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https://www.eater.com/2020/5/20/21262304/global-pantry-alison-roman-bon-appetit

"Only whiteness can deracinate and subsume the world of culinary influences into itself and yet remain unnamed. It’s a complicated little dance of power and desire: The mainstream is white, so what is presented in the mainstream becomes defined as white, and — ta-da — what you see in viral YouTube videos somehow ends up reinforcing a white norm, even though the historical roots of a dish or an ingredient might be the Levant or East Asia. You might say whiteness works by positing itself as a default. You might also say that this sucks."

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/eyeroll

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That was a very on-brand response.

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I got the middle of the second paragraph, and somehow it's racist to use non-"white" ingredients... and then my eyes fell out of my head. Lordy.

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I'm not sure that article is saying what you think it's saying.

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Not exactly, but close enough. And I think it's a seriously flawed argument, not just wrong, but distasteful. And honestly I think "race" is a mainly bullshit concept, and attempts like this to find racism in every innocuous area has the unfortunate effect of elevating the concept of race higher, which is not progressive.

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It's not attempting to find racism and it's not about using non-white ingredients at all.

It's an article about how a mostly white food media packages up things that used to be "the other" and makes them safe for a mass audience. It's asking why someone like Alison Roman can make basically an Indian curry, remove it from any of its history and background and popularize it.

I don't think Alison Roman is particularly racist, but what the Roman-Teigen/Kondo interaction has revealed is a system that prioritizes whites and allow them to "discover" things that have existed for a long time.

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Yeah, my default position is to be extremely skeptical about cultural appropriation claims, because as I've said before, I think culture is memetic and spreads naturally. That said, while it's totally cool in my opinion to borrow and remix freely from other cultures, I think it's absolutely fair for people to expect you to acknowledge what you're doing. That said, it doesn't make her a horrible racist who needs to be run out of town on a rail just because she called her obviously Asian-inspired garbanzo curry a generic "stew" and more or less made like she came up with the idea independently. If you make a career out of that shit though, you're going to get some backlash.

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"culture is memetic"

and I think this article is asking why is it that Roman's version and not say, Floyd Cardoz's recipe become memetic.

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Watching (well, mainly listening to) a live show by Ride at the 9:30 Club, hard to think that's almost 30 years ago.

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This seems like a smart opinion piece by Wilner

https://twitter.com/wilnerhotline/status/1263139554057322497?s=21

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The LA's have the inherent tv market and the theoretical easiest path back from any setback because of the available local resources no one else has, so they become the national marketing backbone of the conference long term, no matter what anyone else does in any given year, or even sequence of several years. Wilner tends to over-emphasize front runners, but he's not far off in terms of what the LA's can do when they get it right.

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if it is a cynical take on college sports, it's a solid Wilner effort.

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the revenue college sports have long since left idealism behind. Dollar dollar bill y'all

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Blueberry pie a la mode

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Stand By Me ruined it for me...dagger!

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Today in COVID-19

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I think I mentioned that FDA has gone to remote work for the foreseeable future, but now they have made it clear that no mask = no entry for their facilities, even if they decide to let people work inside in limited numbers.

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I am so tired of face coverings, hand sanitizer, and hand washing every two minutes.

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Even though my wife was a little offended as a mask maker, I ordered some masks for summer that apparently wick a bit. It's going to be interesting.

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Our Crumbling Democracy

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I honestly think the press reports way, way too much on what Trump says, 95% is just bluster and bullshit and ought to be ignored like Yelp reviews. What administration does is a different thing.

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Less about the democracy and more about the crumbling - this dam break in Michigan, holy crap

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Also I’m going to read this list when I decide I want something new to worry about

https://twitter.com/bhensonweather/status/1262996623338213377?s=21

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Apparently it was privately owned

https://twitter.com/bhensonweather/status/1263129740346634240?s=21

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speaking of getting owned, Trump is not having much luck with the Michigan Secretary of State on twitter.

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I saw stories about this on reddit. I think the downstream ones failed because they're earthen dams and the water went up over the top.

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author

I was thinking about this earlier when driving home (I had been collecting a laptop from a former employee), and I realized there's a massive hole in my thinking about this kind of graft: in theory, contract officers can refuse to issue contracts if it's patently obvious that there's something wrong with the bid. HOWEVER if you have someone who sets up bid review groups that are themselves rigged, and a contracting officer can say "look, the paperwork was legit, I met the standards for award," then there's nothing to stop them seeking a quiet life and just issuing the contracts.

