Having spent more than a decade writing about music, I’m well aware of the degree to which Internet-based hype can affect public opinion. In the first half of the 00’s, this story played out time and time again: a young band would catch the ear of a small handful of influential bloggers, who would then turn around and share their discovery with their ever-growing readership, and because technology allowed word to spread so quickly, consensus would loudly state that said band was the Next Big Thing—oftentimes before they’d even written enough material to play a full set. It was the beginning of an era where we came to value newness and obscurity (or being able to say we rescued someone from obscurity) as much as, if not more than, we valued the quality of the music itself. We wanted a story, not just another brilliant Wilco record, basically.

Nowhere is this particular narrative more prominent right now than in the world of craft beer, where message board buzz looms large, and small breweries wind up struggling to meet demand for their product. The most obvious example is Heady Topper from Vermonth’s The Alchemist brewery. It’s an extremely delicious IPA that’s climbed to #1 on the Beer Advocate Top 250, despite the fact that it’s not regularly distributed outside of Vermont—and there are parts of that state where you can’t even get it!

I bring up Heady Topper because while, yes, it’s really, really great, it’s also… well, it’s just an IPA. It has the same general flavor profile as countless others; it doesn’t transcend the style so much as it is simply a really well executed take on it—which is why it’s hard to believe its ascent to “Best Beer in the World” status was based purely on how it tastes. When you spend years wanting to taste a beer, and then you finally suck it up and take a 6-hour road trip, or you finally meet (or hire) somebody who has family members visiting from Vermont, and you manage to score a single 16oz can you’ve been reading such glowing things about for so long, of course you’re going to give it a perfect rating—would you want to believe you’d spent all that time and energy lusting after something that turned out to be… just another IPA?

Over the past year or so, I’ve started thinking a lot about how hype has affected the beer scene here in New York, and especially with our locally made IPAs. It’s not exactly the whole thrill of the hunt thing that takes hold on national and international levels, but I’ve definitely gotten the sense that we’re quicker to reach consensus, which then snowballs even further—as it picks up momentum, it’s easier to climb on board than it is to stop it.

When Other Half Brewing launched earlier this year, the verdict came back fast that they’re making some of the best beers in the state. And I think they probably are—I’ve sampled most of their IPAs at this point, and they’re all fantastic. But then over the course of a few weeks, I tasted super fresh IPAs from other local breweries  like Barrier, Great South Bay, and Singlecut, and I was struck by how good all of them were—good enough that there was simply no justifying the seemingly huge discrepancy in how the public views them. Why do some breweries get all the attention while others are essentially ignored? Is it just the taste? Or is it groupthink? Do we like one brewery’s logo better than another? Do we have a friend who works for one of them? Are we influenced by something we read on the internet by a writer we respect?

In hopes of answering some of these questions (hooboy, how’s this for a buried lede!), I decided to set up a blind taste test of 10 locally made IPAs. The idea, of course, was that we’d taste the beers and rank them in order of preference based only on the appearance, aroma, and taste of what was in the glass in front of us. I assembled a panel of judges to join me: Joshua M. Bernstein, author of The Complete Beer Course and Brewed Awakening; Niko Krommydas, editor of the Craft Beer NY app and columnist for Long Island Pulse and Yankee Brew News; Meredith Heil, writer at BeerdedLadies.com, and Zack Mack, owner of Alphabet City Beer Co.

The parameters were fairly simple: IPAs ranging from 6% to 8.0% ABV were eligible if they were from breweries based in New York City proper, Long Island, or Westchester County—all close enough that they can consistently get product into our bars, restaurants and bottle shops, but also close enough that we can go visit them without too much trouble. Some of the beers we tasted were canned or bottles, while others were on tap or in growlers—the idea was that we were judging them in the vessel New Yorkers were most likely to encounter them. All of them were extremely fresh—a few had been legged that week, and one was kegged that day. Here, an alphabetized list of the beers we sampled:

Barrier Brewing, Money IPA
Brooklyn Brewery, East India Pale Ale
Great South Bay, Field 5 IPA
Greenport Harbor Brewing Co, Other Side IPA
Kelso, Kelso IPA
Other Half Brewing Co, Hop Showers
Peekskill Brewing, Eastern Standard IPA
Port Jeff Brewing Company, Party Boat IPA
Singlecut Brewery, Half Stack IPA
Sixpoint Brewery, Bengali Tiger

