Ina Garten

[Pan]

She (Nigella) has had a very bittersweet life that was made very public. A real woman's woman IMHO.

What's a "woman's woman"?

[Mabelline]

The kind we can like. J Lo isn't exactly a woman's woman. A woman with depth, and character, and a sense of who she is. Some others: Sophia Loren, Oprah--yep--Julia, Catherine Crier, Laura Bush, Molly Ivins.Whether you like them or not, they are women's women. My grams, and mom.

[bleachboy]

And who could whip cream or whisk egg whites in her Zeisel knockoff mixing bowls?

Wait a second. Wait a second. Someone here knows who Eva Zeisel is? Damn, eGullet has it all.

[cherrypi]

I have no idea who this person is, but now I've got Ina Garten Da Vida stuck in my head and it won't go away!

The horror!  The horror! 

That reminds me of a previous thread:

"Ina Garten da vida, baby" thread

[Comfort Me]

Here's are a couple of questions that need to be asked.

Why is it that people like Sandra Lee have television shows, magazines, and product lines, but the people with real talent and knowledge -- Paula Wolfert comes to mind -- don't? Paula Wolfert could cook circles around Sandra Lee. (As a fan of her cookbooks, I feel qualified to say she has never, ever started a recipe by saying "Open a can of frosting.")

And why do people like Ina Garten feel compelled to Ooh and Aah with disingenuous ferver? I suspect there is some corporate-culture producer sitting down and telling her that she's not testing "homey" enough and telling her they are inserting editorial comments into her script.

Maybe people from this forum should start visiting the FoodTV forums and demanding better from the Food Network. I think the show producers really pay attention to the content -- I think the forum participants were instrumental in getting co-host Lynn Koplitz replaced. Maybe we need to start demanding better quality in shows.

And, to paraphrase Margaret Meade, don't think that an intelligent, committed group of foodies can't change food television. It's the only thing that has. Unless you count the sponsors.

[Lisa1349]

I watched her make beef bourgignon (sp?) the other day that I wouldn't feed to my dog. She needs a few eGCI classes. When she cooked the beef in bacon fat (nice touch) she didn't let it get brown. She crowded the pan and the beef was nasty gray. She added the wine AFTER the stock. A culinary no-no as it's besst to cook off the alcohol of the wine first before adding more liquid. Last, she thickened it with buerre manie at the end which could have been avoided and been more flavorful had she made a roux with her tasty bacon fat.

At the end when they show her eating the meal with friends, have you noticed how she becomes Hitler at the table? Dictating how everything is to be eaten and the whole comcept behind it all, as if her guests, or viewers, are total idiots.

Rachel Ray knows how to caramelize. I take her over Ina any day.

Big surprise Food Network had Giada De Laurentiis host the Valentine Chocolate special. The had her licking her fingers and being playmate-ish the whole time. She's toothpick thin, she's got the Ally McBeal syndrome.

[Mayhaw Man]

I like Nigella Lawson. I like her shows and I like the way she writes about food. She is ok with me and I hope that she stays around the TV cooking world. THe fact that she is not hard to look at has nothing to do with this opinion at all.

Ina Garten, on the other hand, is an o.k. home cook but no better than the dozens of other Southern socialite ladies that populate the TV in the South cooking on "The Morning Show" or the "News at Noon" in a little five minute cooking slot or in a slot that allows Bob and Jan to cut back to the kitchen for a little shot before the commercial breaks. Ina apparently just has a better agent than the majority of these women. Oddly, the "oohing and ahhng" doesn't bother me much, as it is kind of something that these women just do. Much like women who have been sorority sisters continue to make a high pitched squeal when they run into each other at lunch-it is just something that comes naturally to them and it becomes almost unnoticable after the millionth occurance.

[ghostrider]

I have no idea who this person is, but now I've got Ina Garten Da Vida stuck in my head and it won't go away!

The horror!  The horror! 

That reminds me of a previous thread:

"Ina Garten da vida, baby" thread

Had a feeling I wasn't the first to whom this might have occurred.

Big surprise Food Network had Giada De Laurentiis host the Valentine Chocolate special.

Of course today it's become In-A Giada da Vida.

I really gadda learn to stay out of this thread.

Edited February 15, 2004 by ghostrider (log)

[Pickles]

Of course today it's become In-A Giada da Vida.

I really gadda learn to stay out of this thread.

What if Rhea Pearlman's husband joined Giada for a cooking show? Yup....In-A-Giada-Devito. *runs and hides*

[Sandra Levine]

And who could whip cream or whisk egg whites in her Zeisel knockoff mixing bowls?

Wait a second. Wait a second. Someone here knows who Eva Zeisel is? Damn, eGullet has it all.

...from the beginning

[Comfort Me]

.... Last, she thickened it with buerre manie at the end which could have been avoided and been more flavorful had she made a roux with her tasty bacon fat.

Lisa:

Julia Child, Madeleine Kamman and Anne Willen do the same thing.

[ghostrider]

Of course today it's become In-A Giada da Vida.

I really gadda learn to stay out of this thread.

What if Rhea Pearlman's husband joined Giada for a cooking show? Yup....In-A-Giada-Devito. *runs and hides*

Good one!

I know this is all, err, tangential to the topic at hand, but I've rarely met a pun I didn't like.

[tirgoddess]

Food Network-as disucssed all over this site- is no longer inspirational to me. I think it is a combination of tiresome, unchallenging, and dumbed down programming. I enjoy many of the PBS cooking shows, but the air times are inconvenient. The Food Network website forum is quite weak.

Regarding Ina Garten, I too, enjoy viewing her home, she has a lovely kitchen and garden. Her food looks delicious. I think I would like a lot of her friends. The thing that gets me about her is that the food is expected to take precedence over the occasion.

[howard88]

The thing about Ina is her continuous smile which may actually have something to do with the very low buzzing sound you hear ( you have to get real close to the t.v.). Her recipes are o.k. and her smile is nice enough. I just have a hard time getting the episode out of my mind where she is taking a bubble bath and there is a close up of her feet hanging out of the tub. And I don't think she was using "Ass in the tub" hot sauce in that episode.

[Cusina]

I have never actually seen Ina on TV, but I like her books. Her recipes are well written, reliable and tasty. And the pictures are just gorgeous.

Her outrageous brownies alone are worthy of some sort of shrine. How can you go wrong with 2 pounds of chocolate and 1 pound of butter in a pan of brownies?