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Ed Levine's Serious Diet Week 5: Can 'Start Living, Stop Dieting' Work for a Food Writer?
Ed, losing weight, as you know is a pretty basic math equation. Calories in minus the calories burned.
You seem, understandably, to have trouble controlling the total number of calories in. Again, considering your line of work, totally understandable.
So why not tackle the other side of the equation -- burn more calories. How? More exercise. If you could truly dedicate an hour a day to some hard-core fitness I bet you'd see a dramatic change. (Just be sure not to splurge on the calories after the workout!)
Peter
Ed Levine's Serious Diet Week 5: Can 'Start Living, Stop Dieting' Work for a Food Writer?
Ed, losing weight, as you know is a pretty basic math equation. Calories in minus the calories burned.
You seem, understandably, to have trouble controlling the total number of calories in. Again, considering your line of work, totally understandable.
So why not tackle the other side of the equation -- burn more calories. How? More exercise. If you could truly dedicate an hour a day to some hard-core fitness I bet you'd see a dramatic change. (Just be sure not to splurge on the calories after the workout!)
Peter
What's Your Favorite Local Cheese?
Baa Baa Bloo from Valley Shepard Creamery, no two ways about it.
Of course, to be absolutely sure, I'd have to TASTE every single local cheese.
Want to set that tasting up for me? ;)
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In Search of the Perfect Food Review Rating System
Hmmm... some interesting food for thought (pun, of course, intended.)
Here are a few disparate thoughts:
-- As mentioned in the comment above, a gradation of stars allows for a list of ratings to be scanned easily. Yes, a list of letter grades can be scanned as well, but not as easily.
-- You talk about docking the perfect hot dog a perfect grade because there's no theoretical seat. The Ny Times and NY Mag do this as well. NY Mag even says as much at the end of the review -- "3 star food minus one star for the loud room." Hmmm... maybe this is where Zagat actually got it right? They break out the rating of food from service from setting. For those who REALLY care about the food -- those, dare I say it, who are SERIOUS about food, the pure food rating is what matters, no?
Ed Levine's Serious Diet Week 5: Can 'Start Living, Stop Dieting' Work for a Food Writer?
Ed, losing weight, as you know is a pretty basic math equation. Calories in minus the calories burned.
You seem, understandably, to have trouble controlling the total number of calories in. Again, considering your line of work, totally understandable.
So why not tackle the other side of the equation -- burn more calories. How? More exercise. If you could truly dedicate an hour a day to some hard-core fitness I bet you'd see a dramatic change. (Just be sure not to splurge on the calories after the workout!)
Peter
Ed Levine's Serious Diet Week 5: Can 'Start Living, Stop Dieting' Work for a Food Writer?
Ed, losing weight, as you know is a pretty basic math equation. Calories in minus the calories burned.
You seem, understandably, to have trouble controlling the total number of calories in. Again, considering your line of work, totally understandable.
So why not tackle the other side of the equation -- burn more calories. How? More exercise. If you could truly dedicate an hour a day to some hard-core fitness I bet you'd see a dramatic change. (Just be sure not to splurge on the calories after the workout!)
Peter
What's Your Favorite Local Cheese?
Baa Baa Bloo from Valley Shepard Creamery, no two ways about it.
Of course, to be absolutely sure, I'd have to TASTE every single local cheese.
Want to set that tasting up for me? ;)
I Took the Locavore Challenge (Sort of)
Not bad, not bad at all.
I'll give you the aforementioned Marco Polo exemption on the salt and what the heck, on the olive oil too.
But you blew it on the yogurt. And buying that other yogurt made in Queens may not have helped -- it depends on where they get their milk. It doesn't help to get yogurt made in Queens if the milk is trucked in from another time zone. ;)
Win Two Passes to the Big Apple Barbecue Party
Hands down, Arthur Bryant's.
Question of the Day: Are you a baker or a cook?
A cook who dabbles in ugly-but-yummy baking.
Question of the Day: Where did you have your most romantic dinner?
Tough call -- either Applewood in Brooklyn or The French Laundry. Maybe I'll have to flip a coin.
