Ina's Visit With Today

How did I miss this? A visit with Ina by Erica Hill on the Today Show a few days ago...

Erica says, “You walk in and it smells warm and inviting like home.” I bet it does and I bet even Jeffrey carries the scent of gumdrops with him wherever he goes. 

Ina adds, “And there’s always a cocktail.” Of course, there is. No matter that it’s 10 in the morning. Oh, I think this is a piece about holiday entertaining, not her life in general, although I bet the two do intersect quite a bit.

Ina has MANY of her books laid out on the counter in one of the shots.

Ina likes a lit fire and music playing, so that the first person who arrives really feels as if he or she is at a party and that they didn’t come on the wrong night! OMG, can you imagine? Every time I have company, even if it’s only the plumber, I have to hide my snuggie.

Ina continues, “There’s a reason a dinner party is called ‘entertaining’. It’s supposed to be like theater”...yeah, as long as the dinner doesn’t come out resembling Kabuki. We see a scene of a dinner gathering from the Barefoot Contessa show and Erica informs us that, “YES, those are her real friends on the show.” Well, any Ina fan knew that.

Ina says, “My first rule is I invite people I love, because cooking is hard.” Gosh, that is soooo true. We’ve all had to cook for folks that maybe we didn’t like so much and there IS a huge difference between that and turning out a meal for friends or family that we are delighted to be serving.

Ina shows Erica the kitchen in her house, where they filmed for years. It looks so familiar to her, but smaller. Ina says it’s easier to work in a small kitchen. Erica reports that many nights Ina will serve dinner to six people in that kitchen. Ina says she can cook and serve and she never has to leave the party. Good point and, of course, if I had a kitchen like that, I probably wouldn’t want to leave it either.

Oh, good for Erica, she asked Ina what was in the fridge. I wonder how much butter and cream reside there on a normal day…I bet she has another fridge somewhere (oh, IN THE BARN, of course) that is filled with NOTHING BUT BUTTER, CREAM AND EGGS. (Change that, the eggs are probably in the custom-built cold cellar, somewhere on the back 40.)

Ina has eggs in the door of the fridge! (Not the right place to store them!!!) There’s fruit and A LOT of wine and Champagne. Alcohol is probably the biggest category.

We see a snippet of Erica helping Ina make pecan sandies as a gift to take when she goes to someone else’s house. Erica asks her what HER favorite gift to receive is. I have a few predictions of what she might say:

• An apartment in Paris? Oh wait, she has that.
• A great love? Jeffrey’s probably waiting in the next room.
• Fame? Check!
• Fortune? Been there, done that.

What does Ina say? She says JEWELS! Her real answer, though, is that she likes things that are homemade. She says she thinks we all give what we really like ourselves. Too true. She loves cookies or something to serve with hors d’oeuvres.

Erica asks if people get intimidated giving her food gifts. She says warmly, “I hope not!” She adds, “The truth is about cooks, they love when somebody else cooks. They don’t even care what it is. Just so you don’t have to decide the menu. You don’t have to make it.”

I’m so with her on that one! Especially deciding the menu part. I don’t know how many times I’ve said to the people in my house, tell me what you want for dinner. I will make you ANYTHING! And they say, “Whatever you want…” That’s fine at a jewelry store, but for planning meals, sometimes it’s nice to have someone else decide.

We see some shots of Ina’s Long Island paradise and also of Paris, where Erica says Ina and Jeffrey like to celebrate New Year’s with a warm meal and friends. Ina says she makes something simple, like Pasta With White Truffles or Lemon Capellini With Caviar. Erica asks her if she ever makes resolutions. Ina says you do that until you’re 20 and then you decide you’re never going to follow them, so why make yourself unhappy? Perfect answer.

Erica’s interview was pretty good. I was happy when she moved to NBC after CBS gave her the shaft, but there are so many other questions I would have asked Ina.

• How do you get your hair so shiny?
• Does Jeffrey every have a bad day or is he really as adorable as he seems?
• Do you have minions (à la Martha Stewart) out in your herb garden in the winter, warming the plants with hair dryers so they stay lush during the cold weather?
• How much butter DO you go through in week?
• Do you and Paula know each other and do you meet up for cocktails (and doughnuts) every once in awhile?

As expected, Ina was her wonderful, warm self and I loved the little bonus visit with her.

Top Chef Finalists On The Today Show

If tonight’s Top Chef-All Stars finale is anything like Richard’s And Mike’s appearance on the Today Show this morning, we’re in for some pretty dreary viewing.

In their defense, the two chefs had only about 5 minutes to assemble their own versions of a springtime lasagna.  Matt and Meredith were supposed to taste both and then declare a winner, EXCEPT that they initially refused to say whose they liked better because they thought that wasn’t nice. 

After being kind of wishy-washy, Matt finally went with Richard and Meredith liked Mike’s. Savannah Guthrie played the Wolfgang Puck role from last week and broke the tie – It was Richard by (the opposite of) a landslide. He was put over the top by one casual taster, who had a split second to decide. I wonder if tonight’s verdict will feel as rushed.   

