Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Ed--the link for the event is http://www.ginadepalma.net/fundraiser_invite/ I think there is a typo in the link above.

Lahey's no knead recipe.

Flatiron!

Flatiron!

Marilyn Borchardt states, "The ad's not even acknowledging that there's even hunger in any of these places," and she is totally correct. However, when was the last time any food advertisement, fast or otherwise, noted that there is hunger in the world? In fact, there is quite a bit of hunger in the United States; should fast food advertisements acknowledge those problems?

I'm not sure I understand how it is "insensitive" to point out that there are people in the world who have never eaten a burger. It doesn't mean that people in other countries are less sophisticated or ignorant--it just means they eat differently than people in the United States. It's a fun, lighthearted campaign, and the advertising critics need to stop projecting their own biases.

@sarahlucy: You ask, "who cares?" I care because it's an interesting topic about food, and I would suspect that's why he writes about dieting as well. I too have gone on diets in the past, and there are foods that I sacrificed and foods I chose to continue to eat.

I apologize if you took offense at the use of my word, "light," but I was a bit surprised by his description of his dinner while he was on a diet. It is arguably a non-traditional dinner regardless if he were on a diet or not.

With respect to calorie counting, in his first post on the diet topic, Ed wrote, "I'm trying to limit my caloric intake to 2,000 calories a day," so I think it is fair to ask how he is counting calories.

That being said, I think you missed one of the points I was trying to make. Instead of two slices of old pizza, reheated black bean soup and raisins, Ed could have eaten a fairly nice steak dinner that would have supplied the same energy (from the caloric perspective), made him feel just as full (if not more full), may have been as nutritious, and would have tasted better. (Unless he was really in the mood for cold pizza.) I'm actually more curious about why he chooses to eat the foods he eats rather than what he chooses to eat.

I'm not sure I understand why you took my comment so personally. Becoming more healthy is difficult for anyone, and it's unfortunate that there is such a focus on using weight as a sole metric for healthiness. While other metrics include body mass index, body fat percentage, I would love to read more about how Ed feels. Do his clothes fit better? Does he feel he has more energy? Is he happier?

I get the feeling that he is not happy with his diet. The post from Week 36 (actually Week 37) was poignant, and he has written about surreptitious snacking and taking breaks from the diet more than once. Ultimately, does he feel his diet is successful?

I'm curious if Ed has ever added up the calories in a given day. From the Grub Street post, it sounds like he is rarely under 1,500 calories and frequently goes up to 2,000 calories or more. And that is if we believe it is a true accounting of everything that gets eaten or tasted. I'm not questioning his integrity, but it is quite difficult to remember to log everything consumed in a day.

Two slices of pizza, a bowl of black bean soup and raisins is hardly a light meal. Rough estimates for the calories are 140 per slice of pizza, 120 for the black bean soup, and 80 for the raisins: 480 calories total. (http://www.nutrientfacts.com) For that number of calories, he could have had a 1/2 pound piece of steak and collard greens.

The owners of a restaurant or coffee shop or other public accommodation certainly have a right to publish their political views. As long as they don't practice any kind of illegal discrimination and I can afford the restaurant, I can choose to patronize their establishments. On the other hand, I can also choose to not patronize their establishments as well. And if I really disagree with the political views or business practices of the location, I can even walk back and forth in front of the restaurant asking other people not to patronize them.

It's a beautiful feature of the U.S. Constitution: we have "freedom to" not "freedom from."

Actually, the U.S. does have appellation standards, the viticultural areas regulated by the Department of the Treasury.

Really nice photos! Were these taken by you as you ate? What camera was used?

Crushed hot pepper

How is this recipe "adapted" from Webtender? It looks like you went to Webtender and just cut and pasted their content. Why not just include a link to the Webtender page? The only difference from the Webtender page appears to be the removal of the admonition: "Stir gently, don't bruise the spirits and cloud the drink."

(http://www.webtender.com/info/c.html may be interesting.)

My favorite cut of steak is one that is cooked medium rare with a nice bernaise sauce.