TV – That's Just Me

ABC’s “The Taste” Review – Great Cooks and Picky Judges

I was looking forward to watching the new highly marketed ABC show “The Taste.” It’s food network meets The Voice. The premise is four judges (Anthony Bourdain, Nigella Lawson, Ludo Lefebvre, and Brian Malarkey) blind-taste a one-bite morsel and decide if that cook belongs on their team of four.

Only after the judges decide yes or no, is the cook revealed. (S)he could be a home cook or a professional chef.

Judge Tony Bourdain was actually sweet, contrary to how he usually is. I’m surprised they didn’t go for more ratings with making him more Simon Cowell-ish. Nigella was wishy-washy most of the time, which was very disappointing because I love her! Ludo was barely understandable when he spoke and I don’t even know (or care) who Brian Malarkey is! Ha!

By the end of the 2 hours, I was bored, paying more attention to my cookbooks from the library.

There was hardly any actual cooking shown and per usual in prime time, the show was painfully slow. During the first half hour, only a mere four bites were tasted!

Over and over, the judges enjoyed the taste of the dish but declined to say yes. It was frustrating to see a lot of interesting, unique cooks be dismissed. Even stranger, the judges repeatedly expressed remorse, but then the same thing would happen with the next cook. It was getting frustrating because By the time they chose a cook for their team, it seemed like they were picking out of desperation, making some of their choices uninspired and dull.

Another peeve was the judges repeatedly told the home cooks not to apologize for being a non-professional. It was as if they were supposed to feel shame about being a lowly home cook!

But the worst part of the show was the excessive use of dramatic props. Clunky game show buttons, blinking lights, special effects screens, and sliding doors looked silly and wasted time that could have been used to show more detailed recipes. But then I guess most viewers probably would be bored too much complicated cooking.

So yeah, i was not happy with the show. But Surprise! Yes, I will probably keep watching, as long as nothing else was on. I am intrigued by Sarah the food blogger and Lauren, the Mississippi girl living in the trailer park.

Next week will be part 2 of auditions and going forward, they’ll start the actual competition. I’ll give it a little more time and see if it’ll perk up my interest.

Walmart Factory Farmed USDA Choice Steak

Walmart is in full tilt promotion mode.

On Master Chef tonight, they were shamelessly promoting Walmart’s new USDA Choice steaks, touting how cheap they were, but not bothering to mention that the cheap meat is raised in a devastating factory farm.

Shame on Gordon Ramsey who used to be all about sustainability and high quality food. It just goes to show how a few advertising dollars can sway someone’s ethics.

And while we’re at it, someone needs to smack, err, gently wipe the smugness off Joe Bastianich’s face, because who is he to condemn someone’s cooking ability or knowledge, when he has resorted to promoting food that he would never in a million years eat. It’s disgusting!

Tricia Yearwood’s New Cooking TV Show on Food Network

Tricia Yearwood has a new Food Network show called “Trisha’s Southern Kitchen” and I watched the “Girlfriends” episode today.

Okay, yeah, there’s typical Paula Deen-ish, way-too-much butter and sugar recipes, but I was pleasantly surprised to find Tricia’s personality really shined. I enjoyed watching the episode! There were many helpful cooking tips, plus little bits of Tricia’s personal life.

Her pecan pie and crockpot mac & cheese recipes are decadent, and are just waiting to give you a heart-attack, but at the same time, intriguing.

I don’t know if I’ll be a regular viewer, only because her recipes aren’t really my cup of tea, but I might sneak a peak if it’s on or if I remember to DVR her.

She’s very funny, charming, and adorable. I wish her luck on the new show! :)

Hamburger Helper Stuffed Bellies

Just saw a TV commercial for Hamburger Helper.

The family is together, sitting at the dinner table and the dad is stuffed so he leans back and pats his belly, full to the brim.

He looks at his young daughter, they smile at each other and she imitates him, patting her belly as well. Camera pans out to show everyone is happy and laughing as they all pat their full bellies after dinner.

Their tagline: “Hamburger Helper Cheeseburger Macaroni – now even cheesier and tastier.”

So that’s the message of Big Food! Inspiring families to eat meals together, but eat until bellies are stuffed or better yet, over-stuffed!

Sigh

And THAT, in a nutshell, is what’s wrong with our dysfunctional eating habits. We don’t stop eating BEFORE we get to the point of busting our bellies! Our brains are broken, not connecting with our bellies to tell us to stop eating.