The results were a mixed bag of what I think a lot of us expected and what I’m pretty sure none of us expected. Peekskill’s Eastern Standard came out on top, with four out of five first-place votes, while Other Side’s Hop Showers came in a close second. After that came the surprises: Port Jeff Brewing Company’s Party Boat IPA took the third spot, while Singlecut’s Half Stack and Great South Bay’s Field 5 rounded out the top five—three breweries and three beers that tend to get left out of conversations about the best beer being produced in the area. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all was that Barrier’s much loved (and still really amazing!) Money IPA fell outside the top five, in sixth place.

As I mention in the video below, it’s very much worth noting that these are all very good beers—none of them would last very long at all in my refrigerator. Together, they illustrate what we’ve known all along: there’s an astounding amount of high-quality beer being made in this region, far more so than at any other point in recent memory. Get out there and taste as much of it as possible, and remember to keep an open mind—your favorite beer might not be the one you thought it was.

Click here to cast your own vote!

The full results:

1) Peekskill Brewing, Eastern Standard IPA
2) Other Half Brewing Co, Hop Showers
3) Port Jeff Brewing Company, Party Boat IPA
4) Singlecut Brewery, Half Stack IPA
5) Great South Bay, Field 5 IPA
6) Barrier Brewing Co, Money IPA
7) Sixpoint Brewery, Bengali Tiger
8) Greenport Harbor Brewing Co, Other Side IPA
9) Brooklyn Brewery, East India Pale Ale
10) KelSo, KelSo IPA

Follow Mike Conklin on Twitter @MikeConklin. 

Video by Tron Lennon, photos by Robert Caputo. 

Artist Sam Van Aken used his Pennsylvania farm background to take grafting to the nth degree and create this Tree of 40 Fruit, an extreme hybrid where every branch, essentially, bears a different variety of stone fruit, and the flowering bud for each creates a brilliant array of colors in the spring. He uses fruits of "native and antique varieties" that aren't "commercially produced or available," so his fruit is much cooler than your fruit, and the five-year grafting process sounds pretty ontologically complex: Van Aken even floats the idea that he's "transubstantiating" his pluots and such. Whatever's actually going on here, the overall beauty of this thing is commanding a fair amount of attention, and Van Aken says he'd like to plant more, so it's probably only a matter of time before there are Frankentree fruit CSAs and the plant's offshoots multiply and become the "It" plant among the city's backyard farmers. [Tree of 40, Salt/NPR, Epicurious]

Read more posts by Clint Rainey

Filed Under: food art, grafting, sam van aken, stone fruits, tree of 40

Back in 1914 before the internet ruined journalism, you could misreport an invasion of Switzerland and there was no way to fix it:

Can I phone a friend?

Every few weeks, Eater's critic Robert Sietsema shares a few of his favorite budget eats around New York City. Here, now, are three more great cheap restaurants you should know about:

[All photos by Robert Sietsema]

When the sea rushed down the main drag into the center of the tiny Brooklyn hamlet of Sheepshead Bay during Hurricane Sandy, it swamped every restaurant on the strip, sushi parlors and Russian bistros alike, and the Turkish cheap-eats haven Anatolian Gyro was no exception. But now the place — nearing its 20th anniversary — has relocated around the corner on East 16th Street into larger and fancier digs. The menu has been expanded, tables are more profuse and well-spaced, and during the day skylights let you see what you're eating by beams of sunlight. The refrigerator case remains well-stocked with kebabs, and humongous twin cylinders of chicken and lamb still rotate beguilingly in the front window.

