Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Giada DeL criticized Lida Bastianich and Mario Batali,

How dare she and why? You know, Giada isn't really that hot (my god, those chompers, that nose). She is only there for her cleavage, which doesn't interest me as I have more.

What Bourdain actually said was that she was the most dangerous person ON FOOD NETWORK. At least get the quote right before waxing sanctimonious.

I've made 2 of Paula's recipes. The sour cream pound cake was delicious (had to take it to work because I couldn't eat the whole thing). The crab thing was expensive and labor-intensive and ended up tasting like fish sticks. Huge disappointment.

No spite as I know very little about Ms Drummond, but frankly, I don't see how she is in any way "pioneer." My grandmother moving from Nebraska to Idaho in a covered wagon -- that's pioneer. And I don't see anything special about the food. It's the same food I was raised on (dad from Elmer, Oklahoma). I'm sure spuds with nearly a half pound of butter and cream cheese is delicious but unlikely to lead anywhere except a coronary care unit.

I'll pass.

You know, when Burgerville is good, it's really good but when it's bad it's pretty awful. I've seen really inconsistent quality among locations. And FWIW, the one in downtown Vancouver is going to close -- sort of the end of an era. That means that Spic 'n' Span, Travelburger and now BV gone. *sniff* Thank god there's still the Igloo!

@ timotheos

Nah, such practical experience is strictly extracurricular.

http://astore.amazon.com/inkpaperwords-20/detail/0883658275
I had this in paperback for a while.

This reminds me very much of the time in 1992 I went to visit my friend Margaret in Albuquerque. She was jonesing for some Cinnabon (the wilds of ABQ did not yet have one). I stopped at the mall on my way to PDX and picked up a 9 pack of minis. I guarded them ferociously. I had them on the plane, and the ABQ airport while I waited for the buses to run, and then on the hour-plus bus ride to where Margaret was going to pick me up. When I met Margaret at a Wendy's,I realized I had LEFT THOSE SUCKERS ON THE BUS! Doh!

My grandmother used to make these at Christmas. If we'd been good, we would get an entire batch to ourselves. But she didn't use the butterscotch chips and the chocolate chips would be melted and spread over the top. When cool, Grandma would cut them into squares and wrap each in foil paper and tie with a ribbon.

I guess she had a little too much time on her hands.

This sounded so good and so easy and it was. I've never done brown butter before and think I may have gotten mine a little on the dark side (my stove cooks pretty hot). Also, I wanted to add a little color so I chopped up a few Romas and tossed them with the pasta. I can see all sorts of possibilities for changing this up.

Hope you don't mind Robin, but I've posted this on my blog and credited you with both the recipe and the photo. ( hakunafritatta.blogspot.com )

BTW, for us it made more than 4 servings. My honey had seconds last night, a friend of my son's had seconds, I and a single serving last night and seconds today for lunch. It was just fantastic. The sage wilted right down and was not a big mouthful of plant.

For those worried about protein, use whole wheat pasta, or have a steak or protein shake on the side.

Sorry, but vanilla Tootsie Rolls are far too precious a thing for this application. Showed the recipe to my honey and he heartily approves. Although this year we gave out Smartees and Dumdums...I don't think those would work so well.

My main gripe with the FN is the lack of intermediate to advanced cooking demos. Like many others, I've basically mastered most of the techniques in most of the shows and would like to learn some more.>>>

My suggestion would be: go to your local public library and look for VHS/DVD of these people. You might be surprised. Of course, if your local library has only Rach and no Lidia or Mario you might wonder...OTOH take what the hell you can get.

I was well into my 19th year before I had my first bagel. What can I say? I come from a fairly provincial background, especially in terms of food. Since I've gone on to make my own bagels and now regularly improvise stir fries and whip up gnocchi and ghormeh sabzi, I think I've more than overcome my cultural deprivations.