New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is divorced and has a girlfriend, Sandra Lee, who’s a TV celebrity cook specializing in “semi-homemade” cooking. Sandra was at a Rochester food bank the other day “to use her added notoriety as Governor Andrew Cuomo’s significant other to raise awareness of hunger in New York State.” Even though her boyfriend’s name was in the press release, her media people forbade any questions about Cuomo.
Even so, one of our good local reporters, Sean Carroll, decided to commit an act of journalism by asking this question:
You definitely seem like you want to detach your interests, professionally, personally, and obviously volunteer-wise from those of your boyfriend, can you tell us why? Because I know you laid low during the campaign understandably, can you tell folks why you’re drawing that firm line? Why you’re dodging little questions here and there when it comes to the Governor?
Sean was rewarded by her PR person cutting off the interview, and he was told that his photographer wasn’t welcome for the rest of the event. Here’s the video.
It’s weird that Lee, who appeared at Cuomo’s side during his inaguration, couldn’t even respond to a very gentle question about her role as first girlfriend. You’d think that someone who gets this kind of review from Anthony Bourdain would have toughened up by now:
Pure evil. This frightening Hell Spawn of Kathie Lee and Betty Crocker seems on a mission to kill her fans, one meal at a time. She Must Be Stopped. Her death-dealing can-opening ways will cut a swath of destruction through the world if not contained. I would likely be arrested if I suggested on television that any children watching should promptly go to a wooded area with a gun and harm themselves. What’s the difference between that and Sandra suggesting we fill our mouths with Ritz Crackers, jam a can of Cheez Wiz in after and press hard? None that I can see. This is simply irresponsible programming. Its only possible use might be as a psychological warfare strategy against the resurgent Taliban–or dangerous insurgent groups. A large-racked blonde repeatedly urging Afghans and angry Iraqis to stuff themseles with fatty, processed American foods might be just the weapon we need to win the war on terror.
beltane
Look at me
I’m Sandra Lee
Symbol of obesity
Won’t be well-fed til I’m legally wed
I can’t, I’m Sandra Lee
Jude
I just saw Bourdain’s show/stand-up tour. He talks about a chilling, creepy encounter with Sandra Lee and the then-new Governor. I swear, from his description, it sounded pants-pissingly terrifying.
So, no. She doesn’t handle that criticism very well.
campionrules
Google ‘Kwanzaa Cake’. That is all.
jayjaybear
I had no idea she was involved with Cuomo. Let’s hope she doesn’t try to make the Kwanzaa cake for the governor’s holiday banquet next year…
Darn you, campion! /shakes not-so-tiny fist/
Villago Delenda Est
Hey, if you show up at the governor’s side during the inauguration, you’ve opened the door. Just as Sarah Palin did (well, more like blew the door off its hinges) by using her kids as props for her “send me money because I’m Sarah Palin” VP bid.
Karen S.
Sandra Lee’s Kwanzaa Cake!!!!! If that isn’t an insult to African-American culture I don’t know what is.
Comrade Javamanphil
@campionrules: Wow. Just wow. At least we now know what really happened to Babs Jensen.
beltane
Here’s an excerpt from a review of Sandra Lee’s Kwanzaa cake:
There are some people who should never make anything but reservations for dinner. Not being able to cook is not a crime; the abuse of food is a crime.
geg6
I’d have to look it up, but Bourdain has an update to his Sandra Lee bashing in his newest “Medium Raw”. He runs into her and Cuomo at some NYC foodie function and she comes over to him and, in the most creepy and almost threatening way possible, lets him know that she knows what he wrote about her and that she has the upper hand (implying that her relationship with Cuomo gives her that). It’s very funny but creepy at the same time.
I must disclose here that Anthony Bourdain is my secret celebrity crush. I find him irresistible in a totally inexplicable way.
jayjaybear
@Karen S.:
It’s an insult to FOOD!
campionrules
Corn nuts……It defies explanation.
