Tag: reviews

Ignoring good quality because of reviews?

It’s one thing to judge a book by it’s cover, it’s another thing entirely to present yourself as a viable critic or bearing expert opinion in a similar fashion. It is not only misrepresentation, it is also doing your audience a disservice.

This is for everyone that passes judgment on a book, or a movie, or entertainment venues solely on reviews. The business world has offered to pay people to give you opinions without actually having long term access or experience in what you’re shopping for…

…and we have embraced it. No less than 4 times today, I have run into scenarios whereby in conversation I was presented not a clear argument, but a reference to a paid review. Paid reviews are just that…advertisements. Movies, technology, investments, it’s like we all suddenly made the decision to shop like shit, and in an effort to admitting ignorance, choose to back an negative opinion just so that we can say we’re right. (*cough* not alluding to Trump *cough*)

This is literally what we’ve become. marketing now is an effort of saturation rather than information. Flood a movie with crap reviews and opinions and it will tank the box office months before the movie is even out…so in seeing a trailer, I get it sometimes they are crappy. But then in seeing a movie, it’s actually frickin amazing. But then the same critic plays his “I am a credible judge of art” card it like gospel…even when they are talking out of their ass.

If you are a fan of a genre, technology enthusiast, voter…LOL…whatever…I think you should do some of your own research, and form your own opinion, rather than adopting whatever you just read on a cursory Google search.

/end rant.

All that said – Tony is a dork, and in case no one has told you today:
Have a great afternoon.
You’re Awesome.
I love you.
Nice Butt.

-T




Shrooms! (Mushrooms Stuffed Full of Yum)

I’ve been REALLY craptastic about posting to the blog, I know it. No excuses here…luckily this blog was never a part of my livelyhood and the only people to yell at me about it are on twitter (and Amazon – apparently they have some sort of *rule* about their paid authors actually writing…go figure).

Anyhow…it’s time for some really awesome foodstuff, I’ve been coming up with more and more really original recipes lately. I’ve gotten some pretty awesome reviews of my mushrooms, straight out of Tony’s Kitchen!

Real Simple.

So Simple this almost isn’t a real blog post, but here it goes.

INGREDIENTS

Fresh white (champaign) Mushrooms - Stuffed Mushrooms - Tonytown.comMushrooms (8-16oz)
These are those regular white mushrooms you find int the produce areas of the grocery store, you can find better ones if you really want to go all the way, and if you really want to impress your favorite vegetarian, you can opt to go with portabellas and top them with the stuffing, tastes frickin AWESOME.



Black and Green Olives - Stuffed Mushrooms - Tonytown.comBlack Olives (6oz)
If you want cheap and fast, just get black minced olives in a can. If you prefer fresher (I do – always) find yourself a decent olive bar (usually only found in decent grocery stores) and get your fill. Be prepared to pay far too much for fresh olives though..it’s almost silly.



A fresh white onion - Stuffed Mushrooms - Tonytown.com1 Large White Onion (6-10ounces at least)
Green onion really won’t work too well in this, and purple onions don’t mince as well, as I like, so I usually opt for the white onions on this. I’ve run into a couple people that didn’t like onions, but didn’t even bat an eyelash at chowing down on these stuffed mushrooms, so unless they are allergic, I encourage people to try them before acting like you’re asking them to try castor oil 😉


Balls of Mozzarella Chesse - Stuffed Mushrooms - Tonytown.comMozzarella Cheese (8-16oz)
Finely shredded Moz is awesome. If you get fresher blocks it will make an incredible difference on the taste. If you have a Vegan in the group, you can substitute real Moz for Dairy-Free Mozzarella by Daiya Foods.

PREP

1. Preheat your oven to about 400 degrees (Fahrenheit).

2. Break the stems out of the mushrooms. I usually slice the stems for use in other sauces etc. No use in wasting good ingredients!

3. Mince the onion, the olives and the Moz. If you have a good processor you can mince this all at the same time until you have a fine paste. Otherwise, mince until you are comfy with the consistencies and mix them thoroughly together.

4. Treat the mushrooms like little bowls and you want to fill them up with the mixed stuffing. until they are overflowing by about 1/8 of an inch.

5. Place the mushrooms in a non-stick roasting pan. You only need to give them about a half inch space between so you should be able to fit quite a few in the pan.

COOKINS

Place the pan full of goodness into the preheated oven, and set your timer for 25 minutes.

NOTES
1. If you like your mushrooms’ texture to be more steamed than baked, you can easily pour a thin layer of water into the bottom of the roasting pan. About 1/4-3/8 of an inch of water will serve to effectively give you more juicy mushrooms.
2. If you opt for the Vegan Friendly version, please note that the Dairy-Free Mozzarella by Daiya Foods takes longer to melt so you may have to leave the Shrooms in the oven a bit longer. 😉