10 ms·
> But, even before that, I remember when I first started thinking about the way I behaved. I was still living in Boston. I had been out of kitchens for a couple
by jt2190 5y ago
> But, even before that, I remember when I first started thinking about the way I behaved. I was still living in Boston. I had been out of kitchens for a couple years. I think I was working at Cook’s Illustrated. I had two roommates in Cambridge—one of them was my best friend. She and I had lived together since college. We had a friend visiting, and my roommate had woken up, gone to the corner store, and bought a box of pancake mix and was making pancakes. I came out of my room that morning and basically just berated her about using pancake mix when we had all the ingredients already. Our mutual friend was, like, “Kenji, you’re being an asshole. Why are you judging a person for making pancakes?” And I realized at that point, Oh, crap, why am I belittling one of my best friends in the world for wanting to make pancakes at home? I had to make a conscious decision not to be that way.
> You can train yourself, I think, to be a better person just by thinking about it a lot, and acting on those thoughts.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- tayo42 5y agoI liked his stuff, he really can be an asshole on reddit (and Twitter which he deleted). Kind of turned me off to him.
- tptacek 5y agoI never perceived him to be any kind of asshole on Twitter, even as I disagreed with him pointedly about stuff. I think there's a pretty significant "tall poppy" thing happening with Kenji online.
- ricardobeat 5y agoHis last tweet seems pretty fitting to your comment: > Be good to each other. Stop arguing in short bursts and getting mad at strangers because they had to trim complex thoughts down to a single sentence. Make your words meaningful, rather than clever. Call someone you love or someone you don’t and have a conversation. Quit this.
- sdb0 5y agoWhy take advice from someone who doesn't even follow it
- BenjiWiebe 5y agoIf it's good advice, does it truly matter if the giver follows it?
- sdb0 5y agoSo far it has worked for 0 out of the 1 people we know who've tried it. Maybe it's not good advice
- ricardobeat 5y agoWhat makes you think it hasn’t worked out? Leaving Twitter seems like a pretty good start.
- sdb0 5y agoHe brings up politics in his videos occasionally and it clearly still gets to him. He left twitter because it made him feel bad. It hasn't changed how he sees the world. edit: or just look at his reddit account lol
- DantesKite 5y agoI assume people who give advice they don’t follow are just talking to themselves.
- whimsicalism 5y agoYes, I've actually had a (what I intended to be friendly) conversation with him on twitter where he was definitely an asshole. Glad he is becoming more introspective (or it was just an off morning for him).
- tptacek 5y agoCould you link to it? It's probably easy to find; just search for (from:yourname)(@kenjilopezalt)
- Aunche 5y agoThis is consistent with the above quote. Someone who's naturally somewhat of an asshole has to always actively keep that in check to be nice. Other people are naturally pleasant.
- plandis 5y agoI’ve only recently gotten into Kenji but he doesn’t come off as an asshole to me. Perhaps he’s grown up a bit since you last read/watch him?
- tayo42 5y agoAccording to the article maybe(especially if he's drinking less), I don't really seek out his stuff. I formed my opinion after he showed up and started something responding to a comment on reddit about recipes that had nothing to do with him.
- fknorangesite 5y ago> I formed my opinion after he showed up and started something responding to a comment on reddit about recipes that had nothing to do with him. Because this thread you're in has so much to do with you?
- tayo42 5y agoI shared that his self admitted asshole behavior makes his content less appealing to consume. What's so bad here?
- fknorangesite 5y agoHe was just participating in an online community, the same way you were both in that thread and we are in this one. I saw your link; he wasn't being an asshole - he was providing clarifying information.
- tayo42 5y agoClarifying what? I was sharing my opinion, you don't get to tell me my opinion is wrong. Or clarify my opinion for me? That's pretty egotistical...
- tptacek 5y ago
- whywhywhywhy 5y agoYeah from what I’ve seen of him always came across as someone who was a jerk but completely oblivious to it and his on camera persona is very fake once you’ve seen him off camera in comments.
- zinclozenge 5y agoI used to be anti mix. Now I'm 100% on the train. The simple fact is that the extra stabilizers and emulsifiers that are added to the mix don't detract from the flavor and texture at all, if anything enhancing the texture. Mixes are engineered to consistently reach a desired result. Krusteez pancake mix is a permanent staple in my house. If I feel like baking something like brownies, or a cake I'll go out to buy a mix on my next shopping trip. Cookies are probably the only thing I won't bother due to their simplicity.
- sasawpg 5y agoI used to be anti pancake mix as well. Then I got a cabin where pancakes are almost a mandatory weekend breakfast and I realized I often forget to bring fresh ingredients (mainly milk). Krusteez was a hit and I became a convert.
- js2 5y agoWe make a batch of Alton Brown's mix maybe every other month: https://altonbrown.com/recipes/semi-instant-pancake-mix/ https://altonbrown.com/recipes/semi-instant-pancake-mix/ I don't think we have any trouble with consistency. For baking, my go to recipe site is Smitten Kitchen. It's not that we're anti-mix, it's that it's easy to stock the staple baking ingredients and then we can make whatever we want.
- Xylakant 5y ago> Mixes are engineered to consistently reach a desired result. That’s pretty much exactly what I dislike about mixes and ready-made food. It’s not that they’re bad, but they are the same every time. Your pancakes taste like my pancakes. That’s boring. I like tasting other peoples pancakes. I usually stock some ready to eat food for times when cooking is just not and option, but I rarely end up reaching for it. Also, they’re single use, they can not be disassembled to build something else. With eggs, milk, flour, butter, I can make pancakes - American and German style, Dutch Baby, Kaiserschmarrn, waffles, … A pancake mix is a pancake mix, it’s pancakes, nothing else.
- ehsankia 5y ago
- tinym 5y agoIt's hilarious that the replies in this thread are mostly people arguing bitterly about how to make pancakes