Also her “Kosher” Channakuh cake involved marshmallows I believe – generally not a kosher ingredient.
geg6
@Jude:
Heh. Great minds and all that.
Loneoak
I had no idea that Sandra Lee was dating Cuomo, but it was self-evident that she’s a Republican. Who else would be a botoxed celebration of corporate food?
mr. whipple
That’s some great snark. Loved this one:
“Where the saintly Julia Child sought to raise expectations, to enlighten us, make us better–teach us–and in fact, did, Rachael uses her strange and terrible powers to narcotize her public with her hypnotic mantra of Yummo and Evoo and Sammys. “You’re doing just fine. You don’t even have to chop an onion–you can buy it already chopped. Aspire to nothing…Just sit there. Have another Triscuit…Sleep….sleep….” “
cathyx
@geg6: You must like bad boys.
beltane
@campionrules: Both the Kwanzaa cake and the Hanukkah cake have been classified as “edible hate crimes”. This makes me proud to be an American. What other nation on earth could weaponize junk food the way we have. Sandra Lee is a national treasure.
mistermix
@campionrules: The HuffPo took down their Kwanzaa Cake article (where her “food stylist” bashed her) because it violated their “terms of service”. I assume that means that it insulted a celebrity.
Karen S.
@jayjaybear:
Too right, jayjaybear. I thought of that after I clicked the “submit” button.
Besides the Kwanzaa cake, another favorite is when she mixed a cocktail (if you’ve ever seen her show on the Food Network you know she LOVES cocktails) of vodka, lemonade and – wait for it – heavy cream! Even she looked a little put off by it when she tasted it. I do wonder if she’ll be allowed to cater any functions at the governor’s mansion.
campionrules
@Karen S.:
Oh Dear Lord. Can you imagine… Vodka. Yum. Lemonade. Yum. Vodka-lemondade. Double Yum. Heavy Cream…..what the motherloving fuck.
Buck
Anthony Bourdain, SNAP!
Bill E Pilgrim
@campionrules: I can’t believe you got me to see that.
I am never moving back to the United States. It’s settled now.
I mean, I figured that people eat like this but I wouldn’t think you’d want to give instructions.
What’s next, a landscape architecture instruction program that shows you how to decorate with two or three old Chevys up on blocks and half a rusty tractor?
Mike S
@Karen S.:
Lovely a vodka and curdled cream cocktail. Ugh!
geg6
@cathyx:
Yes, sadly. And the Ramones. Thus my love of all things Bourdain.
JPL
A few years ago a friend told me about Sandra Lee. I’m not a package type of person so I passed on watching her. I just went on FN online and noticed that she also decorates tables. The rustic one with the dead gingerbread men is quite festive.
link
Edit: I know all gingerbread men are dead but normally you don’t see them face down in a bowl of snow.
bemused
I had never heard of her before and thought the criticism of her might be a little bit harsh until I read that her “cooking” claim to fame was creating crap out of garbage like cheez whiz.
beltane
@JPL: My eyes, my eyes. To paraphrase Martha Stewart, “It’s not a good thing.”
WereBear
Things have truly come to a sad pass in this country when people need instructions for Ritz crackers and Cheez Whiz.
dan
Yeah, Sandra Lee’s food is horrible. Have another cigarette, Anthony.
Violet
@mistermix:
I saw that. That’s absolutely pathetic.
dan
Typical Sandra Lee program:
This next project is something the kids can help with. You’ll need about 10 toothpicks and an apple. It could be a Macoun or an Empire, but because of the firmness and because they are relatively inexpensive, I like to use Red Delicious. Now have the kids gather around. Pass the apple to each person and when it is that person’s turn, they can put a toothpick into the apple. It doesn’t matter where; it’s up to that person. When all ten toothpicks are used up, you’re done! and that’s how you make a Toothpick Apple.