It’s So Easy To Love Ina

I was so happy when the wonderful Lys mentioned that Ina was appearing on the Today Show this morning, promoting her new cookbook. It has one of the Contessa's adorable expressions as the title, How Easy Is That?

Ina’s hair was beautifully shiny and her nails were also gorgeous as she showed Meredith how to make homemade ricotta. She simply heated together milk and cream, threw in a little vinegar and drained the mixture. And, voila, 20 minutes later – homemade ricotta! How easy is that? Yup, the title definitely works.

Then Ina added lots of herbs to the newly made cheese and Meredith made a salad dressing of lemon juice, salt, pepper and olive oil (twice the oil to lemon juice) and poured it over greens. How easy is that?

Ina rubbed garlic over grilled bread and then topped it with the ricotta mixture. She said to serve it with the salad and, join me here, how easy it that?

Ina moved on to a non-traditional risotto. She added 1½ cups of Arborio rice to a big Dutch oven with four cups of hot chicken stock. She baked it at 350°F for 45 minutes and after added lots of goodies – butter (of course), more chicken stock, white wine, LOTS of parmesan cheese, salt, pepper. Ina finished it up by stirring it over the heat for 2 minutes and then stirring in frozen peas. How easy…well, you get the idea.

Lastly, Ina (she’s a pro at getting through stuff quickly while seeming to be easy and breezy) made a variation of an icebox cake. She lined a springform pan with chocolate chip cookies, covered the first layer with Kahlua and cocoa flavored cream. (OH! There’s mascarpone in there too. What a surprise…not.)

You make about five layers, then refrigerate it overnight, slice it and serve with chocolate shavings.

It actually looked extraordinary. And the variations that came to my mind were endless – white chocolate chip and macadamia nut cookies layered with bourbon flavored cream; chocolate chocolate chip cookies layered with Ina’s Kahlua cream and garnished with chocolate covered espresso beans; or how about Toll House cookies made with no chips or nuts layered with cream that’s studded with chips and nuts. One more – spread a bit of raspberry jam over each cookie layer before the cream goes on OR instead of the chocolate chip cookies, use thumbprint cookies.

WOW, Ina is a genius and HOW EASY IS THAT? She finished with time to spare…

Here is the video and here are the recipes from the Today Show.

And Baby Makes Two

Actually, on with movie star gorgeous Giada this morning on Today was, not only Jade (too cute!), but Matt and Meredith during a Mother’s Day breakfast dem. And there was a quick on-camera sighting of Todd, plus Al and Ann came in at the end.

Jade was sitting next to the dem bench in a high chair and I got extremely nervous that with no adult nearby she would stand up and fly out of the chair. MATT (not Meredith, who was standing the closest) realizes there’s a problem and goes right over. Jade doesn’t like this strange man at first, but then she warms up to him.

Hold it a red hot minute! Giada is showing us how to use a BOXED waffle mix?!! Oy! That is NOT what I paid for!

I’m just going to watch the baby. Matt is feeding her pieces of waffles, which is far more interesting than the nothing-to-write-home-about recipe, although the espresso nightcap (strange name for a brunch drink) looks good. Giada, cooking anything, is at least a feast for the eyes and that baby is hard to resist.

This pound cake recipe, shown later in the morning, is definitely worth a try and unusual with the addition of cream cheese.

Lidia, Master Teacher, Instructs Ann Curry (Playing Lucy Ricardo)

It wasn’t completely Ann’s fault as her pesto refused to come together in the blender. She just needed to add a bit of pasta water, which Lidia tells her…eventually.

Lidia was on Today to show 4 different pestos, but these were far more interesting than my usual variation of parsley and walnuts. I was just thinking about pesto recently after reading Rachel’s post.

Ann was first up with a mixture of garlic, cheese, ricotta, oil and walnuts. Lidia should have known she was in for trouble when Ann started to add BUTTER to the blender. Lidia was so concerned she asked Ann if she knew how to close the blender.

Next is a slinged Matt and a mixture, made in a mortar and pestle, using peas and mint and basil.

Al has a neat one with anchovies, raisins, basil, garlic while Ann is stripping the gears of the blender. BTW, it was Al who brought up the Lucy reference. His pesto sounded fantastic.

Natalie does a Sicilian pesto – garlic, tomatoes, almonds, basil and peperoncino.

Lidia moves on to having them dress the pasta. First they each mix their different pasta with a bit of butter (interesting, I don’t usually do that). Then they toss it with their own pesto. As they finish up, Lidia moves down the line hugging each one (she’s adorable); THEY hug each other; Al makes a move on the stage manager. It was a delicious segment…and the food looked good too.

Padma And Katheee Leee Sex Up The Today Show

Padma was on Today this morning…WITH her clothes on. Hoda and KL asked her about her nude photo shoot. She said she was a model for so many years and had to wear clothes she didn’t like that going without them was fine.

