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Claudia Greco

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Everything posted by Claudia Greco

  1. True. Sometimes, when it all goes pear-shaped, it all goes pear-shaped. Might have been a better show if we knew about all the frustrations the crew experienced going in, like if we knew Tony had tried to get into X, Y, Z and was thwarted by the Romanian handlers/locals on the spot. We really only saw him get thwarted at Vlad's statue, and knew only after the fact that Tony got that one what-the-locals-eat stop because he sort of broke away from the herd and just shot it, before his fixers could thwart him further. Romanian fans might still not like seeing their country being portrayed that way, but they could not, at least, deny that it was true to Tony's experience -"Hey, this is what happened." I think the fact that he had Zamir, a Russian, as his only on-camera fixer (there were Romanian ones) and that some of the research wasn't as good as it should have been is really what is hitting a nerve. (Maybe we SHOULD have seen some of local fixers trying to shluff the crew off to the restaurants, etc. THEY thought NR should be seeing, and the resulting conflict between crew and fixers. But, while that would certainly give everyone a greater understanding of the problems the crew faced, I'm not sure it would have made for any better TV, or made irate fans feel any better.)
  2. Yep. Zimmern's shtick is seeking out and eating the most bizarre foods he can find - I think it's more a gross-out factor thing. There is no context provided for what he goes to eat. He's like a dumpy, pudgy, middle-aged wannabe Ozzy Osbourne biting the heads off bats. (OK, that's unfair to Oz!)
  3. I didn't feel that the the Romanians (except for the guards outside Vlad's statue), their food or their culture came off bad at all. I think their countryside is stunningly beautiful and pristine. I look at the ep as a misdaventure in the public life of Tony Bourdain, gastronaut extraordinaire. It was more, to me, like: "See what happens when shooting an episode for a travel/food show goes horribly wrong . . . the lies and manipulation by government agencies . . . the BS from the travel agencies . . . being obstructed or bullied or ill-served by your local fixers . . . being mugged by low-level government workers . . . and having your right-hand man felled by a back in jury and lotsa chemicals . . . see Tony squirm as he's held hostage in theme-party hell in the WRONG freaking "castle" because research didn't get the facts right, and ZeroPointZero was shluffed off to the wrong site . . . " Granted, Sicily went totally pear-shaped, too (although it didn't look that way at all), and Beirut certainly did, too - but I think, this time, there was just a horrible confluence of stonewalling, mishandling, manipulation and lying on the part of those that needed to give permission or make arrangements for ZeroPintZero, and a lot of bad shit happening, boots on the ground, on location. Maybe that isn't (or won't be) the reality for me, or you, if we decided to visit Romania and see certain things, but is WAS the reality for Tony, at THAT time.
  4. Wasn't she? I think ALL of those people were beautiful - physically and spiritually.
  5. So, Hawai'i was pretty snark-free. I thought Tony was going to break out into "Kumbaya" at the luau, though. Thank God Todd got set on fire or I'd really worry . . . (!) Too many tiki drinks, lau lau and chicken long rice, I guess. I'm surprised he didn't find the kava/awa bars, however . . . (!) I love Hawai'i - off-the-grid, not tourist Hawai'i. I, too, wish they're had been a little less tiki bar/Hawai'ian shirt and more about the food and the kama 'aina themselves. Hawai'ians have an intense and personal relationship with the land, and I wish we could have seen a little less of Waikiki and Honolulu and more of, say, Ni'ihau? The permaculture of Pahoa? The ahupu'ua of Keanae? It's true that the majority of Hawai'ians - both haole and kanaka maoli - don't live as traditionally as the guys on Ni'ihau, but there is still a lot of that around, and there is still the practice of traditional Hawai'ian beliefs, too. He kind of touched on the nexus of food/luau (at home, not the tourist ones) and 'ohana, but I didn't HEAR the word. Having said all that, I have to bear in mind that NR is not about anthropology or ethnography, dear as both subjects are to me. Still, it was definitely a love letter to Hawai'i, and, to me, the people came across as beautiful as their land. I can hardly wait to go back in August.
  6. The look on that kid's face...it would be priceless if his name was Igor, too... ← Loved the kid!So, Hawai'i was pretty snark-free. I thought Tony was going to break out into "Kumbaya" at the luau, though. Thank God Todd got set on fire or I'd really worry . . . (!) Too many tiki drinks, lau lau and chicken long rice, I guess. I'm surprised he didn't find the kava/awa bars, however . . . (!)