[Lamb gyro]

The place calls the sandwiches made from these vertical spits "gyros" as a nod to the greater name recognition of gyro, even though the more proper term in Turkish would be "doner kebabs". Anatolian Gyro is open from 11 a.m. till 11 p.m. seven days, making for a great and inexpensive late-evening hang. For $6.25 you get an overstuffed pita of freshly carved lamb or chicken, garnished with iceberg, ripe tomato, raw onion, and minted yogurt (hot sauce on the side). By why not spring for an extra 75 cents and get twice as much meat on "home bread," a puffy Turkish flatbread made on-premises and dotted with toasted sesame seeds? The menu also offers many vegetarian salads, roasted eggplant dishes, and Turkish desserts such as the wonderful brown-top pudding. Wash it all down with multiple cups of Turkish coffee. Ask for "sweet." 2623 East 16th Street, Brooklyn, 718-769-4754

Eim Khao Mun Kai is one of those micro-focused restaurants that only serves one dish — but that dish is a doozy. It's a Thai twist on a simple chicken-and-rice recipe that originated on Hainan Island, the southernmost province of China. The dish is also popular throughout Southeast Asia and in mainland China itself, consisting of a chicken gently poached with ginger, usually in a broth of pork and poultry. The broth is then used to cook the rice that accompanies the sliced-up bird, served at room temp.

At Eim Khao Mun Kai, the chicken is laid across the top of the rice, and gizzards, livers, and hearts are served on the side, along with a spicy dipping sauce (that's the Thai part) and a bowl of soup. The result is a satisfying and very filling meal, priced at $8.99, which includes a can of soda. (You can buy the wonderful scented rice separately for $3.) 81-32 Broadway, Elmhurst, Queens, 718-424-7156

The East Village is one of the country's greatest repositories of Japanese cuisine, tendering, I'm sure, thousands of pieces of sushi per evening and hundreds of bowls of ramen. Often overlooked are the small refectories where Japanese expats seek out cheap, homely meals. One such is M2M ("Morning To Midnight"), an Asian grocery where a kitchen and sushi prep area have been flung down in one corner, and an array of tightly arrayed tables in another.

The noodles offered are not the currently glamorous ramen, but the more plebian udon, ghostly white wheat noodles with virtually no foodie cachet. Hey, they're good anyway, engagingly squishy and chewy. The cheapest bowls start around $5, but why not pay an extra $2.50 for the full monte: udon topped with shrimp tempura, fishcake, tofu, surimi, squid, pea pods, and sprouts? You won't go away hungry. Open till 2 a.m. 55 3rd Ave, 212-353-2698
· All posts by Robert Sietsema [~ENY~]
· All Editions of Three Great Cheap Places You Should Know About [~ENY~]

Each week, Grub Street surveys the entire restaurant landscape of New York, crunches the numbers, and comes up with this: the most-talked-about, must-visit places in the city. They might be new, or they could be older places that have gotten a recent jolt of buzz. No matter what, these are the restaurants where you should make a point to eat sooner rather than later.

1. Berg'n (New this week)
The latest, and perhaps most anticipated, of New York's grand food halls is finally open in Crown Heights, and with the long weekend looming, you can expect the masses to descend. What to expect (besides people): Plenty of grade-A vendors, craft beer for miles, and the kind of polish you'd expect from the people behind Brooklyn Flea and Smorgasburg.

2. Bâtard (Previously: 5)
It's a big week for Bâtard, thanks to a three-star Times review that rounds out the kind of truly universal praise not often seen for any new restaurant. The main focus of the talk: the technical acuity of chef Markus Glocker's kitchen, which is apparently incapable of sending out anything less than thoughtfully conceived, perfectly executed dishes.

3. Grand Banks (1)
It's depressing but true: Labor Day is happening, and if summer turns to fall and you never got to this oyster bar on a boat — which also happens to turn out a killer lobster roll — you will be upset. So you know what to do. Get here before it's too late.

4. Cherche Midi (4)
So far, the word on Keith McNally's latest is subdued, but warm. The restaurant feels like a mash-up of McNally's Greatest Hits, but the most impressive part is that each of Grub's visits so far has been better than the previous — always a good sign.

5. Root & Bone (17)
Eater's Ryan Sutton, for one, is a fan of the Southern restaurant from Jeff McInnis and Janine Booth. What you want to eat: the fried chicken, of course, with biscuits and maybe some shrimp 'n' grits.

6. Wilma Jean and Nightingale 9 (11)
Speaking of restaurants that specialize in the food of the South: Rob Newton and Kerry Diamond turned the original Nightingale 9 space into Wilma Jean, which is turning out some excellent fried chicken of its own, as well as fried bologna, okra chips, and lots more. As for Nightingale 9, the Vietnamese spot moved just up the street. These are the kinds of restaurants everyone wants in their neighborhood.

