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The Ten Most Recent Comments By strozzapreti

From Serious Eats

Starbucks Breakfast Sandwiches: Now Less Smelly

First off, these sandwiches are not bad for what they are.
But the more important point is this: I am absolutely positive that the smell comes from the ovens, not the sandwiches themselves. I've noticed this in numerous branches that serve them. Yes, there's a meaty/cheesy smell, but it's mixed with a pronounced, acrid, metallic odor that smells like cooked cleaning solution. I can only describe it as an industrial smell, and I've smelled it in Starbucks on both coasts. The solution is to put a high powered vent over the ovens, not to nix the sandwiches.

From Serious Eats

Former 'Next Top Model' Elyse Sewell Eats Dog Stew in Seoul

An animal rights activist once lectured my family about our uncivilized, barbaric ways just based on the fact that we're Asian - nevermind the fact that we've never even eaten dog, nor wish to. So before the ewww comments begin, I'm going to jump into defense position and add a few facts:

1. Koreans who eat dog are about as common as Americans who eat ostrich. It's available and it's certainly been heard of, but most people just haven't done it.
2. They don't eat just any dog, so nix any associations between bosintang and your cute little shih tzu being boiled. Just as we prefer to eat chicken over parakeets, only a specific breed of dog is used.
3. Dogeating is in no way limited to Asia.

In other words, get off my case for being Asian, PETA.

From Serious Eats

Is 'Authentic' Ethnic Food By Definition Better? Does Authentic Trump Delicious?

I don't think the writer reduces this to an equation of authentic = more delicious. He makes a good point, actually. People should be more knowledgeable about food history and traditions before eating outside the box.

For instance, a recent meal at Merkato 55 was delicious. But if someone walks away from it with the impression that their meal was African, they are sorely mistaken.

Another example: someone who said that Koreatown is awful because it doesn't stack up to Momofuku.

Many people turn to food and cooking articles for an authoritative voice. If said articles are riddled with errors, why bother reading at all?

Taste is a separate issue.

From Talk

Kids Tired of Brown Bag Lunches: Any New Ideas?

How heartwarming and bitter to see that times have changed. When my sister was little, my mother packed her a small lunch box of grilled short ribs with sticky rice and pickled vegetables. Her teacher took it away and scolded my mother for not making a proper lunch.

Years later, I was forced to suffer the same PB +J and Doritos every day so that I might be spared the same BS.

Now that I'm done bitching, I second the bento idea. It doesn't have to be Asian - a couple of chicken drummettes and some of those leftover potatoes that you had pictured on your blog. Think of any classic comfort meal and scale it down. It sounds very Food Network, but meatloaf baked in muffin tins is one of the my favorite lunches.

From Serious Eats

Food Bloggers: Going Legit(?) and Entering the Mainstream

Jamie, blogging and credibility are disconnected terms. Any Joe Blow can sign up with a blogging system and give it a go. RG didn't lose anyone's respect by moving to the Daily News; people who didn't take her seriously to begin with are the ones rolling their eyes.

Ethics and (food) blogging are equally disconnected. Most people in the game have their ties to friends who are chefs, line cooks and restaurant owners. It's a small, incestuous world and takes a big person to write without bias. Unfortunately, it's equally problematic when someone write with zero knowledge about the inner working of a restaurant and professional cooking.

Could I be more pessimistic?

From Serious Eats

Alinea's Grant Achatz Diagnosed with Cancer

In an age where chefs glorify all of the trappings of self-destructive bad boy behavior (cocaine abuse, petrified livers, screwing around) Grant is one of the few who presents himself as serious, precocious and stable. I couldn't be more miserable or depressed to hear about this.

You're in my prayers, Grant...

From Serious Eats

The Most Wanted $15 Bag in the World

What foodies don't realize is just how coveted Anya Hindmarch items are. If it takes an exclusive designer to bring awareness to fashionistas, why not?

Call it a waste or disgusting, but it's all relative. Skinny bitches everywhere are just as curious as to why anyone would wait on line all day for a shack burger or an overpriced cup of gelato.

All that said, I saw the line at WF Chelsea this morning. NO THANK YOU. I have my share of AH accessories. I'm not going to suffer a line of fools in a thunderstorm for a mass produced tote.

From Serious Eats

'Veronica Mars' Bars

Fans of Fiona Apple protested the delayed release of her album by sending thousands of foam apples to Sony. If only they had sent real ones to rot in transit...

From Talk

where can a girl drink alone in manhattan?

