Had it with the Food Channel...

[RICHARD]

The Dunkin' Donuts coffee commercials with RR really cracked me up. Just what she needs: more coffee. She's already a gas molecule; she'll turn into plasma at this rate!

Oh great, That's all we need-a freaking plasma jet burning a hole into the greater NY area!

-------------------

HOkay, I have to to this because I have a interest in Sandra Lee.

It's not an eye candy or lust....IT's more who she is and where she comes from.

Is she married? I know she has had a tough childhood, but she talks about her family and wears a wedding band, but never talks about a hubby..

I know she lived in Cah Lee fuh nee ah for a while-Lost Angeles?-she pronounces some words with a Hispanic accent. The way she says 'plate', for example.....We noticed that a while back.

And I wonder if she's the control freak that Martha Stew-heart is. I saw the biography on her and it seems they both have the control gene!

Thanks!

----------------

I was watching Anthony Bourdain on his Travel Channel show and he stopped into visit Mario Batali's dadm who runs a salami shop! I had seen bits of the show episode-Oregon and Washington- before.


MB's dad, mom and sis are remarkably ordinary. None is overweight and none have the flaming red hair.......They make and sell salami out of a shop they all work at, amazing food and none of the segment, other than AB saying it was MB's family even mentioned him!

[Daisy and Delilah]

RR had a cyst on her throat and had to have it removed.
Blue: the only way to listen to her is with the sound off. FN has been running some of her first shows. Holy Cow!!
They took off the Dunkin Donuts commercials because she was wearing a scarf that was supposedly a possible link to terrorism. People complained about it and the ads were pulled.

I have seen RR dog food commercials. The woman is into everything. That came after her animal special last year.

The last I heard about Sandra Lee was that she was living it up in Gordon Elliot's place. I thought GE was married and has children. Not sure what happened there.
I never hear her talk about a husband either. She seems to be obsessed with her sister and her family.

Booby Flake is so arrogant. He tries to lower himself to other people and he just can't pull it off. I also love it when he loses on Throwdown. He always has that fake smile on his face. It's obnoxious.

Giada is another one that can't handle defeat. Did anybody see any shows that were filmed while she was pregnant? I saw one and she was still 85 pounds.

I like Sunny Anderson too but I wish she would stop acting so nervous and relax. That laugh of her's is unreal.

[Karen]

Scooter's Mom,

I am talking about Aaron McCargo

The Ultimate Recipe Show is not my cup of tea! I HATE mac and cheese! It just a taste/growing up thing......NO way I eat it as a requested dish.

The AM thing is more personality than recipe, I want to see him cook, not preen.

I don't care for Symon, it's his laugh, he reminds me of my brother's laugh-forced and obnoxious.

I do blame The Food Network for that - remember in the "Next Food Network Star" they kept criticizing him for not having "enough personality"? They said that about him almost every week, when he obviously just wanted to cook and present his food - they have created a "character" out of him, instead of letting him be who he wanted to be. Sad, but true. You can tell he's uncomfortable, at least I can, being so "over the top" about things and mugging with his kid. But that's what The Food Network pushes and pushes and I don't know why, frankly. I liked watching him before they "transformed" him a whole lot better. Interesting to see Adam, who lost the "Next Food Network Star" show apparently now has a show ... I don't know what it is, as I have the DVR on "skip" over the commercials, I just see his face flash by.

I watch the Ultimate Recipe show today, and Richard, for some of us, mac and cheese - the REAL stuff, not the orange stuff in the box - is comfort food. Yet I know people who, even as adults, still eat the orange stuff as their own "comfort food" - all has to do with what you ate as a kid, obviously!

And I'm guessing growing up where you did, in the climate you did, there wasn't a lot of call for heavy "stick-to-your-ribs in bitter winter weather" type food!

[RICHARD]

And I'm guessing growing up where you did, in the climate you did, there wasn't a lot of call for heavy "stick-to-your-ribs in bitter winter weather" type food!