7. Egg Shop (New this week)
Patricia Lockwood: Not a fan of breakfast. Everyone else: Pretty onboard. And so, it's not incredibly surprising to discover that people really like this new Nolita spot that, true to its name, specializes in breakfast sandwiches and egg-topped bowls called cruisers.

8. Greenpoint Fish & Lobster (7)
This brand-new Brooklyn seafood spot has gotten plenty of attention since opening, and the early word is that it's a huge success. The combination market and raw bar keeps things simple, focusing most of the attention where it needs to be: on the freshness of the fish.

9. Corkbuzz (Chelsea) (11)
Even though chef Missy Robbins is only here temporarily, it sounds like she could be extending her stay in the kitchen a bit because she likes it so much. So stop by, check out what she's cooking, and grab some excellent wine (as if you wouldn't).

10. élan (6)
Chef David Waltuck's 20th Street spot is settling into a groove after opening earlier this summer. One thing you should almost definitely order if you go is the steamed squash blossoms with crème fraîche and confit tomatoes, one of the season's most impressive new dishes. Another point of interest: The restaurant now serves weekend brunch, too.

11. Bar Primi (18)
The Bowery spot from Andrew Carmellini, chef Sal Lamboglia, and their partners is a fairly stripped-down affair: The menu's focus is squarely on the pasta — as you might guess — and the kitchen usually doesn't disappoint. If you go, do what you can to grab a seat in the upstairs dining room, which is less chaotic than the bar-dominated downstairs.

12. Delaware and Hudson (Off last week)
Chef Patti Jackson's $48 prix fixe meals have started to generate a serious following at this Brooklyn spot specializing in East Coast Americana. As Pete Wells discovered the other week, not everything is perfect, but the minor missteps are also part of the charm.

13. Blenheim (12)
This West Village spot got off to a real rocky start, losing its opening chef almost immediately and closing to regroup. But now that chef Ryan Tate has taken over the kitchen, things are starting to turn around and the latest word is that the spot could be back on track.

14. The Dogwood (Off last week)
In addition to Root & Bone and Wilma Jean, there is yet another Southern spot generating buzz these days, this one at the southern end of Prospect Park. Would you be surprised to learn that a dish of fried pickles and okra — served with Comeback sauce — comes highly recommended? Or that the collards served alongside shrimp and grits are cooked with ham hocks? And these are good days indeed to be a lover of pimento cheese, which, here, is made with chipotles.

15. Bar Sardine (14)
One of the great things about Gabe Stulman's new corner bar is that the exterior walls open more or less completely out to the street, meaning you would be well advised to get over there while the weather's still nice, grab a cocktail or three, and enjoy the late-summer breezes.

16. Sushi Nakazawa (Off last week)
Real talk: You probably aren't going to be able to get a seat at what is currently NYC's most celebrated sushi bar. But if ever there were a time when a last-minute cancellation might happen, it's a week like this one, when high-rollers are mostly out of town. Call, cross your fingers, and if you actually do score a coveted seat at the bar, make sure you know the proper etiquette.

17. The Nomad Bar (9)
There is much to like at this Nomad offshoot: superlative cocktails, an outrageously fantastic burger, and the proper stance on ketchup.

18. Al Di La (Off last week)
Here's a nice surprise: a "Sunday Night Dinner" feature focused on this Italian mainstay in Park Slope. If you haven't been in a while for beet ravioli or corn tortelli, not to mention one of the best rabbit dishes in New York City, you might want to take a trip out to Fifth Avenue.

19. Russ & Daughters Café (16)
This restaurant offshoot is, perhaps unsurprisingly, as popular and well known as the famous shop that inspired it. The appetizing options are as good here as they are at the original, and now there's a place to sit — plus cocktails.

20. Crimson & Rye (20)
Charlie Palmer has a new cocktail spot in the Lipstick Building — the first of a few upcoming projects. If you're in the area, it's worth stopping in to see what the bartenders are up to. Grab a few sliders while you're at it.