If you're downtown, Hudson Bar and Books. Uptown, Lexington Bar and Books. I find the uptown one is better for solo drinking. Sometimes the sceney folks in the Meatpacking District spill over into the Hudson location, leaving you an open target for cheesy, drunk and/or annoying men.

Responses to Comments by strozzapreti

From Serious Eats

Starbucks Breakfast Sandwiches: Now Less Smelly

@Adam: the entry has been corrected.

From Serious Eats

Starbucks Breakfast Sandwiches: Now Less Smelly

How ironic that Hannah HOWARD...didn't get that it's HOWARD Shultz...jest sayin' ;)

From Serious Eats

Starbucks Breakfast Sandwiches: Now Less Smelly

Starbucks' CEO is Howard Schultz, not Harold Shultz.

From Serious Eats

Starbucks Breakfast Sandwiches: Now Less Smelly

Though the sandwiches were "discontinued" several months ago, they weren't going to take them off the shelves until September (which I think had something to do with their fiscal year?).

As for changing the smell of the new sandwiches they say they will use "non-smelly" cheese and less butter on the eggs. The quote that got me was "The company may try to change the products enough to market them as distinct from the original sandwiches." so who knows what sandwich may show up! (FWIW-I'm a fan of the turkey bacon on whole wheat one).

From Serious Eats

Former 'Next Top Model' Elyse Sewell Eats Dog Stew in Seoul

For the record, I have domesticated chickens, have worked on my cousin's dairy farm, and begged my parents for a pet pig throughout most of my childhood. I also have a dog. And have had a goldfish. Is eating fish barbaric? Am I horrible for eating a hamburger last night, just because I've named cows? Should I be deemed a moron and shot because I eat chicken almost every day, just because I have a pet chick?

Eating living things is how we survive, and most of us couldn't without separating life from food. I probably wouldn't eat dog, because it doesn't sound like a tasty meat, not because I'm unable to separate Fido's face from a bowl of stew. Nobody is trying to change your stance, just please keep your judgmental, inane, negative, ridiculous and hasty comments to a minimum, especially if you are unprepared to defend them in an informed, realistic and healthy debate. Nobody "makes the rules" for this blog, but I think everyone can agree to at least keep the hate out and the information in.

From Serious Eats

Former 'Next Top Model' Elyse Sewell Eats Dog Stew in Seoul

I think Passy is the one that needs to GET A GRIP. No one wants to "change your position" on this issue. I think diversity is what makes the world go around. I see a lot of things that I would consider gross, things that I would never want to eat. But to call someone a moron for reporting about these things, seems excessive. To presume that there are food things that the readers of this blog do not want to know about is wrong. I read this blog and I found the information interesting. Oh ....and Adam I think the bimbo being refered to is not Elyse but the person who made the cat fritters comment

From Serious Eats

Former 'Next Top Model' Elyse Sewell Eats Dog Stew in Seoul

I'm kinda iffy on this sensationalist kind of news...

On one hand, its fascinating and is a draw for readers, on the other, this kind of food is not so unusual or fascinating to people who are familiar with it as a part of their culture.
I have a hard time legitimizing any food as weird or gross anymore because someone, somewhere probably eats it and enjoys it and doesn't find it that odd.

Good for you, Sewell to try other foods, but these foods are only exoticized by a purely Western life experience and standard.
This kind of treatment does the culture no favors by keying in on the weird and eew factor.

@Johnmccollum
Bring the discourse on. I am ready! :)

From Serious Eats

Former 'Next Top Model' Elyse Sewell Eats Dog Stew in Seoul

wow, dog scent out of her pores... that's interesting.

question is, adam would you or the serious eats team try dog if it was available here in the city?

From Serious Eats

Former 'Next Top Model' Elyse Sewell Eats Dog Stew in Seoul

I could give a rat's fried hind quarter what the reality tv people are eating. I never want to eat a dog because dogs are pets to me. In the immortal words of DL Hughley, "you don't walk food". I never had a pet pig, cow or chicken. Reason being I EAT THEM! Don't even think about what you might eat if the chickens, pigs and cows were gone. We are all 3 meals from anarchy. My neighbor across the street is a nice person but if I was starving he would be nice with some mashed and gravy.
As for the next supermodel, feed her a pound of couth. I don't care what she won she is an asshat! Tell her to sweat that out of her pores.

From Serious Eats

Former 'Next Top Model' Elyse Sewell Eats Dog Stew in Seoul

I can't judge anyone for eating dog when I enjoy burgers, pork chops, lamb shanks, and chicken breasts on a regular basis.

Nonetheless, I could never eat dog or cat myself. It's a cultural prejudice, I understand that, but I just don't think I could bring myself to do it.