The downturn in the economy means I'm watching more TV. But I don't have one, and the abattoir won't spend money for cable, lest they have to pay the RIAA or the like. So I can't watch Julia Child reruns ("Save the Liver!"), Emeril Lagasse ("Bam!"), or Giada De Laurentiis or any TVFN stuff. By the way, just how much longer can it be before we have a Hotties of TVFN show/magazine article/porn film? Maybe it'll just be ripoff videos -- perhaps "30 Minute Peels"? "All-Star Food Fight"? How about "S&M with Bobby Flay"? Some show titles don't even need help: "$40 a Day"; "Oliver's Twist"; maybe "Barefoot Contessa" for foot fetishists? And for real alternate tastes, perhaps "The Essence of Enema"? Ok, too easy -- I'll stop now. The food/sex connection is an easy one to make anyway, except when yours truly tries to get a date via his food expertise. :) And I love The Food Network.
Wait, where was I? Ok, perhaps the point of this digression: A few weeks ago, I saw a little bit of a book award show on broadcast TV (alarms should be going off right about now, BTW). The part I happened to tune in was for a food book award. I don't remember all the nominees, but one was the new edition of Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking. Another was by resident TVFN chef and eye candy Rachael Ray. My personal vices are such that I was pulling for the McGee book; besides, I hadn't seen Ms. Ray's. But Eat At Joe's should have known: Rachael won. Do we get to see her on stage as mild compensation? No. Why? She wasn't there. Hell, I would have shown up. But Rachael was in Africa. On honeymoon. D'oh. I guess the food/sex connection works for some people after all. ;)
I just got "I'm just here for the Food" by Alton Brown. Watching Good Eats has really changed the way Julie and I approach cooking, and reinvigorated our interest in it. (Meal planning is a pain given our constraints - we've got about 45 minutes between getting home and the kids completely melting down from hunger. Whatever we cook has to have at least a shot at being appetizing to the kids, plus we keep a Kosher kitchen.)
Weekends, when one or both of us can (sometimes) take a couple of hours to put into a meal have become our time for experimentation. And becoming more familiar with how each of us reacts to a meal that doesn't turn out the way we planned has helped also. Cooking for a family actually entails a lot of emotion, and it's not easy to feel like you've disappointed your spouse. This can really stifle innovation. Learning how to offer constructive criticism took some time.
And speaking of the Food Network, I've always wanted to see Chairman Kaga announce:
"Today's secret ingredient is...
Long Pig!"
Posted by: Eric J | 19 December 2005 at 02:10 PM
Perhaps Chairman Kaga is keeping all the long pig for himself.... :)
Posted by: Joe | 19 December 2005 at 07:38 PM