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Michael, I Miss You
2008-05-18 06:05:00
Since Michael Chiarello has been moved to no cook's land on the Food Network - 7 am on weekend mornings and 11:30 am during the week - I've been keeping in touch with the flawless chef by means of his NapaStyle newsletter, which comes to my inbox with great frequency. You may remember that I am the fortunate owner of a spectacular knife holder from NapaStyle that I use with great jubilation. (The sad thing is I'm not kidding. I really do exult everytime a knife or long skewer is required.) Anyway, I noticed a blurb on pizzas in this newest newsletter. MC was trying to sell his outdoor pizza oven, which I'm not in the market for, but this recipe looks great. Michael also has what looks to be many hundreds of recipes on this online catalog site, which are beautifully organized by courses, ingredients and other specifications as well. It's actually very easy to use and rather impressive. I know he's trying to sell us stuff, but he's doing a good job at getting alot of informat...
More About: Miss , Miss You , I Miss You

Sad News From The World Of Wine
2008-05-17 00:11:00
94 year old Robert Mondavi died at his Napa home today. I always admired this grand gentleman, who produced some of the best wines of his generation, while providing decent moderately priced ones as well.I remember when he and Baron Philippe de Rothschild joined together to make a California premium wine, known as Opus One. H and I visited the beautiful Mondavi Wine ry years ago and I remember hoping that Opus One was included in the tasting at the end of the tour....No such luck.Mondavi's list of accomplishments is long, but of particular interest to me is his part in Copia. It was his brainchild and the recipient of his $20 million gift.He grew up in the California wine business and his family bought the Charles Krug Winery in 1943. When he was 52 in 1966, he and his remaining brother had a disagreement that couldn't be mended and he started his own winery, the Robert Mondavi Winery. (His brother remained in control of Charles Krug.)The Robert Mondavi family sold their entire w...
More About: News , World , The World

Top Chef - Say It With Salad, But Stop Screaming About Everything Else!
2008-05-16 06:15:00
Top Chef Episode 10 Serve and Protect There's a money shot of Glad bags near the beginning of Top Chef . Is the prize $100,000 dollars or that much money in Glad bags? It’s hard to tell.We open with Andrew…or is it Spike? I still can’t tell the difference. They’re showing Steph a bit. Richard says he’s tired. Spike says Dale’s a little bitch. Didn’t he say that last week?Dale says it’s all too dramatic and emotional. Andrew says everyone is beat down but him.Quickfire Challenge. They all look awfully exhausted after being up all day and night for last week’s wedding challenge.Season 2 finalist Sam Talbot is the guest judge. Antonia thinks he’s tall dark and handsome. Each to her own. The challenge is to “put the sexy back in the salad.” Okay, maybe it’s SAM that should leave the island. Padma says they have 45 minutes and they can use all the ingredients in the kitchen. (There's a huge table with tons of stuff on it.)Let’s have sex after we eat this salad...
More About: Salad , Stop

Oh Danny Boy, When Are You Going To Get Your Own Show?
2008-05-15 05:20:00
Rescue Chef with Danny BoomeLucy's GumboChicken and Seafood GumboBlood Orange LemonadeGrilled Savory Zucchini Flat BreadThe good news is that Danny has left the tri-state area, and, happily, we don’t have to hear him refer to places just outside the city as “Upstate” New York. The bad news is that the concept is the same – helping people make dishes that they’ve enjoyed elsewhere and had little luck cooking on their own.Freelance writer Rebecca from Texas wants to recreate her mother’s gumbo recipe. I’m still not getting why she would ask DANNY how to make gumbo. Oh wait! I have an idea. ASK YOUR MOM! We’re not told if that’s impossible.There’s a cooking set-up in the middle of the backyard. THAT looks normal. NOT!!! Instead of a stove, (well, there IS a burner) they use a barbecue for the pots and pans. This is never explained. Maybe Mom cooked on a clown train in uncertain surroundings or maybe Rebecca’s kitchen is being renovated. Danny is cooking outside a...
More About: Show , Danny Boy

