"pennyaline" <nsmitchell@spamspamspamspamspamspamspameggandspam .com> wrote
in message ...
snip
> Frankly, I think that everyone should eat on the couch or standing at the
> sink once in a while. However, the BF Contessa doesn't have that going for
> her. She's going for picture perfect, and I don't think she's kidding.
> I've
> dealt with mental patients like her. Everything about her looks like it's
> kept roped off. Those shingles wouldn't dare mildew, would they! Fix that
> closed circuit TV on the manicured kitchen garden -- keep your eyes on the
> giant green hydrangeas or else!! Call in those fake-baked stringy old
> friends who dress like they're in their twenties and have sweaters tied
> around their necks, and get them to set the table... get them to build the
> table! And get that picnic stuff down to the beach! I made the tablecloth
> and napkins myself. And finish the landscaping, it's almost time to eat!
> Ha
> ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! I'm a caterer, a cook and a party
> giver. I made it myself, can you believe it? How simple is that? See these
> green plates and the silverware in my hands? I brought you green plates
> and
> silverware. Tell me again and again how much you like me. Ha ha ha ha. Ha
> ha
> ha ha ha. Jeffrey, where are you? Jeffrey?? The pancakes are ready. I made
> them myself. How hard can that be? I think it's so important to have
> chocolate in chocolate brownies. Okay everybody, dig in while I recount
> every ingredient. I made it myself, it's really easy. Jeffrey, I made
> strawberry jam for your breakfast. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Ask me if I made it
> myself. Yes, I did! Ha ha ha ha. So easy. Just strawberries and sugar. How
> delicious is that? Ha ha ha ha, you have to love me now. Jeffrey?
> Jeffrey...
> Jeffrey's coming back soon. He said he'll come back soon...
>
> <"Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" or "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte"?>
>
>
Your anger at this person or even persons that are nothing to you takes my
breath away. These are people with human weaknesses just like everyone
else. So the Contessa is insecure and needs to seek approval all the time,
so what? In what capacity do you deal with mental patients?
Janet

"pennyaline" <nsmitchell@spamspamspamspamspamspamspameggandspam .com> wrote
in message ...
> Vox Humana wrote:
> > Two Stoves. I bet that the cooktop she uses was added for the show.
She
> > couldn't stand at her range and cook for the show because you would be
> > looking at her back. If you look at other TV cooking shows, they are
set
> up
> > the same way, even the shows that are filmed on a set. Martha Stewart,
30
> > Minute Meals, Paula Dean's Home Cooking, Everyday Italian all have a
range
> > against the wall and an island with a cooktop. The host does all the
> > cooking at the island.
>
> The example of two stoves was to illustrate the concept that we must have
> two of one necessary thing for showbiz's sake, yet have no pedestrian
items
> that might speak of the existence of an individual personality. That kind
of
> crap drives the ideas that result in the recent thread about uberpriced
> unused kitchens.
>
> By the by, have you noticed in some of Giada's shows she is in a jazzy
> steely kitchen? Blecccchhh!
>
>
> > You would be disappointed to know that I don't have any pictures,
trivets,
> > spoon rests, clocks, canisters, or Velveeta in my house.
>
> I am disappointed. I'd hoped that perhaps you had a hankering for a little
> kitch.
>
>
> > I do keep a mixer,
> > a food processor, coffee pot, and a couple of rolling pins on the
counter.
> > I do have a kitchen table, but I have considered getting rid of it and
> > filling the space with much needed cabinets. I can eat in the dining
area
> > that is only steps away. The truth is that I generally just eat in the
> > family room anyway. Take a look if you dare. It's not on the level of
> the
> > Barefoot Contessa's kitchen but might not pass your test of
authenticity:
> > http://groups.msn.com/laurelridgegar...ns.msnw?Page=1
>
> Your place? Did you put those pictures up there? That says plenty all by
> itself. However, my examples were, again, to illustrate a bigger point. At
> least you can say that someone actually lives and breathes in your place.

Yes. That's my place.

Janet Bostwick wrote:
> Your anger at this person or even persons that are nothing to you takes my
> breath away. These are people with human weaknesses just like everyone
> else. So the Contessa is insecure and needs to seek approval all the
time,
> so what? In what capacity do you deal with mental patients?
> Janet

There you go, seeing anger where none exists. Is humor beyond you?

Don't worry. We're all neurotic in some ways, and neuroses can escalate to
detatchment for any of us if we let it. Wellness is measured in mere
degrees, remember.

Back to the point:
The BF Contessa isn't insecure. She's pathological. That's not just human
weakness. That's illness.

I deal with mental patients daily. I'm the director of nursing in a nursing
home that takes patients ready for discharge from extended stay hospital
residencies (state hospitals) but who will likely never be able to return to
the community. In other words, I work with mental patients every day. We
have one at this moment who reminds me of the BF Contessa constantly, but
I've seen others before her and I'm sure to see more in the future.

Why do you ask?

Vox Humana wrote:
> > Your place? Did you put those pictures up there? That says plenty all by
> > itself. However, my examples were, again, to illustrate a bigger point.
At
> > least you can say that someone actually lives and breathes in your
place.
>
> Yes. That's my place.

'smatter, Vox. Didn't care to comment on the BF Contessa meltdown?