Read more posts by Alan Sytsma

Filed Under: restaurant power rankings, lists, new york

Version #1:

Second try:

* Plans underway to retrieve Americans with Ebola (AP via yahoo.com)
* Earlier: Plans underway to get American sick with Ebola (google.com)

Quick refresher: The supposed Illuminati are a mysterious shadow network, supposedly made up of some of the word's most powerful. Beyoncé, Jay Z, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Madonna, and Kesha are all suspected members. They show their allegiance with a slew of hand signals and iconography — all impressively detailed by the crew at sites like Vigilant Citzen. Egyptian mythology fan Katy Perry is always on the lookout for aliens, but she's not buying this Illuminati crap, she tells Rolling Stone:

"Listen," she says, "if the Illuminati exist, I would like to be invited! I see all that shit, and I'm like, 'Come on, let me in! I want to be in the club!' I have no idea what it is. It sounds crazy. Weird people on the Internet that have nothing to do find, like, strange triangles in your hand motions," she continues. "I guess you've kind of made it when they think you're in the Illuminati. But listen, I believe in aliens, so if people want to believe in Illuminati, great.

Rule No. 1 of the Illuminati (and, strangely, Fight Club) is that you do not talk about the Illuminati, which leads us to believe that Katy actually isn't lying here. But she'd like to join! Can a representative please give her a sign?

Read more posts by Lindsey Weber

Filed Under: katy perry ,music ,aliens ,the illuminati

Startup Land only says something poignant about itself by accident, and this time is no exception: the grand prize in an upcoming venture capital sponsored hackathon is a chance to degrade yourself in a booth full of money.

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In a most amazing video appropriately and explicitly titled ”Pet Crab Eating,” the Korean owner of a crab feeds it noodles from a bowl. The crab sits in what looks like a big strainer, and starts cautiously with the feasting, clasping…

The post Watch A Pet Crab Slurp On a Plate of Noodles appeared first on FirstWeFeast.com.

It's a strange age we live in when Kim Kardashian can make so much money off of a mobile gaming experience and we write endlessly about its production, its profits, and its deeper cultural meaning instead of the obvious question: What will be the next smash-hit celebrity gaming experience?

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The latest trailer for Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, which premiered at Comic-Con last weekend, is out in the world. We finally get to see what Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, and the film's other astronauts are in search of: ice, water, and other things that look like the bottom level of Inception. For the time being, we are only able to direct you to the film's website. Input the code 7201969 to watch the trailer.

Read more posts by Gilbert Cruz

Filed Under: movies ,trailer park ,interstellar ,movie trailers

“‘Where have all the ____ gone?’ has surely overtaken ‘The Kids are Alright’ atop the list of baby boomer headline cliches, right?” tweets Eric Wittmershaus. It appears so.

* Where have all the [insert word] gone?” headlines (google.com)

Update: Read what my Facebook friends and subscribers say about this

Among the many polarizing debates in American society, one reigns supreme: double-dipping.

Many people believe that dipping a chip into a shared bowl of drip, taking a bite, and dipping again — termed "double-dipping" in a 1993 episode of Seinfeld — is an abhorrently unsanitary practice. Others, like George Costanza, think this aversion is unscientific, and there's actually no harm in double-dipping at all.

each instance of double-dipping transfers a few thousand bacteria from the dipper's mouth to the bowl

The truth is somewhere in the middle. As it happens, there has been a single scientific study conducted on the topic — and it found that each instance of double-dipping does transfer a few thousand bacteria from the dipper's mouth to the bowl.

But although this sounds terrifying, the study didn't seek to figure out whether these bacteria were harmful — and about 99 percent of bacteria we generally encounter are not. Similar numbers of bacteria are likely spread when we share a drinking glass with someone else, and if they're not sick, it's generally not a huge deal.

So what's our scientifically-informed recommendation on double-dipping? It might be alright to do among a few close friends, if you're sure you're not sick. In a large social setting, though, it's inconsiderate, even if the risk may be relatively small.

What research says about double-dipping

Essdras M Suarez/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

The study, conducted at Clemson University, involved Wheat Thins being dipped into petri dishes full of several different substances — sterile water, salsa, Hershey's syrup, cheese dip, and water (with its pH adjusted to match each of the food dips). For each, a few different crackers were double-dipped, and the results were compared to control dips, which either had unbitten crackers repeatedly dipped into them, or weren't dipped at all.

After each trial, the researchers took a sample from the dip and cultured the bacteria present, then took a sample again after the dip had stood at room temperature for two hours, to see how many bacteria survived that long.

