So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Hercule]

Apropos to all this talk of cheese recently, I think I'm pretty much done with cheese for a while. At least brick parmesan that you grate yourself. I had a rather horrific encounter with a cheese grater last evening and my left index finger is now missing about a quarter inch square patch of skin, right down to the meat. I finally managed to get it to stop bleeding but it hurts like the dickens!!!

 

[Zombie_61]

By the way:
Should I know this "Gordon Ramsey"?

If you don't, you're probably better off. He's another one of these blowhard "famous" chefs who is almost better known for mouthing off and using foul language regularly while yelling at his subordinates, i.e. a "personality".

 

[Fifty150]

better known for mouthing off and using foul language regularly

Sounds like every one of my ex-girlfriends.

 

[Edward]

If you don't, you're probably better off. He's another one of these blowhard "famous" chefs who is almost better known for mouthing off and using foul language regularly while yelling at his subordinates, i.e. a "personality".

To be fair, any time I've watch his show it is very clear he knows his stuff about how to run a business, he's not all hot air. It's a bit of a shame though that the sweary image has indeed taken things over...

 

[LizzieMaine]

Got coal-rolled this morning by a jacked-up black pickup truck with smoked windows and a "Stealth Series" logo on the back window, which sideswiped me at 50mph in a 30mph zone in a rotary -- only to get brought up short by a stoplight. C'mon, he-man, don't you know real bada**es DRIVE RIGHT THRU busy intersections?

Which brings up my real complaint. I'm completely sick of the "Cult of the Bad-A**" that plays such a prominent role in contemporary culture -- the ideal of the swaggering, GTF out of my way dominant who sweeps aside lesser beings to take control of any scene or situation. You see these types everywhere, waving their attitudes in society's face, and daring anyone to complain. Well, I'm complaining. You're not a bad-a**, you're an a**hole. Sit down and shut up.

 

[tonyb]

Got coal-rolled this morning by a jacked-up black pickup truck with smoked windows and a "Stealth Series" logo on the back window, which sideswiped me at 50mph in a 30mph zone in a rotary -- only to get brought up short by a stoplight. C'mon, he-man, don't you know real bada**es DRIVE RIGHT THRU busy intersections?

Which brings up my real complaint. I'm completely sick of the "Cult of the Bad-A**" that plays such a prominent role in contemporary culture -- the ideal of the swaggering, GTF out of my way dominant who sweeps aside lesser beings to take control of any scene or situation. You see these types everywhere, waving their attitudes in society's face, and daring anyone to complain. Well, I'm complaining. You're not a bad-a**, you're an a**hole. Sit down and shut up.

Yeah, I’ve had more than my fill of that “badass” stuff, too.

What’s more the pity is that it is frequently used as a compliment by people with whom I generally agree. They’ll say Joe or Joann Activist, who has been arrested for the umpteenth time for one act of civil disobedience or another, is a “badass.”

I accept that definitions evolve, and that “badass” has come to mean, in some peoples’ minds, something quite different than what it meant back when I occasionally found myself in the company of badasses who truly were bad and truly were asses. They didn’t go to jail for a few hours or overnight; they went to the state prison for years, or they got dead either through violence or drug overdose or some other consequence of their “lifestyle.”

 

[belfastboy]

There was a legal debate in Europe a while back about whether the term "burger" could/should be used for an entirely plant-based patty. Fascinated me, as it really got to the core of language and meaning. One side felt that the word "burger" implied meat, in the same way as "vegan cheese" isn't actually cheese. The other - which is where I realise I fall in terms of how I use the word - contested that a 'burger' is simply a disk-shaped block of food, usually but not always served in a bread roll / bap / bun (language variance again!), and it's what proceeds the burger that defines the content, thus chicken burger, beef burger, veggie burger.... The funny one to me was always the use of the term "hamburger" - I know it has certain origins, but it seems to have largely been supplanted by 'beefburger'. I also very much enjoy a Lorne sausage (a Scottish thing, also known as 'square sausage', otherwise a lot like a burger) in bread. McDs and BK both do something very similar with their breakfast offerings - the sausage is a disc-shaped burger of pork sausagemeat. I wish I could have that in all their burgers, I do like it.



It's interesting stuff. I recall a minor scandal in Belfast when a well known local fish and chip place was discovered to be cooking their chips in the same oil as their burgers. Anathema to a vegetarian, though done innocently enough by a management to whom it never occurred that would matter - there was only potato in the chips themselves, right? Makes sense we should know what's in our food, though I don't know that many of us have the knowledge to really understand a lot of those ingredients lists or their implications (I know I can't claim to).