Ithaca, New York: What/Where to Eat?
Ithaca? No problem!
Burger? Glenwood Pines -- about 5 miles up the west coast of the lake -- check it out here: http://www.glenwoodpines.com/
Pizza - The Nines in Collegetown is not to be missed.
As a burger and pizza guy, you might also want to check out Louie's Lunchtruck on campus.
Stay warm!
The Best Italian Restaurant Nobody Knows
Ed, thanks for the tip. I went Saturday night and had one of the 5 most delicious meals of my entire life.
What wouldn't you eat as a child?
Would you believe it? Chinese food... and lobster. Clearly two of the most important food groups on the planet, both of which I now absolutely love.
Roadfood Roundup: Chili
Yeah Dot's! As someone who's been eating at Dot's for at least 27 years (I think my first ever meal there was a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich) AND as someone whose sampled 3 of these 5 (Ben's and Mike's as well) I can heartily endorse Dot's as the best BY FAR. (Now if I can only get to Milwaukee and Cincinnati soon...)
Milkshakes: should they come with whipped cream on top or not?
Ok, I'll play the contrarian. I think whipped cream is just fine on a milkshake.
Why? It gives you a less flavorful starting off point that makes the rest of the milkshake taste that much more rich once you're past the whipped cream. :)
Give the Gift of Noshing
How could you miss out on the best of all??!? Bacon!
http://www.gratefulpalate.com/?p=MultiOption_31&parent=Category_25
Have site feedback? We want to hear it!
Agreed with Myszka on letting users have avatars/thumbnail photos. It's SO much easier to notice the same personalities in conversation when you can pick up on them visually as well as by their chosen name. It's one of the great lackings in Chowhound's redesign.
Have site feedback? We want to hear it!
Oh, and lose the serif font. It works for the New York Times (barely) but it's just too darned hard to read.
Have site feedback? We want to hear it!
Congrats on the launch -- now get The Hungry Cabbie on board! ;)
Win your Dream Thansgiving Pies Contest
Sounds more like Douglas Adams than Carl Sagan. ;)
Tim Zagat Likes Close to Home Cooking
Ed, while I love your blog I was disappointed to see your comment on the Tim Zagat and Telepan.
I briefly worked at Zagat in 2000, and in fact reported directly to Tim and Nina. I can say many disparaging things about Zagat but I'll tell you this: Tim takes those ratings as serious as a heart attack.
I'm confident that Telepan ended up the #1 newcomer just as Tim describes in his post above: a simple mathematical averaging of the ratings submitted.
In the future, rather than accusing Tim of falsifying information, why not ask him for an interview and hit him with a lot of hard questions? I'm sure the resulting post would be much more interesting to your readers.
Link Roundup: Pizza en la Communidad
Last time that kid will try to get free pizza!
Link Roundup: Pizza en la Communidad
It sounds a little... exclusionary.
Be that as it may, it's also not the first such chain. In L.A. there's La Pizza Loca. Some of the stores have a little outside seating or a couple plastic chairs inside, but it's mainly oriented towards take-out.
In Search of the Perfect Food Review Rating System
I don't have a strong preference for letter grades vs. stars vs. numeric scores... as long as you understand the value of the rating, it's pretty much same-same to me. Being able to use plus or minus does allow for nuance, which is helpful. But the 14 possible ratings aren't much different than Zagat's 30 point scale (which in reality is more like a 14-29 scale).
But I do very strongly agree with the idea of "context" -- i.e., comparing an A+ dive to a B- haute cuisine? Their scores are relative.
Perfect real-life example: Out here in So California, the Zagat for In-N-Out chain is a 24 for food, while Morton's and Ruth's Chris are both rated 25 for food. Clearly, comparing an above-average fine-dining-type steak house to even the country's best drive-thru fast food joint, is like comparing saltines to artisanal bread. (Similarly, in NYC, Gray's Papaya at 20 vs. Nick & Stef's at 22 may be accurate, but in wholly different contexts.)
I've always wanted to see at least two levels of categorization, and ideally three or four... it's alway been my one huge peeve with Zagat, especially when you're in an unfamiliar area, and have no real way of being sure what kind of eatery you're in for.
