Teich.Net :: All In

A funny new mashup for browsing local restaurants.

Launched yesterday, Dishola is a cool new food site for reviews by the dish. Austin is kicking San Francisco’s ass right now. Will you be my Tablemate?

This brand new site may just be the next thing to grab the internet’s collective consciousness for 15 seconds: matchmake.us. It’s got fairly attractive people, brief profiles, and voting on potential couples. It feels like a constructive version of am-I-hot-or-not. Oh, and it’s free and they seem to need more girls, so if you’re on the market, sign up and let me know how it goes!

A few days ago I posted a link to an article called “Food Slut” and had the pleasure of a response from its author, Ann Bauer. The essay has garnered much attention in the food blogging community and sparked quite a controversy in Salon.com’s own letters section with nearly 60 responses so far. I have been amazed by one idea in particular that I fear may gain credence through the force of repetition: that thinking and talking so much about food is to blame for rising obesity rates in America.
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Like many people, I have a rosy image of the life of a food critic. Former New York Times food critic Ruth Reichl’s books don’t glorify her life, but they don’t make the job itself sound too bad (if you can stomach the pay and lifestyle). This essay by novelist and freelance food writer Ann Bauer exposes the other side of professional restaurant reviewing: when the “scene” displaces meaningful relationships and food becomes a job rather than a passion. The article begins:

There’s a scene in the 1971 film “Klute” in which Jane Fonda, playing an aspiring actress who supports herself as a prostitute, is in bed with a client, pumping away, moaning, calling him “baby,” and then for one second her face changes, becoming ordinary and harried and mid-afternoonish, as she checks her watch behind the guy’s head. Fonda was heralded for her performance, for showing with a single gesture how the high-class call girl must engage simultaneously in two activities. How her mind and body could be entirely divorced from each other. How sex becomes work.

I get it.

It’s well worth a read and the approximately 4 seconds you will spend looking at an innocuous Bose ad to get past the first page of the article if you’re not a member of Salon.com.

Maybe you guessed from the abundance of animal photos in our gallery or the foster dog posts, but I have a serious weakness for cute animals. As extreme as my affection may be, it’s now clear that I’m not alone: Cute Overload is exactly what the name implies and I love it! In addition to ridiculously cute images from all across the Web, the commentary is amusing too: this photo (picked almost at random from the abundance of heart-melting images) is captioned “The Paws up can kill you — Don’t look!”

Food blogging quasi-newcomer Apartment Therapy - The Kitchen (parent blog Apartment Therapy has been around awhile longer) is all about cooking. In addition to some very nice photos (like the one shown here), the team posts recipes that both inspire and remind us of simple pleasures too easily forgotten. Next time you’ve got the oven on, roast some garlic to smear onto hot crusty bread dipped in olive oil or spread with goat cheese (my personal favorites) or follow any of their other excellent suggestions. Though it’s no longer the season in most of the country, I also love roasting garlic on the grill. However you do it, don’t forget to slice before cooking: it’s much more difficult to cut through the skin without making a mess after the cloves soften.

Check out the second annual Food Blog Awards over at Accidental Hedonist. There are 15 categories, including new food blogs, photography, and restaurant reviews. I’ve been discovering dozens of fantastic sites, so go check out the nominees, throw the names of your favorites into the hat through December 16th, and stay tuned for the top 5 from the 5-judge panel and to cast your vote for best in each category.

Many thanks to Sam of Becks & Posh for featuring All In as Bay Area Blogger of the Week #21. I have always been a big fan and am deeply flattered by her kind words. Welcome Becks and Posh readers! We look forward to your comments and recommendations of other places that ought to be on our list.