You can also do this with marshmallows, or be creative and use a pear or whatever fruit is in season.
dan
The remark about the “rack” was sexist. But she does have a great rack. That comment was also sexist. But …
mistermix
Jesus, you guys aren’t kidding about her shit recipes. Here’s the 25th ranked recipe on her site. You need a death wish to add an extra 3/4 cup of cheese to Kraft dinner.
foodnetwork.com/recipes/sandra-lee/mexican-style-macaroni-and-cheese-recipe/index.html
Mexican Style Mac & Cheese
Ingredients
1 package macaroni and cheese mix
1 tablespoon Mexican seasonings
3/4 cup Mexican cheese blend
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Make macaroni and cheese according to package directions. Transfer to a medium-size baking dish or casserole dish.
Sprinkle Mexican seasonings over top of macaroni and cheese. Sprinkle cheese blend over top to cover. Place in oven and bake for 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.
dmsilev
@campionrules:
The horror. The horror.
The worst of it is that baking a cake from scratch doesn’t have to be all that hard if you know how to follow directions. There are all sorts of awfully good recipes that don’t need separated eggs (usually the first pitfall for someone just starting out in cake-making), fancy fillings, elaborated icings, etc.
dms
WereBear
Well, then, if it’s not the food, it has to be the rack.
Look how well it worked for Anna Nicole Smith.
At first.
Suck It Up!
I always found it odd that FN had this type of show on their channel. I also found it odd that she always matched the decor of the constantly changing set (kitchen background).
mr. whipple
Baking from scratch is easy since no ingredient needs to be minced.
Loneoak
Man, it was a lot of fun chasing those links around the intertubes.
As a culture we seem to be in a moment of a lot of moral consideration of our food. Or, at least some of us are in such a moment where carbon footprints matter and humane animal farming matters and understanding origins matter. In my professional musings on such matters, I tend to think about food morality not as a matter of measuring harms and benefits of different options, but rather as a matter of staking out one’s relationship to possible realities. Sandra Lee and her ilk (e.g. the evoo-il Rachel Ray) are taking a stand for irreality. They live in a moral universe of the pre-processed and pre-digested. And even though he would scoff at the namby-pamby ethics of a vegetarian like myself, Anthony Bourdain is deeply ethical in the sense that he faces the world head-on and doesn’t disguise what it means to be worldly: it means eating intestines and blood pudding in weird places.
Rosalita
A SKINNY “large-racked blonde”. She obviously doesn’t eat what she preaches… Bourdain’s comments are priceless. Sandra makes me gag.
Lawnguylander
This Sandra Lee sounds horrible but I don’t think it’s possible to commit an act of journalism while questioning her about her relationship with the Governor. Who cares?
MikeJ
@Lawnguylander: Obviously she does since she put Cuomo’s name in the press release.
Was this gig part of her official duties as first girlfriend? Sure looks that way when the people throwing the shindig make a point of mentioning him.
Seems fair game at that point.
JGabriel
@Bill E Pilgrim:
Yes. It’s on The Learning Channel and it’s called Sarah Palin’s Alaska.
JPL
One of the network channels spoke about S.L.’s childhood. She took over as caretaker to her five younger siblings and lived on food stamps and goods provided by food banks. She believes in government safety nets and volunteering because that’s what saved her family.
One can imagine that you might want to be creative with what you have but there is no way all those preservatives in boxed goods are healthy.
Chadwyck
Can we dislike Sandra Lee and still think hunger in America is a FAR more important topic for a real journalist than her internal P.R. calculations?
Because, loathesome as her cooking is- she’s right.
There’s no defending the edible hate crimes, or the Nascar “tablescape” with the greasy car parts, but for all Bourdain’s prose, she picked a worthy cause and has continued to support it for years now. There are children who are going to go to bed hungry tonight, like they did last night, and of all the people in that story and on this board, the only person who appears to give a shit about that is her.
(I can’t believe I’m siding with Sandra Lee- it really must be the Apocalypse.)