They showed Padma's Carl’s Jr./ Hardees ad...



You know, the one where she’s French-kissing a hamburger.

Now HERE’S something I bet you didn’t notice from that ad. She was wearing her own yellow gold jewelry line.

And she was today as well. Padma showed off a $375 ring and $600 earrings. She tried to make it sound okay by saying that in these hard times, she’d rather spend her money on something real. That’s great, except these days something real is food, shelter and health insurance!

The gals taste her White Sangria. Ooh, you know I love that, except hers has some (ick) star anise. I did like the cut-up mango and kiwi, though.

Padma shows them how to make a lobster salad canapé. She mixes lobster with mayo, chives, parsley and Serrano chilies. (You can use shrimp too.) Padma says if you have lobster as the beginning of the meal, you don’t HAVE to have it as main course(!!!)

Why is Padma being so grossly out of touch with the not-cheap jewelry line and LOBSTER hors d’oeuvres? I’m not even sure what she’s promoting. I suppose it’s her Allure interview and the jewelry, but she’s coming off as really elitist.

Luckily, Hoda saves the day asking about substitutes for the lobster. Padma says you can use white fish or even white beans. THAT would have been the way to go at the start, and then say, if you’re feeling flush, you could use lobster.

Then KL insisted in tasting the lobster the way Padma ate the hamburger.

I won’t be making that anytime soon...

Aaron Makes Burgers Inside Out With Love

I love the idea of the Inside Out Burger that Aaron did on the Today Show this morning. I’m just not sure I liked the execution.

Aaron’s been off my radar for awhile, but I was happy enough to see him. He begins his presentation with, “It’s all about the love first.” I know it’s his stock line, but making hamburgers on morning television really doesn’t lend itself to spiritual one-liners, for me anyway.

He puts a number of ingredients in the meat itself – Worcestershire sauce, shallots, salt and pepper. Then because folks were having a problem with the fillings falling out - I DO understand that problem - he came up with this idea. He takes an uncooked burger and tops it with any number of fillings and then presses another uncooked burger on top. He grills it for 2 minutes on each side and then puts it in an oven for 4 to 6 minutes at
350°F.

Great idea, but what if you don’t want to eat two burgers squashed together to make one giant one? I would have preferred two skinny ones with the fillings in between and cooked for half the time.

Apparently he made this burger on his FN show. It would have great to see the reviews of the recipe, but there’s a glitch on the Food Network website…or maybe they just didn’t want us to see them.

GMA’S Revamped Food Website And A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words…IF It’s The Right Picture - Plus I Think TODAY Does It Better

Emeril was on GMA this morning, touting their newly revamped website, which he called the food engine of ABC news. Emeril says his recipes on the site go back to 1995. He acts as our webmaster/guide to the upgraded page and he's particularly thrilled about being able to print the recipes in different formats. Uh, Emeril, that IS mind-blowing, but it's kinda been around for AGES. But I am all for an easy to use, easy to navigate websites.

I decided to look around. I clicked on a Sandra Lee video (I needed a laugh) and, for some reason, she had 2 straight-backed chairs sitting next to the dem bench. It looked like she was going to start doing squat thrusts right there and then, but no.

She was giving us a “decorating” tip. I still don’t know what the tip was, except that she took a pillow case, put it over the back of the chair and tied the corners. Maybe that’s what you do if you accidentally spill (or throw up) some of her food down the back of a chair…

Almost as annoying as the fruitless decorating advice was when Chris
handed out samples of Aunt Sandy’s Ham and Cheese Casserole and made a big fuss in the audience WHILE she was talking...not that I usually mind the focus being taken away from a Sandra Lee recipe.

Anyway, what I was trying to discover was if every recipe has an accompanying video. The Today Show seems to, for current ones anyway, but I don’t know how far back the videos go. Here’s a really cool recipe from Today, by the way, that I just found. The answer? No, and GMA videos by themselves aren’t that easy to get to.

Another slightly annoying thing on the GMA recipe site:
While searching for a flourless chocolate cake, I came up with this. Great, I thought, and it’s in 3 layers with icing in between, which I thought would be good to serve lots of people.

Well, NO, that’s a stock photo that has NOTHING to do with that recipe, which is made in a single 9 inch springform pan and served with confectioner’s sugar or cocoa powder and NO ICING.

I guess I should have realized what was going on when I saw the same chocolate cake picture for several chocolate cake recipes. The reason is probably because, as Emeril told us, they have recipes going back to 1995, and obviously they don’t have picture for each recipe. But NO picture is better is than the wrong picture.

One suggestion – have a chocolate cake drawing icon type of thing next to recipes for which they have no picture. That way there’s no confusion and we know instantly it’s a cake recipe. Or simply have a sweet and savoury icon to indicate those types of recipes. On closer inspection, that's exactly what they did do! Those two identical chocolate cake photos turn out to be from the same recipe just listed more than once. Are you confused? That makes two of us.