The results were uniform across dips: double-dipping consistently spread bacteria from mouth to bowl (or in this case, petri dish). There were way more bacteria in the double-dipped samples, compared to both kinds of control samples.

Here's a graph of the cheese, salsa, and Hershey's syrup trials:

Journal of Food Safety, Dawson et. al.

The graph is a bit tricky to read, but the main thing is that all all the short bars are the various controls and the tall bars are the double-dips. Taller means more bacteria.

Initially, the salsa picked up the most bacteria, likely because it's the least viscous, so when you double-dip, there's a higher chance of some salsa coming into contact with the chip but staying in the bowl. But the chocolate and cheese picked up nearly as many, and the salsa's acidity appeared to kill off a bit of bacteria in the intervening time.

The researchers also converted these numbers (which represent the density of bacteria in the dips) into rough estimates of how many bacteria were transferred with each dip. On average, a sequence of three double-dips (so six dips total) transferred about 10,000 individual bacteria.

So does this mean double-dipping gets people sick?

Tammy Ljungblad/Kansas City Star/MCT via Getty Images

That's the real question here, and unfortunately one that isn't really answered by this current study. It found contamination, but noted that "whether the type or amount of contamination is dangerous to a dippers’ health or not is debatable."

Now, it's certainly interesting that double-dipping conveys any bacteria at all. Paul Dawson, the food scientist that led the study, told he me was "very surprised at the number of bacteria we found were transferred from the subjects' mouths during double dipping."

you can think of double-dipping as something similar to sharing glasses or utensils

At the time time, while the idea of thousands of bacteria going from someone's mouth to a bowl of dip certainly sounds disgusting, keep in mind that a square centimeter of your skin is home to about 100,000 bacteria. Thousands of these can also be spread to someone else if you simply shake hands, and we're equipped to deal with about 99 percent of the bacteria in our environment without any harm.

You can think of double-dipping as something similar to sharing drinking glasses or utensils. It's rude to do in large social functions, and definitely unacceptable to do if you think you might be sick. But among a few close friends sitting around a bowl of dip, it might not be a huge deal.

But there's still a remaining question about double-dipping: if you see someone do it, should you avoid dipping yourself?

"I would avoid that dip," Dawson says. "You don't know if the person doing the double-dipping is carrying a virus or bacteria that could make you sick. People that are carrying a pathogen don't always appear sick themselves."

Further reading: Science says the five-second rule isn't such a bad idea

Israelis have been living for years under the threat of rockets fired indiscriminately by Palestinian and Lebanese militant groups, particularly from Gaza-based terrorist groups such as Hamas. As in any conflict, the people affected by it find ways to cope and to integrate the reality of conflict into their lives. For Israelis, this often takes the form of humor.

To give you a sense for what that coping looks like, here's a 2012 cartoon teasing Israelis in Tel Aviv for their typical response to rocket attack warning sirens. It's by Israeli artist Tomi Zandshtein, who has generously given permission for it to be reproduced here (Tomi typically writes in Hebrew but you can read English translations of his work):

Tomi Zandshtein

"Israelis, in general, tend to view these things with a mixture of nervousness and light heartedness," Zandshtein told me over email. "We get angry or scared by these things just as often as we laugh at them or act like they're no big deal. We'll run for cover (usually), but then we'll also go outside and look up at the sky looking for the little puff of cloud that marks the spot where the rocket was intercepted, then we'll take pictures of it and upload it on Facebook."

This tracks with what Israelis in Tel Aviv and other cosmopolitan coastal cities have told me about the experience of coping with rocket sirens. There's a small but popular sub-genre of Israeli rocket jokes. See, for example, this November 2012 video, "Shit Tel Avivians say during an attack" (turn on English subtitles by clicking CC in the bottom-right corner):

Zandshtein says he drew his cartoon in late 2012, when Hamas and other groups fired a number of rockets toward Tel Aviv in retaliation for Israeli air strikes in Gaza and rocket sirens sounded over normally peaceful Tel Aviv, as they have been again this week.

'We get angry or scared by these things just as often as we laugh at them or act like they're no big deal'

In southern Israel, near the Gaza border, rockets are far more common, the warning time much shorter, and their physical and psychological damage much deeper, with bomb shelters and evacuations and explosions a part of daily life.