  7. Oh, I see you're enjoying the Ultimate Recipe Showdown almost as much as I am (!!) [snark, snark] [Moderator note: This topic continues here, Iron Chef America (Part 3)]
  8. A friend of mine tipped me off to that. Tre was the chef de cuisine at one of Kent Rathbun's restaurants in Dallas. ← Yeah Abacus. I checked out their website right after Tre made his untimely departure. I was really rooting for him. ← Maybe slightly unfortuneate for those of in Dallas who were fans of his work at Abacus, but I feel it's going to work out well for Tre. I dined at Abacus twice last year, both times at the chef's table. Tre was running the kitchen both times. On the most recent visit, back in mid-November, he stopped by and said hello. Nice guy. I wish him well, and am looking forward to his next restaurant gig in Dallas. ← ALRIGHT, Tre! I was rooting for him, too.
  9. My tape got cut right at point where Tony knicks himself shaving and blood starts flowing down the sink. I assume Dracula shows up, but now I have to wait for a rerun to retape - unless someone would like to run a **** SPOILER**** and tell me?Now my Austro-Romanian American husband wants me to make him all the dishes his grandmother used to make, so you know I'll be canning and jarring things and putting up mamaliga (polenta, basically) all freakin' weekend. Thanks a lot, NR (!)
  10. If the show stinks, it's not the fault of the people and country who hosted him, imo. Every country has a food culture that's worth representing, as far as I can tell. It just needs to be ferreted out. What about pre-production? Isn't part of their job hunting down food culture and allowing it to be showcased? Seems they might have fallen down on the job. ← Actually, he blamed himself, mostly (and rightly so), for the bad choices made pre-production. And the TC blog is piling it on - Americans who just didn't think it was a good show, and Romanians and Romanian-Americans who are yowling (and not unreasonably) about how their people and country were portrayed. More than any NR episode, this one is precipitating a major beat-down. (For Tony.) I suppose, if one was to take the philosophical/karmic view, there is some sort of payback for NR (and Tony) for not doing their homework by having Tony subjected to immense discomfiture and everything going pear-shaped. If I were Rumanian, I'd take some comfort in that.Ruminatively (but not Rumanian/Romanian/Roumanian),
  11. InDEED! Tony remarked at one of his book signings in December that, as they were crawling through the cave, it was getting warmer and warmer. "Feel that?," says the guide. "Yeah! What is it?" "The body heat of 20,000 bats!" But I like your line better - much more porn-y!
  12. Hahahaha! Those looks weren't at the guides who were just doing their jobs - they were really all for his producer, Diane, who set up this segment and noodged him into doing it! He looked wiped out at the end. If he had enough strength at that point to be snarky and vindictive, Diane would've caught it - but I guess being ass deep in bat guano was punishment enough (!)
  13. My hubby, whose "second home" is Jamaica, liked the ep - Tony skipped the tourist traps like Mo Bay and, interestingly, focused on the teeming Jamaican music scene and the dynamics of how it works (and why not? Music is such a major aspect of the culture), and the "Danzig Corridor" of the Coronation Market. Not a fruity drink in the whole ep. I also think he showed remarkable forebearance throughout the bat cave ordeal - not only did it physically wipe him out, but there was no video "pay off" at the end. (Diane was lucky he didn't roll her in bat guano for that (!)) (You know those guys had to be hosed off before they could return to civilization!) Cool episode.
  14. this statement is such a hanging curveball that would be so easy to tear apart but this statement is political enough with me adding my two cents. ← Hanging curveballs are hard to hit, but the fact is a lot of the housing projects destroyed in Katrina are NOT being rebuilt - nor is any affordable equivalent being put forward - so, yes - poor and working class black residents of those buildings will be marginalized, and effectively denied the ability to return to their home city. The Lower Ninth is, whether deliberately or just though the usual local/state/government stupidity and lack of forethought, being deracinated. Check back for the Starbucks and the Trump condos in about 2 years.
  15. Ordinarily, I'd be a bit put off, but given that it's a butcher's hangout (by dint of them packing it every morning) and that it's probably near dawn when they're in there, I don't think the average East Ender has a chance to be put off. I'd happily sit down for a fry-up with them, bloody aprons and all.
  16. I enjoyed it, too. The deep-fat frying segment in Edinborough made me flash back to when I was last there. It was pouring rain, my husband locked our keys in the car, and while he waited for Britain's version of AAA to arrive, I was dispatched to get some lunch. So, I found what looked like a cross between a "chippie" and a deli, for want of a better word, and ordered a shepherd's pie and a hamburger - can't go wrong with that, I thought. But, given that I could not see the prep through the big stainless steel counter/display, I was pretty shocked to discover, when I trudged home in the rain, that I got a shepherd's pie and a huge, salad-plate size big fried tan ball - a deep-fried burger! Hideous! When you bit the crust, a layer of oil spewed out like the Exxon Valdez!Having said that, the rest of the food in Scotland was uniformly excellent, with chefs, as TB pointed out, making really good use of the provenance of both sea and land. As to why British food has had a bad rep for so long? Well, not only the succumbing to fast foods and indifferent prep, but also a general lack of imagination and "stodginess." I grew up in British Hong Kong, and vegetables were boiled to mush, food largely unseasoned, and the use of fresh herbs - well, fresh anything - was uncharted territory. Which was a shame, because Briitain has spectacular meat, fish, shellfish, veg, etc. But, at least in the last 20 years, British palates have become more sophistocated and their cooks (home and professional) a lot more knowledgeable, and people like Marco Pierre White have, indeed, helped change the way Brits eat. Sure, there will always be British classics like fish n' chips (which, when well done, is fabulous), and roast beef and Yorkshire pud, bangers and mash, etc., etc. (all of which I love and could heartily tuck into), but I think more thought has gone into prepping food generally - less grease, less fat (suet), more seasoning, no overcooking, etc., etc. I applaud it. And I'm glad Tony showed the world what British cooking could be, is becoming, and IS - right now. Cool. No vegemite here, though (!!)