It's fascinating, isn't it? To me, not unlike buying a pair of jeans. I'll go so far above the very cheapest for quality and cut, but I just can't get my head around the idea of paying £200 or £300 for a pair of jeans.... yet I'd happily pay £200ish in many cases for the wool-worsted trousers that come as part of a suit... Perceived value, I think... A steak at £25 seems somehow in the ballpark, while a burger seems expensive - even allowing for equivalences of quality.



I like my well done. Brown to the centre! The one place I never have to ask for this is Scotland, interestingly: a few years ago there was a gourmet burger craze in the UK, and it became fashionable in particular to serve those half raw. Multiple cases of food poisoning ensued. Scottish law passed a rule requiring burgers to be served well done only (I don't think it applies to steaks). One of my pet hates is restaurants that refuse to serve beef well done - there's a few I've not gone back to for that reason, and if I have been faced by a place where I get an inevitably condescending response to my request of "Oh, no - the chef won't do it that way, it ruins the meat" I'll always order something else. I'm all for personal preferences on how you have your steak done, but a chef who can't produce one well-done needs to learn how to rather than pull a "no soup for you!", imo!

I have hosted barbies for folks and the vegetarian ones had to have a separate grill as they didn't want their lentil patties touching a grill that had seen meat.
And don't get me started on my vegan friends that think eating honey is theft or my gluten intolerant that can't eat anything........then there is the organic crowd.

 

[Zombie_61]

To be fair, any time I've watch his show it is very clear he knows his stuff about how to run a business, he's not all hot air. It's a bit of a shame though that the sweary image has indeed taken things over...

I've actually never seen his show and have only seen him promoting things here and there on other shows because I loathe having to cook and have no interest in it. I'm also not planning to own or run a business any time soon, so his knowledge there also holds no interest for me. If I'm honest, I'd probably actually see very much eye-to-eye with him on most topics and could easily keep up in the yelling and swearing departments, but that would likely be a problem--too much alike. That said, unless I really deserved, it the moment he started yelling at me I'd give it 50/50 odds whether or not I'd beat him to death with one of his own frying pans.

 

[tonyb]

I have hosted barbies for folks and the vegetarian ones had to have a separate grill as they didn't want their lentil patties touching a grill that had seen meat.
And don't get me started on my vegan friends that think eating honey is theft or my gluten intolerant that can't eat anything........then there is the organic crowd.

Now THAT’S funny.

Yes, the typical North American eats too much meat and too little plant-based foods. And I’m not one to tell any adult what to put in his or her mouth. If only I was extended the same courtesy.

 

[Fifty150]

by a jacked-up black pickup truck

On behalf of law abiding truck drivers, I apologize.

I'm on The Left Coast. My truck is white.

I don't see anyone here in California doing that. People I know who have diesel trucks usually tune the engine to make more power. Not dump and waste fuel, to make black smoke. But it is apparently something that people in Maine do. And so much, that it became a problem. A law had to be passed.

 

[Fifty150]

By the way:
Should I know this "Gordon Ramsey"?

 

[Edward]

I accept that definitions evolve, and that “badass” has come to mean, in some peoples’ minds, something quite different than what it meant back when I occasionally found myself in the company of badasses who truly were bad and truly were asses. They didn’t go to jail for a few hours or overnight; they went to the state prison for years, or they got dead either through violence or drug overdose or some other consequence of their “lifestyle.”

I suppose it's an extension of that thing that took root in the eighties, when "bad" meant "good" as did "wicked". Always hated that myself, even as a ten year old - especially "wicked" meaning "good". Not for any logical reason, really - it just sounds stupid to me. I believe the kids now say something is "sick" as an indicator of desirability and quality. I enjoy language, dialect and its evolution, but this particular trope I just find lazy and banal.

I've actually never seen his show and have only seen him promoting things here and there on other shows because I loathe having to cook and have no interest in it. I'm also not planning to own or run a business any time soon, so his knowledge there also holds no interest for me. If I'm honest, I'd probably actually see very much eye-to-eye with him on most topics and could easily keep up in the yelling and swearing departments, but that would likely be a problem--too much alike. That said, unless I really deserved, it the moment he started yelling at me I'd give it 50/50 odds whether or not I'd beat him to death with one of his own frying pans.

