craftsmanship, consumerism, virtue, privilege, and quality

yeah I can see that, same thing is true with p much any musical instrument related thing, including guitar picks and drumsticks.

I clicked on that and was relieved to find it was about someone actually physically selling actual pencils, rather than that only-half-joking pencil-sharpening thing that was a hit a while back.

In reductio ad absurdum terms, the next place to go with pencils is having a service where someone will artisanally blow the sawdust off your pencil after it has been artisanally sharpened.

Artisanally blowing the eraser dust off the page where you have just erased something? That will be extra.

Joking aside I am totally okay with stores of the future becoming showplaces where you go to feel and hold stuff, which you then have delivered next day from a centralized warehouse. Having inventory for nonperishables is so 19th century.

someone told me years ago that the artist who does the comic strip Mutts was so into vintage stuff that he was using this vintage ink that had been discontinued decades ago. he found a big old stock of it. and he got really sick from the ink. i have no verification of that though. but i thought i'd share that. probably the same ink that herriman used to do krazy kat or something. ahead of the hipster curve.

If he had died for vintageness / authenticity in the tools of his craft, I'd call him silly. (While, inwardly, grudgingly admitting that it was rather badass.)

i was watching an episode of the excellent Booze Traveler show on Netflix and he was in south africa where this guy makes this ancient recipe booze (the bushmen used to LOVE this stuff) using baby bees and if you drink too much it can paralyze you and all i could picture was some beardo scribbling notes in brooklyn while watching that.

temporary paralysis.

Fuck off does being born before 1985 cover u for millennial status

"this guy makes this ancient recipe booze (the bushmen used to LOVE this stuff) using baby bees and if you drink too much it can paralyze you"

New meaning for "buzzkill."

http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-fo-0528-salt-straw-20160523-snap-story.html

"Tyler Malek finds inspiration for ice cream flavors in a variety of sources, including the Oregon Symphony orchestra. "They came to our Portland kitchen last year and played, and we translated the music into flavors. I saw the musical notes and they read like a recipe,” says Malek. “One was a Bach piece. The way the flavors would transform and melt in your mouth for 1 1/2 minutes follows a particular 1 1/2-minute piece of music.”

hahahaha what

Salt & Straw really is quite excellent.

Have you tried the Shostakovich?

salt and straw is good

http://laist.com/2016/05/27/fermentation_salt_n_straw_sqirl.php#photo-1

Chef's Table on Netflix maybe belongs here. So boring and overwrought, just super dull turning food into thinkpiece bullshit.

Dear god yes I hate everyone associated with it.

I hate food.

And everything else at the moment. Probably a fleeting mood.

^ I think you and food need to get away somewhere quiet for a while and work things out xp

ingredients as diverse as berries, chocolate and his grandmother’s almond brittle, as well as more unconventional flavorings such as sea urchin and fermented carrots.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/dining/cast-iron-skillet-finex-field-company.html

the not-yet-settled Field Company all got initial funding on Kickstarter from hundreds of small backers, who eventually receive pans in return for their sponsorship.

The Field Company, run by Chris and Stephen Muscarella (neither of whom is trained in metallurgy, casting or cooking), raised more than $1.6 million

The Finex 10-inch skillet sells for $165; the Borough Furnace equivalent for $280; the Field skillet for about $100.

Why would anyone pay nearly $300 for a modern “artisanal” cast-iron skillet when a perfectly functional equivalent, made in South Pittsburg, Tenn., by the venerable Lodge company, costs $16 at Walmart?

The answer lies in the craftsmanship of the past. The cast-iron pots — skillets, spiders (which sit in the embers of a fire) and Dutch ovens — made in the United States from the 18th century through the first half of the 20th, were different from today’s: lighter, thinner and with a smoother cooking surface.

happy for these folks that they are having a good time w/ a hobby making cast-iron skillets the old fashioned way but lodge skillets are pretty great

i think i would trust lodge more than two dudes making skillets not trained in metallurgy, casting, or cooking

"lighter, thinner" isn't a good selling point for cast iron pans, since the thickness and mass are what helps them cook evenly.

they considered a slogan of "we give you less for your money", but decided against it.

that is a terrible article. she just swallows the whole thing whole. i know it's the food section but come on, stand up for yourself.

you can buy awesome old ones in antique stores. i see them all the time. i bought an ancient one not long ago in such great shape and it's so cute and tiny. you can cook two eggs in it. must be a hundred years old. cost me ten bucks. and it's definitely not light.

big enough for a small cut of meat too. cooks like a charm.

By using an older, less efficient process that ignores the last hundred years of technological advances, we deliver to you an inferior product at a far higher price. CRAFTSMANSHIP.

Please see the new kickstarter I have up, it's this thing where I make artisanal replica 1980s-style mobile phones that require a shoulder bag and don't do anything but make phone calls.

As a sideline I am practicing totally vintage 1840s surgery with a hacksaw.

My brother gave me a Finex skillet for Christmas, he got a multi-pack via the Kickstarter or something. It's fine. The bottom is machined much smoother than my Lodge but I can't tell any functional difference, I'm not frying eggs in the damn thing, I have non-stick skillets for that.

re: metallurgy, there was a Kickstarter delay because they fucked up somewhere along the line and broke their casting so it took months extra.

In a lot of cases I'll still give things like this some leeway for using first-world labor/sustainable whatever but Lodge (enameled stuff aside) is still made in the US.

oh, that was Finex not the guys actually described as being untrained

this is one I legit don't understand. I mean, regular, cheap cast-iron skillets already look and feel old and "classic," right? It's not a product that gives off a super-shiny corporate vibe, or like a "these things used to last, now they're all discposable" garbage vibe. I'm at a loss for understanding who the market for this is.

morons w money

As a sideline I am practicing totally vintage 1840s surgery with a hacksaw.

― klimt eastwood (Ye Mad Puffin)

No leaches? You savage!

wrt cast iron, since they're gotten cool again I see them for $20 and up at thrift stores (in crappy condition), so there's probably more of a demand for them than those "artisinal axes" posted several months ago.

I'm at a loss for understanding who the market for this is.

ex-gf and I would hate-read this blog every weekend: http://localmilkblog.com/recipes

phoo-eeee

that food looks ok and.. *reads prose* ... oh jesus kill me

when a business uses the word "provisions" in its name you know it is going for this vibe

ditto "dry goods"

"comestibles"

Even "Est."

"_____, proprietors."

"Provender"

didn't know where else to put this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/Screen%20Shot%202016-12-15%20at%2010.46.01%20AM_zps8digqy9j.png

If they send you one once a month you could put it here:

A Box of __________ Shipped to Your House Each Month