt, for getting me wasted before stepping onstage at Crash Mansion to present my food record, and make fun of host for mentioning Hardee’s. Good… times…
August 2009
10 posts
Timing
Over the past few months, there has been an increasingly fervent plea for someone to step up and be the voice of home cooks. Or, the voice calling more home cooks into the kitchen. Amanda Hesser begged it of First Lady Michelle Obama; Michael Pollan waxed poetic on Julia Child and those forgotten days when home cooking was not so outrageous an everyday activity (in turn, becoming said home cooking...
Vote for this SXSW panel! →
Her awesomeness Lia Bulaong is proposing this panel for SXSW Interactive 2010. Please vote it up!
Books I Don't Want to Read in 2010 →
I just discovered my book is on pre-sale at Amazon.com. (My what?) It was on some list of “Books I Want to Read” in the next year by super-savvy media goddess Rachel Kramer Bussel.
Here’s what I’m not looking forward to reading in 2010, which I probably don’t need to worry about, since they only exist in my head.
May I Please Be Excused From this Life Now?: Essays...
URDB Presents: World Record Appreciation Society...
I’m presenting a food feat at this strange event. I’m sure most can guess what it is.
urdb:
Though recent appearances on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and at the Pitchfork Fest in Chicago have been fun, we are bonkers with excitement about this upcoming event. Save the date of Wednesday, August 12. It’ll be our first-ever themed night of world records. And the theme? Fooooooood! ...
just discovered this photo →
of me and Alan Richman, longtime food critic/author for GQ, taken by Gabriella G. from Time Out NY at the Unfancy Food Show. I haven’t read too much of his work, not having much impetus for picking up a glossy manzine, but know that he has a keen palate and ability to turn dinner into a story. Though I can’t disagree more on there not being enough foods to discover as he said in this...
10 Best Food TV shows →
I didn’t realize how much I liked food television until I read Robert’s list. I recognized the photo of Justin Wilson, the Cajun cookin’ guru with the warbly voice, poppin’ eyeballs and critter held close to his mouth (presumably about to be sucked of its head juices) immediately, which was a welcome hit of nostalgia. I really like how non-serious shows like Food Party (my...