Jane Die

I did! I love watching Bayless and wish he was on more besides his PBS show. I also agree Wiley was underutilized but also glad they're getting a really nice mix of great chefs to guest judge. Except for Rocco, that is, with whom I remain unimpressed. I also agree, what's up with Bourdain? And his Top Chef blog? I'm rooting for the New Zealander, but it's early yet.

I have to agree with divalasvegas. Regarding the sexual overtones of the previews (I can't speak for the show because I've not seen it), that's not really what I would turn to the Food Network for. Well, actually, I was going to say I turned to the Food Network for cuisine-centric programming, if not actual food prep/instruction, but come to think of it... that's getting pretty rare so I can't even say that. I watch Jamie Oliver and Alton Brown, and that's about it. I'm sure the Neely's are very nice. Regarding the ebonics, etc... I think the producers/Network are probably responsible. Wouldn't be the first time unsuspecting good folks with visions of fame and fortune made a bad deal with the proverbial devil. I think I'm seeing a trend here. edited to say I also agree with Doodad. Seriously. It's the Network. It's the Network. It's the Network.

I haven't seen this show but I have seen the previews. Personally, I'm offended enough by the previews, I doubt I could get through five minutes of the show. And I'm from the south.

This is good news. I enjoyed Sara's shows very much and had success with her recipes. Look forward to a quality series.

Thank you for that correction, Mr. Fairhead. ~~Dame Jane (formerly known as Damn Jane)

Just thinking out loud here. I bet that if I had my own cooking show on The Food Network and claimed to be knighted (or the female equivalent) by the Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II, Her Majesty's Secret Service would be coming down on my lying self like a swarm of angry hornets and, undoubtedly, there would be hell to pay. So I'm just wondering.

Sometime around the Christmas/Yule season of 2007, I ran across him on the Home Shopping Network selling a bunch of cheap junk called "ROYAL TITANIUM" cookware and nonsensical kitchen accessories. I just did a search for both Robert Irvine and Royal Titanium cookware at HSN, and absolutely nothing comes up now. Not sure why, however. Could be HSN found out? The word jackass comes to mind. Can I say that word here? Jackass?

There's no business like show business.

I'm glad someone said it. Mario's health is at risk and oh boy, I would hate to see another good man go down.

Yikes! Thanks for the heads up, Pierogi. That would be 7:30 a.m. for me, which is just not going to happen but for the MIRACLE that is TIVO. Fortunately, my DVR recorded it so I did get to see the Pumpkin & Squash episode tonight. Were that *my* kitchen, I'd not have made such a splashy mess with the chicken stock at the stove as wot Jamie did making that soup. But it all looked really good anyway.

I watched the youtube link and thought it was pretty amusing, given that Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay are oceans apart in personality. I'm liking Oliver more and more every time I see his scruffy grown-up self. I'm not that familiar with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, I think I've seen him only once or twice on TV and have been to his website a few times, but I really appreciate his point of view very much. I'd love to see Big Food Fight. Soon! I want animals to have happy little lives before I eat them. Is that too much to ask? Why can't we get these great British programs right away? Doesn't the US export Hollywood crap to other nations immediately? Anyway, back to Jamie at Home, I'm looking forward to tonight's show. Edited to change RamsEy to RamsAy.

I also enjoyed his new show, more than I expected to. He has matured and chilled out a bit, but still Jamie. Loved the stuffed peppers with the prosciutto and the pork dish with paprika and peppers. Makes me long for summer. He looks like he was cooking in a shed or barn or some primitive kitchen, which was very cool. I imagine his garden just outside the kitchen door.

I called the local butcher. He told me that the last time he had veal in stock, he had to throw a bunch of it out because nobody was buying it. (I bet he took it home!) I asked if he could order "10 pounds of meaty veal bones and joints (knuckles, breast, shank)", and he chuckled. Chuckled! He said that he could get some veal bones for me at between $4 and $5 per pound, then he did an about face and said he really didn't want to do that. Did I mention I live in a culinary wasteland? Looks like I won't be making any of Ruhlman's world-famous Basic Brown Veal Stock in the near future.

