According to the back end of the site, there is not a double post. So I'm not exactly sure how to get rid of what appears to be a double post.
I bought the Smitten Kitchen book as a gift for my sister. I hope it doesn't suck.
Now there is not a double post here, either. How nice.
I am not a big fan of her writing style (though either I've gotten used to it or she's mellowed out some) but her recipes are really very unusually reliable.
That was me, as if it might not have been obvious.
I really do find the habit of situating every recipe with some domestic story annoying.
I half suspect that it would be easier to post to a themed blog, actually, much as it is easier, in a way, to create themed than unthemed mixes.
are there any cookbooks in which the recipes are embedded into chilling tales of horror?
Weirdly, Smitten Kitten advertisements show up from time to time when I read Kevin Drum. I find that hilarious.
From the link at 5: the all too ubiquitous food blogger method, of introducing or eliciting interest in their posts . . . as if they are trying out for lifestyle-magazine columnist positions: nothing very characteristic, but much in the way of personal information
Indeed. I've recently tried out recipes from Not So Humble Pie. Some of her chattiness is interesting and, at times, helpful information about the chemistry of cooking, but I don't need a half-page story about a jackass in an SUV before the peanut brittle recipe.
Clearly lots of readers dig feeling a relationship with the blogger, though, as demonstrated in the comments.
4: It's funny; I actually associate Smitten Kitchen with you, because I first saw some of her recipes on your site.
(Although now I've just popped over to your blog and I see that that is false. I will now associate SmittKit with a false connection to you.)
I think the mistake is not in using the domestic anecdote, which may be amusing or enlightening (or, I suppose, horrifying), but in treating them as de rigeur. Not every recipe calls an interesting story to mind, nor does every relevant story hold interest.
That said, I can't help but think about this tendency in relation to zine-writing and mommy-blogging, both areas of literature dominated by the personal, in which the interest tends to be in the persona or the prose, rather than the incident. Perhaps these afflicted recipe writers simply long to be in the aforementioned categories, having either chosen the wrong theme for their blogs/essays, or misjudging their own talents wrt writing vs. recipe'ing.
Clearly lots of readers dig feeling a relationship with the blogger, though, as demonstrated in the comments.
Clearly there's a big chunk of the internet where readers' interest in not in what writers are interested in, as such, but in how they talk about it. AB's 2nd-favorite zine (she's kind of analog) is a wholly autobiographical/memoiresque one written by a vegan lesbian who lives in LA with anxiety issues, a love of Italy, and an obsession with running in the heat. Other than a predilection for coffee and cats, AB has nothing at all in common* with her, but loves to read her, because she finds her writing and drawing enjoyable.
Similarly, I suspect that many/most readers of these cooking blogs only occasionally cook, but feel a connection to the author. Which the author feels obliged to reinforce with lots of anecdotes.
*and even those two, it's marginal
She got the husband first, then switched a dating blog to a cooking blog, no?
To Heebie's take, I can tell you that it's exhausting coming up with a lede for our reviews every week. What the holy hell can we say this week about restaurants, Pittsburgh, or restaurants in Pittsburgh that we haven't already said in the last 475 weeks?
It's not that every lede is exhausting, but it is often enough. Writing about the food is pretty easy, really. And yes, sometimes we just sort of dive in, but most restaurants aren't really interesting enough to support that.
20: Would it kill you to read the linked article?
IIRC, the guy showed up after like her 3rd post, so....
Not about Smitten Kitten, but about the "post once a day" thing: I wish I could do that with my blog, but the fucking thing saps so much life outta me, thinking about it, trying to be valuable in the face of all of the other (in my perception) valuable stuff out there. I think a lot of people think of the blog as just a throw away thing, but that isn't the case, is it? It's hard work, and I appreciate those, like the posters on unfogged, that can do this work, day after day.
like those of the posters on unfogged that haven't either gone off to live on a farm, or mostly retreated from posting back to the safety of the comments.
I read the article, and actually remember the courtship on The Smitten. Which is why the headline bothers me.
Besides my life catching me up, the other reason I don't post on the water blog is that I finally realized I had about five themes. I'll write more on that blog when I have something new to say.
I bought the Smitten Kitchen book as a gift for my sister. I hope it doesn't suck.
I gave a copy as a gift and it was well received.
I also got a copy for myself and I'm happy with but not overjoyed. I'm don't do a lot of cooking directly from recipes, so I'm mostly looking for ideas/techniques. I've found her website good for that, and I think the cookbook is fine, but I probably will still end up using the site more often than the book.
I don't mind supporting Smitten Kitchen, however, I thought of buying the book as partially an appreciation for a good site (the same reason I bought Heads In The Sand).
Which is why the headline bothers me.
It isn't even a headline, is it, just the URL? Whoever is responsible for that, I doubt it's the same person who wrote the article.