Michael
@geg6:
My spouse has long said that Bourdain is the kind of guy that women leave their husbands and families for, but only for a few weeks. After those few weeks, they slink back home tanned and a little rough around the edges, sheepishly asking to be allowed to return.
It’s something about Bourdain being a bad boy who’d give you some thrills for a couple of weeks, then would drive you extreme anger about his narcissism, I think.
I asked her if that was her temporary semi-exit plan, but she wouldn’t admit it.
geg6
@dan:
You do know that he quit smoking several years ago when his daughter was born, don’t you? Whereas Sandra Lee still shills for Kraft macaroni and cheese as the foundation for a quick and healthy meal long after the child obesity statistics have shown she is a danger to the nation’s future.
Suffern ACE
@campionrules: Acorns, corn nuts…what’s the difference? I made a Christmas salad this year with a bag of Dole Spring Mix with added pointsettia leaves and holly. Once I added the pizza pringles, it didn’t taste all that bad.
Jim, Once
@campionrules:
A Leman, a Plan, a Can. Now I feel guilty after reading JPL’s comment.
rachel
@mistermix: Jeebus! If I had to choose between a plate of that and a plate of bondaeggi, I’d take the bondaeggi!
ETA These are what I mean.
Chadwyck
Sandra Lee causes obesity the way video games cause school shootings.
Jim, Once
@Suffern ACE:
Oooo… I’ve been wondering what to do with all those poinsettia plants left over from xmas. Pizza Pringles, you say?
geg6
@Michael:
Your wife is right. I’d have an affair with him right this minute. Well, I would if he hadn’t reformed himself, gotten married and had a child with a stunningly beautiful Italian woman, and become a dedicated family man.
That said, my man is a lot like Tony. Another former bad boy gone good who still retains a bit of that dangerous air and with a wicked and devastating wit. That’s the kind of guy I find just irresistible, but I’ve matured enough to know to hook with them AFTER they’ve reformed rather than trying to reform them myself.
Nick
Congratulations Governor Duffy
dan
@geg6: No, I did not know that, but thanks for pointing it out in the snottiest possible way.
You do know that there are about 10,000 hours of video that still exists showing him smoking like a chimney. Don’t you?
PurpleGirl
@Bill E Pilgrim: How about using fake plants and flowers in your front “garden”? My very proper sister (think Hyacinth Bucket of Keeping Up Appearances) has them in her front lawn landscaping.
Jim, Once
Yeah, I’ve got one of those, too … and if it ever gets a little boring, I can always think of ways to make him bad again…
rachel
@PurpleGirl: “It’s the Bucket woman!”
PurpleGirl
@rachel: Yup.
WereBear
@rachel: Sometimes our phone will ring, and one of us will ask the other, “Is that our pearl-white slim-line push-button digital telephone with automatic last-number redial?”
Or some variation thereof.
Of whenever we make party food, we talk about “things on sticks.”
Rosalita
@Michael:
yeah, that…
PurpleGirl
@WereBear: LOL.
schrodinger's cat
I wouldn’t put Rachel Ray in the same box as Sandra Lee. Granted that her cutesy names like EVOO etc can be grating but her recipes are not bad at all and very doable. I love cooking for hours preparing a special meal but sometimes half an hour is all you have in the evening, to put a quick meal together. RR makes cooking seem less intimidating for an unseasoned cook.
In her earlier days on the food channel RR was not so cutesy, I think she has gotten worse as she has become more famous. I haven’t watched RR in years but when I watched her show she always cut her veggies including onions and used cans only for stuff like broth. She is in my opinion far better than Sandra Lee, whose recipes are completely worthless. Actually I don’t think I have watched her program at all and I was quite the food network fan in its early years.
WereBear
I’m glad you mentioned that, because it puts a totally new spin on things; there are millions of stressed single mothers who have five minutes to spend in the kitchen.