"We don't have to deal with as many sirens here in Tel Aviv as the people who live closer to the Gaza strip who get fired at a lot more frequently and have a lot less time to get to the shelters," Zandshtein says. "Over here we have the privilege of looking at it as a strange, hopefully temporary experience."

"Although," he adds, "I have a friend who lives close to the Gaza strip, and she says that she has a massive collection of rocket jokes from her friends there." I have been told this as well by Israelis who live near Gaza, although everyone also seems to know someone who was injured or maimed by a rocket. Zandshtein says a friend lost his eye in an attack while visiting southern Israel.

Children in southern Israel wait at a streetside bomb shelter for expected rocket strikes. (Ilia Yefimovich/Getty Images)

When I asked Zandshtein if he thought that joking about the rockets was a coping mechanism for Israelis or just humor for the sake of humor, he answered, "It's a little of both. The sirens, and hearing random explosions through the day are all scary things, and there's a lot of nervousness in the air, but at the same time, the missile interception system keeps us feeling relatively safe."

'both sides have many people who ... are just going about their lives, trying to make the best of any situation'

These exchanges of Palestinian rockets and Israeli air strikes are experienced very differently, of course, in Gaza itself. It does not obviate the suffering of Israelis to note that many more innocent Palestinians are killed by Israeli air strikes than Israelis are by Palestinian rockets. Gazans do not have warning sirens to alert them or American-funded missile-defense systems to protect them or, typically, bomb shelters strong enough to shield their families. None of this eases Israeli suffering one iota, nor does in any way soften or excuse Hamas and other terrorist groups from firing at Israeli civilians, but it is worth pausing to remember.

Zandshtein made clear that making light of the rockets was not the same as making light of the conflict itself, or of the real suffering it causes innocent civilians on both sides of the Green Line.

"I find it very important to make the difference between a government and it's citizens," he says. "Whether you agree or disagree with anything the people in charge of Israel or Gaza do, at the end of the day both sides have many people who'd rather not have anything to do with it, and are just going about their lives, trying to make the best of any situation, I do that by drawing comics about it."

Covenhoven (730 Classon Ave) has been an invaluable addition to the burgeoning Crown Heights neighborhood, offering an expertly curated draft list and a wide selection of bottles, featuring a perfect combination of special occasion and every-day beers. Plus there’s a good amount of seating and an incredibly perfect backyard. We spoke to beer manager James Case about some stuff…

How would you describe your clientele? What’s the gender breakdown of your customers like?
Our bar caters mostly to locals in the neighborhood in their mid-twenties to forties. We have a fifty-fifty split between men and women.

What’s the most consistently big seller in your shop?
We sell lots of Ballast Point, Bell’s, Maine Beer Co. and Cigar City.

 What limited-release beer have you had people inquire about the most?
Firestone Walker Parabola and Westbrook Mexican Cake had our phone ringing off the hook like we got the first televisions in NYC.

Is there a particular style that you notice people coming in for more than others?
We get a lot of hop heads. But our selection of sour and wild beer is wide, and we always have one on draft.

What beer (or beers) do you think should sell more than they do?
Our selection of dry ciders is pretty top notch, but most people think cider is always sweet, so one of the finest beverages is a little overlooked.

Do you find that a beer being locally produced makes it any more or less popular?
Having a beer be locally produced definitely makes it more popular, especially in Brooklyn, where neighborhood and community remains a big factor for a lot of people.  Other Half opening the first brick-and-mortar brewery in Brooklyn in eleven years was a huge moment for the borough. Finback in Queens and Barrier in Long Island are all carving out wonderful identities for our local scene.

What are the biggest challenges you face as a specialty shop in a city where there are so many?
Since we’re the only bottle shop with our level of selection in our neighborhood, it allows our focus to be taking care of our regulars and forging sincere relationships. Our bottle prices are pretty low, because we want to encourage people to try new things and not think that craft beer is essentially just more expensive and nerdy. I find the variety of beer styles so far-ranging  and immersive, that I want to encourage people to try new things and be surprised the way I was when I first started.