24
As a relative newcomer, I'm speaking from a perception of this blog as being happily dysfunctional. As opposed to whatever awful history I am unaware of:)
Well, no one really knows what happened to Bob. And I think Labs may have seen something nasty in the woodshed.
I also got a copy for myself and I'm happy with but not overjoyed.
I really don't want to raise the bar so that my family expects to be overjoyed by my gifts.
25: I didn't realize 20 was intended as a comment on the NYT.
I wish that article had given her credit for the fact that her recipes always work. Her details are exactly right. It's both harder and rarer than one would expect. I un-followed one site last week because I'm tired of being tempted by something that sounds tasty, only to wind up spending 45 minutes trying to figure out why it's gone so terribly wrong. With Smitten Kitchen even the recipes I'm not so sure of have always been delicious. Her sweet potatoes with feta and pecans are incredible, even if you don't like sweet potatoes.
Weirdly, Smitten Kitten advertisements show up from time to time when I read Kevin Drum. I find that hilarious.
Yeah, Mother Jones's site always gives me sex-toy ads which a) don't show up elsewhere and b) confuse me since I've never visited any NSFW sites from my work machine.
It's both harder and rarer than one would expect.
Yes, it's incredibly unusual and strangely not mentioned often at all, present company excepted.
26 -- Not altogether uncommon, I'd imagine.
Bob went into a chrysalis, and became a beautiful butterfly.
In my reasoned opinion, that blog should be re-titiled Smgrains Kitchobesity.
One of the reasons that I attend the Church of Chris Kimball is that I value recipes that work* more than pretty much anything else. They don't have a 100% track record, but it's better than just about any other source I've tried (I've only used SK a couple times).
Discussing the actual quality of the results seems like some sort of taboo when discussing recipe sources. One theory (and I haven't given it much thought) is that peoples' standards (and, to an extent, skill levels) are so low that most recipes are "good enough", and when they don't work out, the cop-out is to blame the cook.
I certainly can't tell you how many times I've eaten mediocre food that gets raves, and it's really not clear whence the enthusiasm comes. Another theory: if people like a blog for the proprietor, not the substantive content, then complimenting the content is intended to complement the proprietor, and criticism - even constructive criticism - is treated as a social faux pas.
* The big NYT mag profile on him a few weeks ago was fine, but the big payoff, where the author made a batch of burgers, struck me as false because, in his story, there were lots of quibbles about quality, but IME CI recipes are almost not only reliable, but also superb. De gustibus, obviously, but since the standard is not mere replicability, but excellence on a number of fronts, I don't think they fall into the trap of uniform mediocrity.
I asked for the cookbook for my birthday, as I love the blog and find, as everyone else has mentioned, that her recipes simply work. I usually skip over the domestic stories, which might explain (since I have read the entire blog) how I missed that it had once been a dating blog? That sounds more like Pioneer Woman to me than Smitten Kitchen.
Oh yeah, and the cookbook is great!
Actually, it sounds even more like Orangette, where she did indeed find her husband through the blog.
And I finnnaaaalllly read the article, and oh. I am shamed.
There have been multiple real-life instances of women finding husbands through writing cooking blogs? And it has not yet been the plot of a movie?
(unless that's what happens in "Julie and Julia")
No, I think she lost her husband via her blog. Pioneer Woman didn't find her husband because of the blog, just wrote about it a lot.
And lo, I am shamed again, for knowing all of this.
35.2: https://www.smittenkittenonline.com/
(NSFW, obvs)
Ah, I misunderstood the problem! It's probably just from visiting feminist blogs or something.
My reading comprehension is just for shit this week.
BTW, does anyone know or have a theory about the big boom in Krampus stuff this year? I don't remember Xmas 2011 having so much of the old fellow around.
Actually, in re 9, I suppose that The Debt to Pleasure, which is linked in the post linked to in 5, is not miles away from what text mentions, except it's not a cookbook but rather a fictionalized memoir with an unreliable narrator, and it isn't a chilling tale of horror but rather a chilling tale of all-too-mundane villainy and murder. But I believe there are recipes.
her recipes are really very unusually reliable.
A trait shared with many writers of great cookbooks who learned cooking late and with difficulty; Beeton, the Rombauers, Child.
Possibly,marginally, Farmer. I just read that she ran a boarding-house for a while, either as a semi-convalescent young woman or as a trained domestic scientist. Boardinghouses: do they survive anywhere? Did the microwave and no-iron style do them in, to be replaced with aPodments? Were enough of them good, and good enough jobs, to be missed? Someone here recommended Whitehorn's book on cooking in a bedsit, which is hilarious and ingenious; thanks.
There were still some quasi-boarding houses in Omaha when I was there in the mid-nineties. I don't think they ironed your shirts or made you breakfast though. They just officially rented rooms in a house occupied by the owner.
