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. ;)