The bigger problem is, overly-processed foods like Hamburger Helper are never going to satiate us, so we have to keep eating, and eating, and eating, until it’s too late and our bellies are beyond stuffed.

So, good ole Betty Crocker is taking advantage of our dysfunction by feeding us more of their processed crap, that tastes really, really good, but doesn’t do anything to really NOURISH us.

Stuffing your belly, until it hurts, with white pasta drowned in dried cheeses is not healthy, even if mom makes it at home, and all family members eat it together at the dinner table!

Just in case you were wondering, here is the list of ingredients for Hamburger Cheeseburger Macaroni. It’s funny, in comparison to their older ingredients (found online), they weren’t lying when they said it was now “cheesier” – they’ve added a lot of dried cheeses:

Enriched Macaroni, Corn Starch, Salt, Enriched flour, Sugar, Dried Ricotta cheese, Dried Tomato, MSG, Natural flavor, Yeast Extract, Citric Acid, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Modified Corn Starch, Paprika, Spice, Colors (Yellow Lake 5&6 and Yellow 5&6), Monoglycerides, Dried Cheddar Cheese, Dried Cheddar cheese, Dried Whey, Dried Buttermilk, Dried Blue cheese, Enzyme modified blue cheese, Silicon Dioxide, Sodium Phosphate, Enzyme modified cheddar cheese

Windex Mini Concentrated Refill Toxins

We watched the CBS This Morning show and they showcased the “best new consumer products” from Better Homes & Gardens.

I had to laugh because one of their recommendations was the Windex Mini Concentrated Refill Pouch – they touted it as better for the environment because there was less waste in the packaging. Huh?

windex mini concentrated refillable pouches

Okay, saving the environment with smaller packaging, but perhaps ruining our lungs, soil, and water supply with toxic chemicals inside the smaller package. That makes no sense!

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if Better Homes and Gardens really did try to make our homes and gardens better by recommending natural products that weren’t poisoning our lungs and environment; but I guess their big corporate advertisers like Johnson & Johnson wouldn’t like that too much, would they?

Here’s the list of ingredients:

Water
Cleaning Agents: Ammonium Hydroxide, Ethoxylated Alcohol, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
Fragrance
Preservative: Benzoisothiazolinone
Dye Liquitint® Sky Blue Dye
pH Adjuster: Citric Acid

Yeah, Johnson & Johnson claim to be transparent with their list of ingredients; they really try hard to convince us that there is no danger with the chemicals they use, but truthfully, ammonia is toxic for our lungs, skin and our earth no matter how hard they try to spin it otherwise.

And sorry, I am not stupid, I don’t need blue dye in my cleaning products to “help me see where I applied the product and when a product is used up.”

There is also absolutely no need for “fragrance” but unfortunately the public equates clean with a strong chemical smell. It’s really very troubling.

The worst part is because the product is ultra concentrated, these ingredients are super strong compared to regular bottled windex. I can’t even imagine this product being accidentally ingested by children or pets, or spilled on your skin or down the drain.

Take a peek at Windex’s Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) (link opens to a pdf file) and it should scare the crap out of you!

Please keep products like Windex out of your home!

Try a mixture of plain white vinegar and water in a spray bottle; it’s 100% non-toxic! I use vinegar & water to clean my counters, sink, and even my produce. It works great!

Good Housekeeping Drop 5 Lbs – New Cooking Channel Show

I was curious about the new show on Cooking Channel TV: Good Housekeeping Drop 5 Lbs (with Melissa d’Arabian), so I made sure to DVR it.

The first episode opens with the recipe, Chicken Breasts with Apple Curry Sauce and it looked scrumptious; I love the idea of sweet & savory for dinner.

But I was a little puzzled when she suggested topping the steamed broccoli with a tsp of margarine. MARGARINE? Do people still use margarine?

It was even funnier to look at the recipe online, and see they suggested, “trans fat margarine” – LOL. I assume they meant “trans fat-free margarine” but even still, to suggest margarine over a whole food like butter is silly.

trans fat margarine

For example, after googling “margarine brands”, I found Smart Balance Buttery Spread contains 80 calories per tablespoon, that’s 26 calories for 1 tsp. Organic Valley unsalted butter contains 100 calories per tablespoon, which equals out to 34 calories per tsp. That’s hardly enough of a difference to recommend margarine over butter!

Plus if you choose the butter, you’ll save yourself the consumption of icky ingredients like artificial flavors, monoglycerides, sorbitan ester of fatty acids, disodium EDTA, along with a dose of GMO (genetically modified) vegetable oils, plus all the pesticides and toxic fertilizers.