To compare the search functions of the two morning shows, I looked for the same thing on both sites. GMA came up with 208 results for the flourless chocolate cake, including many multiple listings of the same recipe. They also had other recipes like Lemon Lovers White Chocolate Cake , which has plenty of flour from the cake mix in the recipe, and an Incredible Melted Ice-Cream Cake, which has NO chocolate and again included plenty of flour in the form of a white cake mix.

The Today Show’s search function bears much better results. They only came up with three recipes, but each one was spot on.

To be fair, a second search for “Butterflied Chicken” wasn’t quite as successful on the Today Show site. The third recipe (of five) was Slow Cooked Fish (with a non-working link) and number five was lamb, but the other three were indeed chicken and they WERE butterflied.

GMA gave me 220 recipes and there was ONE authentic butterflied chicken. (Okay, I only checked out the first page, but if that’s not accurate, the other 22 pages won’t be either, although the VEGETARIAN Pumpkin Orange Soup with Parmesan Toasts, page 10, looks good.) I wonder if I searched for pumpkin soup, I’d come up with more butterflied chicken recipes.

The truth is, though, that both sites are still heads and tails above the Food Network website, which continues to be a source of such frustration that I really loath EVER going to it. Just finding the recipes connected with each show is often an exercise in futility. So…good for GMA! Congrats on the upgraded website! And if you find a few more flourless chocolate cake recipes, that actually have chocolate and no flour, let me know.

Today, Giada Makes Lasagna

There was nothing revolutionary about Giada’s recipe for a classic lasagna on the Today Show this morning - it was a good all–purpose meat lasagna - but, boy, did it look good! Plus she made two interesting points about the noodles. In this case ONLY, she adds oil to the water, so the noodles don’t stick AND she rinses off the noodles to get rid of the excess starch.

Matt and Meredith were funny and at the same time quite earnest in assembling their lasagnas, in comparison to how Katheee Leee is with her constant interrupting during chef segments.

The Today Show’s site is so easy to use and navigate, unlike a certain food television network’s, that I know it IS possible to produce a useful website without tons of irritating features.

Chef Michael White - Purely Delightful

I loved the chef on The Today Show this morning! Michael White of Convivio, Alto and the soon-to-be-open Marea, was on for just a short time, but made a wonderful impression - soft-spoken, kind and polite (when was the last time you heard a chef described THAT way?) AND authoritative.

He says that scallops are easy to cook and they can make a chef appear to be a superstar. (Remember Jamie?) Chef White gave us some quick tips for cooking scallops:

Get FRESH ones that haven’t been sitting in a pool of liquid. That liquid means they’ve been treated with phosphates to preserve them, because their lack of fat causes them to turn quickly.

Mix the scallops with some ruby red grapefruit juice mixed with a touch of olive oil to counter their sweetness.

Add cold olive oil to a hot pan.

Set the scallops down in the pan and don’t turn them. Leave for 3 minutes on the first side.

Serve them on top of a quick salad of fregola, wild arugula, fennel and black olives.

Lovely dish, NICE chef and it probably helped that it wasn't the Hoda/Katheee Leeee team interviewing him.*


*H and KL made up with the chef with whom they had the fight, but, sadly, that part isn’t on the video of his appearance.

My Top Chef Finale post is coming...soon.

Martin Yan, the Comedian, Wishes Us A Happy Year Of The Ox

I admit that sometimes I forget about people (cooking pros, I’m thinking of at the moment) that have been around for so long, I just take them for granted. Martin Yan deserves much more respect than that.

Even Katheeeee Leeeee couldn't compete with his firecracker sharp delivery this morning on the Today Show. Martin demonstrated Firecracker Beef in honor of Chinese New Year. Touting his healthful cooking, he said, “Look at this physical specimen, I just celebrated my 88th birthday.” Yan can really whoop it up. Plus he can really chop, stir-fry and cook up a storm.

A few years ago he did Firecracker Chicken on the Today Show, which is the same idea, but happily a different recipe.

Today's recipe is here.
Enjoy the video:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Sandra, Nobu, Thomas (Buckley) and Paula Whoop It Up On Morning Television

Just Not Together

Several of these cooking segments could be characterized as being at opposite ends of the spectrum: Yesterday, Aunt Sandy had an appearance on Good Morning America and, this morning, Nobu was on Regis and Kelly. Miami Nobu's Chef Thomas Buckley also contrasted rather sharply with Paula Deen.

Sandy showed us how to make a good, budget friendly meal. (Wouldn’t that start with taking Sandra Lee out of the equation?) She made panko crusted chicken breasts, which, honestly, didn't look all that bad, since the only “Sem-Eye Homemade” things in it were frozen raspberries, raspberry jam and mustard. How it’s budget friendly is another issue. I think her point was that, in general, it’s cheaper to cook at home than going out.