LIVESTRONG DAY
2008-05-13 17:07:00
Doing good means you can still eat good well. In honor of LIVESTRONG DAY, Barbara at Winos and Foodies in a moving post about living with cancer, has put together a splendid array of recipes in an event called A Taste Of Yellow. Each dish features the color yellow and there are some beauties.I contributed my Chicken Curry Pizza, but I intend to try some of these other wonderful recipes: Mini Passion Fruit Cheesecake with Passionfruit Curd; Chilled Mango Soup with Lime Cashew Cream and Coconut Noodles; Lemon and Coconut Rice Pudding Layered with Pineapple and Banana and so many more!Thanks, Barbara, again, for the opportunity to participate.Stay well.

Happy Mother's Day!!!
2008-05-11 15:46:00
If you are a mother, I hope all your dreams come true. If you HAVE a mother, I hope you MAKE all her dreams come true!
More About: Happy

Cute Curtis, Adorable Tyler,
2008-05-10 06:22:00
Oh, And Ingrid Was There TooWhy can't Top Chef truncate their challenges to less than half an hour, like Oprah did on her latest show? The last half of her show was dedicated to a Sandwich Showdown. 3 viewers competed to come up with winning sandwich entries.This competition was the aftermath to a feature with Gayle going around the country tasting great sandwiches everywich (get it?) where. I must say she does wrap her mouth (and teeth) around a sandwich in a not at all unattractive way. And that can't be easy.During the Sandwich Showdown, the 3 contestants were surprised when their favorite celebrity chefs - Curtis , Tyler and Ingrid - came out to help them. They were all warm and wonderful. Yes, Ingrid too.Curtis was flirtatious, Tyler was a big hugging machine and Ingrid was genuinely enthusiastic with her gal. One of the provisos, which was kind of pointless, was that they had to make a sandwich that they had never made before. Who was going to be the judge of that?They showed...
More About: Cute , Adorable

Which Top Chef Wedding Buffet Was Worse? Hard To Judge
2008-05-10 01:58:00
The latest episode starts with Andrew and Spike playing around. Uh oh, which one does that mean is leaving?They show Nikki’s cleavage. What could THAT mean?The Quickfire challenge begins. Tom is there, which the chefs are curious about. The ante is being upped, Padma says and the winner doesn’t get immunity this week, just an advantage in the Elimination Challenge.They’re bringing back an all time favorite challenge - the relay race, which “cheerful” Tom particularly likes. They divide into 2 teams: Stephanie, Antonia, Richard and Andrew. And Dale, Nikki, Spike and Lisa. I remember that relay race with Hung going through those chickens like they were tissue paper. So does Stephanie.They don’t have long to figure out who is going to do what. The tasks: Cutting oranges into pithed and peeled “supremes”, preparing artichoke hearts and leaving the stem on (after peeling it), filleting a huge ugly monkfish, and making mayonnaise by hand.Dale is completely fed up with Nikk...
More About: Judge , Wedding , Hard , Chef , Buffet

Hillary Is To Obama As Paula Is To The Neelys…
2008-05-07 21:54:00
That headline just occurred to me after looking at a lot of the heated feedback I’ve been getting about this post. No subject on my blog has engendered the same level of occasionally unpleasant debate as Pat and Gina Neely. I guess this hot political season has spilled over onto food television. BTW, I don’t mind heated comments, but I won’t post nasty ones.There seem to be two sides to this issue: people who hate the Neelys, because they regard them as stereotypical, over-the-top, hackneyed, poor black role models and people who hate me, because they think my criticism of the Neelys’ love of overcooked steak, Cool Whip and other garbage additions to perfectly good recipes is racist. I’m writing about one thing mainly: the food. Of course, other stuff comes into play with judging the merits of a show. Do we like the host(s) as people? Can we relate to them? Not just Pat and Gina, but all the hosts. Many people have a hard time with Ina, because they can’t relate to her H...
More About: Obama , Hillary , Paula