Her heart’s in the right place, anyway. Now if her brain was, she would come up with a way of feeding kids healthy stuff in five minutes.
RP
I can’t stand Lee or Bourdain and his pseudo-tough guy schtick.
WereBear
@RP: He takes stuff out of the oven with his bare hands, BTW.
schrodinger's cat
@WereBear: OT but how is darling Tristan? your little kitteh.
schrodinger's cat
@WereBear: So does Jacques Pepin, my all time favorite TV chef ever.
WereBear
@schrodinger’s cat: Ooooh, thanks for asking.
Well, he’s gotten looooooooooooooooong.
Click here to see Tristan (four months and a bit) do his imitation of a cartoon dachshund.
WereBear
Moar Tristan with additional links.
He’s good when he’s sleeping.
Kiss the belly, it’s good luck.
And he loves his big brudder.
Reverend Jim plays the “Oliver Hardy” to Tristan’s “Stan Laurel.”
Jules
I’ve got a thing for Bourdain and I understand what he is saying…but man oh man the SL hate is kinda of amazing.
Do people really have time to bake a cake from scratch? I know how and I do and I always make my own frosting, but seriously making a cake from scratch IS more of a pain in the ass then opening up a box. Add in a job and a couple of little kids and I can see why someone would rather open a box and use some Betty Crocker icing.
Semi-homemade is a great idea if done right.
Some days I want to cook for an hour and make everything from scratch and some days I open a box of mac and cheese, add some eggs/cheese/sour cream and cook it in the oven.
From what I understand her “semi-homemade” ideas came when she was younger and broke and had to raise her brothers and sisters on her own.
schrodinger's cat
@WereBear: He is quite a cutie. At the rate he is growing he is going to be big kitteh
when he grows up.
The last link seems to be broken.
WereBear
Don’t know what happened with that last link:
wayofcats.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/TristanRJhead2head.jpg
Prepare for cuteness.
Lawnguylander
@MikeJ:
I didn’t say the questions aren’t fair game, just that I don’t care about them or her answers. Asking her something about how she’s going to help with the hunger problem or what she knows about her boyfriend’s plans to address same would equal journalism in this case for me.
Now, if he had asked her what she knows about the possible future availability of her boyfriend’s sisters that would be a different story. Because I knew them as teenagers and saw them recently and, damn.
Suffern ACE
@Jim, Once: Great. Now you have me feeling guilty even though I know you’re being snarky. Do not eat holly or pointsettia leaves, and do not, as the Kwanzaa cake presentation implies, cook with acorns unless you know how to prepare them properly.
Darn corporate risk department…*sigh*.
Rosalita
@schrodinger’s cat:
I think RR’s show should be called “30 Minute Meals, One-Hour Clean up”. Have you noticed how many damn pans she uses at once?
schrodinger's cat
@@Rosalita: All TV chefs seem to be guilty of that. Have you seen Martha Stewart with all the ingredients laid out in tiny ramekins and bowls? Its ridiculous, obviously they have staff to clean up after them.
scav
Are people really thinking that the shit she pulls with the cake mix etc is based on her being practical because she had no time to bake? It’s equally semi-home made just to pull out the damn store-bought cake and drizzle a little entirely from scratch confectioners sugar and lemon juice glaze on top and the result would be cheaper, even slightly faster and probably be edible Heaven Forfend. Whatever the fuck that shit she’s pulling is, it ain’t practical. Five and Dime / Cut-Rate / Trailer Trash Martha Stewart is closer to the mark.
WereBear
At the rate he is growing he is going to be an ocelot when he grows up.
But since that is unlikely, I figure he’s got a big helping of “Oriental breed” genetics, which make them quick to elongate and quick to mature. So he’s already scheduled to have his neutering done in two weeks.