In Search of the Perfect Food Review Rating System
Why not Casual 5-0 stars, and unqualified 5-0 stars?
In Search of the Perfect Food Review Rating System
Ed - I like your alpha-rating system for one simple reason - NYC is "starred" out - just completely starred out - TONY, NYM, NYT, RG, etc ad naseum. If you had chosen to go with stars I think you would have created dis-interest from the outset.
I also think that the alpha-system allows you to go into more areas of the eating/dining experience...
Food A
Bun C
Burger A
Seating D
Decor B
Service A
etc, etc
Good luck - I look forward to your reviews - have always loved to read your take.
In Search of the Perfect Food Review Rating System
i am a numbers person, so those appeal more to me. i like the idea of breaking out a dining experience into categories, such as: atmosphere (10), service (10), value (10), food (20), giving food more of a weight noting it's importance. this way, the readers have an idea as to why a restaurant received the rating it did.
In Search of the Perfect Food Review Rating System
I like the flexibility that A through F with all the + and - involved gives you, but be wary... its hard to stay consistent with so many options. A review you do 3 months from now may get a B+ even though a similar experience garnered an A- today... and even though they're very close, A- feels a LOT better than a B+.
In any case, i think the biggest problem with ratings systems is not so much how many starts you can give or how wide the range is, but clearly defining what each of the ratings MEAN. Maybe a C+ in your book is actually quite good, and you never/rarely plan to give any A's. It may all be codified in your head but its important to get it down on paper (or screen as it were) and let everyone else know what you're thinking. Plus, it will help avoid that gradual grade inflation/deflation i mentioned above.
Good luck!
In Search of the Perfect Food Review Rating System
I think the key to any rating system is to make certain that the reader/audience understands that the rating is within a certain class or against a preconceived expectation. In other words, people need to understand that an A (or 4 stars) for Katz's Deli and the same grade for Le Bernardin don't mean that you'll have the same experience at both. But it also doesn't mean that you won't enjoy them equally -- just differently.
Is there a way to codify that in a rating system? I think you could say that Katz's is an A-rated Deli and Le Bernardin is an A-rated Fine Dining Establishment. Not perfect or particularly eloquent, but it communicates the essence of the rating.
Dominic
the zen kitchen
Ed Levine's Serious Diet Week 5: Can 'Start Living, Stop Dieting' Work for a Food Writer?
man, I feel your pain. I really do. I love fat, pork fat, beef fat, butter fat, duck fat...I gotta go, I'm making myself hungry.
Ed Levine's Serious Diet Week 5: Can 'Start Living, Stop Dieting' Work for a Food Writer?
i try to run on a treadmill for 40 minutes at least four days a week. on two of those days i add as many thirty second speed bursts as i can. boring and painful, but oh, so effective. i keep telling myself that being fat is more boring and more painful than running, which, since it's true, keeps me going. i have lots of great music on the ipod, which helps.
Ed Levine's Serious Diet Week 5: Can 'Start Living, Stop Dieting' Work for a Food Writer?
How about just exercising more?
Ed Levine's Serious Diet Week 5: Can 'Start Living, Stop Dieting' Work for a Food Writer?
I stayed the same this week. Glad to hear that you are continuing your commitment to a healthy lifestyle. I am a WW believer. 'Nuff said.
My issue with irrational eating is as follows: I'll make wise choices all day long, and then an hour before bedtime, consume enough calories to get me halfway through the next day. Not sure why I do this, but it happens several times a week. It's totally bumming me out.
What's Your Favorite Local Cheese?
Two and a half:
One: MAYTAG BLUE from the kickass folks at the Maytag Dairy farm - yes, around the corner from where they make the washers and dryers AND
Two-&-a-half: MOUCOU Brie & Camembert from Ft Collins Colorado if I remember correctly. They kick ass also!
Some woman here in Big D also makes Mozz and whatnot and it is good, but nothing to get all worked up about.
Regards,
Sputnik
What's Your Favorite Local Cheese?