Things went down hill when she showed off a quick dessert. On the show, she layered some canned pumpkin pie filling in a glass with jarred caramel sauce and crushed cookies. The website recipe calls for canned apple pie filling. Gawd! Premade pie filling eaten out of a glass isn't my idea of dessert. It's rubbish.

Thankfully, no tablescapes were shown or even discussed and Sandy herself had a pared-down, sparsely made-up appearance, except that her hair was done in a (Palin inspired?) partial up-do with a lot of mess at the back.

Nobu Matsuhisa was on R & K today to promote his new cookbook - Nobu Miami: The Party Cookbook. He made Black Sea Bass with Jalapeño Miso. Miso, sugar, saki and jalapeño go into a pot to make a marinade. Substitute co-host, Anderson Cooper, asks if that would make you drunk. Nobu said, "The fish, yes."

He talked about traveling to Dubai to open his latest restaurant, number 21. Next year, he opens ones in Mexico City and Moscow.

Nobu pours out the miso mixture into a dish and adds the fish. Anderson Cooper asks, “You fry it…you grill it?” wondering if it’s cooked BEFORE it’s marinated. Nobu pauses and looks at him like he’s an idiot.

Then Nobu says to marinate it overnight and Anderson, in his best reporter mode, says “It doesn’t go bad?” Gelman shouts from offstage, “Keep it in the fridge…moron”. (The last part is my editorial comment, but YOU KNOW he was thinking it.) The fish goes into the oven for 10 minutes. (The recipe is fairly incomprehensible. Apparently, it’s broiled for 5 minutes on each side.)

After a break, Kelly comes over to taste with Anderson. They love it.
Nobu also shows off a gorgeous sashimi doused in hot olive oil and Baby Scallop Ceviche plus Octopus Carpacchio. Kelly likes the key lime juice with the scallops. Nobu says it’s clean tasting and he likes to use fresh ingredients. (Hear that, Sandy? FRESH.)

Lastly, he shows them a little drink – a Sea Urchin Mojito with extra saki and something floating in the glass...oh, it’s sea urchin. They make Anderson drink it, he survives. I don’t really blame him for being skeptical. I don’t like formerly living things that are now dead in my cocktail either.

Funnily enough, over at The Today Show today was Nobu’s co-author on the Miami book, Thomas Buckley, who is pictured on the cover with Nobu. Luckily, Katheeeee Leeeee wasn't there, so he got a word in edgewise with Hoda and Billy Bush.

Chef Buckley says he knows fat is flavor, showing off his own portly self and the short rib Wagyu beef. (WHERE is his accent from? Oh, Brighton. My goodness, he’s as un-understandable as his co-author. They must really talk funny there. I was born in the Bronx, so I know about tawwwking funny.)

He’s making Marinated Short Ribs. He makes a delicious mix to put the short ribs in and then they are refrigerated overnight. He says to put the closed captioning on if you don’t understand him. I thought he was talking about his accent, but no, it’s all the unusual ingredients.

(You need the book to make this, even with the recipe, because several of the components have to be made separately or at least be explained - Shallot Tosazu and Macadamia sauce, for example. I know Tosazu is a Japanese vinegar, but then what?)

He puts the marinated short ribs on a hot grill and then turns it down immediately, because the mirin will burn. If you’re using conventional short ribs, you have to poach them (in the marinade?) for 3 hours and then grill.

After they’re cooked, Chef Buckley pours over the reduced marinade. Hoda and Billy rave. He tells them the cow gets a beer and a massage before being slaughtered. Hoda doesn’t want to hear about it. (I don’t really blame her, but that's "whole nother" ball of wax.) They rush through showing the other dishes.

One more cooking spot on morning television :

Paula was on The View making kids’ dishes. After I turned the sound down, I really enjoyed her showing two little girls how to cook. She made green eggs and ham. She does add a bit too much salt, but she uses an adorable salt shaker. She shows Lindsay how cook her green eggs with diced ham. That DOES look gross.

She moves on to “Punkin” Bread, no, wait, she said Monkey Bread. She has another little girl, Jill, cut up refrigerated biscuits into quarters. Those get dumped into a “greezed” bundt pan, after a dunk in cinnamon and sugar. Melted butter and sugar are poured over.

Then Paula takes a cooked Monkey Bread and fearlessly unmolds it, almost holding it right over her head. She says the “bundt pan” prayer and it comes out perfectly. No one noticed the tiny piece that was stuck on the bottom that she quickly jammed back into place.

It looked fantastic, even knowing that it is unremittingly total, complete garbage. It’s one thing to make something like that from scratch, where, at least, you’re using a real dough, but refrigerated biscuits are junk. Sorry.

BUT none of that matters with Paula. It’s not about the actual recipe. (And good luck finding the recipe on the pain of The View website, which is even worse than the Food Network site for finding anything.) It’s about her joie de vivre. It’s about making everyone within 200 miles of her feel comfortable, happy…and well-fed. You can’t help but love her to pieces. And, dang, that monkey bread looked good.