Siamese can start reproducing in six months, for instance.
jibeaux
How could you NOT have a crush on Anthony Bourdain? Tall, rakish, funny, adventurous, nice voice, and will happily drink a quart of whatever the local indigenous crap alcohol is (but I’m sure wouldn’t go near a vodka-lemonade-heavy cream cocktail). Unlike my friend’s affection for Steve Buscemi, there’s no real reason to keep that under wraps.
schrodinger's cat
@WereBear:
Vulcan mind meld kittehs! FTW
PurpleGirl
I wonder if SL had tried doing that cake before the filming was done. And in that clip she didn’t say if it was her own original idea or if she had taken it from someone else, which seems to be the case from my google search.
Now, I think that particular cake is awful but the idea might be taken and transformed by someone who actually experimented with the ingredients. Personally, I’d use chocolate icing and add only cinnamon. I wouldn’t use angel food cake but maybe a plain white cake. (ETA: I don’t do a lot of cooking and no baking, but I’m looking at this from the stance of the chemistry student I once was… experiment! It’s a good idea.)
(The candles, though, they’re out completely. As are the corn nuts.)
Roy G
Another priceless gem: the response from the woman who Sandra Lee hired to come up with the Kwanzaa cake:
eurweb.com/?p=71913
Her last words?
“I’ve never watched any of the videos on YouTube. My priest says, “Never call the devil.”
And to think, Anthony Bourdain was afraid of her. Crap, he was never even close.”
Brachiator
Non-issue. I don’t know why anyone should give much of a rat’s ass about the spouses or significant others of politicians, unless there is something significant happening (bribes, conflicts of interest, etc).
Every chief executive, including the president, should just hire a protocol officer or social secretary, to do the meaningless PR shit that is dumped on First Ladies (and soon, perhaps, First Gentlemen). Then, if the spouse or First Hottie wants to work or do freakin’ drugs, it won’t be anyone’s goddam business.
And as for what Sandra Lee does with her cooking stuff, and whether it’s healthy or whatever, I just don’t care. Do her recipes taste good?
PK
Antony Bourdain pisses me of because of his BS opinions on vegetarians. Just pure uninformed drivel. The fact that he can eat anything that moves makes him special in his own mind.
youtube.com/watch?v=i-P2g7smQME
Moonbatman
I love the zeal Sandra Lee shows when it comes time to make the cocktail. She is quite “liberal” with the alcohol.
At the end of the show, she takes a tiny bite of the meal she just “made” and pours a huge glass of the cocktail.
Gina
I find Bourdain tiresome. He’s an aging “bad boy” still working the rebel schtick, yet he’s about as bourgie as they come. Next on “What White People Like… “Watch as I hang out with real natives and bravely eat their food! See how authentic I am?” I think he’s upset at Rachel Ray because she makes more money than him.
Yeah, he’s witty. I just think he’s a little too full of himself, and a whiff of “no gurlz allowed” comes through that irks me. That smelly smell takes the fun out of mocking Sandra Lee’s, um, innovative use of pre-cooked foodlike items.
I’m hoping she marries Cuomo, because can you just IMAGINE the gov’s mansion tablescapes if she’s first lady of our fair state?
Benjamin Cisco
@campionrules:
Oh.My.DAMN!!
__
Only thing missing was the Mad Dog 20/20 aperitif.
geg6
@PK:
In “Medium Raw,” he walks that back a bit and explains that he really only disdains vegetarians and vegans who would like to dictate to the rest of us what we can and cannot eat. And I completely agree with him on that. You pick your lifestyle and I’ll pick mine and we’ll agree to leave each other alone. Seems reasonable to me. At least he lives what he preaches, which is eating the whole animal including his favorite parts, the nasty bits.
Moonbatting Average
@Moonbatman: Clearly, we need a commenter named “Bad Moonbat Rising”, or something, for the trifecta
Rosalita
@schrodinger’s cat:
I totally gave up on Martha’s recipes. Too many ingredients, too much work. I have no problem buying frozen puff pastry. I like Ina — simple but good stuff.
