Thursday, August 16, 2007

Twins' story delayed...

....due to problems with my high speed Internet connection. Again, for the umpteenth time! Consequently, I can't download those adorable photos of my grandfather and his twin when they were children until I get it fixed. Tomorrow a technician is scheduled to come to the house and fix it. I hope he is successful, because I am beyond sick of this.

In the meantime, allow me to indulge myself and let off a little steam that has built up inside of me due to my computer problems. Allow me to indulge myself by picking on a few TV cooks...specifically Sandra Lee of
Semi-homemade Cooking and Robin Miller of Quick Fix Meals.

These women are NOT believable. They are impostors who only claim to be in love with food. Now understand that I watch these ladies practically every day, and I have printed off I am sure more than 95% of their recipes some more than once, in fact, although by accident. But, come on, these women deal with food all day long in their profession. Yet I have seen rails that had more flesh on them than these two. They look like they haven't eaten since 1997. It makes you want to jerk them right out of that TV set and force feed them biscuits and gravy, ham and eggs, and cornbread soaked in honey.

No, these two women are not authentic cooks. Even Martha Stewart with her steel will could not resist eating what she prepared and putting on the pounds which she tried to conceal under those big shirts. Remember the big shirts?

Give me the real thing, the full-bodied, well-endowed real McCoys in TV cooks like Paula Deen of
Paula's Home Cooking and the Barefoot Contessa Ina Garten. Paula Deen, for instance, isn't satisfied unless she's put a stick of butter in whatever she is cooking. She's my kind of woman. All about comfort. I know butter has a bad reputation and is sinful, but can you think of any food other than chocolate that can make you feel that happy? So maybe you can. Well.

These women are authentic cooks. There are others like them too, who proudly wear their profession around their waists and on their thighs...God bless them. When they say on TV that they can't wait to dig in and taste what they have just cooked, you know they mean it. Not so with the spindly Sandra Lee and the twiggy Robin Miller.

If these two want to be skinny, I suppose it is their business. But I wish they would not pretend to salivate on TV when they lift that fork to their mouth to sample their recipes. This is insulting to their TV audience. Don't you know that as soon as the commercial comes they spit it out.

Okay, I think I may have gotten it out of my system...all that built-up steam. Now tomorrow I will turn on the TV and watch Sandra Lee and Robin Miller and dream of being that skinny.


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August 19 update: It occurred to me after some comments were posted that I did not make my actual intentions for writing this piece entirely clear. I meant it as a humorous piece with a a slight element of truth to it.
Then Nancy left her comment in which she pointed out how these super thin women on these TV cooking shows serve as poor examples to our young girls who may struggle with the notion that only ultra-thin is an acceptable body size. I realized that Nancy is right and my piece more true and serious than humorous. As it is with myself, I have several granddaughters. Three of them (ages 16, 10, and 7) are already too focused on their weight and body size when they have no reason to be at all.

9 comments:

  1. Sandra Lee turns my stomach. She seems so fake. I like Robin Miller's ideas on her quick fix meals, but I agree, she is thin as can be. Barefoot Contessa is my all time favorite. Love her recipes (and her style)
    :)

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  2. I like the meaty TV cooks like Paula, too.

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  3. Oh what a wonderful post!I am always thinking the same thing myself. Especially where Gina De Laurentis is concerned. She is gorgeous and the recipes look good but she is just a little too thin and too perfect and the nails just too well coiffed to be believed. I find myself thinking more about that than what she is making!
    I feel the same way about Sandra Lee too.
    Oh well....

    You started my day with a smile. Thank you for that!

    Hugs,
    Sue

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  4. My my, those two got your tail feathers up. A little truth is a
    good thing to hear once in a while.

    Since we only get six channels, I
    have never seen either of these two
    or Paula Deen, except on Oprah, so I will take your word for their authenticity.

    I too got a smile out of that one.
    A good editorial adds a little spice to the recipe.

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  5. When I was in the Navy and had to eat military food, someone told me to never trust a skinny cook. Darn, if that hasn't held true to this very day.

    Look at Emerill, he's put on a couple of pounds over last few years and it wasn't because he was eating trans fats at Mickey D's. Some people are always going to be well lets call it "beefy". One of my favorite TV Chefs that I have watched for many years makes some of the most decadent and fatning foods I have ever seen Nigella Lawson but she still maintains a rather attractive but full figure.

    I'm not nearly the cook that Nigella is and I'm not as full figured as she is either I hope I can still be trusted :-)

    PS I was once was very overweight and I worked very hard to lose and to now maintain my slim figure. It was very difficult!

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  6. AMEN, Susie Q, everything you said is so true! I think they set such a bad example for young impressionable viewers that "thin is in"! Good luck with the computer problems.

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  7. To everyone who has left a comment so far: I am serious when I say that both Sandra Lee and Robin Miller strike me as too thin. But in all honesty I enjoy their shows otherwise I guess I would not be printing off so many of their recipes for my exploding recipe collection.

    Nancy brings up an excellent point though about the kind of example these ultra thin women are to our impressionable young girls.

    There is a difference between having a nice slim figure and having one that is bony and courts a size two.

    And JG, I'd trust your cooking any time.

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  8. Hope you get your internet up to speed. Looking forward to that post and those pictures. I'm not a cook but I could play one to your liking on TV. =)

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  9. I really agree with you here. Though, I've noticed lots of pastry and dessert chefs are very thin. And doing fudge...I sort of can understand that. Though I myself am way way far from thin...after slaving over a big or multiple orders of sweet stuff...the last thing you want to do is eat sugar.

    Um...but that doesn't count for sneaking down in the middle of the night to sneak samples many hours later after the sugar shock has worn off.

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