On Oct 23, 5:20*pm, (Ubiquitous) wrote:
> By Sadie
>
> We're in a recession. Talented people are laid off every day. So why
> does Sandra Lee have two shows?
>
> There's a piece in Newsweek comparing Food Network star Sandra Lee
> (unfavorably) to Julia Child. Now, that's fish in a barrel stuff, but it
> did get me thinking: what the hell? With so many people clamoring for
> jobs like hers that there's actually a show about "finding the next Food
> Network star," what's her secret? The following things are frequently
> mentioned when people debate this question (and, if you've ever spent
> any time on Chowhound boards, you know they do. "Who's she sleeping
> with?" is the least of it.)
>
> The Whiteness: The spotless kitchen and virginal wardrobe don't exactly
> suggest serious cooking. More like a Mormon temple. Nor, many would add,
> does her tiny figure - although I for one wouldn't find Lee's
> concoctions particularly hard to resist.
>
> The faux-cooking: Lee's "semi-homemade meals" are heavy on the pre-fab,
> light on the local/organic/from-scratch. Eco-conscious, the woman's not.
> Fat-conscious? Not to much. Taste-conscious? I haven't, it's true, tried
> a single one of Lee's experiments in chemistry. (And I speak as someone
> not adverse to the occasional cake mix or batch of onion dip.) But the
> woman makes Rachel Ray look artisanal.
>
> The really faux cooking: Lee doesn't even devise her own recipes; a test
> kitchen in SoHo apparently does all that.
>
> The Stepford manner: The eerie perfection of kitchen, tablescape, outfit
> and smile - to say nothing of the enthusiasm for the day's themed
> cocktail - suggests an imminent breakdown. The fact that she's dated New
> York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for the past three years doesn't
> really help with this impression. Not to mention that the whole
> time-saving foods to trick your guests gimmick feels like a
> Sterling-Cooper campaign.
>
> So, what's her deal? Well, according to the piece, Lee's come up the
> hard way.
>
> * * * * As a child, Lee raised her four younger siblings on food
> * * * * stamps and welfare after her mother walked out. With help
> * * * * from her grandmother, she learned how to cut costs at the
> * * * * grocery store. It's a story she's not embarrassed to tell,
> * * * * especially when promoting the new show.
>
> According to her Wikipedia entry, "In the early 1990s, Lee created a
> product called "Kurtain Kraft", a home decorating tool using a wire rack
> and sheets or other fabric samples to create the appearance of
> decorative drapery. The product was sold on infomercials and cable
> shopping networks." And, on the strength of this, I guess, went on to
> get her own show. And can she cook? She says yes, but she doesn't.
>
> * * * * "When I was at the Cordon Bleu, things took hours and
> * * * * hours and hours to make...And they were beautiful dishes-and
> * * * * I know how to cook that way-but I was like, 'no one is
> * * * * cooking like this.' "
>
> To those who feel there's something between original Mastering the Art
> and a can of pudding mix, this attitude feels like a betrayal of the
> food world: catering to the lowest common denoninator rather than
> expecting more of people; ignoring all the gains of the simpler
> back-to-the -land American Food movement; and, in the process, not doing
> much to help the American diet.
>
> If I had a theory, I'd have to say it's just the thrill of the bizar
> Lee is mesmeric. There are very few public figures who are completely
> mysterious, and she's one. What is she thinking? Why? We don't know.
> Rachel Ray cooks some crap, and Ina Garten's life is pristine, but it's
> rare to see this bizarre mix of high and low-brow, of a world in which
> you have time for tablescapes and cocktail hour, but it's easier to mix
> a jar of relish with some dressing powder than roast a vegetable. Lee's
> wonder at convenience foods is truly that of another era: a world in
> which surface was all and you never let them see you with a hair out of
> place. Her motto sort of says it all, when you think about it: "70%
> store-bought/ready-made products accompanied by 30% fresh and creative
> touches, allowing you to take 100% of the credit." Because that, at the
> end of the day, is what it's all about.
>
> Sandra Lee: The Anti-Julia [Newsweek]http://www.newsweek.com/id/210852/page/1
>
> Sandra Lee (cook)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Lee_(cook)
>
> --
> That's the great thing about Semi-Homemade Cooking: No matter how bad
> we think it's going to be, Sandy manages to make it even worse.
> * * * * -- orchidgal


Sandra Lee is hot in that disarming kind of way. The longer you
look at her the hotter she gets.