I Would Prefer Not To See This Headline: Naked Chef Meets Tragedy From Wild
2008-05-07 04:15:00
Jamie at Home with Jamie OliverMushroomsGrilled Mushroom RisottoWild Mushroom and Venison StroganoffMushroom hunting makes me nervous. I’m just glad it’s not done with a gun. At least Jamie starts out the show with the proviso not to go wild mushroom picking unless you’re with someone who really knows mushrooms.Jamie’s going with his friend, mushroom expert Matt Gennaro. They go off and Jamie spots the first one – a porcini. He picks it and then makes sure...listen to this...that there are no maggots in it. Then he finds another one. Gennaro makes him cut into the mushroom and count to five. It turns bright blue. THAT means you have to boil it before eating. No thank you. Scary.Jamie decides to make a treat for the two of them, right there in the middle of the woods. He pours olive oil in a sauté pan (where did that come from?) and adds mushrooms and then a bit of garlic and wild thyme. They agree that it’s nice to use “woody herbs” in the woods. “Don’t forget w...
More About: Tragedy , Chef , Headline

Carrrrrrrrrrrrumba! It's The 5th Of May!
2008-05-05 17:57:00
Happy Cinco de Mayo! I hope some Mexican flavors will find their way into your kitchen today. Guacamole is probably the number one requirement for celebrating this day properly, along with a frosty pitcher of margueritas. My all time favorite recipe for guacamole is from a wonderful cookbook called World Food Café by Chris and Carolyn Caldicott. It features recipes (all vegetarian), which have found their way onto the menu of their London restaurant. There are also gorgeous photographs from their world travels.Here’s the recipe: Oops, it’s not mine to publish. Please email me for it. It is the BEST guacamole you will ever make!But here IS my recipe for Pico de Gallo . I admit it’s pretty awesome.

A Taste of Yellow
2008-05-03 06:07:00
Barbara at Winos and Foodies is sponsoring her annual Taste of Yellow blogging event in honor of Livestrong Day on Tuesday, May 13th. On that day, she will be posting a wrap-up of all of her Taste of Yellow entries from blogs all over the world. Livestrong Day is a wonderful series of events sponsored by the Lance Armstrong Foundation to bring awareness to cancer research and to show support for all those affected by cancer. Here is my entry:A Taste Of Yellow Chicken Curry Pizza (serves 3) 1 recipe pizza dough1 tbl. olive oil1 large yellow onion, sliced thinly½ tsp. kosher salt4 large white mushrooms, sliced1 yellow squash, cut into thin spears1 yellow pepper, cut into thin strips2 boneless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips1 tsp. cumin1 tsp. curry powder½ tsp. turmeric4 tbls. stock2 tbls. golden raisins1 tsp. apricot jamPreheat oven to 475 deg F.Heat olive oil in large heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Stir in onions and salt. When you hear a sizzle, stir one more tim...

Top Chef - Bad Cooking and Disquieting Camera Shots
2008-05-02 03:49:00
Jen got sent home in last week’s improv episode. This week's show starts with Stephanie getting dressed and, EWW, it looks like she’s putting on a chef’s jacket with tons of blood on it. Oops, no, it was just a shadow. How about better lighting?? She’s amazed she’s still there.Now this really is Ewww. We see Mark (is that his name, the New Zealander? or is he South African?) brushing his teeth and his pasty white back and some hideous tattoo on his left arm. He also has an unattractively haired chest and belly. C’mon this is a cooking show! OMG, now he’s shaving! Can we please just leave his grooming to himself? This is gross. Finally, they assemble and leave for the Top Chef kitchen.Wait a minute! Hold your horses! This week I’m going to learn from past editing clues. The people they show in the beginning have an outsized role in that particular week’s show.Could it be that Mark goes home OR could it be that he’s the winner? Okay I’m taking a stand here…Aft...
More About: Cooking , Camera , Shots , Top Chef