  17. What a great show. Tony clearly showed how food anchors a culture, and how the restaurant workers themselves ARE that anchor. And how, by not rebuilding poor and working class black neighborhoods, by making it as hard as possible for people to return, the government is effectively and collusively "whitewashing" NOLA, and eradicating from it the very people at the heart of such a rich and vibrant culture. And he did it seamlessly - few words, no rhetoric - just a lot of images, and basically let the story tell itself. I applaud Tony for seeeking out Emeril and Emeril for sitting down with him. Emeril has done tremendous work in not only keeping his own 400 people housed, employed and fed, but also contributed greatly to the rebuilding and resurgence of NOLA as a whole, as have numerous chefs - although, yeah, it did look like Emeril still would liked to drop-kicked Tony, just a bit! Bravo, Tony. Tu fatto bene.
  18. He quit several months ago - at least six. He used Chantix. He said it wasn't that hard, but added he has gained 8-10 lbs. (Which, BTW, look just fine on him in real life, but since the camera adds another 10, people think he's had a significant weight gain. Not really.)
  19. Could it be Skordalia? I may be wrong. ← nope, not Skordalia (made with garlic, potatoes and olive oil). This was a unique Crete (Cretan?) food item made with goats milk fat (cream I guess) and flour. ← Sounded like "tzak"-something. Not tzatziki. I'm going to have to rewind the tape to check.
  20. I thought it was supposed to be just Crete. ← Well, it said "Greek Islands", so, yes, I think we could've expected more than one island. We got . . . three, right? Fair enough. I did feel like Tony was phoning it in a bit, though. I live in NY and have eaten my way through my share of Greek delis, too, but Greek cuisine is SO much more than that, so I don't know why he came into the shoot with such strong prejudices. And, yes, they dance a lot in Greece. So why be so snarky about it? No one dragged him to his feet (remarkably) this time, so I couldn't fathom his persistent grumpiness. How could you be grumpy in Greece? New Orleans, I hope, should be a great show - I expect it to be intense, fun, interesting and very moving.
  21. My philosophy is that Tony is going to have a lot of great episodes, and one occasional so-so one. I think the Vancouver ep was it. I don't mind his forays into goofiness or cinema verite, but the Uwe-video game segements, back-to-back, were too long, and I found them bordering on self-indulgent. They really did not communicate much to me about Vancouver, either food- or culture-wise. Tony gets to do a lot of cool things that regular "gastronauts" can't, it's true (or can't, without a little finagling), but there is no way most of us will ever have a video game created for us (even a mini one) or appear in a movie. I found that chunk of the ep somewhat distancing - it not only added nothing to my knowledge of Vancouver, but it felt to me more like a case of us, the viewers v. Tony - NOT the adventurous gastronome and traveller, but Tony the celeb, who is now getting to induldge his every adolescent fantasy. Actor? Spy? Cartoon hero? Man of Mystery? It really hurts me to even think that, since I'd not only be the first in line to drink the Tony Kool-Aid - I'd probably be the one mixing it. Siiigghhhhh. I'm just telling myself - OK, so this was one ep I'm never going to be in love with.Oh, the faux prima donna stuff with the umbrella, lip-wiping and Meeting the Star's Every Need didn't bother me at all - that was funny. What else are you going to do when rain wipes out half of your shoot? But I still think Vancouver could have been treated a lot better, rain or no rain.
  22. ANY of the chili-crab configurations! And the duck! And - oh, jeez, EVERYTHING. I'd just gavage my way through the whole city-state.
  23. It's Tuesday nights at 10:30 p -http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_tb and the upcoming shows are on your right. You can pull down the entire list. Tonight? Let's Get Lost - in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
  24. Then again, on the plus side, hopefully I'll get to read Tony's thoughts on this pretty soon once he gets wind of it . . . ← Gets wind of it? He has a Category 5 'cane going on this very topic, and he's moving on it. Oh, yes.
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