ThresherK
@schrodinger’s cat: In the context of doing everything in 30 minutes (knowing that salad and dessert are usually already salad and dessert with something added), Rachel Ray is fine.
For me, the big thing is she doesn’t waste half her time on tablescaping when she could make much better food instead.
(Disclaimer: Bourdain, no opinion, I don’t watch. Tablescaping? I’m a male; my spouse is much fonder of my cooking and baking than my “plating” skills.)
WereBear
@Rosalita: Martha Stewart, I’ve decided, is “homemaking porn.”
I don’t know too many people with the leisure and money to make their own napkin rings or whathaveya, but some women just loooooooooooove reading about it.
schrodinger's cat
@Rosalita: Agreed, though she can go easy on the butter she seems to add to her recipes.
aimai
@JGabriel:
Oh, this whole thread is full of win!
aimai
BethanyAnne
Well, if yer gonna slag on Sandra Lee, you gotta have the video :)
seriouseats.com/2009/07/video-sandra-lee-delicious-delicious-delicious-delicious-seizeure-montage.ht…
Svensker
@WereBear:
Oh my goodness, you weren’t kidding.
BethanyAnne
@WereBear: Daawwww!
geg6
@dan:
Cuz you made your comment about lighting up another ciggy in the most snotty way possible perhaps? WTFever. Who cares if he smokes anyway? Since his show is explicitly labelled as an adult content show, I fail to see how footage of his smoking or drinking or whatever matters. If smoking gives you the vapors, don’t watch.
ChrisS
I’m sure plenty of people use pre-packaged foods to save some valuable time – but in the case of Sandra Lee on the food network, we don’t need an half-hour show on how to make kraft mac & cheese. And her time slot?
Her show makes my eyes bleed.
The only show on the food network that I care for these days is Good Eats. At least I learn something. The rest is drivel. Cancelling Molto Mario or Emeril Live in order to show more unwrapped or a “this week in deep fried fatty food” derivatives.
Meh most television sucks and is geared to the lowest common denominator. Why is that The LEARNing Channel, A&E, and the Discovery Channel all focus mostly on train wreck reality shows and resource extraction/nature rape?
canuckistani
Do people really need tv show celebrities to tell them to add spices or wieners to their mac-n-cheez? Couldn’t poor people figure that kind of thing out for themselves?
Joel
That Bourdain rant is one of the all-time classics and I’m not usually a fan of his reviews.
Joel
@ChrisS: I’m going to cut Guy Fieri some slack here. My initial impressions of him was that he’s a dushbag. However, after a few viewings, I’ve found that he advocates using local foods and making everything from scratch. He’s also got a fairly sly, subtle sense of humor that comes out when he’s visiting one of those joints that makes crappy food or is run by crazy people. For example, start at ~40 seconds in this clip where some goofball is trying to convince him that a piece of solid white pork back is meat. So for me, it’s a win-win for the show; you see a place that genuinely looks good, or you get to make fun of the trainwreck places.
JITC
@Chadwyck:
You are so right Chadwyck.
Sandra Lee’s “cooking” is gross and her on-air personality grates in indescribable ways.
She should, when relevant, be able to answer simple questions about her relationship with a prominent politician.
However, this reporter’s question was way out of the purview of highlighting the very real problem of hunger in NY state. IF the question asked of her about Cuomo were relevant to judging Cuomo’s job performance, integrity, etc. then ask away, no matter what the topic of the press event.
But was that question REALLY important? Was it REALLY and “act of journalism”? Not in my opinion.
A truly journalistic question would have been “What will governor Cuomo be doing to combat hunger in NY?”
MoonBatista
@Moonbatting Average: Present. And Anthony Boudrain is hawt. Sandra Lee is sort of a downscale Ann Coulter, seems to me – lots of haughty hate with just a hint of the obvious and feral cunning of well dressed trailer trash .