Oh, it never ceases to amaze me how he doesn't get thumped by some of those he takes on. To be fair, I suspect he could be pretty handy in a rumble himself if it came down to it, though.

 

[Hercule]

One must take all the TV cooking personalities with a grain of salt (no pun intended) and see them for the entertainment role as hard-asses they play. They are supposed to come across as being the top of the profession, And we're supposed to believe their experience and bona fides justify their behavior toward the people participating in the show. Those participants, are also chosen for their contribution to the entertainment factor, as they're typically not much north of dumbasses themselves. I'm not a believer that it's all tough love and that's how true masters teach. I had a prof in undergrad that was like that and it was, quite frankly, a scarring experience. (Yes, even close to 40 years later I'm angry about it all.) I've found that true masters are very humble people and realize that they still have much to learn themselves. But there's no entertainment in that. We need conflict. We need blood!

 

[Turnip]

By the way:
Should I know this "Gordon Ramsey"?

No, you don’t.

 

[Woodtroll]

I've found that true masters are very humble people and realize that they still have much to learn themselves.

Very well stated, and very true, in my limited experience with masters of a craft.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Um, how old must I get to be addressed with "Sie" in the music-instrument store and not with "Du"?

 

[tonyb]

One must take all the TV cooking personalities with a grain of salt (no pun intended) and see them for the entertainment role as hard-asses they play. They are supposed to come across as being the top of the profession, And we're supposed to believe their experience and bona fides justify their behavior toward the people participating in the show. Those participants, are also chosen for their contribution to the entertainment factor, as they're typically not much north of dumbasses themselves. I'm not a believer that it's all tough love and that's how true masters teach. I had a prof in undergrad that was like that and it was, quite frankly, a scarring experience. (Yes, even close to 40 years later I'm angry about it all.) I've found that true masters are very humble people and realize that they still have much to learn themselves. But there's no entertainment in that. We need conflict. We need blood!

Yes. As I remind anyone taking too seriously any “reality” TV programming, it’s a TV show first and foremost. Its entire reason for being is to attract and keep an audience. A show that accurately depicted the life of an antiques dealer or a pawn shop operator or a home remodeler or a working chef would be a show without much of an audience. So they manufacture drama and conflict. And they sure as hell don’t show the principal characters doing their taxes or sitting around waiting for another customer to roll in.

I just can’t stomach the competition shows. Apparently lots of others feel differently, seeing how several such shows are still in production.

 

[tonyb]

Yesterday I picked up some items I bought on an online estate auction — five old wooden fruit crates (for holding my collection of old magazines) and a vintage Coca-Cola sign.

The pickup point was the home of the deceased, a substantial log house and attached three-car garage on acreage several miles outside of Colorado Springs. I’m guessing the house was built 30 or 40 years ago.

The deceased had a good eye. And, by the looks of what s/he left behind, a fair amount of scratch. A good life was lived there, at least materially. And now it’s over. It left me a tad melancholic.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've appeared on a PBS "reality-based" show a couple of times, and can tell you first hand that everything you see on these types of programs is very carefully staged to the point where there's essentially nothing that isn't manipulated. Every reaction, every expression, every pose, every moment is rehearsed, filmed from multiple angles, reshot, and edited. While the programs aren't *scripted,* as in there are no lines to learn, you're told by the director the gist of what you're supposed to say and you ad-lib the exact words, but if they don't get the phrasing they wanted they'll make you do it again, for as many times as it takes to fit the scenario they've already worked out. It always amazes me that anyone, anywhere, thinks that any of this stuff is spontaneous, but I guess studio technique still remains a mystery to the average basic cable viewer.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
Remember “Market Warriors,” the short-lived PBS spinoff of “Antiques Roadshow”?

The premise was sending four professional appraisers to flea markets and the like to buy stuff to later be sold at auction. The appraiser who saw the greatest profit (or, often as not, the smallest loss) “won” that episode’s “war.”

Its fatal flaw was in its being *too* realistic. The takeaway for most minimally insightful viewers would be that if you’re looking to make money in the antiques/collectibles/vintage biz, you’d be wise not to quit your day job. It had me bouncing between boredom and depression. That’s not the key to success in the entertainment business.

“Roadshow” works because each hour-long episode has literally thousands of items (and their owners) to pick from. Only one small fraction of 1 percent of the stuff that comes through the door finds its way to your TV. So yeah, it’s “reality,” but a highly edited reality.