Currently housebound and with nowhere to go, the only thing keeping me entertained and somewhat sane is doing my work in front of ye olde telly.
The amount of lifestyle shows is astounding. Decoration, design, gardening and cooking galour in the afternoons. With the introduction of the new freeview channel 72 (aka 7 two "yes its time") there is more style to your life than you've bargained for.
Along with the Jay Leno show you can now watch the The Martha Stewart Show, where she interviews celebrities and cooks at the same time. I shit you not. The other day, Usher was on there rolling pastry dough, and talking about the anticipated arrival of his new born baby, and also his new CD. Amazing. What will they think of next?
The sudden rise in lifestyle shows, in my opinion, is more of a curse than it is a blessing. Whilst I am a proud connoisseur of food and wine, and I do boast a wonderful ability to produce the finest of meals and baked goods, I do realize that what I offer to the world of culinary cuisine is not as extraordinary as I believe it to be.
Masterchef, The Great Aussie Cookoff, and Ready Steady Cook has bought recipes and the art of cooking outside the realms of intimidation and has filled the general public with confidence in their ability to boil a pot of water and experiment with such things like 'fruits' and 'vegetables'.
A few months ago, A Current Affair ran a young Masterchef competition where children under the age of 15 showed off their skills in the kitchen. These kids were amazing, poaching eggs, roasting roasts and stirring...fry's...fries...stirfry's...stirfries....stir---oh you know what I mean. Point is, when I was 10, two minute noodles was what I considered cooking, and the triumph for me was not burning the toast in the morning. Home cooking has certainly excelled and more people are getting involved at an earlier age. No doubt there's a positive correlation between this and the increase in cooking shows and lifestyle programs.
Enter the curse. Tamasin Day Lewis. Best known for being the sister of Daniel Day Lewis, Tamasin is also a food writer, T.V. producer and director...she also likes to cook. Good for her. She also has her own show. Good for whom? Not for me.
Just because you're a food writer and know the difference between white and red meat does not make you a cook or chef by any means. It also doesn't give you the licence to create a show based around you cooking for any old occasion. That's clearly territory taken up by Jamie Oliver, who despite his naff charm and 'lovely jublies', can actually cook.
Inviting your mates around and firing off names of several dried spices whilst they answer "ooo", "aaah" and "delish" IS NOT WORTH FILMING. Also, using a hand held digital camera doesn't really help.
For some reason, in the middle of this particular episode I happened upon, Tamasin and her side kick friend, who she had come around to "help", stopped cooking to go out into the garden to eat a snow pea, and then run back inside because it started to rain...what the hell was the point of that?
The trip to the fish mongers was equally as awkward to watch, as she saunters in, demands that the fish monger tell her what's good to eat, then interrupts before he has a chance to answer because she wants to look at a crab. Rabbiting on and on about how she has five or six, possibly more, people to feed at her amazing dinner party she settles on a few pieces of cod.
After having made 100 biscuits, chicken liver for entree and baked cod for main, only two people show up to her dinner party and then call her food "creamy rubber."
Well done Tamasin. The amount of lifestyle shows is astounding. Decoration, design, gardening and cooking galour in the afternoons. With the introduction of the new freeview channel 72 (aka 7 two "yes its time") there is more style to your life than you've bargained for.
Along with the Jay Leno show you can now watch the The Martha Stewart Show, where she interviews celebrities and cooks at the same time. I shit you not. The other day, Usher was on there rolling pastry dough, and talking about the anticipated arrival of his new born baby, and also his new CD. Amazing. What will they think of next?
The sudden rise in lifestyle shows, in my opinion, is more of a curse than it is a blessing. Whilst I am a proud connoisseur of food and wine, and I do boast a wonderful ability to produce the finest of meals and baked goods, I do realize that what I offer to the world of culinary cuisine is not as extraordinary as I believe it to be.
Masterchef, The Great Aussie Cookoff, and Ready Steady Cook has bought recipes and the art of cooking outside the realms of intimidation and has filled the general public with confidence in their ability to boil a pot of water and experiment with such things like 'fruits' and 'vegetables'.
A few months ago, A Current Affair ran a young Masterchef competition where children under the age of 15 showed off their skills in the kitchen. These kids were amazing, poaching eggs, roasting roasts and stirring...fry's...fries...stirfry's...stirfries....stir---oh you know what I mean. Point is, when I was 10, two minute noodles was what I considered cooking, and the triumph for me was not burning the toast in the morning. Home cooking has certainly excelled and more people are getting involved at an earlier age. No doubt there's a positive correlation between this and the increase in cooking shows and lifestyle programs.
Enter the curse. Tamasin Day Lewis. Best known for being the sister of Daniel Day Lewis, Tamasin is also a food writer, T.V. producer and director...she also likes to cook. Good for her. She also has her own show. Good for whom? Not for me.
Just because you're a food writer and know the difference between white and red meat does not make you a cook or chef by any means. It also doesn't give you the licence to create a show based around you cooking for any old occasion. That's clearly territory taken up by Jamie Oliver, who despite his naff charm and 'lovely jublies', can actually cook.
Inviting your mates around and firing off names of several dried spices whilst they answer "ooo", "aaah" and "delish" IS NOT WORTH FILMING. Also, using a hand held digital camera doesn't really help.
For some reason, in the middle of this particular episode I happened upon, Tamasin and her side kick friend, who she had come around to "help", stopped cooking to go out into the garden to eat a snow pea, and then run back inside because it started to rain...what the hell was the point of that?
The trip to the fish mongers was equally as awkward to watch, as she saunters in, demands that the fish monger tell her what's good to eat, then interrupts before he has a chance to answer because she wants to look at a crab. Rabbiting on and on about how she has five or six, possibly more, people to feed at her amazing dinner party she settles on a few pieces of cod.
After having made 100 biscuits, chicken liver for entree and baked cod for main, only two people show up to her dinner party and then call her food "creamy rubber."
And well done mum, who has managed to burn potatoes. Hmmm, I must excuse myself, but in the meantime, acquaint yourselves with someone who can cook without being useless or irritating. www.insanitytheory.net/kitchenwench
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