PurpleGirl
@ChrisS: They are cheaper to film: no big stars, very little scripting, smaller film crew, with no big stars you can show and reshow with little residuals to pay. It’s all about the money.
bayushi
@Jules
Sure, you can make things out of a box. And it’s great that she took care of all of those kids growing up. But her food isn’t good, it doesn’t taste good, and she tries to offer it up as if it was gourmet.
If Sandra Lee wants to teach people how to cook on a budget, she should learn how to cook, first. I’ve had to go on food stamps in my life, and while it’s difficult to eat in a nutritious way on them, it is possible, if you know how to cook. Buying flour and baking powder and imitation vanilla and salt and eggs may be more expensive than buying a boxed cake, but once you have those ingredients, you can make a lot of different things than just a cake, which means being able to stretch those ingredients and dollars a lot further. Plus, the cake will taste better.
Catsy
@Jules:
Yes, it is.
She doesn’t do it right.
I can appreciate her background in raising her siblings and being on food stamps. I’ve been in a similar boat. The problem is that she seems to have learned all the wrong lessons from that experience: it is actually cheaper to prepare healthy food from healthy ingredients that you can afford on food stamps, and it doesn’t have to take hours of prep. She is demonstrating an approach to cooking that is the laziest, most unhealthy and inadvisable possible way to stretch a limited food budget.
Sanda Lee’s “recipes” and “advice” are the equivalent of telling someone to reformat their hard drive and install a borrowed copy of Windows ME in order to fix a problem with getting email.
Catsy
@bayushi: Exactly. It’s a greater up-front cost for some ingredients, but they’ll go a lot further and be cheaper and healthier in the long run.
Tonybrown74
@BethanyAnne:
I hate you forever for posting a link to that montage!
I hink I actually peed a little after watching it …
Tonybrown74
@BethanyAnne:
I hate you forever for posting a link to that montage!
I hink I actually peed a little after watching it …
Tonybrown74
@BethanyAnne:
I hate you forever for posting a link to that montage!
I hink I actually peed a little after watching it …
ChrisS
@PurpleGirl:
Yeah, it was a rhetorical question. The resource extraction shows, though … not fair and balanced in the least.
@Joel:
Guy is one that grates on me, and I prefer Adam Richman, but it’s the derivatives that kill me. It seems that the only restaurants that get exposure are the ones that focus on deep fried fatty foods or doused in fiery spices to mask the taste of blaaah. I appreciate the exposure to dive joints in other locales, but FFS, another great burger place? “These chili cheese fries are heeeeeeavan!” Compared to what? The last 90 joints?
(my favorite dive bar – and it’s a dive bar in every sense of the word – has about 20 beers on tap dominated by local microbrews and makes all the food fresh in the kitchen, but I still go other places and order savory foods as well)
BethanyAnne
@Tonybrown74: hehe :)
asiangrrlMN
She’s a nightmare (foodwise). I’m glad she’s doing things for good causes. Really. But her food…uh, no. And, if she’s going to use Cuomo to get publicity, then she should be able to deal with questions about dating him.
I’d do Bourdain in a hot second, and I wouldn’t feel guilty about it. He’s a good guy. And, he’s hot in a weird, inexplicable way. My best friend and I have vastly differing taste in men, and we both agree on him.
Ruckus
@Bill E Pilgrim:
Are you sure you don’t work in Hollywood?
Linnaeus
I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who thinks Anthony Bourdain is an arrogant asshole, and not in a charming “oh, there he goes again!” way. And I don’t say this to defend Sandra Lee (though the “rack” comment is in classic Bourdain poor taste); even a stopped watch is right twice a day and all…
Jebediah
I am the opposite of a foody – I will happily eat cereal and microwave burritos for days on end – but that Mexican Style Mac and Cheese? What the fuck fuckling fuck? If I were Mexican I would be offended. How does someone making recipes like that get anywhere?
Look at me – I shot off a model rocket when I was a kid – can I be an astronaut now?