Poor Giada Copes As Matt Lauer Tries To Poison America

More about that in a second.

Giada had a lovely segment on The Today Show this morning. She talked about her love of lemons (she’s pictured with one on her new book cover).

In the VERY few minutes allotted to her, she showed us a gorgeous looking risotto, which was interestingly finished with mascarpone along with Parmesan, parsley and lemon rind. She served it in lemon cups, which looked fresh and inviting.

Giada also quickly showed us how she tops a veal chop (does anyone still eat veal?) with lemon slices and wraps it in prosciutto. That would be good for chicken or even a portobello mushroom. We got a quick glimpse of iced lemon cookies before the computer switched us to a commercial. The recipes are here.

Now about Matt. Forget the Governor of Alaska (fast forward to 1:30 minutes in this video), Matt Lauer said the dumbest, most ignorant thing I’ve ever heard during Giada’s appearance yesterday, when she showed us Italian kids’ recipes.

Giada was marinating chicken legs in a ziplock plastic bag. She said to marinate them about 2 hours. Matt said, “So you marinate them at room temperature for 2 hours?” and he rushed on to the next thing. Giada, with great restraint, said "It’s RAW chicken, you marinate it in the fridge." He said, "Oh, 2 hours is a bit long", realizing what an idiot he had been and he looked a bit sheepish.

Only then did Giada laugh out loud in acknowledgement of his potentially rather large error. She was more than gracious, though, even when he told her that her, as yet, unglazed chicken didn’t look all that appetizing.

Giada has gotten a lot more comfortable on the Today Show. Both of her segments were excellent. Fun to see were the clips of Jade in the intro video yesterday. Even better, though, were when Todd and precious Jade came out to say hello. THAT is a beautiful baby and really, we all know, that not all babies are.

The Today Show Covers Radon in Granite Countertops...Finally

Some of us have been worrying about this for weeks. The Today Show just got around to it this morning. The conclusion of their reporting is pretty much what we've learned elsewhere a while ago. SOME granite CAN be high in radon, but most of it probably isn't. The only way to be sure is to get it tested.

They did highlight the dangers IF the granite is emitting high levels of radon or radiation and said that the granite industry is looking into pretesting every piece of granite that’s sold.

My question still is why consumers didn’t know about all of this. The entire time I was shopping for granite, over 5 years ago, I never heard a word about any dangers. I was just thrilled to be getting this gorgeous stone in my house. I absolutely would have had it screened for radon or only bought it from a place that did testing, if I had known there was an issue.

Getting granite with a Permashield type coating (that's the only way Home Depot sells it nowadays) supposedly can protect against radon exposure and resealing your countertops regularly, if they aren't permashielded, also can. But if you're worried, get it tested or test it yourself. The best way, which I didn't do, is to run a simultaneous test in the basement. THAT'S where the most radon probably is in your house and you can compare it to what's coming off your countertops in the kitchen.

So, Today Show, thanks a lot, but you're a little late.

Everything You Always Wanted To Know About TV Chefs, But Were Afraid To Ask

Does everyone get this weird "TV Guide" station? It has television listings scrolling on the bottom third of the screen the entire time you're trying to watch whatever they're showing.

The other night they had a program on that I’m sure EVERY fan of food television would have been interested in…had it been on a real channel. It was called 25 Things You Didn't Know About TV Chefs. I was very excited and got ready to settle into a riveting hour, yup a whole hour’s worth of juicy tidbits about our favorite food celebrities. Here’s what I learned:

We learned right off the bat that Anthony Bourdain is milking his fame for what it’s worth - HE said that - and that Nigella was a journalist for most of her working life. That last one was part of the first category:

No. 25 Not All TV Chefs Started In The Kitchen
Gordon – soccer
Nigella – journalist
RR – buyer

No. 24 There’s No 30 Minute Meals For TV Chefs
Giada says to shoot one half hour show, it takes about 15 hours.
Nigella shoots 1 episode in 3 days.
Emeril says he has 130 people (!!!) working on Emeril Live.

No. 23 Even TV Chefs Can Be Picky Eaters
Bobby doesn’t like lentils.
RR hates mayonnaise. Whoop-Dee-Doo!

Okay, I’m getting the feeling that this is a less than well researched show. I think they pulled together quotes from celebrity magazines and red carpet interviews and got a bunch of interns to put this together. There MUST be something interesting that we’re going to learn.

No. 22 It’s Not Always Fine Dining For One TV Chef
Tony will consume anything he has to - eyeballs included. Emeril likes real food, he says he’s not going to eat rattlesnakes.

No. 21 TV Chefs Don’t Make Food Look Good
Food stylists do, and you don’t always want to eat what they’ve styled. They showed how a chicken is made to look juicy and brown. It’s spray tanned with Kitchen Bouquet while it’s still mostly raw, and not only would you not want to eat it, you probably wouldn’t recover for days, if you did.

We learn incidentally that Nigella loves Mario.

