Ravac

I told my wife that it was nice of the Blue Fairy to grant Howdy Doody humanhood too.

I agree completely. The thing about Kenny is he could be a really cool, understated yet commanding chef. An actual Alpha Male. But sitting in front of the camera and actually stating you are the Alpha Male means you aren't. It's like being cool. Either you are or you aren't. And the more you strive for it, the more you look the fool. Especially when you seem blindsided by any criticism of the food you put out. I'm rooting for Angelo simply because I knew him when he was first starting his culinary career at a local community college before he went to the CIA. It's interesting to me to see how the editing is making him look like a conniving player. Perhaps he is nowadays, but when we took culinary classes together around 15 years ago, he was a sweet, shy kid. In fact, We used to tease him a bit about being so nice and passive and letting a few of the other students walk all over him. But even then, he was really focused on being a damn good cook and going on the the CIA and owning his own place one day.

My wife, bless her, smuggled home for me about 3 pounds of assorted cured meat and a few cheeses from Italy last year on a trip she chaperoned for her school. All the little shopkeepers in Italy assured her that bringing cured meat back to the US was no problem as long as it was vacuum-packed. So she merrily bought little samples of local charcuterie in most of the towns the tour bus stopped at for the night. Only on the flight home, when she read the customs form, did she realize that "no meat products" meant exactly that and that the shopkeepers had been telling her how she could get it back home. Her solution? Surround herself with 12 cranky, sweaty teen-aged girls as she walked by the drug-sniffing dog through customs on a late Saturday afternoon.

Like the original poster, I too do not own, nor have ever read, Julia's seminal work Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I do have The Way to Cook, which "I got" when I got married, as it belonged to my wife. But my biggest source for recipes to try has become the internet. I have terrible knife skills. There is only one setting: rough chop. The finer I need something, the longer I chop. I have never roasted a chicken. I've roasted turkeys, and even a few ducks, but never a chicken. And I really enjoy a simple, roasted chicken. I hardly ever make stock. Base in a jar is far too convenient. Tuna-noodle casserole is concocted on a regular basis. So is 'macaroni salad' with nothing but elbows, mayo, and onion flakes. Pasta sauce from a jar is frequently employed. (Though I blame my wife for this - she's addicted to Classico's Vodka Sauce for some reason despite my insistence it's nothing more that re-purposed condensed tomato soup.) After 40+ years, I've just discovered I like greens. (Collards, chard, kale, etc.) Avocados also fall into this category. Who knew something both waxy and slimy could be so good? I hate parsley.