But getting back to the episode.

I whole-heartedly agree with the advice that you need to measure your portions; I think a kitchen scale is a more accurate way than a measuring cup though (I love to weigh in grams) but it’s better than eye-balling it. Two & half years later, I still weigh most of my food. It really does help keep your portions honest!

On the whole, I’m not a fan of Good Housekeeping, it’s a bloated ad-driven magazine, but at least the show seems like a fairly good idea. No, the tips and hints aren’t anything new, but if it helps inspire someone to begin a healthier lifestyle, then that’s all that matters.

I’ll continue to DVR the episodes, so we’ll see how it develops.

New Jennifer Hudson – Seeing & Hearing Double – Weight Watchers Commercial

Ugh, I know she has a lot of fans, but I find ALL of the Jennifer Hudson Weight Watcher commercials extremely annoying. Her voice sounds like screeching nails on a chalkboard, and this new commercial is no exception.

The commercial opens with the “old” Jennifer in a tight-fitting bright pink dress singing on American Idol, as the new improved, thin Jennifer comes from behind, singing in a creepy duet with her former self.

Ugh. Jennifer Hudson x 2 = even more annoying because she’s competing with herself to out-sing and (hard to believe) it gets more offensive than her “It’s a New Day” commercials!

Gawd, it’s not even January 1st yet, and I can’t even think about how many times we’ll have to listen to this awful commercial for the next couple of months! Where are my ear plugs?

UPDATE

Before I get a million Jennifer fans coming down on me, I should clarify!!!

I NEVER said she was a bad singer in general and I do not dislike her. It’s her commercials that annoy me.

There is a big difference hearing her sing one song, than hearing the weight watcher commercials played over and over ad nauseam.

UPDATE #2 January 2, 2012:

Okay, I admit the newest J Hud Weight Watcher commercials are not bad. The one with her singing “I am you, you are me, gotta stand up if we’re gonna be free” – with the other women who lost weight on the program. Her voice is strong without being over-the-top and it’s enjoyable to watch. There is another new commercial that is also equally better.

TV Chefs Waste So Much Food!

Begin Rant!

I don’t know if I’m alone in this, but it drives me crazy when chefs/cooks on TV transfer a mixture out of a bowl into a pot, (or vice verse) and they leave behind a whole lotta food in the bowl.

Yes, I realize that due to time constraints, they can’t take the time to scrape the bowl completely, but it bugs me nevertheless. Every time I see it (and it happens a lot), I want to jump into their kitchen, and grab the bowl, take a spatula and scrape out all the contents! Maybe I’m too frugal, but I scrape out just about every last speck of food or liquid.

Rant over!

The Chew Review – New Daytime Food Talk Show on ABC TV

I’ve been looking forward to the premiere of the new food talk show, “the Chew” – with Mario Batali (famous chef, previously on Food Network), Carla Hall (charming contestant from Bravo’s Top Chef), Michael Symon (current “Iron Chef” on Food Network), Daphne Oz (supposed nutrition expert, and daughter of famous Dr Oz), and Clinton Kelly (entertaining expert).

Today is the day! Episode #1

I’m excited that it’s an actual “live” show with an audience, well at least live-taped some time that same day. From the show intro, it looks like there are going to be a lot of taped segments filtered into the “live” audience stuff.

They promise a “party in the kitchen” – I’m just hoping for healthy, consciously sustainable, and interesting talk and advice. Let’s dig into the Chew!

Mario Batali isn’t in studio, he’s shown on a big TV screen by satellite feed at a charity golf event.

Michael Symon is now cooking up a pork dish with beans and greens. They need to work out the camera angles a little better…Too many long-view camera shots, or blurry too-close shots.

Commercial break.

We’re back. Audience is tasting and chatting about the Symon pork dish. Symon asks the audience member, “Tell me why you think it’s delicious?” as if it couldn’t be anything OTHER than delicious. Lots more unnecessary chatter and then a good dose of ego-boosting audience applause. Stop wasting time! Yes, we know you cook delicious food, get on with it. It would have been more interesting to see more actual cooking and less adoration and chit chat.

Another commercial break? what? Are you kidding? Thankfully, I have this on DVR, so I can fast-forward the commercials.

And now we have Daphne talking about how wonderful her dad/family is. And then of course, they bring out a “surprise” visit from Dr Oz himself!

Way way too much chatter and giggling! *rolling eyes* They’re all talking over each other and you can barely hear what’s going on. Then Dr Oz pretty much took over, annoying. But I suppose he is used to being the center of attention! I kind of felt bad for her, he kept teasing her with embarrassing childhood stories.

