Cooking. Something everyone has to do once in a while even if it is just pressing Start on the microwave. For the outgoing and inventive there are entire sections dedicated to the cookbook at any bookstore or thousands of sites online – but perhaps nothing beats the cooking show for inspiration.
Think about it – the power of your remote has the ability to teach you everything from casseroles to croissants. Brisket to Brioche. That is if you can watch an entire episode without getting completely irritated by the “chef” hosting the program.
First of all, lets talk realistic expectations. If you are watching a cooking show that promises to enlighten you on the methodology of the “30 minute dinner” – we need to expect this show is not for the Cordon Bleu chef in training. Please do not preach to me about the “gorgeous aroma of freshly grated Romano Cheese” – I’m lucky I remembered to by the cheap stuff found in the same aisle as sardines and chili mix. This is a about food for life not life for food. Show me something I can throw together after a full day of work and family. Something that camouflages nutrition into something my kids will eat. If ketchup can be included – even better.
Of course there are always shows like “Iron Chef” for those with pent up culinary hostility. “Barefoot Contessa” if you want a show highlighting an OCD lifestyle with a Xanax chaser. But my all time favorite show I love to hate is “Pioneer Woman.” This show is hosted by a lovely middle aged woman with cute dimples and lovely smile. She’s never annoyed, she never overcooks anything, her life is perfect, – in other words she is medicated. She spends her time driving an hour to the store for supplies and then cooking for her hard working, rancher husband and family. Get it – they live in the middle of nowhere – so she’s a Pioneer. Because historically, pioneers bonded together over a campfire and their love of a great Le Creuset. I say it’s a good thing her husband is working the ranch all day because her home cooking is a shortcut to obesity and diabetes. I’m not a pioneer woman and I don’t want Shamu the whale for a spouse either. I just don’t think that the “beauty of peaches” means drowning them in a brown sugar and whiskey glaze I could “just eat by itself, all day!” Its ridiculous. I don’t want to learn how to make my own applesauce. Why? Because I have a job that allows me the hedonistic self-indulgence found in purchasing an economy jar of Mott’s. The only thing that show pioneers is a new way to launch a cookware line on the home shopping network and a housewares collection at Wal-Mart.
Lets start a cooking show for the working mom. Lets feature recipes with lists that you can download, print, shop for and cook all within 2 hours start to finish. They need to appeal to anyone between 2-92, not stick to the pan, be good for freezing and great as leftovers. If we can somehow work in a slow cooker even better. In the meantime – I will continue to consider mustard a vegetable and whipped cream a source of calcium. Now please excuse me – I’m going to go turn on home shopping . I hear they are having a sale on Le Creuset.
Chapstick in the Dryer 