I stayed in what I like to think of as a boarding house years ago in Lisbon. Several rooms, longish term lets (i was there for two months, but most people were basically permanent, either students or working), a lounge and kitchen, and also a concierge who cleaned the place and gabbled at me in Portuguese.
|| I'm going to eschew the small cute animal metaphors and just say that I did not expect to be in a position to choose between two quite different places to work and live. I all but accepted the one from the place that called first, which looks like the better fit in terms of work but not in terms of region. Then a few hours later the other one called.
I don't even know if I'm asking for advice so I'm using pause-play. |>
Thanks for skipping the animal metaphors. I mostly couldn't follow those threads. If anyone does want to adopt a real puppy, our puppy's brother is back at the rescue and looking at his picture is killing me.
52: Congratulations! You should take the job that's closer to good burritos.
Not altogether uncommon, I'd imagine.
Yeah, I'm in a similar situation with my blog(s). I don't have a whole lot to say right now about either the stuff I know a lot about or the stuff I'm currently most interested in but don't yet know nearly enough about to say anything useful. I'm hoping to get back in the swing of the former, at least, pretty soon. The solstice should provide a good opportunity.
(P.S.: Hey, Charley, guess where I went on Monday.)
I don't write as much as I want to on my "real" blog in part because when I write I write too much. People who actually read the posts seem to think they're ok, but only like 2 people read any given post.*
Also, when I try to break things up into multiple posts in an attempt to break up the long post problem, I write the first one and then lose momentum, and then lose a lot of the preparation I did for the later posts and then feel like I'd be practically starting over if I return to the topic.
*I don't really mind the low readership. What I mind is sitting down and thinking that I just have something quick to say and then 5 hours later I'm still editing ("proofreading") the damn thing.
When I did have a blog I posted to regularly, it was mostly links in a commentary+excerpt style. That was fine, but reading and collecting links was taking way too much of my time.
You going to get to The Other One sometime?
Probably not; we do have one grant there, but it's not a project we're actively managing, and (as I'm sure you'll be shocked to hear) that project has been complicated by the difficult relationship between the city and a certain corporation.
52 should post more details so we can give terrible advice!
There was a women-only boarding house-- very affordable, I was told-- in Manhattan as recently as a half decade ago.
62: Sorry to disappoint, but I've already decided in favor of the one I almost took this morning. I told them I'd give them a decision tomorrow, so that encouraged me to make up my mind quickly.
Sadly, good burritos will not be nearby. The pizza is supposed to be good, though.
64 -- Good pizza and no good burritos. Better be in Italy, or, otherwise, it sounds like a pretty big mistake, Mr. President.
Much better now that I know to order one that isn't on the menu.
Or, if I'm at the other place, I end up going with the salmon quesadilla. Our pizza isn't as bad as it might be.
63. The Webster? I knew someone who lived there, about ten years ago. It was very inexpensive, and they gave you meals.
I thought that was just a thing from Bosom Buddies.
My dad lived in boarding houses from when he got out of the navy until he married. But that was a while ago. The woman who he last boarded with didn't take any boarders after him, but did baby sit for us.
I knew an extremely beautiful girl who lived there one summer, if I remember correctly. Men weren't allowed inside at night.
Our house seems to have been more of a boarding house than actual apartments before we bought it: the old lady who owned it lived on the ground floor, and there was a door at the top of the stairs to the third floor (which included a kitchenette), but there was no separation for the second floor rooms (also kitchenette), and the owner's rooms were only semi-separated from the entry hall (like, she had to pass through the hall to get to her kitchen, and a vinyl accordion door separated the living room from the hall). It was never legally a multifamily, although IIRC there were 2 electric meters.
Sounds like a keeper, JRoth. I hope you never have to sell.
Congrats! Remember that two offers means you can ask for more money.
With jobs, yes. In dating, there is no way to make it come across right.
My great-aunt Bertha ran a boardinghouse. I don't remember if I learned the phrase "Excuse my boardinghouse reach" from that side of the family, but I use it a lot. Is that racist against people who lived in boardinghouses?
that all depends. in what settings does it come most in handy?
You say it when you reach in front of someone at the table to get something instead of waiting for it to be passed. I suppose I could say, "Excuse my mannerless teenager reach." Would that be racist against mannerless teenagers?
Congrats to 52!
I, on the other hand, have been rejected for every job I applied for, and although I've been doing really great work at my position, which is going to be opened up for two more years, I may not be considered for it, for reasons that are completely mysterious to me. Everyone who has been so encouraging and helpful has suddenly started turning their backs on me, literally, when I walk in the room. No one will meet my eye. I don't know what I've done and am becoming paranoid. Speaking to people in the know who are not completely silent to me, they say, "Well, I don't think that all hope is necessarily lost just yet..." Um, OK? This means they would be happier spending thousands of dollars interviewing and bringing in a new person--plus moving benefits and training and all of that--rather than extend my contract. I can't understand what I've done wrong.