Now, Daphne is explaining the components of her healthy smoothie recipe, talking extremely quickly. And again, there is way too much applause.

Commercial break.

Okay, now we’re watching Michael Symon again, touting the many wonders of the microplane grater/zester.

Not really ground-breaking, is it?

And we’ve got ANOTHER commercial break. Are they kidding? Come on. Another break?

Next, Carla tells the story about how she found her family’s old Betty Crocker recipe box. That was quite fun seeing this old piece of cooking history. I really hope they bring out more items like that.

So, now Carla is making apple ring pancakes, inspired by a recipe her mom made from the old recipe box. I’d make this dish; it looks interesting and fairly simple to prepare. I like Carla.

Recipes from the first The Chew episode:
http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/episodes/September-26-2011

And of course, we’ve got another commercial break.

Now the entertaining wizard, Clinton Kelly’s segment “Plate to Platter” is giving us tips on how to miniaturize favorite meal dishes into bite sized party appetizers. Eh, kind of boring, not really what I’m interested in.

Okay, after the next commercial break (surprise! another break!) we’re seeing Mario Batali make a pizza at the golf course. Because of the satellite feed, when the hosts ask him a question there’s a slight pause/delay before Mario answers.

Michael Symon asked how he got a pizza oven on the golf course? – he answered with his tagline “There’s Italians and those that want to be Italians” – joking that Italians drive with pizza ovens where ever they go. Yeah, a little bit of a “set up” but cute.

He gives his recipe/tips on how to make the perfect pizza, peppered again with way too much applause after every little comment, and I swear I also hear a fake laugh track added.

And that’s it. The end of the show.

I dunno. maybe I’m being too critical, but I really was looking forward to this show and it was a disappointment. Sort of like expecting Cooks Illustrated but getting Good Housekeeping.

Too much advertising and same ole same ole…nothing groundbreaking or new.

What else would I like see changed? I’m really hoping they tone down the excessive “love fest” between the hosts, it’s a little bit too much. And most importantly, whoever is in charge of lighting up the audience “applause” sign needs to take a little break once in awhile.

It would be great if they try adding a few more “real” subjects. I’m not saying they need to cover depressing serious subject matter, like GMO Crops & factory farming well, yeah, maybe they should once occasionally. It’s just too darned cheery on that set!

BUT I have trust it’ll get better, at least I hope so. I am not giving up on the Chew just yet. I mean, it’s only the first show, it needs time to find its way. Only time will tell!

Food Network Rewards Obese Duff Goldman with New Sugar High Show

I just watched a promo for the new Food Network show “Sugar High” starring Duff Goldman, the guy from “Ace of Cakes” (a show I don’t think I’ve watched once)

Anyway, the promo commercial made me sick! They showed him gorging on cakes, pastries, cookies, and puddings. Every scene was him shoveling huge desserts into his mouth. With each new traveled location, I swear you were watching him gain another 10 pounds. His face looked fatter and more bloated after every bite.

It was extremely gross and unappealing, but it made me think!

Is this the type of show that Americans love?

It’s how we look and how we eat. Obese and addicted to sugar, feeding ourselves massive amounts of sweet sugary desserts, barely stopping to wipe the icing off our faces.

I am sorry if people think I’m being cruel, putting down someone (Duff Goldman) who clearly has a food addiction problem, but really, shouldn’t we be outraged at the Food Network, for contributing to his obesity? Is the Food Network glorifying and encouraging the obesity problem in America?

Take a look at an earlier promo photo of Duff Goldman. Yeah, he could lose a few pounds, but at least he has some muscle tone.
duff goldman promo shot for ace of cakes

Now look at a capture from the new Sugar High show. Duff has clearly gained weight, and I wonder what his health is like. Does he have type 2 diabetes? How is his cholesterol?

bloated and obese duff goldman from the new food network show sugar high

Is the Food Network partially responsible? Making profits by rewarding an obese spokesperson with a show on the same subject matter that is causing him to be obese? What has to happen before they finally open their eyes? A heart attack?

I know what it’s like to have a compulsive sugar addiction. but I have found ways to keep it under control. If the Food Network gave me lots of $$ to host a show called “Sugar High”, yeah, all control would be out the window, and I’d be 200 pounds again! Even watching a show like “Sugar High” can have unwanted repercussions.

The new “Sugar High” show premieres tonight on Food Network at 10:30pm, but I won’t be watching. It would be like watching the trainwreck that is America’s sugar addiction…