BAD Reads
Chocolate Heaven (Recipe for Pavlova)
posted Sun, 03/20/05
I keep seeing Giada DeLaurentis touted on Amazon.com as having the "cooking chops of Mario Batali, the passion of Nigella Lawson and the graceful beauty of Natalie Portman"
Phooey. Giada is a Nigella wanna be and she doesn't compare.
Maybe people get a kick out of watching her whine about in her kitchen (which looks suspiciously like and is filmed in the same non-studio style as Nigella's show) and shmooze with her family. A lot of the show seems to have nothing to do with the food. Maybe viewers love vicariously watching the lifestyles of the rich and famous as Giada shops for $500 ($500!) shoes in Italy with her mom and rides a motorcycle with her adorable (not!) husband.
Passion? Where? Maybe about shopping. But isn't this supposed to be a show about FOOD?
About COOKING?
Nigella cooks with true gusto. She doesn't hesistate to get messy. She uses her hands when she cooks. She TASTES what she's cooking. She cheerfully admits that she likes using her mezzaluna knife because she's a clutz, but the mezzaluna makes her look competent. She doesn't try to make every meal look Martha Stewart perfect-- she's more concerned about the TASTE of her food! She sneaks off to the kitchen late at night to snack on leftovers, and admits there are meals that are supposed to serve 2 that she will scarf down all by herself on her own.
She's a mom, and she obviously adores her kids, Cosima and Bruno, but she doesn't drag them into every scene of every show. Occasionally they appear, but in a low key way. It's fun when she makes something and one of them clearly shows he DOESN'T think it's delicious--that's a real kid reaction! If you read her books, she doesn't pretend to be supermom, and expresses her own mixed feelings about parenthood.
Of course, I identify with her because she's Jewish, but not really raised so, my own sort of background.
And as the Man says "She's a brunette and she's NOT skinny". There's not much higher praise he can give!!
What I love best about Nigella though is that her recipes really work. They're not always to my taste, and sometimes I adjust them a bit to make them simpler, or a little healthier than the originals.
Tonight I made her Chocolate Pavlova with Raspberries from Forever Summer. It is not raspberry season, and I've found we love it with strawberries. I also cheat and use reduced fat whipped topping--not as elegant as heavy cream, but even my cholesterol, fat fearing mom will eat this dessert with the change in toppings!
You can buy dried egg whites at the supermarket, and I've found they work beautifully. They're fast and there's no worry about getting them to the right temperature--they whip up SO easily.
One of my favorite Nigella comments was that she always saves the egg whites in recipes that require egg yolks and freezes them, so that her freezer "resembles a sperm bank" I can't imagine Giada EVER saying such a thing, even OFF camera!
Bake this--it's pretty healthy, it's delicious, it's easy and it's CHOCOLATE. Bet you'll be tempted to follow Nigella's example and sneak down to the kitchen at midnight to scarf another slice!
Even Giada might....................
Phooey. Giada is a Nigella wanna be and she doesn't compare.
Maybe people get a kick out of watching her whine about in her kitchen (which looks suspiciously like and is filmed in the same non-studio style as Nigella's show) and shmooze with her family. A lot of the show seems to have nothing to do with the food. Maybe viewers love vicariously watching the lifestyles of the rich and famous as Giada shops for $500 ($500!) shoes in Italy with her mom and rides a motorcycle with her adorable (not!) husband.
Passion? Where? Maybe about shopping. But isn't this supposed to be a show about FOOD?
About COOKING?
Nigella cooks with true gusto. She doesn't hesistate to get messy. She uses her hands when she cooks. She TASTES what she's cooking. She cheerfully admits that she likes using her mezzaluna knife because she's a clutz, but the mezzaluna makes her look competent. She doesn't try to make every meal look Martha Stewart perfect-- she's more concerned about the TASTE of her food! She sneaks off to the kitchen late at night to snack on leftovers, and admits there are meals that are supposed to serve 2 that she will scarf down all by herself on her own.
She's a mom, and she obviously adores her kids, Cosima and Bruno, but she doesn't drag them into every scene of every show. Occasionally they appear, but in a low key way. It's fun when she makes something and one of them clearly shows he DOESN'T think it's delicious--that's a real kid reaction! If you read her books, she doesn't pretend to be supermom, and expresses her own mixed feelings about parenthood.
Of course, I identify with her because she's Jewish, but not really raised so, my own sort of background.
And as the Man says "She's a brunette and she's NOT skinny". There's not much higher praise he can give!!
What I love best about Nigella though is that her recipes really work. They're not always to my taste, and sometimes I adjust them a bit to make them simpler, or a little healthier than the originals.
Tonight I made her Chocolate Pavlova with Raspberries from Forever Summer. It is not raspberry season, and I've found we love it with strawberries. I also cheat and use reduced fat whipped topping--not as elegant as heavy cream, but even my cholesterol, fat fearing mom will eat this dessert with the change in toppings!
You can buy dried egg whites at the supermarket, and I've found they work beautifully. They're fast and there's no worry about getting them to the right temperature--they whip up SO easily.
One of my favorite Nigella comments was that she always saves the egg whites in recipes that require egg yolks and freezes them, so that her freezer "resembles a sperm bank" I can't imagine Giada EVER saying such a thing, even OFF camera!
Bake this--it's pretty healthy, it's delicious, it's easy and it's CHOCOLATE. Bet you'll be tempted to follow Nigella's example and sneak down to the kitchen at midnight to scarf another slice!
Even Giada might....................
Your turn to kibbitz: (1)