No. 20 Famous TV Chefs Get The Best Table In The House
Tony says he could walk into any restaurant in the world and eat well. Julia could too, on account of professional courtesy. Gordon says he never flexes his muscles outside of his “zone”. That’s probably a relief to his fellow chefs.

No. 19 One TV Chef Is Part Of The Law And Order Family
Stephanie March is married to Bobby and he’s been on Law and Order SVU.They were introduced by Mariska Hargitay. Whoa, that’s a big one. Is there one thing here that you didn’t know?!! I’m still waiting…

No. 18 People Have Voted For Their Sexiest TV Chef
This is getting just plain dumb. The sixth graders they had think up these categories should go back to school for another decade or so. (Actually, that’s an insult to 6th graders, who are much more on the ball.)

One stylist said TV chefs are sexy and they have HUGE…what in the world is she going to say? Oh, followings.

DAVE Lieberman is one example. Oh, come on! Next they mention Rocco. Puleez! What about Tyler? Giada? Bobby?

No. 17 One TV Chef Would Like To Thank The Academy
Obviously, they’re talking about Wolfgang Puck. He’s in charge of feeding 1600 at the Governor’s Ball. I thought this was supposed to be stuff we didn’t know. They have 600 waiters in the dining room (I guess there are a lot of actors NOT out of work that night) and 200 people in the kitchen. Wolfgang has been doing The Governor’s Ball for 12 years.

No. 16 One TV Show Made Rachael Ray A Household Name
(THEY spelled her name Rachel. That’s rich!) She made an appearance on the Today Show and The Food Network signed her up. EVERYBODY knows that and it’s been written about everywhere, including here.

There’s a tease for “What’s the one thing Tony Bourdain won’t do on his show?

No. 15 Bobby Flay Likes To Horse Around
Bobby owns thoroughbred race horses. FINALLY, something I didn’t know. They didn’t say he RIDES them. They said he owns them.

Okay, kids, (who do I sound like?) enough for one day. You’ll have to keep tuning in for the rest of the list, including the TOP TEN Things You Didn’t Know About TV Chefs. And I promise you there is ONE truly noteworthy thing on the list…one that I didn't know and that I think you'll find intriguing.

Here And There

Remember when it looked like I was lying (I prefer thinking of it as being "misinformed”) and said Nightline was doing a story on the Iron Chef last Friday? Well, nice of them to tell me, but it was on THIS Thursday - last night.

You really didn’t miss anything, though. The Nightline correspondent, dressed rather inappropriately, I felt, in a bright summer party dress, walked around the set with Alton.

His only anti-fan comment (I'm recalling when I reported that someone else reported, probably 5th hand, that he dissed his overweight fans, supposedly out of their hearing, but not really…) was laughing haughtily at the idea that members of the Iron Chef audience thought they would be fed. (Hmmm, I guess that’s all part of his anti-fat bias.)

They showed the “smoke” from the dry ice that was pumped into the kitchen continuously; we saw the ingredient set-up that each chef works from - “a small grocery store” was how Alton described it; we met the tiny and indomitable Cat Cora; Michael Symon said hi. I like him. He said Iron Chef is no different from what chefs do in a restaurant every night. Yeah, but you don’t have that annoying guy in a suit narrating your every move.

The most interesting thing we learned (but I think we knew this anyway) was that the chefs are given IN ADVANCE three possibilities for the secret ingredient.

The story on the Nightline website is the exact story that was there last week. At least they didn’t change the date. Whatever…But don’t promo something, not have it on, put it your website as if it had been on and then show it a week later as if it were a new story. Harrumph!

***

I’m sure you’ve heard the news of RR’s new venture – DOG (and cat) Food. The GOOD news is that parts of the proceeds are going to the animal welfare arm of her empire.

The BAD news is the name – NUTRISH – I guess a variation of Delish…
GMAB. Even my exterminator (don’t ask, but I will not have ants running around the radon canisters planted all over my granite) thought that was a bit much.



Animals need all the help they can get, but I’m surprised RR wasn’t worried about the inevitable comparison of Nutrish to her REGULAR food. One can only hope the animals got the better deal.

***

Poor Tom Colicchio had a real waste of a morning on the Today Show this morning. I caught him in the middle of being forced to compete with the constantly interrupting Kathee Lee Gifford - Kathie Lie Gifford? or however she spells it. The other, much more muted, women of Today - Meredith, Hoda and Natalie – were also there.

They were tasting three dishes for some contest or other. Several of them had various food issues – no watermelon, no raw fish – not exactly the perfect panel for judging. They tasted the dishes (or whatever part of them they could stomach - Kathie Lee spit one out) and came up with a winner after a quick huddle.

