SunFyre...words from a seated position

When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. Now I'm beginning to believe it.
- Clarence Darrow


Poll: Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters

Labels: Friday Funnies, politics, quotes, videos

As much as I hate to admit it, I like Rachael Ray.She's cute, bright, and the only slightly annoyingly peppy. However, when I read this quote in Time magazine, I laughed out loud. He's so right.

Anthony Bourdain is self described "old-school French Chef". He has a show, I think it's on the Travel Channel, where he eats all kinds of strange things from all over the world.

He was asked "Why do you always pick on Rachael Ray?"

He said "She can take it. She's incredibly powerful and far more loved than I am. But she genuinely offends me. Julia Child, for example, raised people's expectations of food. When Rachael tells you that it's perfectly okay to buy a pre-chopped onion from the supermarket... I mean, how hard is it to chop an onion? The takeaway is, I could cook, but [instead] I'll finish this bag of Cheetos and that gallon of Diet Pepsi before dying of diabetes."

I agree with Bourdain. We're living in a time when quick and easy, particularly in the kitchen, is not only popular, but it's endorsed by our corporate food economy. Granted, microwavable food and boil-in-bag dishes are tasting better and better these days, but that's leading to a generation of Americans who are never learning how to cook. When I was a kid they advertised ways of preparing meals in 30 minutes or less. Today the benchmark is five minutes, without any dirty dishes.

It's kind of sad. They talk about the degradation of mealtime as family time, but part of that stems from the fact that families are no longer putting effort into the meal itself. My mom was never a fabulous cook, but she did cook, and we all had our favorites. Missing a meal with our family was a big deal, because we knew that Mom and put effort into it.

Rachael is still cute. But I would like her a whole lot better if, instead of showing of shortcuts, she made as passionate about food. Rachael needs to take a night off, put up her feet, and watch a few episodes of Emeril.

Labels: Anthony Bourdain, Family values, food and drink, quotes, Rachael Ray

My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.

Stephen Hawking
English cosmologist and physicist
(1942 - )

Labels: disabled people, of-the-day, quotes