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El presidente is having quite a moment - if I had to guess, the polling numbers from Michigan and Nevada must be looking bad.

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they look pretty bad everywhere. Cratering in Arizona, losing in Florida, any Midwest success becoming a distant memory...

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Best fruit-based dessert

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Peach cobbler.

Barefoot Contessa's apple crostata.

Lemon pound cake.

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not possible to have a best. they are mostly all wonderful.

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I like your ecumenical view in this matter.

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Have to agree 100%. Perfectly happy with that too.

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Strawberry ice cream mochi

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Ice cream mochi is not my thing--the best part of mochi is the stretchy, chewy wrapping, and that quality is not preserved when it's frozen. I don't like biting into ice cream.

I have similar complaints about ice cream cake, which to me epitomizes the worst of two worlds I otherwise love. This is something that has been divisive in previous DBDs.

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I like ice cream cakes, but even more I like frozen yogurt cakes.

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This ice cream cake take is possibly the worst take ever in a DBD. It is the BEST of both worlds. You are so wrong in your wrongness it hurts my heart.

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I've always been an ice cream biter, so ice cream cake is cool with me. Really ice cream in all forms is cool with me.

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Pistols at dawn!

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Love a good strawberry ice cream, especially the ones with chunks of strawberries

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author

There are these fresh-fruit topped custard tarts that are pretty common in Asia. When done well, they can't be beat.

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Marie Calendar's fresh peach or fresh strawberry pie

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Pie

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Oh, and fried bananas.

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author

I recently found the world's best pie. East Durham Baking Shop.

They are $34.30 per 10" pie (tax, tip included). At first, I was like no-freaking-way am I paying that much for a little pie. Then I had one. Now I gladly drive an hour round trip for that pie and buy two. HAG - if you're visiting #1, consider buying an apple pie in advance (once apples are back in season) and then pick it up at the Carrboro farmers market on Wednesdays. The crust is so flaky and light - almost like a crumbly cinnamon bun.

http://eastdurhambakeshop.com/about-us/

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He's at UPenn now so I won't be in the triangle area unfortunately. Maybe some day I'll be able to see a UNC/Dook bb game.

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i thought #1 went to hang out w/ gf during quarantine times

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No. He isn't with the same GF that is at Dook. His current GF was in the same program with him at the college in NW Mass. She started a job in Savannah about a month ago. He didn't go there because she's renting a house with a couple other people. He may come back here for a month or two before he has to go back to Penn at the end of July. His lease runs out and he wants to move. It looks like UPenn will start up at some point with larger classes going remote and smaller things, like his grad seminar, meeting f2f in a larger room. If he comes here he'll probably quarantine for a couple of weeks.

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go to know. we have some family in RDU and make trips every so often. we even try to hang out w/ #1 as often as we can.

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There are so many...

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A friend is working on a You-Tube video for Key Lime Pie...while I prefer the tiramisu/creme brûlée after a nice meal out, I'm becoming a huge fan of the key lime...

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I enjoy apple pie and maybe blueberry pie a la mode, but I don’t seek fruit based dessert out particularly.

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This is fortunately going to be a very crowded field.

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where best to get fruit, if not in a field?

(yes yes, a grove)

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McDonald's deep fried apple pie

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Baked peaches with goat cheese

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author

I've heard great things about Jolibees' alleged deep-fried mango pies, but I've never seen a Jolibees restaurant in my life.

Can anyone confirm for science?

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There's several jolibees in California.

The one (1) that was in Shanghai closed several years ago.

When travel restrictions open up, i'll try out the one in HK or in the Philippines.

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those deep fried apple pies were the best. RIP.

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they're not gone. Why I just had one in February. And a deep fried taro pie on Sunday.

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are they still deep fried? I would've thought maybe they went baked for "health" reasons.

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i thought they were baked too.

i will still occasionally get one, but it is not quite the same

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Guys, he lives in Shanghai

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Strawberry shortcake

once a year we go to Monroe CT (some cute little town about an hour from home) for their annual strawberry festival.

aside from a fun crafts fair and carnival games for kids, the local church serves homemade strawberry shortcake as a fundraiser.

when i am asked what. i want for Fathers Day (about the same time) i say i want to go to Strawberry festival w/ family and then bike home on my own. there is also some nearby strawberry picking to be done as well.

alas, cancelled this year

https://www.mcc-ucc.org/strawberry-festival.html

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Is very good. My mom used to make it from scratch and it was hard not to scarf it all down right away. We probably should have shown our appreciation in more ways than just devouring it.

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