<some people wouldn't recognize the obvious if it came up and introduce
itself, which it does all the time>

"pennyaline" <nsmitchell@spamspamspamspamspamspamspameggandspam .com> wrote
in message ...
snip
>
> There you go, seeing anger where none exists. Is humor beyond you?
I didn't think so. I guess I saw your postings as over the top.

I was querying your judgment in such cases. Apparently you have the
background to judge. Still, I have a friend that reminds me of the Contessa
and while she drives me batty sometimes, I wouldn't describe her as mentally
ill.
Janet



> Why do you ask?
>
>
>

"pennyaline" <nsmitchell@spamspamspamspamspamspamspameggandspam .com> wrote
in message ...
> Vox Humana wrote:
> > > Your place? Did you put those pictures up there? That says plenty all
by
> > > itself. However, my examples were, again, to illustrate a bigger
point.
> At
> > > least you can say that someone actually lives and breathes in your
> place.
> >
> > Yes. That's my place.
>
> 'smatter, Vox. Didn't care to comment on the BF Contessa meltdown?
>

I think everyone is entitle to a meltdown now and then.

"pennyaline" <nsmitchell@spamspamspamspamspamspamspameggandspam .com> wrote
in message ...
> Vox Humana wrote:
>> I guess that I haven't analyzed the kitchen. It is a "look" that I
> consider
>> classic and understated. I don't know if you can assume that the kitchen
>> looks that way when she isn't filming there.
>
> But I do assume that it looks that way when she's not filming there
> because
> of her level of comfort. Don't get me wrong, though. I don't think she
> looks
> comfortable in the kitchen at all, but I suspect that the room is normally
> nearly barren and that is her comfort zone.
>
> And the kitchen doesn't have usual things. More on that thought later.
>
>
>> My guess would be that they do
>> several shows at a time. She may just clear the decks and have only what
>> they need out for the shows. The rest of the house doesn't look all that
>> sparse. Maybe it's a case of having too much money. Maybe she is the
> victim
>> of bad advice. Who knows? Anyhow, what exactly do you find so terrible
>> about the design?
>
> Have you ever, ever known a really and truly minimalist professional cook?
> I've only ever seen barren kitchen surfaces like BF Contessa's on AbFab,
> in
> real estate listings and in magazine advertisements.
>
> And yet, she has two stoves. People tend to not have two stoves. Given,
> one
> of hers is just a cooktop, but it still adds up to another stove... and
> like
> the first it is miles of pristine countertop away from the refrigerator.
> And
> from the sink. Admit it, for most of us the stove is a step from the sink
> and a step from the fridge and a step from the microwave. BF Contessa's
> stove proper seems suited only to roasting things -- maybe because it's
> stuck back there behind her where she almost never goes. She rests roasts
> on
> it, too, so it must be good for that as well. It's an extension of the
> countertop with a hot box underneath... a wall oven without a wall. It's a
> backdrop. Face it. All those lovely burners, all of them! unused and
> unloved.
>
> Cooks I've known, professional and amateur alike, have usual things in
> their
> kitchens. I don't mean sink, stove, fridge... I mean they have cannisters
> on
> their countertops instead of bonsai. I mean they have kitchen tables and
> chairs indoors and not just outdoors or on the beach. They have trivets
> and
> hot pads. They have pot holders. They have towels. They have spoon rests.
> They have clocks. They have pictures. They have windows. They have
> ordinary
> plates and cups and flatware in their cupboards and drawers. They have
> Velveeta on hand for guilty pleasure emergencies. They have evidence of
> cooking and eating and living going on there.
>
> Most of us don't have pantries, kitchens, homes, neighborhoods and
> *neighbors* staged like Bed, Bath and Beyond vignettes. Everything about
> BF
> Contessa screams out denunciations of artificiality because she and her
> surroundings play as ridiculous. She's a fake. She a fake cook with a fake
> kitchen in a fake house in a fake neighborhood dotted with fake people
> with
> fake kitchens in fake houses in a fake neighborhood, etc.


While I'm not disagreeing with you on this but would you like to have a TV
show in your own everyday kitchen? Isn't Emeril Live in the same boat? His
TV kitchen isn't all that well laid out either.

Just my thoughts...



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Pinky Pinkerton wrote:
> Why does this woman sniff every other ingredient while she cooks? That
> looks unsanitary!


Okay, I take back what I said about dear old Ina being unsanitary. I
remember a show of hers where she was taking a bath.

Stark wrote:

>>Pinky Pinkerton wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Why does this woman sniff every other ingredient while she cooks? That
>>>looks unsanitary!
>>
>
> Some folks have a heightened sense of smell and with kitchen
> ingredients it can be very pleasurable, even erotic. It can also be
> irritable--think of all the cig and cigar-phobes. Frankly I envy them.
> My own sense of smell seems kinda simplistic, either on or off; and I
> wonder what I'm missing.
>
> Unsanitary? Only if she stuck her nose in the stuff she's sniffing.

<delurking>
I've seen the Barefood Contess and can relate as I'm a sniffer when I
cook. I've been a sniffer every since I was knee high to a grasshopper
Good food isn't just about taste. The aroma builds the anticipation
and heightens the taste. Visual appeal is also very important.

BTW, this is a lovely group! I've lurked for quite some time. I love
the food channels and love to cook. Cooking gives me great comfort!
I'd say my basic cooking style is down home cooking. I do a lot of
preserving, everything from soups and stews to vegetables to jams and
jellies. While I bake a fair amount of bread, I don't do a lot of other
baking so I envy those who do.
</delurking>