Gordon Ramsey - His Talking Was As Fast As His Food
2008-05-01 05:21:00
Gordon Ramsey was all over ABC this morning. First Charlie (Charles when he does the evening news) Gibson (back for a quickie hosting gig at his old haunt at GMA) incorrectly identified Gordon’s show Hell’s Kitchen as being on the Food Network. Amazingly, Gordon didn’t correct him.Then Gordon set about demonstrating a chicken dish from his book Fast Food, talking so fast that I had to put the closed-captioning on. Even then I could only catch every other word. He browned some chicken pieces and added sherry vinegar*, soy sauce and then honey to the pan. It looked okay, but not spectacular. Oh, some lemon slices went in too. He served it with mashed potatoes that he calls Champ, which is a mashed potato dish of Irish origin.Later, Gordon bullied Regis so much during a cooking segment that it became tiresome. He did do an interesting recipe, however, where he POACHED lamb, which got rid of a lot of the fat and served it with barely smashed (or even cooked) peas. The lamb did lo...
More About: Talking , Gordon , Gordon Ramsey

The Blind Leading The...Actually, The Blind Rubbing The Daylights Out Of My
2008-04-29 21:30:00
They say that Shanghai is like New York and Beijing is like Washington DC, so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when our guide Michelle took us to a delightful French bistro in the middle of downtown Shanghai. Franck is an attractive little place in the middle of a new shopping area (Ferguson Lane, 376 Wukang Lu, near Hunan Lu), with some lovely (although bargaining-not-encouraged) shops.Franck has a fixed menu for lunch. They brought out a huge French charcuterie platter to start and then big salads. Then we had a choice of 3 entrées. 8 of my group chose Poulet Roti, I went with the fish. (I admit I took few pictures and no notes…but I think it was cod…it was perfectly cooked.) We skipped dessert in favor of coffee, very excellent coffee, before we embarked on a walking tour of the neighborhood. Our second guide, Spencer, took us around on several occasions. Spencer is an architect, originally from Austin, Texas, specializing in renovating Shanghai buildings while keep...
More About: Blind , Leading

Clotilde Cooks On Today
2008-04-29 16:06:00
Everyone's favorite food blogger, Clotilde Dusoulier, was on the Today Show this morning, wearing an oh-so-French little gray knit top with white polka dots. Adorable. She made a divine chocolate and pear tart that could be made in minutes (if you don't count the pastry shells, which were baked blind). The recipe is from her new book, Edible Adventures in Paris, which looks like a winner. Host Natalie's only complaint, as she cooked according to Clotilde’s directions, was that C.D. was wasting that wonderful rum and sugar poaching liquid for the pears.Why not suggest keeping it in the fridge until your next glass of champagne for a delicious Kir Royale Poire? I may make THIS just to get THAT. (Yes, I know it’s not poire liqueur, but it will be delectable nonetheless.)I had encountered Clotilde recently in the May Bon Appétit travel issue, where, to my delight, she wrote about the Canal St. Martin, which I had just discovered weeks earlier on my last (and H really means my LA...
More About: Cooks

Shanghai Spring Rolls
2008-04-28 04:26:00
I didn't realize how truly cool one of our Shanghai lunch (and cooking class) stops was until I got back and read how truly cool it was. I did learn from Michelle, our superb guide, that the Whampoa Club is in a most noteworthy building, which includes Jean-Georges’ Shanghai outpost. It’s at No.3 the Bund and was built for an insurance company in 1916 and is China’s first steel building. Its award winning renovation by Michael Graves (his first project in China) was finished in 2004.A particularly interesting thing about this building is that it is the only one in Shanghai that is owned outright by a foreigner, Chinese-American Handel Lee. All the rest are leased by the government. A BUILDING may owned by the homeowner, but the LAND that it sits on is leased from the government for up to 70 years. CUR-RAY-ZEE!!!So after our walk around the Bund, we went to the Whampoa Club for a cooking class followed by lunch. Wow, what a snazzy building. Very Art Deco. Even the bathroom w...
More About: Spring