Carr Valley Cocoa Cardona. When I drive from Minneapolis to Madison, there's always a stop at the Carr Vally in Mauston and load up on cheese.
What's Your Favorite Local Cheese?
Zingerman's Creamery in Ann Arbor makes an awesome fresh goat cheese cream cheese
What's Your Favorite Local Cheese?
Oakvale Cheese just outside of Columbus, Ohio makes some wonderful Goudas. I'm not a huge fan of pepper-cheeses in general, but their Habañero Gouda is pretty amazing.
They sell both young and aged cheeses.
What's Your Favorite Local Cheese?
I just visited family in New Mexico and had a wonderful chipotle-and-honey-flavored chevre from South Mountain Dairy at the Santa Fe Farmers' Market. It's not technically "local" for me since I live in NYC, but I thought it worth mentioning since NM doesn't usually come up in conversations about cheese, and besides if I did live there that variety or one of the others that the farm makes would definitely be in my shopping basket each week.
What's Your Favorite Local Cheese?
7 year aged cheddar from Hook's in Mineral Point, WI.
Yum.
I Took the Locavore Challenge (Sort of)
I think that using non-local plain salt and things like pepper makes sense in the spirit of eating local. Those things have been traded since forever.
But my opinion is that olive oil is out. I might be mistaken, but I've heard that certain parts of Italy use almost no olive oil but use lard and butter instead just because that's what they have around. In the same vein, just because New York state has no olive trees doesn't mean that you can claim a Marco Polo exemption. It just means you can't use olive oil in your cooking and call it local. If you're watching your cholesterol, eating truly local is probably bad for your health.
Anyway, that's why I'm not a locavore. Way too difficult. And so much guilt. As long as it tastes good and doesn't flagrantly decimate the environment I'll eat it.
I Took the Locavore Challenge (Sort of)
Pedants corner (that is in no way intended to denigrate a valid commentary on the locavore fad) - it is MaldOn salt : www.maldonsalt.co.uk
It appears to be a common mispelling, however, as can be seen to it's best effect here: http://www.amazon.com/8-5-oz-Malden-Sea-Salt/dp/B0000U2R1A
Maldon salt comes from Essex, so is roughly equivalent in terms of UK geographical prejudice to, say, Coney Island salt.
Win Two Passes to the Big Apple Barbecue Party
Blue Ribbon in Arlington, MA if I'm anywhere north of Tennessee. Otherwise, I just can't pick.
But I LOVED both Kreuz Market and the Salt Lick. Mmmmm
Win Two Passes to the Big Apple Barbecue Party
National: Kreuz Market, Lockhart, TX
NY State: Big W's, Pawling, NY
NYC: RUB (Daisy May's loses only b/c of their irritating TV ads)
Win Two Passes to the Big Apple Barbecue Party
Big W's Roadside BBQ in Pawling, NY
Win Two Passes to the Big Apple Barbecue Party
Daisy May's, RUB and Dinsosaur
Win Two Passes to the Big Apple Barbecue Party
I grew up in North Carolina and by far my favorite was Troutman's Barbecue in Denton, NC for the perfect chopped plate. When I moved to Huntsville, AL, I became a Big Bob Gibson's fan - but it's apples and oranges as far as styles go.
Win Two Passes to the Big Apple Barbecue Party
Fette Sau in Brooklyn, mostly for the atmosphere.
Win Two Passes to the Big Apple Barbecue Party
Daisy May's; R.U.B. a close second.
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Hmmm... some interesting food for thought (pun, of course, intended.)
Here are a few disparate thoughts:
-- As mentioned in the comment above, a gradation of stars allows for a list of ratings to be scanned easily. Yes, a list of letter grades can be scanned as well, but not as easily.
-- You talk about docking the perfect hot dog a perfect grade because there's no theoretical seat. The Ny Times and NY Mag do this as well. NY Mag even says as much at the end of the review -- "3 star food minus one star for the loud room." Hmmm... maybe this is where Zagat actually got it right? They break out the rating of food from service from setting. For those who REALLY care about the food -- those, dare I say it, who are SERIOUS about food, the pure food rating is what matters, no?