What’s your take on the local beer scene in the city? Do you find it to be a generally supportive place?
I find the beer scene to be an incredibly supportive place. The beer scene in NYC is an incredibly small and close-knit circle of people. I don’t see other bars or shops as competitors, but people also working for the same goal as everyone in the industry, which is advocating good liquid above everything else and having a good time, obviously.

Do you have any big plans for the store over the next few months or years?
We intend to house between three and four hundred snakes in our bar and become the city’s first “snake bar” since Old McBitey closed in the 19th-century. We have received dozens of signatures in support of reviving this artisanal style of tavern. We will also be offering an array of new food options very soon.  

Follow Mike Conklin on Twitter @MikeConklin.

"He didn’t want Daddy using newspaper to start the BBQ: ‘It’s not for fire, it’s for reading!’"
Submitted By: Amanda T.
Location: Ontario, Canada

Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Wahines

Brooklyn Wahines has been quietly popping up in the Stan’s Cafecito space two nights a week ever since Honolulu native Siobhán Edwards of Red Wagon Catering opened it last month, but now it’ll be open Wednesday through Saturday nights. Between that and Onomea, South Williamsburg is becoming a virtual archipelago of Hawaiian food.

Ahi Poke

Wahines, Hawaiian for “woman,” serves up popular dishes like Ahi Poke, Shoyu chicken, and perhaps most popular of all, Banh Mi sandwiches: slow cooked pork or tofu simmered in ginger tomato BBQ sauce with pickled vegetables on a toasted roll. Drool.

Banh Mi

Edwards decided to expand Wahines’ hours simply out of demand; the restaurant has been well received since its soft opening in June, even attracting Manhattanites. “I’ve also won over Hispanics with my chicken,” Edwards says. “They were all coming in to see if I had the goods, and now they’re coming in to get the chicken.”

Shoyu Chicken

Toward the end of the summer, Edwards will decide whether to make the restaurant a permanent fixture that’s open seven days a week. In the meantime, they’re in the process of applying for a liquor license, and plans to begin serving alcohol within a couple weeks. Until then, diners are welcome to bring their own beverages.

Brooklyn Wahines is open Wednesday through Saturday from 5-11 p.m.

There's a new game in town, and it might just be more addicting than Candy Crush. Kim Kardashian: Hollywood is better than it has any right to be, if I'm being honest. Your main goal is to move your way up the social ladder, with the help of your friend Kim. (Why Kim is helping you is unclear!) The game teaches you lots of important tips on how to rise up to A-List status, and if you're smart, you might even apply those to your real life. Here's what I found from my journey:

Always answer the phone when Kim K. calls.

Network with everyone — even lowly (yet strangely well-dressed?) house painters.

(And dental assistants.)

(And home economists.)

(And a depressed podiatrist.)

True love takes time, attention ... and a $15 dessert.

When you start off in Los Angeles, you’ll be taking the bus.

“Make-up is the photo shop of real life.” Okay, Kim.

When in doubt, get a pet.

Allow your Cool Dad manager to say whatever wack things he wants.

There’s always money in the fire hydrants. (Also: Behind that bird, in the potted plant, and in the unattended luggage at LAX.)

When in doubt, pick the option that throws shade.

You’ll likely lose the Game through simple sleep deprivation.

Life is about making your way up the List.

(Who knew E-List was even a thing?)

Read more posts by Lindsey Weber

Filed Under: kim kardashian ,video games ,who is willow pape? ,candy ,vulture lists

Peru’s independence day is July 28th, so break out the pisco and start planning to celebrate!

Macchu Picchu is truly incredible but there's much more to Peru.

IngaL/IngaL

Like the Nazca Lines, which are 100 times cooler than Stonehenge.

About 970 ancient geoglyphs and biomorphs exist on the Nazca desert plains, with figures of a hummingbird, trapezoids, and more. There's even many rumors as to how they were made.

Greenpot/Greenpot

And the paradise of Tarapoto, which is only an hour away from Lima by plane.

If you want to experience the Amazon without going there, just stay here.

Miroslav Horák / Flickr: horak / Creative Commons

You'll wish you lived in Peru so you could be served the freshest ceviche every day.

Ceviche is a fresh raw fish meal, stewed in citrus and peppers. The meat is usually tender and soft and perfect to eat after a hot day.

Thomas S. / Flickr: 95786359@N05 / Creative Commons

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