Beautiful Buildings In Shanghai And Pictures That Should Have Been
2008-04-26 17:58:00
It’s not often (actually, it's never happened before) that I stay away from blogging for so long, but this Asian cough or whatever finally did me in. Just don’t get too close to the screen and you should be fine.My Shanghai adventures included a wonderful tour by an expatriate art expert, Michelle, who took us to see the Bund, Shanghai’s most famous street and district, and gave our little group an excellent historical, artistic and architectural appreciation for the area. In some ways, the history of this one street is really a microcosm of Chinese history during the late 19th and 20th centuries – from the Opium Wars through the Cultural Revolution to China today - and it is fascinating.We took a local ferry to get there, which I admit I was a bit apprehensive about. Gosh, are you lucky that I wasn’t blogging when we went to Hawaii and took a catamaran to Lanai. I hung off the edge during our 2 hour return trip. My kids pretended not to know me and H wasn’t much better...
More About: Pictures , Beautiful , Buildings

Shanghaied By Shopping
2008-04-22 14:36:00
I’m baaack...with an enormous suitcase (H was NOT amused) and a terrible, I believe pollution induced, hacking cough and fever (H was REALLY not amused, as he didn't want to catch it before his next trip in less than 24 hours).What can I say? China is the bomb, except for the pollution, which is ever present and unremitting! Blogging was not particularly easy. I'm convinced that Google sites were being blocked the first few days in Shanghai and in Beijing, my internet access was spotty. I missed you!THIS is what Shanghai looked like: cloudy, foggy, misty, polluted-y. I saw blue skies one day. This was the only picture I have of the lobby of our hotel in Shanghai, the Grand Hyatt, because they’re very touchy about photographs in certain places, except you never know where those places are until the always-present minders tell you no pictures.On to the good stuff...Have I shared with you how really touched in the head I am about shopping when I travel? I look at it as an extensi...
More About: Shopping

Recipegate - Just Plain Pilfering
2008-04-18 03:20:00
You must forgive me for not commenting on this huge new story earlier, but it hasn’t been front page news in China…yet.Recipegate, in some circles, is apparently THE big political story at the moment. So what if ABC held an issueless debate or the gap keeps closing in Pennsylvania, what I’m most concerned about are the reports that Cindy McCain tried to pawn off one of Giada’s recipes as her own.In a closer examination of the facts (okay, it was 30 second perusal of some garbage-y and other websites) I have discovered that the McCain campaign is blaming an intern. In my political experience (I did run for and lose by 11 votes the presidency of my high school), things this egregious - claiming credit for a pasta dish from Everyday Italian and a cabbage salad - never happen without at least a wink from above.I think I may know what’s happening here. I don’t think the senator’s wife wanted to be dragged into the division in this country between RR haters and RR boosters....
More About: Plain

A Banquet, Bamboo And A Whole Bunch Of Extraordinary Food
2008-04-16 18:35:00
H’s colleague M, a grand gent with knowledge of all things Eastern, hosted a banquet at his 1930’s house in the French Concession area of Shanghai. This was a part of the city controlled by the French from the 1850’s until 1940’s, when the French and other foreigners cleared out of Shanghai.We walked through a wide alleyway surrounded by older apartment buildings into a walled garden, gently lit by lanterns. We entered the house through a large room divided into dining and living room spaces. Two enormous statues kept guard near the doorways. A beautiful tree (shaped like a giant bonsai) held colorful lanterns of different sizes and shapes which illuminated the room.We moved to the long large roughly hewn wooden table, smartly covered with glass. Dish after dish appeared by the phalanx of folks in the kitchen. We were just catching our breathe and M informed us that those were just the appetizers and we were only halfway done! Gracious!I may have left out a dish or two. We h...
More About: Food , Bamboo , Extraordinary

