McDonald's is now marketing cupcakes in Germany as a hip New York thing. [link]

part of the original argument by Hec was that if you add crappy [foo] to high-quality [foo], you are ruining the high-quality [foo] and anyone who appreciates HQ [foo] will be offended.

Not Hec, but I do reserve the right to be horrified by anyone using top shelf vodka in a caramel appletini. (Or top shelf gin, but most foofy sugar bomb 'tinis are made with vodka because they are basically drinks for people who don't like the taste of alcohol.)

Is my opinion that, for example, there is no dish that can make Brussels sprouts edible, unsophisticated or useless?

Have you had them roasted with a little balsamic vinegar?

I don't really understand people who aren't interested in food or who don't like or like to try lots of kinds of food but I don't think that makes you useless!

If I'm not making you drink a dirty martini and spoil good gin, why do you care if I like it that way?

Why do people point and laugh at the pics on Go Fug Yourself? Nobody's forcing anyone else to wear those clothes. Why do people bemoan blurbs for embarrassingly bad novels in Literary? Nobody's forcing anyone else to read the finished book.

Well, for one thing, because we don't personally know the people whose pictures show up on GFY, nor do we mock the book blurbs of people we call friends. There's entertainment value in snobbery, to be sure, but it usually goes down easier when it's not aimed at the people you're talking to.

As Jessica notes, the point of the dirty martini is to cover up the flavor of the gin. (or vodka) That's just a waste of good gin.

I like martinis, and I'd love to try a gin martini with really high-quality gin. But I also LOVE olives, and so to me a dirty martini is really the perfect drink. I might like non-dirty martinis better if I had them with really good gin, but that doesn't mean that I'll stop having dirty martinis, because they're my favorite drink.

Fay, I so hope everything turns out for the best! Fingers crossed, best luck, darling.

Shir, good luck doggy vibes. Dealing with pet pain is so hard.

Barb! Hi, skimmy! I have wedding pix up!

Hrm...re: the good/bad debate..."Well, I believe in the soul, the cock, the pussy, the small of a woman's back, the hanging curve ball, high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve, and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days."

Crash has a point. I have no idea how this works in this argument, but I believe in certain things, too -- whole hot milk in freshly ground, full-bodied coffee, freshly squeezed cold lime juice, simple sugar and any kind of of call vodka in a gimlet, that I want to like dirty martinis because I love olives, but I don't, that low quality bacon is still bacon, that Spam, in whatever form, is the Devil's meat (and not in a good way), in real whipped cream, in Swiss Cake Rolls, a freshly made bed, and that 12 hours of sleep is a perfectly cromulent use of my time.

And that whatever I like, I like, for whatever reason, and that I can defend it or no, and people can kiss me ass, cause I really don't care.

MWAH!

Meanwhile, on fb, I'm arguing with a colleague who thinks Dr. Laura has a point in saying that divorced parents shouldn't date b/c it's traumatic for their child. (If you agree, I DON'T WANT TO KNOW!!!)

And that whatever I like, I like, for whatever reason, and that I can defend it or no, and people can kiss me ass, cause I really don't care.

Yeah, this. I just had to defend my rum choices over the weekend, yet I didn't really care what the other individual thought.

Linky to pics, Erin?

I totally agree with Dr. Lau....

No, I can't even say it in play.

I'm arguing with a colleague who thinks Dr. Laura has a point in saying that divorced parents shouldn't date b/c it's traumatic for their child.

It was only traumatic when my mother dated a guy I had dated. And the dude who'd done prison time.

Beyond that, I was okay.

Here, Barb: [link]