Everyone who has been so encouraging and helpful has suddenly started turning their backs on me, literally, when I walk in the room. No one will meet my eye.
Obviously, I don't know what's going on, but this seems like behavior that might also go with they're trying to work something out for you, but they aren't sure it's going to go through, and they can't talk about it while it's uncertain, if you see what I mean. You're probably reading it right, but I think the other is at least a possibility.
Also, can I additionally complain that this year I am not even being considered for an interview for any of the jobs I applied for, including jobs I was considered for two years ago, despite now having degree in hand, publications underway, and considerably more experience and support--including a letter from a dean at one of the schools that was hiring (no interest)? I know the answer is what everyone says, that it's not a meritocracy, that nothing makes sense, and that it's the only profession in the world in which there is not a single thing that happens that has anything to do with the quality of your work, but it's exhausting to play a game in which you are always told you're failing, but the people who run it tell you to your face that they're just making random shit up.
Ugh, I'm sorry, AWB. What a horrible meat-grinder.
I kind of suspect that something about the dynamic of roommates changed that makes boarding houses as such less valuable. The social acceptability of sharing an apartment like that? Something about landlord-tenant law?
That sucks AWB, I was hoping that presidential was you.
This could be some sort of dean problems rather than anything you did. E.g. the dean said "you can extend this position for two years, but I expect a national search for the best candidate." though in that case you'd think that someone would say something (e.g. "sorry, our dean is crazy and making life difficult.").
The does totally suck, AWB, and I hope it turns out they are just buggering you around while waiting to see if they can offer you something.
Academic jobs are insane.
I'm sorry, AWB. I'm not on the academic job market and while the market in my field has some parallels, it's not quite as brutal.
I hope what they're doing is just an extreme form of not favoring the local candidate rather than actually turning their backs.
This could be some sort of dean problems
This was my thought too. I am sorry everything is vile.
@84 Ugh...that sounds nerve wracking.
Hopefully 83 or 89 have it right.
82 is awful. No matter what is going on behind the scenes that's just a shitty way to treat a co-worker.
I know 79 as "the lodger's reach", with a hint of implication that the lodger would be waiting a long time to be passed whatever it is. I think in Ireland rather than large boarding houses, ordinary dwellings with a small number of lodgers were more common. Usually known as "digs" which in the UK I think is generally only a theatrical tradition.
And sympathies to AWB. I am gloomy about my own work where my boss has decided to steer all his best clients to his new favourite (a friend of his son's here covering a maternity leave who will probably be kept on - actually a nice fellow and not plotting in any way).
Sorry about the bollocks, AWB. I was also hoping the above presidential was you. Good luck.
To be honest, I'm not sure how much people are actively treating me in any particular way, and how much I'm just surrounded by somewhat unsociable people who put a lot of effort into acting sociable when I first met them, but are now caught up with their own concerns. (I have my own friends here now too, so it's not as if I come across as some sad case. In fact, I have wondered if the perception that I am hypersocial has hurt me with the department. Of *course* I go to happy hours and have dinners at my house and joke with friends and participate in campus life. I don't have a family or roots or anything else going on here at home.) I think my requests for clarification and desire to update them on my search status (one time) have been reasonable, but it's possible that I have crossed some invisible line of incivility.
Sorry about the bollocks, here come the Sex Pistols.
One of the seminal albums that defined Polite Punk.
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98: She said "seminal" ... heh ... unh, heh...
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Will that website hurt my computer if I visit it?
it's possible that I have crossed some invisible line of incivility.
This is why I interact with live humans as little as practical. Or maybe "with as few" - some humans I interact with quite a bit.
[U]nfogged.com? Not directly, but don't click the links.
I think it's possible that smart short-term people do not interact with the locals too much. One accidentally befriends someone locally loathed, or gets into a casual argument with someone everyone knows is not to be responded to.
Yep. When I was in Spain, I accidentally got BFF bracelets with Pinochet.
This is why I interact with live humans as little as practical.
I try not to interact with the other kind of human, too.
Right, they're either spent or duds.
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I can't understand what I've done wrong.
Nothing, probably. They can project potential onto the new hire; they know what they're getting with you, and if you're good, the person they will hire could be even better.
Also possibilities: they *may* get the position extended, but they may not, and no one knows what to say.
and how much I'm just surrounded by somewhat unsociable people who put a lot of effort into acting sociable when I first met them, but are now caught up with their own concerns.
This is exactly me. I feel obligated to act sociable in order to welcome a new person, and then when they've got their sea legs I want to be left alone again.
You guys are interrupting the spammers' conversation, you know
It's been over two months now, I sure hope Tanya sees this (orange post title?).
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