Where Am I?
2008-04-15 01:40:00
Maybe the fruit bowl in our room will help you guess. I'll make it easy. Take a closer look. Do these help? Okay, I'll tell you.I'm in Shanghai for a few days with H. Yes, CHINA! He's on business, as usual, and I'm not (as usual). It's pretty quick visit with a couple days in Beijing tacked on at the end.This is my first trip to China and I'm fascinated. It does and doesn't look like I thought it would.I had heard the streets were teaming with people...not so much, but it WAS a Monday afternoon when we arrived. There were tons of trucks on the road, mostly big blue banged-up ones, with people occasionally riding in the back of the flat beds. There were no hordes of bicycles, in fact I saw more in Copenhagen a year and a half ago...The amazing thing about Shanghai is the buildings. There are tall, very tall, very, VERY tall buildings that dwarf the people on the streets below. In fact, the lobby of our hotel doesn't even start until the 54th floor. We're on the seventy-s...

Giada Springs Into Action
2008-04-13 02:09:00
Everyday Italian with Giada De LaurentiisSpring ForwardHerbed Chicken with Spring VegetablesStrawberry and Mascarpone GranitaBaked Artichokes with Gorgonzola and HerbsThis week Giada is doing a spring menu. She does looks springy, I must say, smelling flowers and walking around the beautiful outdoors. Giada starts with chicken breasts stuffed under the skin with an herb mixture using parsley and thyme. She chops the fresh herbs, noting that chicken can be a bit bland and this gives it a lot more flavor. She adds that parsley is crisper and brighter in taste and the thyme is warmer...Hmmm.She chops and adds 3 cloves of garlic, fennel seeds, red pepper flakes and a little salt and pepper. Giada stirs that together and heats olive oil in a sauté pan.Giada shows us chicken thighs and boneless chicken breasts WITH the skin on. Can you even buy boneless chicken breasts with the skin still on? She separates the skin from the chicken gently and tucks the herb mixture underneath the skin ca...
More About: Action

Top Chef Turns Into Top Gun With Knives Blazing
2008-04-11 19:27:00
Plus Another Gunn Could Really Help ThingsTop Chef - The Elements Of Style Push ups and knife sharpening are going on. Zoi is mad that she got "jacked” in the last challenge. Ryan notes that 2 guys and 2 girls have gone home.Quick fire challenge with Ming Tsai as guest judge. He’s testing their sense of taste. He says a chef’s palate is a powerful weapon in his/her arsenal. The chefs get pairs of items to taste - one is high end, one is not. 20 seconds to tell.Ryan first - Maple syrup that’s easy. He gets it right. Bacon correctStephanie - Crab wrong.Dale - Chocolate correctStephanie - aged cheese correct.Dale - Asian ingredients right…caviar wrong.Richard - correct.Spike - wrong.Kinda confusing the way they did it.The loser is Stephanie. She only got 6 out of 15.Tying for runner-up are Ryan and Jen with 11 correct out of 15.Top place goes to Antonia with 12 out of 15.The Elimination Challenge is cooking for a Meals on Wheels celebrity ball. They have to create, in teams, ...
More About: Top Chef , Knives

Nutmeg Girl
2007-12-03 06:30:00
Okay, I know that most people don't spend their time making a slide show of their nutmeg grinder, but I just love mine to pieces. A brought it to me at Thanksgiving, when unbeknownst to her, I was in deep need of one. Truth to tell, my microplaner does a fine job, but there are a few kitchen tasks for which I like dedicated tools and this is one. She does a great job and isn't she purdy?
More About: Girl