We so have a cold season, It's on December 17th from 4 a.m. until 6 a.m.

Dad was a M&C, SPAM fiend. I used to go to the pantry and look for something quick to make......and all there was was M&C and cans o' SPAM!
Sometimes I'll bust out a can and box and go to town!

Part of it is not having a 'dairy' gene, when I get real M&C, it sours me, literally, on the dairy in real food!

If I am invited to dinner or I have a frozen M&C hanging around, I'll do it! It's just not my cup of tea. All the people back east eat good food anyway, what else is there to do during the winter except cook?

The AM thing is really irritating, the guy CAN cook! The smiles and over presentation make me numb. I don't care for the catchy phrases and sayings....

JUST COOK!

LOL,

Rice, beans and tortillas are multi-seasonal!

[Karen]

All the people back east eat good food anyway, what else is there to do during the winter except cook?

Let's see - shovel snow, try not to fall down while dealing with ice on the driveway, spend time hacking ice off of driveway and the vehicle one intends to drive, refilling the windshield washer fluid again, shoveling the front stairs again ... digging out the end of the driveway after the plow refills it again ...

Cooking is the warm alternative!

Believe it or not, I actually enjoy all that stuff, except for the "trying not to fall down" part which takes more concentration for me than most ... having half the sense of balance that normal folks do. After all, what other kind of exercise is as immediately as gratifying as shoveling snow? For each shovelful thrown onto the pile, you not only are rewarded with a clean patch of pavement, but a taller pile AND calories burned! And even days later you can look at the snow pile and think "Hah! I did that!"

[Daisy and Delilah]

I can really agree that the new Aaron is a FN creation. He is obviously uncomfortable with it. Maybe we should all email them and let them know how we feel. Enough with the theatrics and more cooking, Please!!!
I hope he doesn't get tired of it and decide to leave them, down the road.

[RICHARD]

Did anyone see the Paula Deen, Aaron show they did together?

FN has ruined that poor dude. It was way over the top with 'character'.

I wanted to watch more of it, but my head started to cave in!

[Daisy and Delilah]

I read yesterday that RR didn't need the surgery after all. She just needed voice training. I don't think this was a surprise to anybody.

[Daisy and Delilah]

Richard,

This morning at 9:30, our time here on the east coast.......there was a new show called "Viva Daisy"(I think that was it). This lady was cooking Mexican style food with a healthy twist.
I hope you get to see it and give us your opinion. I enjoyed it.

[jennielynn1970]

I saw Viva Daisy too! She's originally from the PBS channel, and I have one of her cookbooks. I remember her being thinner and having shorter hair. She cooks really down home latin foods. You really have to check her out. She's great. You might want to look for her old PBS shows too, Daisy Cooks. I'm worried they're going to try to "food network" her show and make her less of what I liked watching. They already have her hair different, although maybe she decided that herself.

Here's her cookbook, which I have.

[Daisy and Delilah]

I saw Viva Daisy too! She's originally from the PBS channel, and I have one of her cookbooks. I remember her being thinner and having shorter hair. She cooks really down home latin foods. You really have to check her out. She's great. You might want to look for her old PBS shows too, Daisy Cooks. I'm worried they're going to try to "food network" her show and make her less of what I liked watching. They already have her hair different, although maybe she decided that herself.

Here's her cookbook, which I have.

Thanks Jennie. I'll check it out. I hope FN doesn't "adapt" her so much that she changes to someone obnoxious. They seem to be really good at that.

[Karen]

Yeah, I had the DVR recording Aaron's show, but just told it not to bother. They've made him pretty much unwatchable. I liked him before they made him a "PERSONALITY" - one can have a personality and still be calm!

[RICHARD]

I hope you get to see it and give us your opinion. I enjoyed it.

I always wanted to be a writer!

RR's production company is footing the bills for this new 'Daisy' program. Is the other "latina" cook still on? She is a staple on the Mexican language channel stations in EL LAY.....toned down but still cooking with cleavage!