I am a germaphobe. I do not like touching things in public places. I don't like touching shopping carts, door knobs, toilet flushing handles, ATM buttons, cash and coins, etc. I don't like snotty-nosed little children in department stores soiling everything with their nasty little chubby fingers. Don't like it at all. Filthy little maggots, that lot. Especially when they're on airplanes. They make traveling almost unbearable. But none of that stops me from traveling, shopping or eating in restaurants or eating street food, for that matter. I just wash my hands frequently and I rarely get sick. *knock on wood* Two Guys Catering...? I would not hire them just because of the forty years of funk beneath their fingernails and the hair that is likely embedded in their food.

I'm also looking forward to this after seeing the previews. Planting, growing, harvesting, cooking, eating: a much needed return to basics.

I fell asleep on the sofa last night (I'm pretty sure it was Christmas Eve) and when I woke up, on the tv Sandra Lee was on some beach with an extremely low cut top showing a whole lot of cleavage and making what I think might have been pinkish tinted margaritas. It was surreal, and I don't mean that in a good way. Kinda garish and nightmarish in a cheap and sleazy pornographic kinda way. She's now number one on my Shite list. In fact, I think I'm swearing off of Food Network real permanent like. I hate you, Food TV.

Wow! Amazing puddings, everyone! I've been so busy since the Sunday following Thanksgiving I couldn't manage to get a proper pudding stirred on Stir Sunday (or what that day was called I don't exactly recall) so I'm going to have to make do with a sticky toffee pud for desert on the big day. I didn't have time to get my Bûche de Noël made either. So Sticky Toffee it is. I did go by Ace Hardware yesterday and picked up a steamed pudding tin *the only one on the shelf*, which I am hoping will do for my Sticky Toffee pud. I plan on baking it rather than steaming it, of course, and hope it will release cleanly from the tin. This is why I'm going to bake it today and reheat it tomorrow, just in case it all goes pear shaped and I have to switch to Plan B, which will be a good old fashioned southern Pecan Pie. But that, as they say, will be a whole 'nother thread. Next year, I'll do that proper Plum Pudding, I will, whilst listing to Pink Floyd's The Wall. Ah, Yuletide Carols!

A complete embarrassment compared to what? /whistles ← Compared to those shows that are not a complete embarrassment.

I Rick Stein.

That. Was. An. Abomination. And I would be frantically pulling every picture of myself off the walls, and every reference to me out of the files and shredding them as fast as I could, so that no one ever again could associate me with *that*. FN CANNOT sink any lower. It didn't even have one-glass-too-many-of-wine-let's-watch-a-trainwreck-for laughs value. ← I'm actually sorry I missed this. After reading everyone's comments about just how badly this show sucked, I wanted to see it for myself. I wonder, did the Food Network pull it from the Holiday lineup because it was a complete embarrassment?

And I agree with C Greco, the IC Japan was the best.

Yeah, I imagine none of this is news, and I never really thought there was a tooth fairy, or Santa Claus. But honestly, I've only devoted a very small portion of my time to uncovering the awful truth about anything on the television. I assume most of it is bogus, and provided for entertainment purposes only. ONLY. And I'm not bashing the chefs or the judges or the announcers or camera crew or the rest of the crew. But I do think it not inappropriate to call it culinary wrestling, or boxing as I previously stated (which would lend more credence to the actual validity of the battles, yeah? though god knows there's never been a legitimate sporting event rigged. Not one. Not ever.) I'm sorry I used the word "rigged". I don't care. That's just sum of it. I do not care. I've got my own stinking fish to fry.

Claudia Greco, planning and cooking on the fly is what I thought the Iron Chefs were doing, too. But after a little web research, I discovered this isn't the case. This is what Amatuer Gourmet said about ICA and the advance notice of the potential secret ingredient: Amatuer Gourmet And MSNBC story at slashfooddotcom. mcohen, I feel your angst. Edited because I can't spell, my punctuation is bad, my grammer is even worse, and it takes more than one pass for my thoughts to gel.

Damn. I just picked up my authentic heritage locally-grown all natural organic turkey not even a half hour ago.

Crikey! That's bloody brilliant, Jackal. Thanks for sharing, everyone in this little thread.