Poor Tom stood 3 feet away, looking completely beaten down by stupidity of this segment. Then he said he’d be back in December. I guess he meant with the next season of Top Chef. This winning segment isn’t on the website yet…(the show is still on) I’ll include it later…

Postscript:

I finally found the video of this segment. The three dishes were made by 3 Top Chef contestants of the season currently filming in New York. Their challenge was to make a dish to be demonstrated on the Today Show. Tom claimed the judges couldn't decide on a winner and needed the Today Show crew to help. (Yeah, right!) The winner will appear on the Today Show to demonstrate the recipe deep into the next Top Chef season.

Jade's Mommy Is Back!

Yup, Giada made her triumphant return to The Today Show, warmly welcomed by Matt, Amy and a few old ladies sticking around outside the studio after 9 o'oclock. (No, actually, there were the usual crazies hanging out.) She looks amazing, less zoftig if possible. The best part was the baby pictures. That is one beautiful baby. How could she not be?

Giada did a segment with Eric Ripert, where he cooked in a toaster oven. He touted it as being really fast, but really, you could do the exact same thing in a conventional oven in probably less time and certainly not more.

I guess his point is that it's fun for kids to cook in a small oven AND it doesn't heat up the kitchen as much. Ok, I get that, but everything came out looking a little steamy.

Also, it doesn't hurt that Cuisinart seems to be all over his web page with their industrial looking (over $200) toaster oven. And isn't he getting out of the kitchen a bit too much these days? I don't want anyone else barely cooking my Kindai Maguro when I go to Le Bernardin. Aahhh, he probably wasn't doing it anyway, so I guess he might as well get out a bit.

These are the recipes. Kinda obvious, but at least we got to see Eric and Giada in the same frame. Now THOSE would be some babies...

Tony Neely Gets Short Shrift...

on this morning's The Today Show, at least.

He was part of a lightening fast barbecue competition that had him cooking against some Arkansas guy. Tony, looking a little slimmed down, was friendly and informative as he explained that chicken and ribs are the nuts and bolts of barbecue. His ribs did look finger lickin' good.

The other guy, a real Bozo - nothing against clowns, I love them - cooked some chicken and then dunked it in a bucket of what looked like ceiling primer, but was apparently mayonnaise masquerading as white sauce(!??) Waddup with that?

This pathetic jury of judges - 2 gonzos and Natalie, whom I usually like, gave the win to the guy from Alabama. I felt bad for Tony. He was gracious, but the other guy was so high on life that he wouldn't have noticed if he had won or not.

I had the feeling that this actually meant something to Tony. Of course, I do have the ability to read just about anything INTO just about anything. And such are the vagaries of 4 minute cooking segments. I think the Neelys are probably doing just fine without another pig trophy...The recipes are here.

PS Regarding the first comment below: I almost ended a friendship over this very issue. I KNOW that "I feel bad" is correct, but MANY grammarians will tell you that "I feel badly" is ALSO correct and just sounds better. My grammar frenemy and I traded references for weeks that backed up each of our points of view, until we declared a detente. I never used that phrase in front of her again.

I almost never prefer colloquial usage over absolutely completely correct grammar, but in this case I do. I hate the sound of "I feel bad", except if I have a stomachache. For emotions, I use badly. But I can't stand the idea that, instead of feeling sorry for Tony, everyone will concentrate on the bad/badly issue. SO I DID change it, even though it sounds horrible to me. In the future, I WILL NOT be using that phrase ever again (ARE YOU HAPPY, Anon?), except in front of like-minded syntacticians.

Fried Watermelon And Another Glimpse Of Chef Floyd Cardoz

After my brush with the innovative chef earlier this week, I was happy to see my old friend, Floyd Cardoz on the Today Show this morning.

In honor of Father's Day, he was preparing an intriguing Watermelon Curry with his two sons. He made a sauce based on plenty of wonderful spices and watermelon purée to serve with halibut. And THEN, he sautéed pieces of watermelon to add to the curry. THAT would be a unique Father's Day dinner.

I would be more inclined to add tequila to a blender full of watermelon purée than warm spices, but, actually the two would go together terrifically well.

Clotilde Cooks On Today

Everyone's favorite food blogger, Clotilde Dusoulier, was on the Today Show this morning, wearing an oh-so-French little gray knit top with white polka dots. Adorable. She made a divine chocolate and pear tart that could be made in minutes (if you don't count the pastry shells, which were baked blind). The recipe is from her new book, Edible Adventures in Paris, which looks like a winner. Host Natalie's only complaint, as she cooked according to Clotilde’s directions, was that C.D. was wasting that wonderful rum and sugar poaching liquid for the pears.

Why not suggest keeping it in the fridge until your next glass of champagne for a delicious Kir Royale Poire? I may make THIS just to get THAT. (Yes, I know it’s not poire liqueur, but it will be delectable nonetheless.)

I had encountered Clotilde recently in the May Bon Appétit travel issue, where, to my delight, she wrote about the Canal St. Martin, which I had just discovered weeks earlier on my last (and H really means my LAST) trip to Paris. There was gorgeous picture of the canal and some wonderful restaurant suggestions. Félicitations, Clotilde!