I missed the show this morning! I kept thinking to post a reminder about it and forgot. I was distracted about the new Hell's Kitchen and Top Chef!

I remember catching Daisy Duke on PBS, but didn't stay too long. PBs has always had a great rep for bringing good cooking programs to the tube. Rick Bayless is the top and there used to be an elderly woman, who I cannot remember her name, that made the 'real thing'.

Here's the deal-

Mexican cooking is as varied as any large country's cuisine.

Examples?

France, Spain and Germany influenced the cooking and culture of Mexico, the southern edge of the country's cooking is influenced by the Central American states-and even Cuba has a little part of he pie.

I can watch the "Mexican" cooking shows for entertainment only because the Mex cooking I grew up with is different than the regional dishes that get put on the air.

Tamales?

You can have Southern tamales, middle tamales and nothern ones!

The 'wraps' change - you can get a banana leave wrapped tamale from the south, one wrapped in a corn husk in the central part of the country and closer to the northern border you get the 'bastardized' tamales -wrapped in paper because some gringos won't do the organic wrappers!

I used the term GRINGO with affection, so complain to the newspaper, not me!

Menudo, tripe soup, varies too! You can get it white, red, with or without hominy!

Beans! Black beans are more a southern and Gulf offering, Pintos more a nothern fare. Then you have the TEX MEX twists on what is plated in a restaurant closer to the U.S. border.

------------------------------

My only peeve about Mex cooking on T.V. is the availability of the food used,
Where I live there are tons of Mexican stores and when I trip thru the produce sections I find stuff that even I don't know what it's for. Many herbs and spices are used for their medicinal and food properties-so you can find all kinds of weird stuff.

Oh, I almost forget!

ANCHO CHILE POWDER! One of Booby Flay's faves!

The ground up powder is an 'invention' of the gringo again! If you walk into an older person's kitchen you will see the garlic 'tail', dried chiles and a bowl of veggies hanging around someplace!

Dried chiles that get stuck in humid places or get wet get moldy. Some one figured out that if you grind them up and bottle them, they travel and last longer. At the AMerican store you can find displays of chiles and herbs in cellophane packages-that's another MEX thing-when they shop in Mexico you have to see what is being sold-the markets are open air affairs with product out in the open. LITERALLY!

Anyway, I'll shut up now and see if they put the show on again!

Thanks for reminding me!

[jennielynn1970]

This is Daisy Martinez, not Daisy Duke, lol. She uses a lot of fresh herbs and spices. She's the one I found out how to make home made Sazon, and about the herbs culantro (not cilantro), and achiote seed. She was not a "wow" personality, but she talked about how her mother and grandmother cooked, even did shows out on a beach to show how they cooked there when they were with family. She had a really nice show on PBS.

[RICHARD]

This is Daisy Martinez, not Daisy Duke, lol. She uses a lot of fresh herbs and spices. She's the one I found out how to make home made Sazon, and about the herbs culantro (not cilantro), and achiote seed. She was not a "wow" personality, but she talked about how her mother and grandmother cooked, even did shows out on a beach to show how they cooked there when they were with family. She had a really nice show on PBS.

Martinez? Duke? What do I know?

The flavors that you get from 'native' palnts is amazing. But, those plants or herbs are not always available everywhere and I really hate to see the prices on line. I mentioned that I pay 1.18 for a bottle of fruit seasoning and online it costs 4.95 plus s/h!

That's criminal!

I'll have to watch her. I like the COOKING shows and don't mind the storytelling.

-------

Oh,

There is one "MEX" veggie that really give me the heebie jeebies.

IT's called a chayote (chai yo teh) It's a squash-like veggie, looks like a green pear and about the same size. Kinda sweet, my dad loved them and would cook this soup and use them in the recipe. For some reason I could never get behind them, these days I see them in a store and want to buy one and cook one, just to punish myself!