Did I Miss Ina's Barn Raising?
2007-12-03 05:05:00
Barefoot Contessa with Ina GartenFestive FunFrench Chocolate BarkMulled WinePumpkin MousseSeafood GratinTo get the recipes:Click hereIna begins by telling us she has two reasons to celebrate. The first is that her friends are coming to a party and the second is that the party will be in the new barn! Hallelujah! Finally! We get to see it!!!!!!! I can’t wait. It looks like she’s still cooking in her old kitchen. She’s doing Pumpkin Mousse. She pours one cup of half and half into a bowl set over hot water (don’t let the bowl touch the water) and adds a 29 ounce can of pumpkin purée. Ina adds salt (I wouldn't), a teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 1/2 teaspoons of nutmeg, already ground from a jar (GRRR!) and 2 cups of brown sugar. She stirs it over the heat for 4 to 5 minutes. She separates 6 eggs and tells us she doesn‘t like traditional pumpkin pie, because it’s so eggy, but this mousse is much lighter. She’s using just the yolks and she tries to convince us that the egg whites...
More About: Miss , Barn

Bobby Sells His Wares
2007-12-01 05:49:00
The always cute Bobby Flay will be selling a line of kitchenware at Kohl's next spring. It will be produced jointly by The Food Network and Kohl’s Department Stores. Is there any Food Network Star who isn't shilling merchandise? I don't actually mind, though. Emeril's pots are good, Mario Batali's pots are sensational and stunning, and I'm sure Bobby's will be fine.Apparently, he is the first of the Food Network's celebrity chefs to collaborate with the Food Network on these products. I'm not exactly sure what that means, except that I guess he'll have larger marketing opportunities, coupled with a smaller piece of the pie.I was rooting around for more information and I found a page on the Food Network website I didn’t even know existed. It's a list of products offered by every single host on the network from Al Roker to Wolfgang Puck. (Remember, they don't think we're terribly educated, so they alphabetize by first name.)Many of the hosts only have cookbooks on tha...
More About: Ares

It's A Nightmare, I'm Actually On Board With Gordon Ramsey
2007-11-30 05:59:00
I don't like mean and nasty people in real life. I don't really like watching them on television either. Surprisingly, Gordon Ramsey was neither last night on Kitchen Nightmare s and he was actually making a lot of sense.He was trying to turn around a restaurant in Fairlawn, New Jersey... Campania. I know this kind of restaurant. They're in strip shopping malls with lousy service, long waits and mediocre food. And many times they don't have liquor licenses to lubricate oneself against the difficult dining experience. We are introduced to Joe Cerniglia, the owner/chef. He seems to be much too nice a guy to run a restaurant. Added to that, he didn't go to to culinary school, he doesn't use recipes and he likes to have A LOT of fun in the kitchen with his wait and kitchen staff. Their favorite trick is to lock each other in their walk-in fridge. But there are big problems. We're told that Campania owes $80,000 and later we learn that they've lost probably $120,000 in the last 18...
More About: Board , Gordon Ramsey

Xmas List: I'll Take My Chocolate Anyway I Can Get It
2007-11-29 19:15:00
I want this or this. Oh wait, I have to figure out if they're made from Blood Diamonds, or if they're ok. On second thought, I'll settle for these. But then I need to know if they're made from Fair Trade chocolate. You know what? Anyone that's shopping for me, just give me peace on earth and a couple of new pot holders.
More About: Chocolate , List , Xmas

Paula Feeds Oprah
2007-11-28 16:47:00
The big news of yesterday's Oprah show was that Stedman has a daughter! Who knew? Oprah took her along on a trip to Macon, Georgia where she taped last week's Favorite Things Show. Oprah bought her a pair of earrings at a local store. And, by the way, Macon was chosen because 45 % of its TVs are tuned to Oprah's show. During Paula 's appearance, they showed a clip from her previous hilarious visit. (It looked as funny as when she was on Ellen). "Get out your helmet and your goggles and we'll make a cheese ball." After removing their shoes, they begin.Paula whips a bunch of ingredients together in the stunning KitchenAid, which was the point of the entire recipe. That mixer was one of Oprah's Favorite Things. Oprah is so thrilled at the addition of bacon to the cheese ball that they do a little dance. Hmmm, I wonder if that would have helped Giada's chocolate and brie paninis. Prob'ly not. They pass the cheese ball back and forth and then roll it in more bacon and nuts and par...